Now with 4851 Participants – with the last week having represented the biggest surge in participant-growth in our history!!! What are you doing out there to spread the word??? … giving away free laptops or something??? :-) Just 4 editions left ’til we turn “2” [years old]! Can we hit 5000???? With no marketing dept. or budget, it’s up to you! Thanks!
News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
Visit Brigada on WorldWide Web: http://www.xc.org/brigada
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]
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In this issue….
* PRAY FOR THE SE ASIA JP2000 CONSULTATION
* WEB-WATCH
* REMEMBER THE GUY NEEDING HELP GETTING LESSONS TO HONG KONG?
* WHAT DIFFERENCE CAN ONE MAN MAKE?
* CHINA ’97 – AT THE CROSSROADS
* TIME TO RE-VISIT EMAIL TO MAIL CONVERSION PROGRAMS
* OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME
* PTW III MATERIALS READY FOR KIDS
* GLOBAL GLIMPSE
* “DID YOU KNOW?” – FROM OUR UKRAINIAN CORRESPONDENT
* BEEN FOLLOWING THE PRAYING WITH POWER NEWS RELEASES?
* ARE YOU A GERMAN SPEAKER WHO WOULD LIKE INFO. ON INSURANCE PLANS?
* ALMOST TOO LATE… BUT NOT TOO LITTLE
* THE LATEST ON HUSSEIN
* FOR NEXT WEEK’S BRIGADA TODAY – DATA PROJECTION
* THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL
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PRAY FOR THE SE ASIA JP2000 CONSULTATION
John Robb asked yesterday that we pray for the AD 2000 SE Asia Joshua Project Consultation, March 2-5, in Singapore. 300 plus participants are expected from all the regions countries. Luis Bush, Lawrence Khong and John, himself, will be the main speakers. He wrote, “Pray for a strong anointing of the Holy Spirit on the participants, organizers and those of us who are speaking that the Lord himself will speak through us.” So… are you going to do it? :-)
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WEB-WATCH
Today we’re focusing on a couple of pages for the “security-conscious.” Thanks to Rod who pointed us to the free version of PGP for just about any platform under the sun – including Macs http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/~fiedorow/PGP/ – for both USA/Canada usage http://web.mit.edu/network/pgp.html, and international usage http://www.ifi.uio.no/~staalesc/PGP/. Rod adds, “The only people who really must pay money for PGP are commercial users and those who absolutely must have a shrink-wrapped easy to use package.” He adds, “Don’t forget to generate a 2048 bit key!” Then there was Bob of MAF, who passed along, http://www.research.megasoft.com/people/cmcurtin/snake-oil-faq.html, “interesting reading for anyone considering encryption and other security techniques.” And then Rod wrote with info on PGP remailers like the free code for nym.alias.net http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~raph/n.a.n.html. He added, “Not knowing the operator of this remailer, it may be unwise to setup accounts with them, but I believe [others are] … looking into using this code to set up a remailer for missionary usage. Others have already setup remailers using this 2nd generation nymserver code (e.g. config@weasel.owl.de in Germany).” Great 1-2-3 punch this week. Great job, guys!
And . . . as the saga of a novice web-writer continues to unfold (I have all of 2 weeks experience now, . . . but good tools make a difference), check out the latest at www.teamexpansion.org. Now, this coming week, I’ve got to get that search engine working and those feedback forms! :-)
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REMEMBER THE GUY NEEDING HELP GETTING LESSONS TO HONG KONG?
Well, you Brigada folks came through royally. He got several responses… and the package is on its way! Once again, the worldwide missions community says a big THANKS!
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WHAT DIFFERENCE CAN ONE MAN MAKE?
We’re about to find out . . . rather, what a difference he won’t be able to make now. By now everyone’s heard the news of the death of China’s “Paramount Leader”, Deng Xiaoping. It’s been at least 3 years coming. So where do over 1 billion people go now? To check it out, see http://www.scmp.com/news/ (South China Morning Post – Hong Kong’s leading English language newspaper, online version) http://www.scmp.com/1997/97main.html (a website and links specifically about the transition, maintained by the South China Morning Post, above) http://www.hkstandard.com/online/news/001/hksnews.htm ( Hong Kong Standard – Hong Kong’s other English newspaper, online version). And thanks to Ben for the links!
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CHINA ’97 – AT THE CROSSROADS
And as a follow-on, it seems appropriate to mention International Students, Inc. (ISI) and their extraordinary plan to help train many of the future leaders of in China in evangelism, discipleship, and the Christian walk, during a week-long conference in San Diego, California, called China ’97…At the Crossroads. Scheduled for June 20-27, 1997, it has been designed especially for mainland Chinese students, scholars, professors and professionals currently in the United States. The slate of speakers for China ’97 includes top Chinese Christian leaders like Dr. Thomas Wang, Dr. Charlotte T.C. Tan, Rev. Edwin Su, and Rev. Timothy Li. For more information about attending or supporting China ’97, contact ISI at 1-(800)-ISITEAM or by e-mail, lmarzano@isionlineorg.
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TIME TO RE-VISIT EMAIL TO MAIL CONVERSION PROGRAMS
Are there any? Inquiring minds want to know. At least Wayne does – who wrote this past week, “Do you know of a service that allows one to send email to mail service. We have older individuals as supporters who are not likely to get either a fax machine or a computer. But yet they would pray if we could get even a card to them regularly.” I told him about the [expensive] Compuserve service. Anybody know of any others that have sprouted up?
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OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME
Now here’s a chance you won’t find everyday. Patrick Johnstone has 5 openings for serious-minded, self-supported researchers to help him gather data and write Operation World (the next edition). Specifically, they need 2 clear thinkers to scour newsletters and paper mail for updates for the book, as well as a computer manager and a technical assistant. Several electronic processing people could pitch in as volunteers. The office is in or near London, I believe. Want to change a planet? Wow. If your organization has someone to second, or if you have support that would allow, then write Roger Doriot at doriotre@ticnet.com. He’ll compile the responses and forward them to Patrick, who is almost constantly traveling now, in research for the update. Thanks Roger!
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PTW III MATERIALS READY FOR KIDS
According to Bonnie Kyle, children’s materials for Praying Through the Window III are now available through the Christian Information Network. She writes, “The calendar format for kids is very similar to the previous material, focusing on one people group per day and providing other basic info for the kids. A new feature this year is the availability of supplemental teaching materials, consisting of four one-page mini-lessons, each focusing on a child from a different people group and accompanied by an 8 1/2 x 11 illustration of a child from people group. They were chosen from four different religions (Hindu, Buddhism, Islam, Animism). The illustrations are enlargements of those used in the calendar.” This would be dynamite stuff for home-schoolers and Christian schools could get tons of mileage from it. The problem is, all those folks are so busy that they’re likely not even to be reading this! So… if you know someone from either of the above two groups, you might want to tip them off! They’ll need to contact the CIN at: 11025 State Highway 83 Colorado Springs, CO 80921, (719) 522-1040; Fax: (719) 548-9000. Email: 73422.3471@compuserve.com. Thanks Bonnie!
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GLOBAL GLIMPSE
Despite decades of mission work in Thailand, the church there is still very small, especially among those who are ethnically Thai. However Luis Palau reports a positive response from earlier this month, speaking five times in Chiang Mai. Nearly 16-thousand came to hear Palau speak, including 6 thousand young people. More than 700 stated public commitment to Jesus Christ. After his time in Thailand, Luis Palau went on to minister to children in Madras, India, and pastors in Hong Kong.
(Source: MISSION NETWORK NEWS, STORY # 2 Friday, February 14, 1997, http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/news/news-02-14-97.html )
Global Glimpse is gathered with gladness by the gadabout John Hanna, Advocacy Director, Caleb Project, 10 West Dry Creek Circle, Littleton, CO 80120, USA. We’re grateful, guy! :-)
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“DID YOU KNOW?” – FROM OUR UKRAINIAN CORRESPONDENT
Now here’s a surprising little fun fact to know and tell. :-) Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in Sweden. The conversion to right-hand side driving was done “live” on a weekday at 5pm! Get this. All traffic stopped as people switched sides. The “word on the street” :-) is that this time and day were chosen to prevent accidents in which drivers would have gotten up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize that this was the day of the changeover. Talk about a crazy rush hour that day. I mean, what’s the Swedish for, “Hey ya big clutz! Don’t ya even know how to drive!!!” “Look buddy – wake up and change lanes and mind your own business!!” Yikes. Makes me want to take the subway!
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ARE YOU A GERMAN SPEAKER WHO WOULD LIKE INFO. ON INSURANCE PLANS?
Believe it or not, Brigada even has a “get” file for you, thanks to our good friend Kerstin Hack. Just send email to hub@xc.org with only the line:
get brigada german-insurance
And you’ll receive a vonderful file full of ideas on dealing with the challenges of insuring you and your family! Thanks Kerstin.
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ALMOST TOO LATE… BUT NOT TOO LITTLE
We just heard that Feb. is Black History Month. Apparently there’s a prayer calendar not unlike the Praying Through the Window calendars. Contact (719) 638-1076 or write the Black Prayer Network at PO Box 17877, Colorado Springs, CO 80935 for a copy. Maybe they’ll get us an email address later. Thanks Brian at Global Harvest Ministries, Global_Harvest_Ministries@compuserve.com
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THE LATEST ON HUSSEIN
So have you heard the very latest on Robert Hussein, the Kuwaiti Muslim, turned-Christian, turned-Muslim? Well, according to some, maybe his American wife didn’t give up her Christianity after all! Get the whole story by emailing hub@xc.org with only the following line in the text of the message:
get brigada hussein.970222
Thanks to TPC.INT for sharing the news!
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FOR NEXT WEEK’S BRIGADA TODAY – DATA PROJECTION
Next week we’ll be examining options for data projection, that wonderful concept where these gizmos that take our computer images and flash them up on projection screens. We’re looking for the brightest, lightest, cheapest, most efficient, most durable model possible – LCD pads and projectors together. Any nominations? (first hand experience appreciated) Sources are sought – with web sites, email addresses, and phone numbers/faxes (both toll-free and non-toll-free, for our international audience, please). Please make sure your subject line reads “DATA PROJECTION” and send them to DLucas@TeamExpansion.org. And during the coming week, let’s get those potentially powerful and promotional PowerPoint presentations purring! (‘Course, like the guy from Sun Microsystems, we might just decide to use a felt pen and transparencies! :-))
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THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL
I’ve got a good friend who teaches in France. Recently, he sent this story and, yesterday, he agreed to allow me to share it: “Probably the most touching and greatest blessing of the month occurred on a van ride into the town of Rottwiel, Germany. One afternoon Laura and I decided to take a French couple with us to town to give them a break from English and see how they were enjoying the rally. A German Christian, who lived in France and thus spoke French, asked if he could come along to practice his French. As we rode along we noticed the size of the houses and Bridgette asked why the houses were so large compared to our area of France. Stefan explained that during World War II many of the German villages were completely destroyed, so when the towns were rebuilt the houses were built bigger along with the roads and stores; thus the German villages look completely different than they did 60 years ago. There was a moment of silence, as we probably all thought about who fought against whom, and who hated whom. Then Brigette said, “Isn’t it strange that here in this van there are Germans, French and Americans and we are all here like one family because of Jesus?” Wow, what a thought! Someone added, “Yeah, the UN or NATO or any other organization can’t bring this kind of unity.” As I stared ahead at Route 27, 11 kilometers outside of Rottwiel, Germany, I understood what Paul meant when he said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for everyone who believes . . .” [Thanks John! Your address held as requested.]
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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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