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News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
On the WorldWide Web, browse https://brigada.org or http://www.eGroups.com/list/brigada-today
Brigada Today is “the missionary helper newsletter!”
Compiled by Doug Lucas
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]
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In this issue….
* WE’RE NEARLY 3 YEARS OLD!
* FROM THE “WORD ON THE STREET” DEPARTMENT… THE LATEST ON AD2000
* GIVERS MINISTRY FOCUSES ON TANGIBLE ITEMS
* WORD FROM THE ROCK… THE ROSETTA STONE STILL SPEAKS
* INSURANCE PROVIDERS FOR MISSIONARIES
* WEB EVANGELISM SITES UNITE!
* WHERE HAVE ALL THE SPANISH GONE?
* FASTING AND PRAYER FOR NORTH KOREA
* HOW TO FIND “THE SCORE” ON JP2000 UNREACHED PEOPLES
* DO BRIGADA READERS RESPOND?
* ONLINE SCHOOL ADVANCING
* BERMUDA TRIANGLE, MAFxc STYLE!
* PRINTED RESOURCES IN 350 LANGUAGES JUST AN E-MAIL AWAY!
* TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY
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WE’RE NEARLY 3 YEARS OLD!
Three years ago this week, Brigada was just an idea… with some 38 participants in this Brigada Today conference… and only a half dozen or so Brigada conferences in all. Today, 3 years later, Brigada-peoples is one of the most active conferences in the Brigada family, with some 350 participants actively seeking to help connect would-be people-group-adopters together with those who can help them do it more effectively. And over 150 other conferences, including the entire “Brigada-connect-…” group by John Hanna, are regularly providing communication networks for the world of evangelical missions. But the real Brigada-birthday that we celebrate is March 21st, the day in 1995 that the conferences officially “went public.” So… we’re inviting everyone to a big “virtual birthday party!” To be held in just 4 weeks… all over the world… on March 21st! :-) Not sure how we’ll be able to celebrate it. We’re open for ideas! :-) Send your best idea to DLucas@TeamExpansion.org. :-)
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FROM THE “WORD ON THE STREET” DEPARTMENT… THE LATEST ON AD2000
So have you heard the latest on AD2000? We all wondered how in the world the AD2000 office could just ‘close down’ on January 2nd, 2001 anyway. :-) I mean… after all . . . what are we going to do with 20 jobless people? :-) And I can’t think of much of anything more discouraging than seeing Luis Bush with nothing to mobilize! :-) So… here’s the deal… here’s the latest of what we’re hearing. Apparently, the latest leak out of Colorado Springs is that AD2000 will be kicking off a new program called, “Joshua Harvest: All Peoples, All Persons.” Can you believe it? (You think I’m joking. :-) ) This thrust will seek to expand the criteria of the Joshua Project from its current “mongo-tight” restrictions (e.g., greater than 10,000 in pop., less than 2% evangelical, no church of 100 in their midst, etc.) to a much broader definition of [basically any] ethnolinguistic and ethnocultural peoples. The primary focus will remain that of making disciples among the spiritually neediest peoples of the world. A similar approach will be adopted to that of Joshua Project 2000. This will apparently entail coordinated research, a common database, enhancements of existing efforts, and a total commitment to mutual cooperation in all things. The aim would be to establish a life-giving congregation of believers among each of the world’s people groups. So… relax… and breathe again… Luis Bush and company won’t be jobless on Jan. 2nd, 2001! :-) And … barring the 2nd coming… neither will we! :-)
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GIVERS MINISTRY FOCUSES ON TANGIBLE ITEMS
lighting the way Remember our reference to the Givers Ministry… http://www.giversministry.org which focused on finding needs and meeting them? ” POST YOUR FINANCIAL NEEDS AND HOPE TO FIND A GIVER!” Well… ahem… come to find out they specialize in tangible, non-monetary gifts! :-) Sorry gang. They’ve had zillions of hits (the exact quote was, “We have been overwhelmed…”) from folks wanting to . . . . put them in touch, so to speak, with potential giving targets… and actually what they’re hoping to clarify… or what they’re hoping I can clarify… :-) is that they only give non-financial gifts. :-) But that’s still cool… think about …. automobiles, computers, musical instruments, building materials, food, clothing, medical supplies / equipment, electrical / mechanical items, etc.! Want to email them? Use info@giversministry.org instead of the address we gave earlier. Sorry about that Joe. Hope you can get your email inbox cleaned out sometime next century! :-)
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WORD FROM THE ROCK… THE ROSETTA STONE STILL SPEAKS
The Rosetta Stone Language Program continues to develop CD-ROM conversational courses in languages important to missionaries. And guess what… to Brigada participants, Rosetta Stone’s creators will make the CDs available at 1/4 of the price charged to the educational and business markets! Believe it or not, this is the very program selected by NASA for use by the US and Russian astronauts! Languages currently available include Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Dutch, English (for ESL), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese. Additional languages are being released each month. For ordering info contact Ray Howard at Mission Training Int’l – MIntern@aol.com. In the U.S. you can call us at 800 896-3710. Make sure you tell them you heard about it on Brigada and they’ll make the CDs available at 25% of the list price. (Actually, you do have to be using them for missions purposes… so if we have any astronauts reading this item, just dream on! :-))
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INSURANCE PROVIDERS FOR MISSIONARIES
If you’re needing a great medically insurance policy, at least give these sources a chance. They’ve listed with Brigada via Sara and are ready to serve! Thanks to Sara and Brad for their help compiling this list!
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WEB EVANGELISM SITES UNITE!
Do you know about a site seeking to provide a restricted access (or, to put it another way, “creative access”) country with the Bible in the local language? … or maybe a special site to present the gospel to a specific group of people in a culturally appropriate manner? If so, Dale FISHVILLE@aol.com would like to know! Dale will compile the results, return them, at which time we’ll make them available to everyone here on Brigada via one of those “get” files. So. . . whether you’ve developed a site like the ones described above… or just seen one… send them to Dale. Don’t forget to provide the full web address, beginning with “http://” please. Thanks!
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WHERE HAVE ALL THE SPANISH GONE?
Dan’s a missions mobilizer… in Latin America! :-) Honest. Great idea. So he’s trying to find out which agencies and orgs. try to send Spanish-speakers to China (and other creative access countries) as a means of sharing Christ there. So if you’ve heard about a team from Venezuela working in Algeria, Dan would like to know! Note that he’s not looking for the names of those who have gone (which would be a security risk), but rather, the agencies which seek to send them or enable them to go. Send your best ideas to Dan at djohnson@c.net.gt and he’ll compile the results for us here. We might just have a copy of the first ever compilation of mission sending agencies for Spanish-speakers!
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FASTING AND PRAYER FOR NORTH KOREA
Apparently, Jonathan Sim of the World Vision Korea desk has called for a day of fasting and prayer for North Korea on the 27th of February. That’s this week! We’re passing along the news, even though we have few details. Reportedly, World Vision, Campus Crusade and Youth With A Mission are all participating. If you’d like more information, you could try asking Bryan Bishop at YWAM@XC.Org. If he doesn’t have more information, he’ll at least try to locate someone who does. No need to write Brigada — this is all we know.
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HOW TO FIND “THE SCORE” ON JP2000 UNREACHED PEOPLES
Dan Scribner wrote this past week from the AD2000 & Beyond International Office to clarify ways and means of finding out more about the “score” on reaching Joshua Project unreached peoples. He wrote, “You could download the file at ftp://ftp.ad2000.org/pub/ad2000/jpldbf.zip or check the index at http://www.ad2000.org/peoples/index.htm to find out which of the 1739 Joshua Project People groups were not “claimed” as of this past July. …The Joshua Project list is being updated daily and a fresh copy is available at the sites mentioned above. There have probably been over 500 major and minor corrections in JPL.DBF since July 1997. There is a new field in JPL.DBF called UNTARGETED which replaces NOCOMT172. NOCOMT172 is still in the database so we can identify the 172, but that is no longer the focus. At the moment the AD2000 WWW site is still showing mini-profiles for only the 1739 original Joshua Project peoples…, but the JPLDBF.ZIP file has all the peoples that have ever been considered for the Joshua Project list (original 1739 list, updated / current list, peoples not matching the criteria, etc.)” Thanks Dan! We appreciate your ministry at the “IO”!!!
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DO BRIGADA READERS RESPOND?
You bet they do! For example, this past week we received a thank you note, “Thank you for including us on this week’s Brigada [Today]. We received 40 hits within 24 hours. We have made many good contacts that should serve the missionary community. Thanks again.”
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ONLINE SCHOOL ADVANCING
books and pen If you’ve been following the progress of that new “online school,” you’ve probably been pretty busy! Brett Bowers brett@cyberhigh.org wrote this past week to update us on CyberHigh/NorthStar Academy and the plans sound great. Check ’em out at http://www.northstar-academy.org or write Brett directly. What a great option to add to home schooling as an alternative to boarding schools for those working in remote areas!
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BERMUDA TRIANGLE, MAFxc STYLE!
MAFxc logo If you subscribed to a MAFxc email conference (MAFxc hosts all Brigada conferences) during the dates Feb. 14-18, odds are, your new subscription was lost and you’ll have to subscribe again. Apparently, on Feb. 18th, MAFxc experienced a big-time crash which forced them to use the most recent backup they had (from 4 days earlier). At the same time, MAFxc has installed a new server and new www software that will more than triple the speed of their outputs. Hang in there, MAFxc!
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PRINTED RESOURCES IN 350 LANGUAGES JUST AN E-MAIL AWAY!
letter and ligntening bolt American Scripture Gift Mission has booklets and tracts in over 350 languages that are great for ethnic church planting and multi-lingual ministry in the US as well as overseas. These publications are attractive compilations of verses on relevant themes. Most are evangelistic, like “Savior of the World” and “God’s Plan for Man.” Others are pastoral (but include gospel passages), like “Living Together God’s Way” and “Daily Strength.” SGM Intl has been providing such resources since 1888. Tell them the languages you need and they’ll tell you what’s available. Include your snail mail address for English samples. Write them at SGMUS@Juno.com.
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COPYRIGHT — This issue of Brigada Today is Copyrighted © 2001. However, permission is granted to freely redistribute these materials, including those available through email autoresponders, provided that such redistribution is to those who will help the Good News of Christianity to reach the unreached. But please include this phrase: “For a free subscription of Brigada’s weekly missions publication, write
IMPORTANT: To copy or reproduce Brigada Today for any other reason is illegal and is not permitted.
DISCLAIMER — Please note that there’s no way we can possibly screen all the text on all the web sites or items we recommend. We try to check them out first… but if we miss something, please don’t assume that the opinions on those sites are identical to those of the Brigada family of networks. “Eat the corn, leave the cob!” ear of corn
For subscription questions or problems, write help@brigada.org.
SUBMITTING CONTENT — To submit content or ideas to Brigada Today, first please get a copy of “Guidelines for submitting items to Brigada” Then, once you’ve composed your item in keeping with those guidelines, send your item for Brigada Today to DLucas@teamexpansion.org.
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Emphasis is placed on items relating to unreached peoples and challenges faced by those reaching them cross-culturally.
not symbolPLEASE DON’T SUBSCRIBE US TO YOUR LIST — It’s always better to ask before manually force-adding anyone to your list-serve or mailing list. Recently, tons of well-meaning people have been subscribing Doug to their lists. Since he often travels overseas, he doesn’t join many of those, for obvious reasons (like being charged big-time for overseas access). So as a general rule, please don’t bulk-mail us! See the note above if you’d like to submit items for Brigada Today. Thanks for understanding. Bottom line: We will never create Brigada Today items from bulk mail. Bulk mail gets deleted immediately — sorry. Nothing personal. We suggest you apply the same standard to everyone. Ask first!
OPCWARNING ABOUT FORWARDING EMAILS — Please, before forwarding any kind of request (even if it says “please send this to all your friends”), please check to make sure it has a VERIFIABLE ORIGIN, a VERIFIABLE PURPOSE, and a VERIFIABLE CLOSURE (OPC). By following this simple approach, many “email viruses” could be nipped in the bud… at least in the Brigada family. More information about the full Brigada OPC protocol is available. Thank you.
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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
*Brigada Website: Bob Mayhew, WebServant@brigada.org
*Brigada Customer Service Manager: help@brigada.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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