Brigada Today
04 Sep 1998

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Now with over 7500 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.]

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In this issue....

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IF YOU USE BRIGADA TODAY ITEMS IN YOUR NEWS BULLETIN

We're thrilled! May God bless it! We only ask that you include a subscribe instruction. And it's just gotten easier. Just put one email address behind your item... like this... (Source: brigada-today-subscribe@egroups.com). That'll subscribe them and inform them about the service in one step. Note that the subject AND text are ignored. This is TONS better than putting Doug Lucas' email address (he gets enough email as it is :-) ).

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DID ANYONE FOLLOW THE PIPER?

... the book that is... by John Piper. Beth Underwood hbunder@email.msn.com is curious to know if Piper has influenced worship services, if churches are discovering ways to combine worship and missions so that worship is the fuel for missions? If you have a case study or example, please fire it off for Beth and she'll assemble these and report back in a month.

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MIRROR, MIRROR, ON THE WEB, CAN YOU SEARCH BRIGADA?

WebWatch The answer is yes! The Brigada Website is now mirrored at http://www.brigada.worldchurches.org/. This site also includes a faster and more reliable search engine for issues of Brigada Today and Advance!.

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CALLING ALL EXPAT CHURCHES

Roger RogerDoriot@XC.Org wants information on expatriate churches -- churches in locations with a considerable number of missionaries and other foreigners in the community. He's looking for tips for leadership, membership, types of ministries, etc. Why is he looking for this stuff? He's just been chosen as chairman of the mission community church in Sentani, Irian Jaya, where expat. worshippers total about 200! If you've got some info., drop it his way and he's pledged to write up a report and post it for us here later.

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SO WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE "GET" FILES

Lyris logo If you are seeking one of the old "get" files on Brigada (a file that was previously available via a "get" statement to the hub), just stand by. MAFxc is in the process of preparing similar technology for use with the new Lyris software. Once it's available, we'll announce it immediately. In the meantime, all of those "oldies but goodies" get files are still available via the Brigada web site at . . . you guessed it . . . http://www.brigada.org.

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CATCH AN ACMC CONFERENCE

Westerners in the USA, ACMC is coming your way . . . or maybe to a location near you . . . The first is in Fresno California at Northwest Church, September 25-26, 1998, featuring a one-day Children's Festival led by Jan Radford of Peoples' Church, Keynote Speakers Richard Allen Farmer from Dallas TX, Jim Franklin--Senior Pastor from Cornerstone Assembly of God Church, and Dr Fermin Whittaker--Executive Director of California Southern Baptist Convention.

The other is in Fremont CA at Fremont Community Church, November 6-7, 1998, featuring Keynote Speakers, Dr Manuel Fernandez of Madrid Spain, Rev Art Beales of University Presbyterian Church, Seattle WA, and Dr Peter Wilkes of South Hills Community Church, San Jose CA. For more information and brochures contact John Dupree at ACMC Pacific Central Region, 209-848-2262 or by e-mail: at ACMCjdupree@compuserve.com.

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PLEASE DON'T DISNEY (BOGUS WITH A CAPITAL "B")

lighting the way We agree with Wayne (who wrote us this past week)... if you receive an email from Bill Gates, Nike, or Disney, odds are, it's Bogus with a capital "B." Please don't relay it to me. :-) ... or anyone else for that matter. Wayne feels that someone could make a good case for a legal suit (for slander or misuse of a trademarked name or whatever) in such cases.

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OKAY... SO MAYBE HOTBOT WINS

lighting the way Last week we were excited about Excite (search engine) and this week, thanks to Rod, we're hot about HotBot. Check out the great review at http://www.cnet.com/Content/Reviews/Compare/Search2/ss01.html.

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UP WITH LEADERSHIP SEMINARS IN UPPSALA

Here's your chance to catch a leadership seminar in Uppsala, October 6-9, 1998, with Pastor Ulf Ekman. His apostolic ministry has encouraged and inspired ministers and leaders around the world. The seminar is open for everybody. Jan-Olov Swanberg janolovs@livetsord.se has more information.

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HAVE DOCTOR WILL TRAVEL: TRAVDOC

The Pregnant Traveler, the travel medicine people who did the expatriate pregnancy survey, have now started TravDoc Consultation Services. For less than the cost of an office visit, Dr. Carroll and his staff will analyze your entire medical history and match it with your overseas trip (short term or long term). They will send you a comprehensive report with current recommendations regarding vaccinations, medicines and other health and safety issues. Whenever possible they will direct you to facilities close to home where you can get your shots, etc. Located in Michigan, close to International Aid, they also run a clinic where they can do pre- and post-travel exams. From information gained in their surveys they may also be able to help you find competent medical care overseas. Call them toll free (in the USA or via Net2Phone) at 1-877-TRAVDOC, or e-mail: them at TravDoc@compuserve.com.

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SOMEBODY'S GOTTA CHECK OUT THIS EMAIL CALLBACK SERVICE

Okay. So here's the deal. You apparently email this address from overseas and suddenly, you get a callback with a US dial tone??? This I gotta see... or hear ... or whatever. Who will check out http://www.musictus.com/telecom/ and give us a report. They apparently have recently lowered their rates, too. They offer International Callback, US long distance, calling cards, Internet Phone and fax, and many other services. They wrote this past week, "Our customers are now able to get a callback by using their E-mail. All the customer has to do is send an E-mail to a specified address. The access number (APN) that they wish to trigger should be in the subject of the E-mail. A callback will be received in approximately 15-30 seconds." Who will be the brave one to try it out from overseas? :-)

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TOLL-FREE SALVATION STORY?

According to Drew Dickens ddickens@ix.netcom.com , Need Him National Media Outreach is committed to intentionally presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ to all people, using all forms of media, and providing an opportunity to respond. Drew reports via Mark, "We have over 700 volunteers that answer 888-NEED HIM calls 24 hours / 7 days a week and have received over 55,000 calls for salvation and nearly 9,000 decisions for Christ since April 1997. In addition to our decision counseling strategy for the United States, Need Him is the recipient of the world's very first international toll-free number: 1-800-4-633-3446. (It spells "I Need Him") The system will capture the country code of every inbound call and automatically route it to a recorded plan of salvation and volunteer in the caller's language." Evidently they need lots more volunteers to get the system fully functional. If you're interested, give 'em a call or email:.

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FINISH IN STYLE

Finishers Forum '98 (FF '98) is the "Urbana"-like conference for career people. With the early registration period ended, the conference is subscribed to about 75% capacity. Over 30 of the leading sending organizations are exhibiting. Another 20 organizations were turned away due to lack of space. Dr. John Piper, author of "Let the Nations be Glad," is the featured speaker. The conference is being sponsored by the Navigators at the Westin O'Hare Hotel, Chicago, October 1-3. Call (800) 981-6703 (in the USA or via Net2phone), email nelsonm@compuserve.com, or visit www.finishers.org for more information. Watch for the Finishers Project in the news. Christianity Today is doing a feature articles slated to appear late September. It will be featured in the September-October issue of Missions Frontiers and reported on in the November issue of Discipleship Journal.

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TEACHING TESOL-ERS TO TEACH ENGLISH

The dates are November 9 - December 18, 1998. The place is YWAM, Roaring Branch, Pa. The instructors are David & Vicky Scott, from Kona, HI. The course is a 6-week intensive course will equip you to teach conversational English to non-English speakers. A certificate from University of Nations will be awarded upon successful completion of the course. For more info., tel. 717-673-3338, or email: 103074.3726@compuserve.com.

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VEGGIE TALES PREPARED IN SPANISH

Veggie Tales, the computer animated kids cartoon videos, have now sold more than 5 million copies (at $14.95 each) since being launched in December 1993. (4.6 million from Word and about 700,000 through outlets like Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Kmart). The latest title, Madame Blueberry, which released just last week, is setting sales records according to Bob Elder, Word's Exec. Mktg. Dir. (57,000 copies in the first 7 days). Veggie Tales is the "dreamwork" of Big Idea Productions owned by Phil Vischer. Four titles are now available in Spanish and may be ordered through usual channels. Check out the Website (with your kids!) at http://www.bigidea.com.

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COMMENTARIES RUSSIAN TO MARKET

For those working in Russian speaking countries, Christian Life International Bible College has released a set of modern day Bible commentaries in the Russian language. They have a 21-volume set of books (only the first 5 area available right now - more to come) that cover Genesis to Revelation. Each book averages about 200 pages (in the A4 format - 8.27" x 11.69") and some are over 300 pages. They also offer these materials in French, and several Indian dialects. For more info email clibc.rus@clcnet.org. Or, call Christian Life Church, tel. 415-892-0714, fax 415-892-1818, and ask for the Russian administrator of CLIBC.

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NEED A GETAWAY IN THE ROCKIES?

Now you've got it, thanks to Gary Taylor gary@operatorservices.com. Gary wrote this past week, "God has given us a remarkably beautiful little ranch in the Rocky Mountains near Colorado Springs and success in our Kingdom business. To steward these, we've transformed our guest cabin overlooking the windmill meadow into a high priced tourist rental. When it is not booked, we'd like to offer it for a few days or a week to missionaries needing decompression, writing, reflection, etc. We'd charge only something nominal, like $20 to cover costs." Sounds like a great deal. Check it out and let us know how it goes!

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PHONE HOME FROM THE NEXT HOME OVER

If you do most of your walking from within the same general area of villages or compounds, you MIGHT be able to get by with Panasonic's new Gigarange (2.4 GHZ frequency -- digital cordless), if you're expecting an important call from a grandparent or granddaughter. Call 1-800-211-PANA (in the USA or using Net2Phone) or browse http://www.panasonic.com/gigarange for more information. This cordless phone now carries for "about a country mile!" Range among buildings and other obstacles varies, of course.

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UPGRADE READY FOR GRABBING

Thanks to Rod for the heads up on PGP's new version, http://www.pgp.com:8001/freeware/PGPfreeware60.exeDownload This is version 6.0 and it's free of charge in the USA. Check the site for international options.

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HEADS UP ON SAT-EMAIL

letter and ligntening bolt Thanks to Joel for the heads-up on the new device announced at sites like http://www.magellangps.com/Wireless/GSC100/GSC100Wr.html and http://www.wired.com/news/technology/story/14624.html. The big news is that the Magellan GSC 100 is expected to cost about US$1000 (making it the least expensive sat-communicator to date), with an activation fee of $49.95 and a $29.95 monthly access charge. (This includes 10 messages and 30 message checks; after the first ten messages, there’s a one-cent charge per character.) So . . . bottom line, you'll have a device not too much bigger than the universal remote control for your VCR/TV, which can not only show you your exact position in the jungle (via a GPS), but also help you walk back out to your vehicle or airstrip. In addition, you'll be able to email the wife and kids (or . . . should I say, the husband and kids??? :-) ) from the village! This is NEARLY Dick Tracy at his best... and getting more and more affordable. Okay... so it's not ready for the masses yet... but it's better than anything we've seen to date. Somebody check this out firsthand and get us a review!

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BRIGADA TODAY IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE FOLLOWING TEAM OF REGULAR VOLUNTEERS:

*Global Glimpses: John Hanna, Caleb Project, jhanna@cproject.com
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"If you've been asked to lead, you've been asked to serve."
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