Now with 4217 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….
* AD2000 CITIES DATABASE LIVE AND ONLINE — 6500 CITIES AWAIT!
* LEARNING TO PRAY WITH POWER FOR EXTRAORDINARY EXPLOITS!
* DEVELOPING THE CHURCH AS A MISSIONS TRAINING LAB
* HOW’S YOUR GERMAN? …AND YOUR TURKISH? … AND THE TWO TOGETHER?
* GERMAN REACH OUT MISSION CONFERENCE ‘COLORFUL, DIVERSE, EFFECTIVE’
* ADOPT-A-PEOPLE CONFERENCE HEADS TOWARD GATEWAY PEOPLES CONSULTATION
* IT’S NOT TO LATE TO TIE IN WITH TIE
* GLOBAL GLIMPSE GIVING GLOBAL HOPE
* UPDATE ON MRS. RALPH WINTER
* WE GET MAIL
* TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY
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AD2000 CITIES DATABASE LIVE AND ONLINE
6500 CITIES AWAIT! — Have you ever wanted to know about a city in Chad? or find out if there are Christians in Perm, a former penal city of the USSR? 5 years ago, no one even had a list accessible to the missions community. But now you can, thanks to the hard work of a dedicated group of volunteers in the Brigada family! About a year ago, they were kind enough to bring me into their development group so I could “copy the mail.” What I’ve noticed over these past months is tons of dedication and passion for bringing to the missions community the very best information possible on urban centers — so that God could be glorified and cities reached for him. So now, after “copying the mail” for months, I can tell you they’re finally ready to “go public!”
Simply go to http://www.xc.org/brigada/adcities and follow the instructions. You’ll find some simple statistics on the current status of the church in that community, if it is known. And you’ll also be shown great pointers for additional information. I’m currently helping a local church plan a pre-search trip into a Muslim nation – we leave on Jan. 4, as a matter of fact – so I just started clicking and, before you know it, I was sending very helpful URLs to the trip participants, thanks to the hard work these guys have done connecting all this together.
The next step for the team is to enable people to attach additional URLs right there on the web site – automatically. That’ll be great, because then the resources will grow exponentially as we all pitch in. Also, they’re very eager to know which people groups live in what cities. If you’re interested in helping them take the adcities engine to the next level, discussions on the ongoing development will be linked through the brigada-cities conference. To join, just send a note to hub@xc.org with the following line in the message text:
subscribe brigada-cities
There are also opportunities to volunteer to become part of the ongoing development team or to do the basic database entry. The team desperately needs two people who are database literate, can master ACCESS and give some hours each week to entry of data. Also needed are “friendly face” folks who are reasonably technically gifted but just good “people persons.”
To volunteer, join the brigada-cities conference above and throw your name into the hat by sending your message to brigada-cities@xc.org. Among those monitoring are Viv Grigg, Co-chairman, AD2000 Cities Network.
Now let’s back away and look at this from a big higher altitude. What this project proves is that motivated, highly passionate men and women can seize the day and utilize technology to make practical, useful information available to us all. We give praise to the Lord for their hours and hours of time invested to make this dream a reality. Thanks to Viv, Jonathan, John, Leland, Matthew, Aubrey, and others! (And thanks for letting me read your mail through the months! :-) ) We urge you to stop by their habitat and set the web wheels in motion! You’ll be glad you did! Once again, to see their site, set your browser to: http://www.xc.org/brigada/adcities
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LEARNING TO PRAY WITH POWER FOR EXTRAORDINARY EXPLOITS!
Organizers of the highly successful “Praying Through the Window” thrusts in 1993 and 1995 are now calling for prayer leaders everywhere to come together in Colorado Springs for a special conference entitled, “Praying With Power: Empowering Ordinary People for Extraordinary Exploits,” February 12 – 15, 1997. Beverly Pegues, Coordinator of the Christian Information Network, recently wrote, “This practical training conference is designed to equip believers to pray effectively and to empower teams to pray on the field.” Convened by C. Peter Wagner of the A.D. 2000 United Prayer Track, nearly 40 prayer specialists from around the world will speak, among them Raju Abraham (India), Dora Akuetteh (Ghana), Asuncion Arimany (Guatemala), and many, many more. Other presenters include Luis Bush, Ted Haggard, Cindy Jacobs, Jim Montgomery, John Robb and still others. In addition, Fred Markert of YWAM is coordinating the training session for prayer journeyers and team leaders. Ten other sessions feature such topics as “The Move of the Holy Spirit in the 10/40 Window,” “Church Planting Strategies,” “Focus on Prayer: Unreached Peoples in the 10/40 Window,” “Home-Based Intercessory Prayer Modeled,” “How to Get Your Church Involved,” and “Strategic-Level Warfare Prayer.” Audio and video tapes of each session will be available after the conference. Registration for “Praying With Power” is $75. For a brochure or more information or to register, contact the Christian Information Network, To register, call (719) 522-1040, fax (719) 548-9000, or E-mail 73422.3471@compuserve.com. And now you can check the www at http://www.christian-info.com To retrieve a mailer with complete details, send email to hub@xc.org with only the following line in the text of the message:
get brigada extraordinary
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DEVELOPING THE CHURCH AS A MISSIONS TRAINING LAB
I know that within our PACE Projects (in conjunction with Envision ’96), we’re trying to empower the church as a contributor in the training of missionaries. Well now Bill Taylor, who heads up the World Evangelical Fellowship Missions Commission, has volunteered to pull together a listing and analysis of tools and resources to help local churches pull it off. If you are a local church doing missionary training – or if you know one who is – please contact Bill at 74742.133@Compuserve.com or better yet, send him a set of any ‘working models’ or training materials at 4807 Palisade Drive Austin, TX 78731
Bill, can we count on a summary here for Brigada??? Thanks! This is a very critical area. For each of our new PACE Projects, we’re suggesting that the missionaries from the on-site team invest training time in the “local church lab,” the primary or lead “advocate church.” So your question is top strategic from our vantage point!
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HOW’S YOUR GERMAN? …AND YOUR TURKISH? … AND THE TWO TOGETHER?
Here’s a chance for a German teacher to earn $5/hour plus the highly favored resident’s permit in Elazig, Turkey. Interested? Write Dan at 100114.3457@CompuServe.COM.
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GERMAN REACH OUT MISSION CONFERENCE ‘COLORFUL, DIVERSE, EFFECTIVE’
Word on the autobahn is that the Reach Out ’96 Mission Conference in Fürth (Oct 2 – 5, 1996) was a big success. It featured George Otis, Douglas Layton, John MacFarlane and Hartwig Henkel and was, according to German sources, “Colorful, diverse and effective.” Chris van den Assem wrote to Brigada, “This conference was a real break-through! Our thanks first of all goes to the Lord of the Harvest Himself who was present in power, to the speakers and the worship team who poured themselves out AND to the many who greatly sacrificed behind the scenes to make it all possible. It was well worth the effort.” This event sets the stage for “Reach Out `97 Missions Festival,” May 16 – 19, 1997 in Wackersdorf, Bayern. The focus there will be “Reaching the Unreached Target Group: The New Generation!” Among others, the speakers will be Luis Bush of the AD 2000 Missions Movement and John MacFarlane of Nehemiah, Nürnberg, Germany. For more information, write Chris van den Assem, Arise and Build Ministries, at abm.vfa@t-online.de.
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ADOPT-A-PEOPLE CONFERENCE HEADS TOWARD GATEWAY PEOPLES CONSULTATION
Don’t forget that we’re “on the hunt” for contact people for the gateway people cluster groups. This call for information givers stems from a meeting held on October 24th, 1996, when representatives of sending agencies, service agencies, and adopting churches, all involved in the Adopt-A-People movement, met together in Colorado Springs for the purpose of reconciliation, assessment of progress, and strategic planning for revitalizing the Adopt-A-People mobilization effort.
Meeting in an atmosphere full of awe at God’s power to accomplish beyond human comprehension, the delegates shared both exciting and sobering perspectives on the status and progress of the Adopt-A-People movement over the past seven years, recognizing that in their small gathering only a small portion of the agency community, and an even tinier fraction of Christ’s church, was represented. Interspersed with times of prayer and repentance, the delegates heard and responded to reports on progress of the Adopt-A-People Movement from denominational church leaders, independent church leaders, mission agencies, and others.
In response to what was shared, several key decisions and forward-looking commitments were made:
It was recognized that the purpose of the Adopt-A-People Movement is to:
* motivate Christians’ hearts, minds and actions toward the least reached,
* find those who want to be involved,
* link those with a common love for a particular least reached people group,
* serve those who become involved, as they pursue caring and adventurous relationships for the glory and adoration of Jesus Christ.
They also agreed to form four initial task forces to continue their dialog and accomplish their goals:
* Roles and Functions task force, completing an initial assessment by November 30, 1996;
* Adoption Guidance Program Editing task force, with editing complete by November 30, 1996;
* Gateway/Cluster Advocates Consultation Planning task force, for consultation to be held before April 17, 1997;
* Information Sources & Sharing task force, with initial recommendations and results by November 30, 1996.
Finally, they agreed to meet again in February 1997, to evaluate the work of these task forces and their overall progress toward effective cooperation.
If you’d like to suggest someone as a contact person for a particular gateway people, send your ideas to jhanna@cproject.com. Here are a list of people groups still needing representatives at the consultation:
Gateway People Affinity Block
Other Arab World
Saharan Berber Arab World
Shilha Berber Arab World
Sudan Arab Arab World
Dioula Sub-Saharan African
Gur Sub-Saharan African
Malinke Sub-Saharan African
Pygmy Sub-Saharan African
Sahel-Cha Sub-Saharan African
Other Turkic Peoples
Assamese Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia
Hindko Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia
Jat Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia
Kond Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia
Konkani Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia
Tamil Moor Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia
Tharu Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia
Tulu Indo-Iranians or Indo-Aryans of South Asia
Lu Thai/Dai Peoples
Shan Thai/Dai Peoples
Chinese-Hui Sino-Tibetan Peoples of E. Asia / Himalayas
Gurung Sino-Tibetan Peoples of E. Asia / Himalayas
Hmong Sino-Tibetan Peoples of E. Asia / Himalayas
Magar Sino-Tibetan Peoples of E. Asia / Himalayas
Manipuri Sino-Tibetan Peoples of E. Asia / Himalayas
Batak Malay Peoples
Borneo-Kalimantan Malay Peoples
Javanese Malay Peoples
Malay-Sumatra Malay Peoples
Other Malay Peoples
Philippine Tribal Malay Peoples
Sulawesi-C Malay Peoples
Other Eurasian Peoples
Siberian/Arctic Eurasian Peoples
Jews Jewish
New Guinea Other
S. American Indigenous Other
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IT’S NOT TO LATE TO TIE IN WITH TIE
(TENTMAKERS 2ND INT’L CONGRESS)
Catch four days of workshops covering Regional areas such as the Arab World, the Asian World and the Ex-communist World. Follow up workshops deal with the people and the opportunities in each of these regions. Other workshops deal with the use of Technology in Tentmaking, Business, problems and Answers; Entrepreneurship and the Tentmaker; Pastoral Care of tentmakers: and the Biblical and Practical Competencies needed for Tentmaking. Registration forms and further information can be obtained from the TIE USA office at tie@gati.wa.com or at the Australian address of 100244.2116@Compuserve.Com.
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GLOBAL GLIMPSE GIVING GLOBAL HOPE
About 30 people made commitments to Christ when a missions team visited an Akha village in Myanmar. The village head man, however, threatened to kill team members if they ever returned. The group prayed for him and returned a few days later to find that the head man’s own wife had become a believer. Now more than 100 people worship the One True God in that village. There are 365,000 Akha spread across southern China, Burma and Laos.
(Source: December Advance Newsletter Copyright © 1996, Kainos Press, 70420.1057@compuserve.com or http://www.xc.org/brigada/advance/advindex.html )
Global Glimpse is assembled each week by John Hanna, Caleb Project, Littleton, CO.
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UPDATE ON MRS. RALPH WINTER
Rick Wood writes that Mrs. Winter continued to face additional challenges with “a fungal infection which they have treated. Recently she developed pneumonia, but was strong enough to be released from the convalescent center and has returned home. She will continue to be treated for the pneumonia while at home.” Rick and Dr. Winter ask that we continue praying for her complete recovery.
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WE GET MAIL
Thanks to one individual who wrote this past week to admit his initial suspicions of Brigada. “I have a pessimistic view of principally volunteer-type endeavors,” wrote the Brigada participant, “… but Brigada seems to be thriving.” On behalf of the 4000+ volunteers who are together making Brigada a success, we say a big ‘Thanks!’ There are several who help Brigada Today keep happening – and they include:
* Global Glimpses: John Hanna, Caleb Project, jhanna@cproject.com
* ADVANCE: Mark A. Kelly, Kainos Press, 70420.1057@compuserve.com
* Web Tech: Bob Mayhew, Brigada Volunteer, Mayhew@XC.Org
* Web Art: Patti Mayhew, pmayhew@discover.net
* Technical Development: Jonathan Marsden, MAFxc jonathan@xc.org
* Brigada Customer Service Manager: Revis Ann Massey, RevisAnnMassey@xc.org
* … as well as many regional contributors, such as Kerstin Hack 100711.2622@CompuServe.COM in Germany.
Many of these have been doing their jobs behind the scenes now for months and in a couple of cases, we’re coming up on years! We don’t often blow their horns – because that’s not why they’re working… but we are all very thankful for the choice they’ve made to sacrifice time and energy for the Brigada dream. We are all direct recipients of their labor – and we hope and pray that unreached peoples everywhere will be indirect recipients as time goes on! God bless you all!
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TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY, send email to hub@xc.org with only the following message:
subscribe brigada
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send email to hub@xc.org with this line in the text:
unsubscribe brigada
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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
*Brigada Website: Bob Mayhew, Brigada Volunteer, mayhew@xc.org
*Technical Development: Jonathan Marsden, MAFxc jonathan@xc.org
*Brigada Customer Service Manager: Revis Ann Massey, RevisAnnMassey@xc.org
*Brigada Coordinator: 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!
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