19990110 Brigada Today

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Brigada Today is “the missionary helper newsletter!”
Compiled by Doug Lucas <DLucas@teamexpansion.org>, Louisville, KY
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In this issue….

PREP. COURSE FOR NEW MISSIONARIES, FREE ON THE WEB!

A UK-based missions fellowship, “WorldChristians,” has launched a website at http://www.worldchristians.org which contains a free 85 lesson ‘Help Finish the Great Commission’ orientated training school, accredited by New Covenant International University in the USA, which has been developed and tested in the bush of Africa and India. Because it works on the 2 Timothy 2.2 principle it can be put into effect for almost no cost, anywhere. They are willing to mentor a few students by e-mail (majority-world students would receive top priority). WorldChristians has been going since the mid-eighties. They will be happy to add any Brigada-relating missions website in their hotlist if you e-mail it to lesnorman@worldchristians.org.

ADVANCE SUMMARY READY TO “GET”

January’s ADVANCE is ready for retrieval.

Here’s a summary of what you’ll find this month:

Summary of “Advance!” — January 1999

THE GOSPEL FOR EVERY PEOPLE — 50 million intercessors worldwide to pray for 10/40 Window; the Taiwanese Hokkien; the Mongolians of northern China; the Gujjar of India; Myanmar evangelists preparing; Japan outreach to “special needs” people; “Good News for Tibet” broadcasts; the Qigong sect of China

THE PERSECUTED CHURCH — Catholic priests threatened with crucifixion; Ghanaian believer forced to marry outside faith; young believer beaten by family; seminary professor detained and interrogated; peace demonstrators gather in Delhi; Colombia opens negotiations with FARC rebels

SPIRITUAL FORCES OF DARKNESS — Spiritual attacks follow release of new translation; Israeli police arrest cult members; anti-Semitism in Russia; New Jersey court rules against Boy Scouts

REJOICE! — 100 Muslims accept Christ in Indonesia; new gospel radio station for Guinea; decisions for Christ in Togo; believers freed in Maldives; young believer wins 20 to Christ in jail; confiscated Bibles reclaimed in Russia; 65 decisions among unreached people group; United Airlines rejects demands of homosexual activists

NETWORKING — Corrected URL for children’s mission education resources; “Praying Through The Window IV: Light the Window;” on-line Tibet prayer calendar; Gateway Cities of China wall calendar; persecuted believers daily prayer calendar; low-cost books, pamphlets and video tapes

WHERE TO GET STACKS OF MAPS

Mark MarkKelly@XC.Org is looking for the best sources of electronic maps (i.e., web sites) that can be copied to our local computers and printed in publications or personal prayer guides. While he’s at it, he’s trying to find backup sources for written maps if the electronic variety don’t work out. Got any sources for him? Please send him your favorite map-oriented web site, esp. one that would allow a person to print a particular region of the world with plain-to-see country names. Any clues out there? If so, send ’em his way. In a couple of weeks, he’ll pass along a conclusive summary here for all to see!

RELIEVING LAPTOP ZAPPING FOR TIRED TRAVELERS

Check it out at http://www.cdw.com. The unit is a surge protector for laptops that can be used in any country around the world – regardless of voltage outputs other than 110/120 volts. It is made by APC, and can be ordered online (at the above-mentioned site) or by calling 1-800-826-4239 It comes with a lifetime warranty, sells for $32.38 plus shipping (about $3.00), has a 5-year/$5,000.00 protection policy, and works with Toshiba, Dell, Gateway, Acer, NEC, and other laptops that have a 2-prong AC cord and a CB connector at the laptop for the AC cord. It doesn’t work with Compaq Armada, IBM Thinkpads, and other laptops that use a 3-prong AC cord. At the CDW website, click on “power protection” under “Browse” (left column), then click on “power strips/surge suppressors” under “subcategories” (right column), then look under American Power Conversions for the APC SurgeArrest Notebook Pro.

APOSTOLIC LEADERS TO GATHER

C. Peter Wagner is inviting Missions Leaders, Apostolic Leaders, Pastors, Church Planters, Lay Leaders, and those called to Missions to the new World Prayer Center (Colorado Springs, CO), March 1-2, 1999, to focus on current missions trends; leveraging technology; current world hotspots; equipping and releasing indigenous leaders; strategic level prayer for the harvest; multiplying churches and apostolic networks; strategic alliances; contextualization; finances; para-church and church partnerships and more… For More Information and Registration, call in the USA to 719-262-0442, Ext. 1306 or write chrisb@cpwagner.net.

PRAYER FOR EXTRAORDINARY HOSTAGE SITUATION

Many reported back that they watched the 20/20 news segment on New Tribes Mission’s (NTM’s) missing missionaries. Now NTM is asking Christians around the world to join in prayer on Sunday, January 31, for an end to the captivity of NTM missionaries Dave Mankins, Mark Rich, and Rick Tenenoff. (They and their wives were planting a church among the Kuna people of Panama when guerrillas took the men from their homes the night of January 31, 1993.) Pray for an end to 2,191 days of uncertainty. Watch http://www.ntm.org/hostage for updates or write ntm@ntm.org. Thanks Bob!

BE A PART OF SOMETHING BIG (HEARTLAND MISSIONSFEST)

The Feb. 25-27 Heartland MissionsFest in Tulsa, OK, will focus on “Joshua Project 2000: the progress and possibilities.” Speakers include Luis Bush, Ron Rowland, Terry Law, Doug Lucas, Beverly Pegues, Bill & Amy Stearns, Neal Pirolo, Ross Patterson, Phyllis Kilbourn, Jill Harris, Lorry Lutz, Bill Waldrop, and Keith Wheeler. For info. write hmfinfo@usa.net, or in the USA, phone 800-366-6641, or visit http://www.allpeoples.org/hmf.

PRAY FOR INDIA… PERSECUTION MIGHT BE ON THE RISE

Pray for workers ministering to people groups in India. Apparently persecution is on the rise!

HAKUNA KAHUNA

Honest, I didn’t know that Kahuna originated in the dark world witchcraft “AD2000 IS ALIVE AND WELL“, nor had I heard it was Hawaiian language for “devil” and, no, there was no Freudian slip intended!

Thanks to the one reader who wrote in to correct the item.

GLOBAL GLIMPSE FROM AN AWAKENING GIANT

A growing number of Universities in China are establishing religion departments and inviting Christians from the West to lecture. This is an unprecedented opportunity for professors from Christian colleges to minister in China. Eric Burkin reports that as more people come to Christ, the need for their pastoral training is dire. “There’s such a huge amount of people coming to know Christ in all the churches in China today that pastors are overwhelmed with new Christians.” Training for personal devotionals and pastoral counseling is a great need.
(Source: Werner Burklin Ministries via Mission Network News
web site: http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/ — See also http://www.calvaryftl.org/missions/wburklin.htm)

DOES THE WATCHWORD HAVE A FUTURE?

March 15 – 16 in Colorado Springs, the Christian Futures Network is hosting a national consultation on “The Watchword in World Missions” to mark the 20th anniversary of the birth of the watchword, “A Church for Every People by the Year 2000.” Featured speakers include Dr. Todd Johnson, co-editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia II, Jay Gary, editor of Let’s Talk 2000 and others. This consultation is for everyone interested in the direction of world missions in the 21st century and how a new generation will relate to the unfinished task beyond AD2000. Registrations before mid-February at the early bird price of $99 (meals, housing) or $50 commuters. To receive an email invitation, write watchword@wnrf.org or visit the consultation web site at http://www.wnrf.org/networks/watchword.htm.

PRAY FOR JAPAN

The Tokyo Fasting and Prayer Sacred Gathering will be here before we know it, January 25-27. Speakers include Bill Bright, Dr. Joon Gon Kim (National Director of Korea Campus Crusade for Christ), and Dr. Koji Honda (well-known evangelist and teacher in Japan). For more info., contact LINCJapan@aol.com.

THE BACK PAGE (EDITORIAL) – EXCELLENCE IS AN ART

Excellence. It’s been written about in all kinds of books, talked about on videos, and even preached about from pulpits. But over the past few nights, I’ve been learning about it from a project that my son, Christopher, has to do for Science class.

The assignment was to build a habitat for an animal — a Mountain Lion, in Christopher’s case. He came to me asking for help. He said several kids in his class were just going to draw a poster board of the habitat. He said he could really use the points and, besides, he really wanted it to be “awesome.”

We decided to start by visiting a hobby store nearby. There we picked up a book on building scenery for model railroads. I was fascinated by the look and feel of the stuff. This was certainly no posterboard.

What amazed me was what a difference $25 worth of the right materials would make! We built a plywood display case, used spray foam material to form up the landscape, and then formed it with a utility knife. We followed through with a step-by-step process to make the grass, trees, bushes, and we’re now in the final stages of building the pond and putting on the stones and other additional touches.

Chris seems pretty excited… In short, he says it’s “awesome!”

We could have gone the posterboard route, like everybody else.

But for $25 bucks and a few fun evenings, hearing him say it’s “awesome” sure means a lot.

Can we learn to apply the same motivation to everything we do? What about that sermon, that presentation, that brochure or that correspondence course??? When will we learn to start a couple of weeks ahead and put some careful planning into it, so that when it turns out, we can stand back and say, “Awesome!”

At the same time, there are tons of distractions screaming for our attention. Some of them are actually very worthy causes. Somehow, we’ve got to figure out… what will we try to build that’s “awesome” and what are we going to have to say “no” to.

So… as you tackle the day’s projects… why not make up your mind right now to do some careful thinking and come up with an outcome that you’ll be able to call “awesome” when it’s all said and done! Then resolve to live with yourself on the projects which you have to decline – for sanity’s sake!

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