News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
Now with over 950 Participants!
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]
Visit Brigada on WorldWide Web: http://www.xc.org/brigada/brigada.html

-------------------

In this issue….

--------------------------------------

ABU DHABI, ANYONE? (FROM THE CHRISTIAN INFORMATION NETWORK)

Beverly Pegues, Director of the Christian Information Network and co-Coordinator of “Praying Through the Window II” wanted to share the following update with Brigada Today readers. (Thanks for taking time to write, Beverly!!! I’m sure your schedule has gone crazy!!! :-) Only 15 more days ’til October. Please take time to write as often as possible. Several readers are asking how they’ll get updates on the prayer journeys — and if you’ll keep sending the information, we’ll keep getting it out the door!)

“Is there anybody going to any of the gateway cities? We are especially concerned about the following cities because they have three or fewer journeys taking place. Please contact Beverly Pegues at Christian Information Network to register your journey if you have not yet done so. Her e-mail address is 73422.3471@compuserve.com , phone number if (719) 522-1040 and fax (719) 548-9000.

The cities are: Abu Dhabi, Amritsar, Asmara, Bamako, Banjul, Beirut, Bissau, Chongqing, Conakry, Damascus, Djibouti, Doha, Dushanbe, El Aaiun, Fukuoka/ Kita/Kyushu, Gaza, Hohhot, Jaipur, Jinan, Kanpur, Karachi, Kuwait City, Lahore, Lanzhou, Lucknow, Male, Mashhad, Mecca, Mogadishu, Muscat, N’Djamena, Nouakchott, Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto, Patna, Riyadh, Sana’a, Shenyang, Taiyuan, Thimpu, Tripoli, Tunis, Varanasi, and Xian.” … Blessings! Beverly Pegues

--------------------------------------

WEB SITES YA GOTTA’ CHECK OUT

Don’t miss this one: http://bible.acu.edu/ctt
(Thanks Greg Slade — camsoc@xc.org)
--------------------------------------

SEPTEMBER ADVANCE READY FOR THE PICKING

Don’t miss this month’s Advance. If you’re reading this on the worldwide web, you’ll eventually be able to just click here to read it live… or, if you’re reading this as email, send a note to hub@xc.org with the following line as the only text of your message:
get brigada advance.9509

Want a peak at the topics in this month’s issue? Advance: September 1995
THE GOSPEL FOR EVERY PEOPLE — Reports from India, Azerbaijan and Nepal. Concerns about work permits and visas in Mongolia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
THE PERSECUTED CHURCH — South Korea missionary disappears in China. Bangladeshi pastor beaten and stabbed. Christian colony established. Churches dynamited in Nicaragua. Christian meeting attacked in Ghana. Four Chinese believers sentenced to prison. PSB arrests 300 believers.
SPIRITUAL FORCES OF DARKNESS — Churches host Liberian reconciliation meeting. U.N. women’s rights conference convenes. PRC oppression of women, unborn. Girls “dedicated” as Hindu temple prostitutes. Extremists threaten moderate political leaders.
REJOICE! — Reports from Brazil, India and Tanzania.

NETWORKING — Spiritual warfare resources. Children praying through the Window. Brigada. Human Rights Watch study. Indo-Malay Media Outreach.
FRONT LINES — Subverting the kingdom of darkness
[Thanks to Mark Kelley for the tremendous job he does compiling this email publication. It’s a real honor to have him as a co-volunteer in the Brigada Today project.]

--------------------------------------

ANNOUNCING THE BIRTH OF: BRIGADA-MEDICINE-FOR-POOR

Thanks to Matthew Grant MatthewGrant@XC.Org and his vision for the poor… and for medicine for the poor! He’s gearing up for a new Brigada discussion group. He writes, “This conference is a discussion on helping medically in poor countries. Christians and non-Christians are welcome. The intent is to foster discussion about projects that could provide or assist in providing effective help to poor people, and to provide a place where people can get together and find others who could help them in this area. A lot of the discussion could be of a technical nature, as the founder of this group is interested in fostering discussion of how the Internet and Computers can be used to help in 3rd World medical situations. If there is a lot of traffic, separate groups will be formed. Those from Mission organisations [I know, I know… It’s a “z” on this side of the world but after all, he is from New Zealand!] are welcome to join. It would be interesting to have your input into this topic and to hear about your experiences. The founder hopes and prays that this conference can help you further your work.” To join, just send email to hub@xc.org with the following line in the body of the message text:
subscribe brigada-medicine-for-poor
--------------------------------------

SUPPOSE WE KNOW THIS TRILINGUAL GIRL…

Okay, so suppose we know this trilingual girl… Chinese (that’s her first language), French (that’s professional translator level) and English (that’s…. hm… acceptable conversation level). Suppose she’s looking for a job in ministry somewhere and she’s willing to move anywhere in the world and work for just about any salary. How would she find a job? What if someone in the Brigada family were to moderate a conference for “job placement”. A kind of “volunteer clearinghouse.” Those looking for a mission/ministry position would subscribe and send a message to the conference reporting their skills/gifts. Those offering a position would subscribe and send a message describing the opportunity. Anyone interested in moderating such a conference? (Note that according to MAF/CrossConnect’s new policies, all moderators need to join CrossConnect at $52/year to get an XC.org domain as well as several other benefits. Hey… someone has to pay the bills.) Oh.. I almost forgot. Got a paid position for this trilingual gal? (She has two degrees, by the way.)
--------------------------------------

THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL GLIMPSE

The Jesus Film, a movie based on the Gospel of Luke, has been presented to over 700 million people according to Campus Crusade for Christ. In the 220 countries where it has been shown more than 41 million expressed interest in becoming Christians. Over 400 mission organizations use this film, which is available in 325 languages.
Source: FridayFax, 9/8/95, DAWN Europa, quoting “Advance, August, 1995”
John Hanna, Caleb Project, Littleton, CO
--------------------------------------

HOW ‘BOUT THOSE LOUISIANAMOBILIZERS

There is only one state in the union that has asked to form its own mobilization/discussion conference in the Brigada family of networks and it is the great state of Louisiana. [Can you hear the cheers in the background?] [Well then maybe your computer doesn’t have multi-media sound installed??? :-) ] We’ve seen them at work this past week, for instance, as one conference member asked for more info. on Bethany’s role in tackling prayer profile preparation for AD2000 & Beyond. A Bethany staffer responded with an update and several faithful fellow Louisianaians (what is the proper term? :-) ) have now volunteered to pitch in and help with the colossal project of preparing prayer profiles for all 2000+ least reached people groups that AD2000 & Beyond will be lifting up for church planting. Regardless of how things come out on this particular challenge, the outcome is that the world Christians in Louisiana are taking their role seriously… seriously enough to get together and do something about the unreached! Thanks Louisiana! (To join the conference and get free seafood samplers at their bayou shrimp-fests, send email to hub@xc.org with only the following line in the message text:
subscribe brigada-projects-louisianamobilizers

(Okay…. I was kidding about the shrimp… but they need something to eat for strength after typing out that long conference name!!! :-) Thank goodness for ctrl-c/ctrl-v, right?)

--------------------------------------

MISSION FRONTIERS TO FEATURE JOSHUA PROJECT

Thanks to Rick Wood for his tireless efforts in promoting global outreach in the US Center’s Mission Frontiers. In response to our note thanking him for the latest (Sept.) issue, he responded this past week, “I am glad you liked the latest issue of MF. The next one may be the most important that we have ever done with the introduction of the Joshua Project 2000. We are also wanting to get as wide a distribution for this issue as we can. We are wanting to see people send it to missionaries, pastors and mission agency and denominational leaders. We are contacting the Adopt-A-People agencies to see if they want extra copies of this next issue so that we have a good idea of how many we need when we go to press. Could you put a notice in Brigada Today for people interested in extra copies of the Nov.-Dec. 95 Joshua Project 2000 issue? Have them contact me by email at RickWMF@aol.com and give me their name, address, phone, position or title, if they are with a church or mission agency, and the quantity desired?” If you’re viewing this on www, you can probably just click on Rick’s address and write him here! Otherwise, dash him a quick email and ask for info. on the Joshua Project issue. As Rick said, this could be the most important issue of Mission Frontiers to date!!! And don’t forget, you can subscribe to MF electronically and get it right here on Brigada. Just send email to hub@xc.orgwith only the following line in the body of the message text:
subscribe brigada-pubs-missionfrontiers
--------------------------------------

HAVE YOU REGISTERED YOUR INTEREST IN A PEOPLE GROUP?

I did it this week. Okay, I admit. I was partially just interested in seeing if it would work. But it did! Earlier this week, I talked with a missionary to India, on home service here in the USA. He had attended a mobilizers’ luncheon we had sponsored in Indianapolis and on his form he volunteered to help however he could with the least reached. While talking with him, I learned that his church of 80 Tamil-speaking Indians was located roughly 10 miles or so from the area in South India where the unreached Yanadi live. There is no church among the Yanadi yet and I asked this gentleman if his church in India could help. He was most interested. I committed to trying to help organize an effort to reach the Yanadi. First, I logged on the worldwide web and pointed my browser to the Brigada home page, then clicked on “Reaching the Least Reached”, then on the “People Group Consultant (PGC).” There, I put the word “Yanadi” in the box and hit “search”. Within a few seconds, I had all kinds of information on the screen, including population, language, country, Ethnologue code, etc. They were listed as being in “World A” — another way of saying the 10/40 Window — and they were unreached. At the top of the form is a place to click on the “Adopt-A-People Clearinghouse”, to register my interest. I clicked there and sent a brief note explaining my hopes to rally interest in the Yanadi and serve as a temporary volunteer “People Specific Advocate” (if there wasn’t one already). Within 5 hours, I had a fax in my box from Adopt-a-People Clearinghouse with more information, including the status of reached-ness, the language family group, and a very nice intro. letter from Evie Bowers, who is currently handling email for the AAPC. I also copied my letter to John Hanna, who serves as Advocacy Manager for Caleb Project (a mobilization group from Colorado), and to Brigada-Peoples (a conference that specializes in trying to see people groups “adopted”). You should see the nice notes I got back from people who were encouraging me in my efforts for the Yanadi. I found out that my role was to “Learn, Link, and Love” (thanks John), and I learned about others that have become advocates for nearby groups. I even know their location down to the hundred-thousandths of a degree latitude and longitude!!! :-) I’ve no excuse now. I know exactly what to do. I urge you to register your adoption or even your interest. (And by the way, look me up in the PGC. John Hanna’s already got me posted! :-) Just follow the instructions below and search for Yanadi. Cool. I’m famous!)
  • Look up the people group in the People Group Consultant (point your browser directly to http://www.xc.org/pgc.html or send email to hub@xc.org with only the following lines in the body of the email message (searching, for example, for data on the Yanadi people group):
    search Yanadi
    [ special secret — at your own risk, you can also experiment with the new beta page at http://www.xc.org/pgctest.html but don’t tell Jonathan Marsden that I told you!!! :-) Remember, it’s still experimental! Check it out. Lots better options… search by country, language, the works!]
  • Send a message to Brigada-Peoples@xc.org sharing your intent (John Hanna and others monitor and will pick up on your message).
  • Send a message to aapc@xc.org (either from the www page, where you can click on the button, or just from your regular email software). Register your intent to reach a group. That way, if others are interested, they’ll be able to contact you. Remember that you need not mention anything secure or sensitive, such as the exact towns where you or your agency/church is working, nor any names of new believers or missionaries. All you need do is mention that you’ve “staked a claim” and accepted responsibility for reaching that piece of the least reached world.

Wow. Let’s do it.

--------------------------------------

WHAT SHOULD WE DO IF/WHEN WE CROSS THE 1000 MARK?

My wife Penny suggested that we host a pizza party for everyone at our house. Shall we hold the onions? I hate onions. :-)

-------------------

Have a great week!

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

TO UNSUBSCRIBE (Surely you jest!:-)), send email to hub@xc.org with this line in the text:
unsubscribe brigada

-------------------

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