Now with 1753 Participants!
News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]

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In this issue….

* YOU TOOK US SERIOUSLY – WE GREW BY 65 USERS IN ONE WEEK!
* GROWTH IS REAL GROWTH!
* GET READY TO FAST FAST!
* HOW DO YOU TRAIN A TENTMAKER?
* $39 QUESTION: “WHAT’S A MUSLIM?”
* ONCE YOU WATCH THEM ON TV, YOU’RE READY TO EXPERIENCE THEM!
* GO NATIVE!
* GLOBAL GLIMPSE OF GLOBAL TV
* BACK TO SCHOOL DAYS FOR NON-RESIDENT MISSIONARIES
* GEMS FROM GEM
* “DO YOU WORK FOR AD2000 OR SOMETHING?”
* TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY

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YOU TOOK US SERIOUSLY – WE GREW BY 65 USERS IN ONE WEEK!
Thanks for the way you forwarded last week’s issue of Brigada Today! We have 8 more issues to go before our anniversary… and if we grew at this past week’s rate we’d fall just a couple of hundred users short of our goal to be at 2500 by March 21st, when we’re exactly 1 year old. So, if you can possibly spread the word by forwarding this issue to a friend or two, we’d love to have them on board! Thanks!

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GROWTH IS REAL GROWTH!
Greg Parsons, Executive Director of the US Center for World Missions wrote this past week to ask, “It would help me to know if your counts of people involved in conferences on Brigada are multiple entries. Let’s say I am on three, do I get counted three time in your list of 1688 (which sound strangely similar to the [number of peoples on the] list of JP peoples! :-) ).” Thanks for asking, Greg. Nope… When we say there are now 1753 participants in the top level (Brigada Today), that means 1753 different participants. Many are subscribed to more than one conference and some are members of sub-conferences under the top level even though they aren’t even receiving the Brigada Today! If you’d like to know the total number of subscriptions to various conferences, that’s somewhere around 5623. (Actually, as of 3pm yesterday it was exactly 5623. I counted. [Just kidding …about the ‘counting’ part. But I’m serious about the 5623 subscriptions. To determine that figure, I used some cool statistical output that Jonathan made available to us. Thanks Jonathan.])

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GET READY TO FAST FAST!
January 21 kicks off the official daily excerpts by e-mail for the month of Ramadan and the prayer emphasis. , So Jan. 19 & 20th will have a page of helpful instruction each day including some addresses of where to get hard-copy editions. Then the daily excerpts will help you to pray and intercede along with an estimated 5 million Christians. These daily topics are focused and have information, statistics, sometimes stories and always prayer points. … All daily excerpts are less than a page long for easy printouts. Please invite others to join us in interceding in Jesus name these 30 days which correspond to Ramadan. To subscribe to the e-mailed version, please send e-mail to hub@xc.org with the body of the message reading:
subscribe 30-days

For those of you with Web access, you can view the full-color cover, read additional information, order books on Islam and find other useful resources at: http://www.ywam.org/30daytxt.html. However, you will not find the daily excerpts here, they are only available from 30-Days@xc.org

Let us believe God for an outpouring of His Spirit on our Muslim neighbors worldwide. Let us pray and believe for the fulfillment of Revelation 7:9, that every group, including the peoples of Islam, will be represented before the throne of God on that final day.

[Thanks to Ron Kernahan RonKernahan@XC.Org for this info.!]

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HOW DO YOU TRAIN A TENTMAKER?
Before some wise guy comes back with the suggestion of an “in-tent-sive” course :-) , let me tell you what we mean! Bill Taylor wrote with this question: “I’m speaking at a tentmakers conference in a restricted access Asian nation early next month. Can anyone out there give me information about designed training of tentmakers?” If you’ve got a training idea or model for Bill and the WEF Missions Commission, send it to brigada-projects-training@xc.org for Bill and others there to read. To subscribe to this brand new conference, send email to hub@xc.org with only the words
subscribe brigada-projects-training

in the text of the message body. Who should join? Trainers, curriculum developers, missions profs, students with a sincere desire to contribute to good training bases, experienced missionaries who would like to put their two cents into the training equation, and more. NOTE: Long term, we need a new moderator for this brand new conference. Obviously, this moderator will need an XC.org address (since only those individuals with XC.org addresses can moderate MAFxc conferences). To get an XC.org address, a MAFxc membership, and lots of other benefits combined, write to helpdesk@xc.org for a form and instructions. Cost is $52/yearly. You’ll still need your local INTERNET service provider, but your mail will be forwarded through MAFxc’s hub and you’ll be able to help contribute to training and the growth of world missions around the globe! Note that of you’re interested in joining MAFxc, you should not write to Brigada or simply reply to this note. We don’t receive those applications nor the bucks nor much of anything else… except mail! :-) Write to helpdesk@xc.org . But do join the conference and send in your training advice and tips!

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$39 QUESTION: “WHAT’S A MUSLIM?”
Want to get a fast, thorough and culturally sensitive education about Islam??? Try these tapes from John Blake. The guy spent 5 years living with Muslims before he invested the entire last year (that’s right… you read it correctly… I said year as in 12 months!) making these tapes. And for whom??? You, that’s who. “This series was co-produced (i.e. funded) by ten different missions groups who work in the Middle East,” John told us this past week. “It was also assisted by countless people from many other agencies who provided video footage, people, interviews and critical input. These people put so much into this production, because they want to get rid of stereotypes we in the West have of the Arab people. They are viewed for the most part as terrorists and the enemy of the West. This series puts them in the proper perspective. As Colin Chapman, expert and writer on Islam says, “It’s time we saw the Arabs as the warm hospitable people they really are.”

There are six 20-minute sessions (just right for Sunday Schools or Wed. night studies) on one humongously resourceful videotape. Dudley Woodberry, (who appears in the series) said this video “…should be in every Christian Church and College.” The series originally sold for $79.95 — honest. But tell them you heard about it on Brigada and… get this… you’ll get the series for $39.95! (‘Course, even if you fail to tell them, they’ll sell it for $39.95 anyway, but would you believe that if you tell them you heard about it on Brigada then maybe they’ll at least throw in a free videotape case???) To order write to

Middle East Media
P.O. Box 359
Lynnwood WA
98046

Or, if you’re in the USA, phone John on his new 800 number at 1-800-981-6700 and let him pay for the call! If you’re calling from overseas or in the Seattle area, the phone number is (206)745-4206. And you can even email him at 72774.1766@compuserve.com. Half price. Cool.

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ONCE YOU WATCH THEM ON TV, YOU’RE READY TO EXPERIENCE THEM!
And that’s exactly what Robert Douglas has in mind for you! He’s the former director of the Zwemmer Institute and is now a seminary professor at Lincoln Christian College & Seminary, Lincoln, IL. He’s got this training program in Turkey called CASC — Central Asia Study Center, “created by agencies working in Central Asia to enable Christian workers to acquire or upgrade skills and knowledge which facilitate the goal of planting churches among Muslims in Central Asia and the Caucuses.” CASC is located in an overseas city which has strategic Muslim people groups. CASC’s operation is under the direction of eight Evangelical agencies who have invested time and people in Central Asia for some time.” For more information contact

Robert C. Douglas
Mission 21
box 675
Lincoln, Il. 62656

or phone 217-732-3168, or fax 217 732-1821, or e-mail rcdougla@prairienet.org

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GO NATIVE!
Thanks to Doug Larson who just picked up info. on a great new www/research site from Internic’s Scout Report. According to Doug, “NativeWeb, a rich source of information and documents about indigenous peoples, has moved to a new location and has been expanded since we reported on it last year. The site seeks to “provide a cyber-place for Earth’s indigenous peoples.” The site at present provides pointers to North and South American indigenous peoples’ resources, and promises in future to provide sources for Asia and Africa. Information is available by Subject Categories, Geographic Regions, Nations/Peoples, Native Languages and Literature, Native Newsletters and Journals, Native Organizations, and Bibliographies. An electronic store offers listings of mostly Native-owned enterprises, and a Native events calendar is also provided. http://web.maxwell.syr.edu/nativeweb/ To subscribe to the NativeWeb mailing list, send a message to: LISTSERV@THECITY.SFSU.EDU In the body of the message type:
SUB NATIVEWEB yourfirstname yourlastname

[Hats off to Doug Larson!]

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GLOBAL GLIMPSE OF GLOBAL TV
“Evangelist Billy Graham plans to target 2.5 billion via a global TV series in ’96,” says Global Glimpse column writer John Hanna. “Being broadcast in 42 languages on national television networks in more than 160 countries, the Global Television Series will also be carried on two of the world’s largest intercontinental satellite networks, STAR-TV and BSKYB, covering approximately two-thirds of the world’s population. As with all Graham projects, local churches will be mobilized for follow-up.”
Source: Baptist Press via Christianity On-Line, a service of American On Line.
(GLOBAL GLIMPSE is edited by John Hanna, Caleb Project, Littleton, CO)

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BACK TO SCHOOL DAYS FOR NON-RESIDENT MISSIONARIES
Thanks to Jeff Pike and Jeff Neely for making available a two-page file on their program for Non-Resident Missionaries, May 27th – July 3rd. To find out more about their school at Harpendon, send email to hub@xc.org with only this line of text:
get brigada nrm

That’s it! In just a few minutes, it’ll come back to you like bees to honey! You’ll then be reading how NRMs can be trained and effective, especially as it relates to their planning and strategizing.
Thanks Jeff and Jeff!

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GEMS FROM GEM
Be sure to visit the Global Evangelization Movement’s new web site at http://www.regent.edu/acad/schdiv/ The latest statistics on the Top 211 Least Evangelized peoples and other resources can be found there.
Thanks for being there Justin!

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“DO YOU WORK FOR AD2000 OR SOMETHING?”
Thanks to Brian Jose, who expressed his concern….:

Dear Doug,

I am writing this “letter to the editor” to Brigada c/o you. I hope you are the right person!

If there’s someone to blame, I’m he. The buck stops here. :-)

First, may I congratulate and affirm your efforts as you mark year one!
May Brigada grow and prosper as you seek to serve the Kingdom. May you be
increasingly part of God’s plans for the nations.

As you seek to see Brigada grow, and encourage us to “tell a friend”, I thought you might want to hear some of my perceptions, and those of the friends I tell about Brigada.

Basically, there is a perception that Brigada seems increasingly to be focused on the AD2000 and Beyond initiative. Many of us working around the world praise God for the PART that AD2000 is playing in God’s work.

However, at least those of us who live in Europe observe that there are many other individuals, groups, networks and initiatives which God is using in addition to those who identify closely with AD2000. I believe it would strengthen both the impact and the appeal of Brigada if it were to actively work toward a more inclusive perspective. Some people whom I have told about Brigada have seen it and dismiss it with comments like, “oh, that’s that AD2000 thing”. I don’t believe you would want to have that image!

I hope this slightly less than encouraging comment is taken as it is intended: with the hope that Brigada will grow, prosper and become an even more significant contributor to world evangelism. May your tribe increase! Sincerely, Brian Jose International Teams

Thanks Brian! Appreciate your input! We are not at all attached to the AD2000 & Beyond Movement, but in my private reply to you, I shared… “we’ve mainly been trying to just report what seems to be the ‘state of the art’ in ‘what’s happening’ out there in the evangelical ‘consultation’ world… though I realize it doesn’t at all reflect what’s happening in the day-to-day operations there where front-lines ‘on the ground’ teams are working. But like it or not, much of the new momentum for missions is threaded through and through the AD2000 & Beyond Movement.”

Upon receiving this note, you responded…

I know lots of things are happening through AD2000 and Beyond. I hope
very few of us are in the “not like” category! Such would not further the
Kingdom, I would assert. I freely admit to being an idealist in cooperation
matters. I seek to cooperate and partner in principle, even if it is not
always the most “pragmatic” way. I believe it is right. Period. So I like
the fact that much is happening through AD2000 & Beyond. I just don’t want
AD2000 & Beyond to miss out on anything happening among the other
macro-focused networking and cooperative initiatives. Again, I speak most
specifically about Europe in this context, but with a vision that Europe’s
resources be increasingly applied to the worldwide goals of AD2000 & Beyond.

Great finish, Brian!!! Although I can’t claim to know Luis Bush and the other AD2000 & Beyond leadership very intimately, I have at least had the opportunity to watch them in action on a few occasions and I can now promise you that they would all be keenly interested in your last comment!!! They would covet the chance to see more and more of Europe’s resources applied toward finishing the task… both inside and outside of Europe. And I think they would also want to help fan the flames of any other global or regional effort to get the gospel to every person! So… thanks for helping us clarify that, though we are excited by the momentum we see in AD2000 & Beyond, let us not focus on that network as the end result, but rather, on that network’s ability, along with all others, to hasten the completion of God’s great global plan!

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TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY, send email to hub@xc.orgwith only the following message:
subscribe brigada

TO UNSUBSCRIBE send email to hub@xc.orgwith this line in the text:
unsubscribe brigada
(then take cover from the email bomb * we’ll send your way. :-) )

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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
ADVANCE: Mark A. Kelley, Kainos Press, 70420.1057@compuserve.com
Web Wizard: Bob Mayhew, Univ. of California, mayhew@xc.org
Web Art: Patti Mayhew, pmayhew@discover.net
Technical Development: Jonathan Marsden, MAFxc jonathan@xc.org
Admin. & Music Therapy :-) : Revis Ann Massey, rmassey@post.cis.smu.edu
Editor: Doug Lucas, Team Expansion & Brigada, DLucas@TeamExpansion.org
and many other occasional contributors too numerous to mention! But thanks for working together! That’s the dream of Brigada!