Brigada Today
26 of June, 1998
Now with 7335 participants!
News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
On the WorldWide Web, browse http://www.brigada.org or http://www.eGroups.com/list/brigada-today
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.]
In this issue....
JOHNSTONE WRITES: THE CHURCH IS BIGGER THAN YOU THINK
Remember Patrick
J. Johnstone of Operation World fame? Well, he's been at it again! This past
week I received a preview copy of THE CHURCH IS BIGGER THAN YOU THINK. It
arrived just in time, too, . . . since I had to present a workshop at a
convention in St. Louis on "Who's left to tell?" My buddy drove the van out to
St. Louis and, in route to the convention, all I had to do was convert
Johnstone's great stats and stories into a Powerpoint presentation! The
workshop listeners loved it . . . Johnstone made me look terrific... and now
I'm trying to give credit where credit is due. Here's a book you'll want to
get. Order it from
Christian Focus Publications
Geanies House, Fearn, Tain,
Ross-shire, IV20 1TW, Scotland, UK http://www.geanies.org.uk/cfp
Tel 01862-871-011
fax 01862-871-699.
In USA,
Spring Arbour Distributors
10885 Textile Rd.
Belleville, MI 48111
Tel 1-800-395-5599
fax 1800-395-2860.
But do me a favor, would you? Tell them Brigada sent you. I've been trying to negotiate
a special price with them... but it's not finalized. You'd better ask them
before you order. Tell them you'd like the special Brigada pricing . . . and
maybe they will have agreed to something by then! 
Great book. 300 pages.
Great index. Great bibliography. Good historical perspective... But it really
shines on the task remaining. "Geographical, Urban, Social, Ideological,
Spiritual, . . ." -- Great stuff. And all the maps and diagrams are available
in black and white or (as my friend Patrick would say) in "colour." Order
those from WEC at IRO@IO.wec-int.org or iro@opwld.demon.co.uk. (Contact them directly for pricing and availability.)
NEED TRAINING IN ISLAM AND/OR URBAN MINISTRY?
Have we got a deal for you!
I just finished touring the Chicago Center for Urban Mission and it seems like
just the ticket! Located in downtown inner-city Chicago, it offers a fully
accredited Master of Arts in Urban Studies and/or Master of Arts in Muslim
Studies via two-year (54 semester hours) residential graduate degrees.
Students are required to live in the city, work a part-time job (and are assisted in
raising support for their ministries), spend 2-3 days per week in "mentored
ministry" in a church setting and attend classes one day a week. Although only
graduate programs are available, those with less than a grad. degree COULD
work out an audit program if the credits aren't the end goal. In other words,
they'll work with you so you can focus on content as well as credits. The
Center is located within easy reach of some 300,000 Muslims. Chicago is home
for North America's largest Islamic publishing and distribution company. The
Muslim community there boasts five large K-12 schools, the American Islamic
College, the East-West University, a dynamic Sufi Muslim movement, the Islamic
Propagation Center and even its own cemeteries. It is also headquarters for
the Nation of Islam and the American Muslim Foundation. Are we seeing a trend
here? Chicago seems to be developing into THE city for such a center. So drop
'em a line and see that they can offer you -- Robert Douglas is at DouglasRC@aol.com should get their attention. They'll try to answer right
away. That's the director's address -- and he gave permission for Brigada Today readers to approach him directly!
SO WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU HAD SIX MONTHS ON YOUR HANDS???
If you were
Daniel and Paulina Brolin, you'd memorize scripture and exercise! According to
Infobeat, a pair of Swedish missionaries kidnapped in southern Russia survived
their six-month ordeal by exercising rigorously and memorizing Bible
versus, an interview published Monday said. Daniel and Paulina Brolin said they were kept
in a dim, unheated cellar since their abduction Jan. 8 and were not allowed to
go outside. They said they followed a disciplined routine of physical exercise
during their imprisonment. Paulina laughed in the interview as she told how
she did some 2,000 buttocks exercises daily. When they were captured, the Brolins
were carrying an English language Bible from which they spent hours memorizing
long passages. They were released last week. For more info, see http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2554855310-cee Infobeat is a great news source, if you're not already patched in. Visit http://www.infobeat.com for more information. It's free and it's emailed
to you daily! If you don't have access to the web, ask a friend or relative to sign
you up and you can still hear the latest. You don't need access to the web to
get the daily news bulletins on the continents of your choice.
JESUS VIDEOS HAVE ARRIVED!
Here's a great thank-you from Matthew in
Thailand! "Just wanted to let people know that I got the five free Jesus
videos, two in English, one in Thai, one in Burmese and one in Mandarin
Chinese. What a wonderful project and of such use over here in Northern
Thailand. Thank you so much [to the Jesus Film Project and Campus
Crusade!]. Evidently, Campus Crusade has "scratched an itch!"
PRAY FOR INDIA AUGUST 15
Several [Asian] Indians have asked that we join
them in praying for India on August 15th. More on this later, as this plan
shapes up. It's evidently still in the formative stages.
THERE CAN BE AWAKENINGS . . .
Geoff wrote this past week to share this
personal testimony regarding an encounter with an Iranian Muslim during his
recent visit to Turkey. Evidently, one of Geoff's friends "... ended up spending quite some time with him sharing who Jesus is and what
he did. This man was completely blown away by the Good News. He couldn't
believe we serve God because he loves us, so we love him and serve him out of
love. He said he had never heard the Good News before; that there was no one
where he was from (Tehran) telling anyone about this. He then offered to pay
the way for this member of our team to come to his mosque in Iran and speak so
others could know about it! I don't know if you want to share that
testimony on your mailing list, and either way I hope it's encouraging for you
personally -- I know it was for me! It made me realize that a country's government may be
closed - but the hearts of the people are VERY much open and hungry for the truth." Before you ask... I'll keep Geoff's identity anonymous... but just
join me in thanking God for openings and awakenings among the untold!
THOSE PORTUGUESE SEEM DESTINED TO CHANGE THE WORLD
... or at least a
portion of it! Check out http://www.teureino.org where Mario Scartezini and
company in Brasilia pump out a prayer calendar with daily requests for
unreached peoples every other month in Portuguese. Are we seeing a rally here or what!
GOT A PLANE YOU NEED FLOWN TO YOUR FIELD?
Here's a pilot who would be
glad to ferry it over for you . . . Write hokanson@upstel.net (a commercial pilot willing to use his vacation time for the Lord). 'Course, you'll probably
want to hold onto his driver's license just to make sure you get your plane
back someday!
[That last line is a joke, but his vision and unselfishness isn't!]
ARABIC-INFO FOR FREE!
ARABIC-INFO is a free (secular) "bulletin board"
for announcements related to Arab Studies (language, literature, culture,
history, etc.) It is the largest mailing list in the fields of
Arab/Islamic/Middle Eastern studies in the world. subscribers receive job
announcements, calls for papers, announcements for conferences, new
publications, notes on research in progress, news of Arab/Middle Eastern
Studies Programs, and funding opportunities. Subscription to the list is free!
To subscribe, send the message:
subscribe arabic-info
to: majordomo@indiana.edu (Thanks Grace!!!)
OKAY - SO MAYBE SABENA TRAY TABLE THING IS AN URBAN LEGEND
At least
that's what SEVERAL readers told me. (Reference last week's item,
"HOW TO ZAP YOUR LAPTOP ON YOUR NEXT FLIGHT.") Check out http://www.sabena-usa.com/about_tips_trays.html if you want to see Sabena's answer to the "legend." I guess it's not unlike
one of those email "virus" messages that gets passed around the Net. It's
definitely a new "type" but just as deadly at sucking up bandwidth. So . . .
bottom line . . . there are evidently no magnetic tray tables. It was
someone's idea of a joke! Thanks to all those who responded on this one!
WEB-WATCH
For an example of the possibilities, check out: http:/www.sky-media.com where you'll find a free Bible survey course on-line (using RealAudio) Note
especially the Free Courseware section. In the New Testament course, there's a
teaching outline, along with discussion questions, etc., that can be viewed
while you listen to the audio file. Author Evan Morgan wrote Brigada Today this past week, "We are capturing on digital video a library of "Master
Teachers" which will be available on the internet as a free resource, or in
CD-ROM/DVD-ROM, as a product for purchase. We have around 20 courses in the
plans, and under God's hand will have them available in the next 18 months. We
also have an extensive list of internet resources, ranked by level of
difficulty. Since we are located here in the ski country of Colorado, we
ranked it using the ski slope metaphor (Green Circle (easy), Blue Square (moderate),
Black Diamond (difficult). You will find it under the Internet Resources
section." Now there's a new twist! Thanks Evan!
LOOKING FOR A RENTAL CAR FOR YOUR NEXT FURLOUGH/HOME SERVICE?
Try
Missionary Auto and Truck Service, Mike and Jeff Nottingham, Richmond, Indiana, car@mats.org (Thanks Max!). Also, one reader said International Aid was a
good resource. Ask for their booklet on agencies who rent cars for furloughing
missionaries. Their e-mail address is intlaid@juno.com. It would be
great if someone could get it, convert it to a text file and send it in here for all to
see (and we'd give credit to Int'l Aid of course).
BRIGADA IN THE NEWS?
Apparently more and more Brigada readers are
mentioning Brigada resources in print! Thanks!!! Sam just informed us that we
made the July/August Discipleship Journal. Apparently on page 111, we are
listed among the short summaries of mission-oriented web sites. Thanks to
whoever was kind enough to send it in! Please keep up the good work! We
have no marketing budget -- Brigada has no paid employees and is a totally
volunteer-run, free service. So we appreciate any help you can give to spread
the news so our family can grow!
WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR ENCRYPTED FILES
Here's a reader with a friend from
North Africa who have neatly handled the encrypted attached file problem. See
the problem is, once you encrypt an attached message (a mission newsletter,
for example), then attach it to an email, it might raise the eyebrow of someone
watching your email pass by their server. So, after encryption, this pair of
friends changes the extension to .exe, .com, or .dll so as to reduce the
suspicion that it contains encrypted material. Definitely shaken, but not stirred!
KNOW ANYBODY WITH A MARKETING STUDY ON TV IN MISSIONS?
If so, George 100235.2517@compuserve.com would like to know . . . and he pledges to report
any and all findings here on Brigada in a couple of weeks . . . so write him
today if you have any leads! He's specifically looking for "... some form of
definitive study on the effectiveness of TV ministry in missionary context in
areas such as the CIS, (Russia and Ukraine in particular) and ... in the
Muslim world at large. I am hearing statements at one end of the pendulum of 'TV is
the way to go rather than presence on the ground,' then of 'the uselessness of
TV as a means to achieve any spiritual result.' Can anyone provide George with
anything objective?
"GIVERS" CONTINUE TO SEE TRAFFIC ON THEIR SITE
The Givers Ministry has
moved vehicles, computers, musical instruments, school/bible school supplies,
etc. to needy ministries, and they believe that the Lord is about to open the
floodgates and bring a tidal wave of givers through their site. They wrote Brigada Today this past week, "It is our hope that by the end of 1998, there
will be over 500 full-time, Christian ministries and their needs registered
with the Givers Ministry, and that God's abundance will be flowing like a
powerful river back into His ministries." For more info., write info@giversministry.org or see http://www.giversministry.org Remember, the site only deals with NON-monetary requests. TO SUBSCRIBE -- To subscribe to BRIGADA TODAY, send email to brigada-today-subscribe@egroups.com.
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COPYRIGHT -- This issue of Brigada Today is Copyrighted © 2001. However, permission is granted to freely redistribute
these materials, including those available through email autoresponders, provided that such redistribution is to those who
will help the Good News of Christianity to reach the unreached. But please include this phrase: "For a free subscription of Brigada's weekly missions publication, write <brigada-today-subscribe@egroups.com>."
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DISCLAIMER -- Please note that there's no way we can possibly screen all the text on all the web sites or items we recommend. We try to
check them out first... but if we miss something, please don't assume that the opinions on those sites are identical to those
of the Brigada family of networks. "Eat the corn, leave
the cob!" 
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SUBMITTING CONTENT -- To submit content or ideas to Brigada Today, first please get a copy of "Guidelines for submitting items to Brigada"
Then, once you've composed your item in keeping with those guidelines, send your item for Brigada Today to DLucas@teamexpansion.org.
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Emphasis is placed on items relating to unreached peoples and challenges faced by those reaching them cross-culturally.
PLEASE DON'T SUBSCRIBE US TO YOUR LIST -- It's always better to ask before manually force-adding anyone to your list-serve or mailing list. Recently, tons of well-meaning people have been subscribing Doug to their lists. Since he often travels overseas, he doesn't join many of those, for obvious reasons (like being charged big-time for overseas access). So as a general rule, please don't bulk-mail us! See the note above if you'd like to submit items for Brigada Today. Thanks for understanding. Bottom line: We will never create Brigada Today items from bulk mail. Bulk mail gets deleted immediately -- sorry. Nothing personal. We suggest you apply the same standard to everyone. Ask first!
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BRIGADA TODAY IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE FOLLOWING TEAM OF REGULAR VOLUNTEERS:
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