19950507 Brigada Today

News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
Compiled byDLucas@TeamExpansion.org
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]
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In this issue….

NETWORKING QUESTS FOR MOROCCO AND ESTONIA

This past week, we rec’d a note from Allen Page brud@esslink.com asking that we put word out for the “hutterian brethren”, who are searching for an email contact in Morocco. If you have information or would like to check out this quest, write to brud@webbsco.esslink.com. Note: As in all cases regarding Muslim countries, please be sensitive to the kinds of messages you send to believers in Islamic areas. Some email hubs — and sysops — are wide open to scanning for key words in subject lines and text. Yet another user is apparently looking for contacts in Estonia — “Norie L. Roeder” 73611.1555@compuserve.com. These were evidently broadcast on “MissionNet” by Ron Smith.

THE YEAR 2000 HAS MEANING FOR OTHERS BEYOND LUIS BUSH!

Did you happen to catch the LA Times on May 2? (What? You don’t read the Times each day?

) Check out page E1. The material is copyrighted, so we won’t republish it here, but you can probably locate a copy at your public library. Briefly stated, the article describes all kinds of “end of the millennium” celebrations that will occur, including comments and plans by Jack Hayford, Robert Schuller, and even the Pope himself. For those of us in missions circles, we can only hope that this era of celebration would help draw attention and momentum to the plans and prayers we’re laying before the Lord. Interestingly enough, a large section of the article consists of quotes and comments from author Jay Gary. The LA Times quotes Gary as saying, “‘No one would let their grandmother’s 100th birthday go by without a tremendous celebration,’ says author Jay Gary. ‘So we shouldn’t let the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus pass without giving him a magnificent tribute.'” Of Jay, the paper reports, “Gary, 40, a Colorado consultant who refers to himself as ‘the Millennium Doctor,’ is top cheerleader for a turn-of-the-century Christmas spectacular. He has written a book (“The Star of 2000″), cranked out press releases and created an Internet forum to promote the idea.” As a matter of fact, the author of the Times article seems fairly positive toward Jay’s book. He writes, “Gary’s book offers a multitude of suggestions: religious pilgrimages (Rome, for example, is reportedly expecting an extra 10 million visitors in 2000), Jesus video parties (watching Franco Zefirelli’s six-hour epic “Jesus of Nazareth” with friends at home), walking in a worldwide March for Jesus (this May 27 and continuing each year until 2000), attending plays such as “Godspell” or “Jesus Christ Superstar,” or making a special donation to charity. Even a small act is meaningful, he says, quoting an ancient proverb, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” And what about his own plans for Christmas, 2000? On that point, the Millennium Doctor remains surprisingly uncertain: ‘My calendar is still open.'”

Most interesting to Brigada followers will be the fact that Jay often frequents Brigada conferences himself — jgary@rainbow.rmii.com! Congratulations Jay! Great to have a “famous person” on board the Brigada network!

KURDS COMING TO CHRIST, BUT MAYBE NOT AS FAST AS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED!

Thanks [again] to Bob Skiles, who sent word last week that “over 100 Kurds had recently come to Christ in one of the greatest “people movements” of our day.” This week, Bob gave a slight correction to his comments, mentioning that he has now learned that these 100 comments had apparently come over a more extended period of time throughout the past few years. So we can still rejoice that God’s word is spreading, and pray that this is a prophetic error???

BRIGADA-PEOPLES-ARAB PARTICIPANT SUGGESTS MIDDLE EAST NEWS SOURCE

So what goes on in all those conferences below Brigada’s “top level”? At the least, resource sharing! Take Bill Kelley’s comments this past week, for example. “If you are looking for a email news service that focuses on the Middle East, I’d suggest MSA news. Subscribe to MSANews-request@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu. One word of warning: This list produces an awful lot information. Does anybody else have a favorite news source?” Bill is a CrossConnect member at BillKelley@XC.org. Keep up the good work, Bill!

BRIGADA-PUBS-GCOWENEWS OFF AND RUNNING

Never have so many bytes been broadcast so quickly!!! If GCOWE 95 does nothing else, it will at least produce lots of text!!!

The Brigada-Pubs-GcoweNews channel is up and running. Many Brigada participants sleuthed it out this past week before it was even officially announced and have already subscribed and begun receiving material!!! Throughout the next couple of weeks, Brigada will go “on site” at the Global Consultation on World Evangelization with interviews, reports and chronicles of the biggest and most global Christian event of the decade… and maybe in history. If you can’t travel to Seoul, but want lots of email reports in your in-basket, send email to hub@xc.org with only the following words in the text of the message:
subscribe brigada-pubs-gcowenews

You’ll begin receiving near-daily reports immediately. When you do subscribe, you will already have missed several mailings. If you’d like to catch up on everything in one fell swoop, send email (again) to hub@xc.org with only the following words in the text of the message:
get brigada-pubs-gcowenews.9505

This command will send you the archive record of all of the conference’s mailings in one shot.

Here are some of items already posted… so you can get a sense of GCOWE without having to endure jet lag!

gcowe-intro.bush – An article by Luis Bush describing what GCOWE hopes to accomplish
intro-for-gcowe-delegates.950512 – Text taken directly from the Introduction section of the GCOWE Participants’ Notebook
gcowe-sched.950512 – Daily schedule for GCOWE delegates, from the beginning to the end of the consultation
natl-plans.950512 – GCOWE notebook text describing the purpose and format for meetings based around plans for each nation in attendance
partnership.950512 – Excellent section of GCOWE notebook dealing with the development of partnerships. Get this one if you don’t get any other.

Make sure you observe “case” on these files (i.e., don’t use upper case when the file name is given in lower case).

INTERESTED IN ENCRYPTION?

The Brigada-Projects-Security conference continues to brainstorm regarding communication in and out of sensitive areas. Recently, Speed the Need operator, David Hatch speed@netnet.net, found a great FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) file on the WorldWide Web. To view it, point your browser at:
http://www2.infoseek.com/Titles?qt=encryption+faq

Remember that Compuserve users now have 3 hours per month on the www included in their base monthly rate (when using Version 1.4).

ATTENTION GCOWE DELEGATES AND THEIR FRIENDS/FAMILY

Wanting to send email to a delegate at GCOWE? Pete Holzmann, who is in Seoul working frantically to lay the groundwork for the conference, informs us that the mailbox, gcowe-message@xc.org can be used for this purpose. Users should make sure they put the person’s name at the top of the form. Volunteers in Seoul will print the message, then post it on the message board. Those expecting to receive emailed messages should check the board daily.

In addition, Pete has issued the following contact phone numbers, just set up as of last night! Message center: fax number 82-2-570-7729; Message center telephone #: 82-2-570-7720,7721,7722.

Pete also adds, that telephone line adapters are available locally for about $4) each.

And MOST importantly — Pete writes, “If anyone has not told us their travel plans (flights, dates, times), send it in NOW. We can’t pick you up otherwise. AND, if you are booked for a hotel room and don’t show, YOU WILL BE BILLED FOR IT. Hotels are holding out huge piles of rooms for GCOWE delegates; no-shows are responsible for their own rooms.

NEW CONFERENCES

Watch for special announcements for several new conferences to be added in the next few days. Already launched is a new conference called brigada-orgs-uscwm-budelpeople that tracks developments and opportunities in India as chronicled by US Center for World Mission. For a current list of other Brigada conferences, complete with a one-line description of each, send email to hub@xc.org with only the following words in the text of the message:
conferences

LOOK AT THE WWW & SEE HOW WE’LL SUBSCRIBE TO CONFERENCES IN THE FUTURE

If you’ve got access to the worldwide web, point your browser to this experimental page: http://www.xc.org/Brigada/howtofor.html This is a cooperative experiment between Brigada and CrossConnect’s Jonathan Marsden. In short, using a WorldWide Web page form, you’ll be able to subscribe to any conference you choose and automatically start receiving updates in your inbasket. No more commands to remember — and no more sending messages to the ‘hub’. We hope this will answer one of the primary areas in which Brigada users experience difficulty. Watch in the future for the full activation of this new approach. Thanks to Jonathan Marsden for his cooperation on this venture — for the benefit of all CrossConnect conferences!