Brigada Today
8 of May, 1998
Now with over 7200 participants!
News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
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Brigada Today is "the missionary helper newsletter!"
Compiled by Doug Lucas <DLucas@teamexpansion.org>, Louisville, KY
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]
] rather than just see some store-owner buy another
Mercedes at your local sporting goods store. PLUS -- Mike & Deb know their
products... so whether it's Buck Knives or BuckTools, Platypus water bottles
or PackTowls, or even first aid kits for your family . . . please give 'em a
call, fax or email! Their gift came totally voluntarily . . . with no
strings attached.. and no ad copy enclosed!!! Yahooo! 
If you have a
moment... would you just drop them a quick thank-you note... to tealbrook@aol.com. and let them know you appreciate them! Because of
gifts from folks like Mike & Deb, Brigada remains a free service! They join other '98 sponsors of Brigada expenses ... (5 so far! A new record!!! -- and we're not even halfway through the year!!!)
Truth is, it's almost as intriguing. The
earliest issue we have on file at our web site is Feb. 18th. . . but already
by that time, we were well over a month into testing with a whoppin' 38
subscribers... so somewhere out there, there might be another 3 or 4 issues
floating around. Is there anyone on the planet who can help us recover them?
No rolling boulders, no tribal masks or dark dungeons... just 3 or 4 issues
of Brigada history. Who can solve the mystery? 
The first Joshua Project 2000 Conference in the
Philippines drew an impressive response and attendance last Jan. 21-24 with
120 missions executives and 300 delegates from 118 churches attending.
Focused on partnering churches to adopt tribal groups and to plant churches
among them, 25 people groups and 9 countries in Asia were adopted and
seventeen partnerships and focus groups were formed. Resources were
pledged, training scheduled and mission trips planned. 
Last week's item "GOT A SERVER
RUNNING POINT TO POINT TUNNELLING PROTOCOL" generated a flurry of responses.
We're still digesting them all. But suffice it to say that within the next
30 days, it looks like a server will open up to any and all missions users
that will allow us to utilize this new "point-to-point" protocol for secure
email. Translation? You'd be able to be VERY open and transparent in your
email to sensitive locations . . . without having to learn complicated
encryption technology. Why? Because the encryption will be "built in" to the
connection you'd have to the email server. And the capability is already
built into the operating system you're using. So . . . stand by . . . it's
coming! 
"Mike" suggested we check out the Mission Station http://www.missionaries.org because of its wealth of options for
missionaries and missions committees. I visited there and he's RIGHT! There
are tons of options for everyone from furloughing missionaries to missions
mobilizers. Great stuff.This Congress will put language teachers, language school administrators and language supervisors in touch with each other and with academicians, pre-field trainers, personnel directors and mission executives, all committed to enhancing the quality of missionary language learning and cultural integration. People from all over the world attended ICMLL1 and ICMLL2. Earl Stevick, extensive writer on language teaching and learning, will give the keynote address.
For the details, registration form, etc., contact http://www.mti.org or mintern@aol.com
(In spite of what some might think, that's
really the order I try to keep them in!) I only hope and pray that somehow
we'll have all four in Heaven. The first three have been around a
while in my life, but the last love, soccer, is fairly new to me. Although
I'm playing on a competitive team this year, I'm really just a beginner (I
have a whole two years of playing experience in a poorly run recreational
league previously). As you might have guessed, it's not easy to find a
competitive team for a 41-year-old. So I play in a league designed for age
20 and up. I'm very fortunate to practice alongside some very talented
players. (Our coach took an under-23-year-old team to the national
championships last year . . and won!) To land a spot on the team, I just
explained how hard I was willing to work and how serious I was about
learning. Lo and behold, the coach put me on the team! And when the center
forward of our team suffered a broken leg earlier this season, all of a
sudden, I found myself as a starter in his place... and this past Sunday, I
played the entire game there! (We won 5-2, with only marginal help from me.) 
I have several heroes . . . and most are about half my age. One young man from Ukraine is incredible. I mean... when he was born, his mother
probably delivered a soccer ball first, and then Sergey. The ball was
probably tied to his ankle and. . . I don't think he's ever untied it since!
I love practice times even more than games because I get to watch him and
really study him in action. He's constantly moving... constantly sizing up
the play and constantly vigilant about how he can contribute most. And even
though he's a star (and deep down inside, he has to know it!), he still
pushes the ball my way PLENTY of times in any given night.
Last Tuesday evening, at one point during our scrimmage, I chipped the ball to him and, frankly, placed it rather poorly. The ball arrived at chest-height and his back was to the goal with defenders all around. Not a great situation. But for Sergey, it was all automatic. He cushioned the ball down to his feet and instantly faked then back-heeled it with such force that it swished right through the defenders legs. Sergey scored a goal without even looking at the net... without even having to turn around to glance into the eyes of his opponents. Incredible.
As he turned and ran up the field, I turned with him and asked, "How in the world ....?" With a shrug of his shoulders he responded, "It just happened." I was quick to reply... "It DIDN'T just happen. It took 27 YEARS of daily practice to make it happen!" (He's 28 years old.)
Ever since that moment, I've been reflecting about my fledgling soccer
career. I coach an under-14 team (my older son's) and assist coaching an
under-10 team (my younger son's). I play on a competitive team and sometimes
play "pick-up" soccer in between. But maybe I'll never "catch up" with
Sergey. There are too many hours... too many YEARS of his life filled with
touches on the ball. However, I'm not exactly envious. Instead, I'm filled
with admiration and actually inspired to keep going. I figure I've got
nowhere to go but up! Who knows... give me another 25 years and maybe
I'll be ready to play!
My REAL job is to lead a mission agency -- about 120 missionaries in a couple of dozen countries. Where I sit, I get to read reports literally from all over the world. Now, after last Thursday's practice, whenever I hear a success story about a villager who has walked in from 50 kilometers away just so he can study the Bible... then take it back to his village and repeat it to dozens of others... I'll think twice about whether or not it "just happened." Someone had to sweat bullets on Bible college mid-terms, then raise financial support, leave family and friends to go to the field, learn a foreign language, and most of all be determined enough to not quit when the going got tough. Someone had to pray, trust the Lord for supernatural intervention, and follow His guidance. After all that, if someone walks in and listens, should we be so surprised? Sergey might say, "It just happened...", but truth be known, it didn't JUST happen. Someone MADE it happen.
We live in a world of quick fixes -- quick food, quick microwaves, quick computers, quick everything ... just about. But in the midst of it all, some things aren't so quick. You can't learn to play Sergey's kind of soccer without a few years of daily practice with someone who knows what he's doing. And you can't learn a language overnight, either.
I admire Sergey... but my heart is filled with just as much admiration for a
guy I know who has invested the last 5 years learning Mandarin. He'll
probably never get a trophy (at least not here on earth), never be named an
"MVP" in front of a crowd of 30,000 cheering spectators, and I can predict
with a fair amount of certainty that he'll never make the kinds of salaries
that today's pro athletes take home, either. (At least not as long as I
serve as president of his mission agency! ) But can he ever speak
Chinese. I mean... it rolls off his tongue. When he opens his mouth,
everyone expects English to come out... but if there's a Chinese person
looking on, inevitably, their mouth drops open.. their eyes bug out... (I
love seeing that reaction!). His Chinese didn't "just happen." He didn't
"just happen" to teach Greek to house church leaders last year. He didn't
"just happen" to train evangelists that ended up baptizing 18 people in just
one recent month. It took YEARS... and it'll take YEARS for many of us to
learn language, learn effectiveness, learn the field.
So -- should we give up? Not on your life. But we probably SHOULD start
thinking about recruiting some additional players for the team. If they
have to wait for me to invest the next 25 years to reach Sergey's level,
well, . . . let's just say I hope my bones will still hold me up on the
field when I'm 66!
God bless your day! Be careful out there... it's a jungle!!!
Doug Lucas
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