19980628 Brigada Today

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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 <DLucas@teamexpansion.org>, Louisville, KY
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In this issue….

“WOMEN OF THE HARVEST,” IT’S ABOUT TIME YOU HAD A MAGAZINE!

When Laurie Bolthouse was preparing to go to Albania in Apr. ’97 with her husband, Bill, she looked for published materials specifically for women in missions. To her dismay, she found none. That’s when Laurie approached Stephanie Nelson, who had her own writing and editing business, with the idea of starting a magazine that would be a forum for issues uniquely related to women in foreign missions service. “I am challenged and deeply encouraged listening to the hearts of other women,” Laurie says. “I need their experiences and wisdom to persevere. I need connection with those who also have chosen this challenging, difficult, but exhilarating path.” “Making that connection a reality is what this new magazine is about,” says Stephanie, editor of Women of the Harvest magazine. Along with real stories from women serving in missions, regular features will keep them in touch with their own culture — book reviews, recipes, devotions, beauty and health tips, and an “Ask the Doctor” section where they can email questions. Women of the Harvest is published quarterly by Women of the Harvest Int’l. Subscription is $16/year. For more info., write
PO Box 151297,
Lakewood, CO 80125-1297

or go to the Web site at http://www.womenoftheharvest.com or email the magazine at harvestmag@aol.com.
(Thanks to Focus on the Family for this tip!)

GIVE THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING!

Have you ever checked out Portrait of Jesus cassettes? If not, someone should give one of these a try! They evidently are available in 60 different languages! Example: ‘The Greatest Person Who Ever Lived’ is, according to one Brigada participant, “a beautiful selection of passages from the gospels. These passages connect and flow to give an accurate and compelling portrait of Jesus so that the listener may hear this good news and believe in Him.” To check it out, contact
Audio Scriptures International (ASI)
PO Box 460630
Escondido, CA 92046-0634
Email: asm-ca@xc.org.
Tel: 760-745-8105
or on the web at http://www.audioscriptures.org

HOW MANY BIBLES?

One source said, “The United Bible Societies published 20,035,360 Bibles last year, and a total of 361,633,376 Scriptures altogether.”

WHERE HAVE ALL THE CHILDREN GONE?

To the streets, that’s where! According to Ken Spatz, at present there are possibly 200 million or more children in the world in desperate circumstances. These are the street children, the orphaned, abandoned, exploited in the work place, exploited sexually. They are literally homeless, hopeless and helpless, through no fault of their own. Now, someone would like to find out how many? Where? Why? The Need? Ken dreams of finding an individual, a group, a church, or cooperative group of churches in every country who will take on the task of gathering this information from their country. If you can help, contact Ken and June Spatz at
2129 Clifton Ave
Reading, Pa 19611, United States
tel 619-796-0462
email kspatzsr@juno.com.

UPDATE FROM BOSNIA

This week, I’m compiling Brigada Today from within Bosnia. My wife and two boys are here with me on a prayer journey with leaders from two very exciting churches, both of which are examining the possibilities of “adopting” a city or region here. We’ve been GREATLY assisted by cooperative missionaries who have been learning the critical importance of working side by side in unity with others in their region. That cooperation really is beautiful.

But the landscape here — physical, spiritual AND emotional — is incredibly marred by the recent years of war and bloodshed. In this week’s Brigada Today, we feature an interview with one of the prayer journey participants, Carole Dunlap [with a little help from her husband, Dave]. Carole works as a mobilizer with Team Expansion in Louisville, KY.

BT:

A: Hmmm. Worshipping with a Bosnian congregation, because there was an immediate fellowship there. Even though I didn’t understand the language, they were VERY friendly. Recognizing some of the songs and trying to sing along in Bosnian was a real highlight.

BT: How would you describe a drive through a typical Bosnian countryside road?

A: It’s just such a contrast of beautiful, breathtaking [scenery] and then destruction. One moment you look at something and you think, “This is just gorgeous!” Then you look another direction and the mixture of emotions is immediate — destruction is everywhere. After awhile you just quit asking why — you’re just sorry.

BT: Name an individual that you’ve met so far that you’re not about to ever forget and please tell us about that person.

A: Somebody I’ll never forget??? I guess it would be the little boy laying on the floor tonight [in a Bosnian refugee camp], because he represents all the little victims . . . and he didn’t have a choice. His little crippled body . . . . he was 28 days old when the mortar struck their house. His Mom was holding him . . . he rec’d brain damage. When we met him he was laying on the floor. When one of the team members stroked his little face, he just grinned from ear to ear. [long pause . . . ] His family loves him dearly. They all live together . . . all six of them in a one-room place. They were so proud of him. But he’s . . . . you know . . . I wonder if government leaders ever think of someone like that.

BT: Now you’ve seen some of the hard challenges. What kinds of things give you any hope . . . if at all… for Bosnia?

A: I think that they still have a dignity . . . I think that’s one of the things that the worship service this morning overwhelmed me with … the hope… Like the preacher said this morning, God shows himself strong in their weakness… There are long-term people [missionaries] here who have a passion for the Bosnians. You can see it in everything they breathe and say. And the warmth in the Bosnian people toward us. And I guess God really doesn’t allow us to give up hope for anybody.

BT: If you could take a spray bottle home . . . maybe bottle up some scene or some event that’s happened so far . . . what would you want to take home and spray all over your adult Bible fellowship, or your church or missions agency?

A: One of the workers here got a wheel chair for a little boy in a refugee camp. That little gal was so impressed by that act of love that she became a seeker. She carried that little baby down a rugged mountain road, maybe 3 miles, by herself, to find out why people are so good to bring her a wheelchair for her little baby — and she couldn’t figure out why they’d do it if they didn’t even know her! She carried that baby down that road to church . . . and she kept coming to church . . . and kept coming . . . and [long pause]. She’s a believer now . . . and she keeps coming. And tonight, she sat behind me… You saw her. She’s such a thin little girl… with four kids now and the fifth one due anytime. She’s been living there in that refugee camp for six years. Scripture says, ‘If you seek me you will find me,’ . . . and she found Him. And she’s got the most remarkable smile.

BT: Carole, is there any misconception about this place in particular that you hope you can help clear up when you return to the USA?

A: There’s nobody to really point a finger at. [long pause] I think that it’s not something that can be easily healed here. It’s not over. And none of us can pretend to think that we can come here and in 10 days have an opinion about something. It’ll take years… but there’s no way that we should pull out. If the Christians don’t stay here, . . . I mean . . . the healing isn’t going to come quickly. A general from SFOR spoke today in worship in Sarajevo. He said this is a marathon not a sprint . . . and he was right. People want to ask who was right and who was wrong. I think it’s just the evil that we all have . . . a rage gone to extreme. From what we’re hearing, it’s being fed . . . The only reason why the Serbs were beating up the Muslims was because they had the biggest guns at the time. I can’t begin to put this puzzle together. I’ve given up asking who did what and . . . my goodness . . . just trying to figure out how we can help. And the really sorrowful thing is that this isn’t limited to just Bosnia. It’s going on all over the world in one form or another. … and it’s the evil within all of us that we have to change.

BT: Anything else you’d like to add before we make the Internet connection to Zagreb and send out this email?

A: I’m just thankful that people are concerned enough to read and pray. Like the sign says in the picture of the bridge at Mostar, “Don’t forget.”

If you’d like to learn more about joining or networking with a long-term church-planting project in Bosnia, or if you’d like to volunteer for an international role, contact DLucas@teamexpansion.org. Be sure to include specifics like when you could go, what you could do, and what you see happening long term with your ministry.

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

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