19990711 Brigada Today

Now with over 9200 participants!
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
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]

In this issue….

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS BRIGADA?

Brigada, pronounced “bree-GAH-dah”, is the rough Russian and Spanish equivalent of a “brigade.” The idea is to stand side by side to pass buckets of hope for those most in need of Christ’s eternal message! Read more (4+ years of back issues) at https://brigada.org. See recent back issues at http://www.eGroups.com/list/brigada-today. Compiled by Doug Lucas DLucas@teamexpansion.org, Louisville, KY

WE GET SUPPORT FROM…

Did you ever hear those National Public Radio programs on late-night radio or short-wave? They always end a program by saying, “We get support from… [fill in the blank].” Well after last week’s item, “WANT TO SPONSOR BRIGADA-TODAY?“, we actually did get a support check! This week, we get support from, Stan Christy, of YWAM’s African Redemptive Operation (Afro), which extends rich and intense outreach opportunities with God and the realities of Africa, reachable via email at: YWAMUofNVA@aol.com. If you write him, don’t forget to say “thanks” for his work in making Brigada Today happen!

STATE OF THE BRIGADA SUB-GROUPS

Those who have been with us from the start (January 25, 1995) will remember our original dream of launching these little email discussion groups. Our hope was to launch one online “conference” for each unreached people group. Although we started small, at our peak we had dozens and dozens of groups in operation. Were they successful? Well . . . truthfully, it’s hard to say. In retrospect, it seems like the secret of a good on-line discussion was three-fold.

It takes a village! Seriously, without the right community of involved and caring people, the lead person is like talking to a wall!
It takes a lead person. No doubt about it… the most successful conferences seem to revolve around the unstoppable determination of the person leading it.
It takes a project.

In my opinion, the groups that have seemed most effective have been those rallying around a very specific team or approach.

SO WERE THEY SUCCESSFUL?

So… again… were they successful? Yes and No. Many were launched… but we began seeing early on that few really flourished. Those that endured eventually got together for face-to-face meetings (thus the “village” online) and some of them developed into ongoing partnerships. Yahooo!

Many died for lack of a moderator. And then, seemingly, when “Lyris” hit (Lyris was a software we all had to shift to when we were back on the MAFxc hub [when brigada was brigada@brigada.org]), it seemed to somehow knock the wind out of many email conference sails. In one fell swoop, John Hanna pulled what must have been 100+ brigada-connections conferences. He confessed he just hadn’t been able to muster the time to really develop them… and also, he didn’t have the time to learn Lyris. God was calling him to other tasks and he’s doing great at those. That’s only one example.

WHERE ARE ALL THE SUB-CONFERENCES?

But if you were to ask today, “So where are all those sub-conferences?”, I’d have to tell you that I don’t know the actual status of many of them. They now stand on their own two feet, apart from Brigada Today. But several have identified themselves at the new conference list location. You see, we’re trying to build a list of sources, contacts, connections, links, etc., for information and networking on specific people groups. Notice how you can enter your information as a “mailto:” entry and folks will automatically subscribe to your Brigada-type email conference. It’s free! So please jump in — just see the instructions at the top of the page. http://www.egroups.com/folders/brigada-today You’ll need to register at egroups.com first (go to http:/www.egroups.com and follow the instructions). Our hope is that by using that linking page, we can actually expand the focus of the Brigada concept. But to make it happen, you’ll have to go there… or send someone you know! Please do it today!

IF WE BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME

In the meantime, Brigada Today continues at its new location, growing ever closer to that original goal of 10,000 subscribers. If you know of someone who might be interested in Brigada Today, please tell him or her how to subscribe. The instructions are at the beginning and end of any issue. Thanks for helping us make the Brigada dream come alive!

UPDATE ON JOSHUA PROJECT 2000

The folks in Colorado Springs have been at it again. Luis Bush’s trip throughout the Turkic world resulted in many updates, as did several other major events in the past 30 days. So, according to Dan Scribner (who works most of the magic behind the programming and record keeping at the AD2000 & Beyond International Office, here’s the way we stand as of July 12th, 1999:

Peoples on active JP list – 1598
Peoples on active JP list no Church of 100 reported – 1120
Peoples on active JP list no reported on-site Church Planting team – 554
Peoples on active JP list not targeted or “claimed” – 195

What does this mean? Well, right off the bat, remember that in the fall of ’95, there were some 1739 people groups listed in the JP2000 list. So around 140 have been take off the list for one reason or another. None of those 1739 had reported an active church of 100 people. Now, about 500 do! Yahooo! Another 500 have at least an on-site church-planting team trying to birth a new church there! That’s great! That only leaves around 200 with no existing church of 100 reported as of today, and no church planting team seeking to start one in their midst.

Want to know more? Find out more about these facts and figures by visiting the AD2000 & Beyond website at http://www.ad2000.org

TIPS FOR INT’L EMAIL TRAVELERS – PART 3

Today we deal with the minimum “secret agent tool kit” that every prepared traveler should assemble to be a real “road warrior.” The great thing is that once you put together this tool kit, you can use it both at home or abroad!

Here are some of the components to throw into your kit. Granted, this particular kit is designed specifically for travelers based in the USA. But it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out how to prepare yours as a “dynamic equivalent” for the country in which you live:

a pouch to hold the parts to follow
Camel hair blower brush — Pick this up at a camera shop and use it to remove the dust from your laptop screen as often as you remember. It’s the safest way to see clearly without damaging your screen.
RJ-11 phone connector (female-to-female) — Use this to connect to your modem when the given RJ-11 cord won’t reach your laptop and you have to extend it.
RJ-11 phone cord — I like the phone cords that Port sells (in the USA, call toll-free (800) 242-3133; elsewhere, see http://www.port.com ) because the little tabs don’t break off when you can dock them in the sockets that the Port unit provides.
Small straight-slot screwdriver — You’ll need this to remove wall plates from hotel room phone connections. Just remember to throw the deadbolt before doing so. (If the maids walk in on you while you’re doing this, they get that worried look on their faces, like maybe they think you’re “Bond, James Bond.”
RJ-11 cord with alligator clips — You’ll have to make this yourself, I imagine. Just visit a Radio Shack (or other electronics store) and ask for a cable with an RJ-11 phone plug on one end and terminator lugs on the other. Buy a couple of alligator clips and connect the contact screws to the terminator lugs. Presto! Now when you remove the faceplate from the hotel wall phone connection, you can use the alligator clips to test connections until you hear a dial tone!
Paperclip — If your laptop requires a paper clip to “reset” it (that is, when it has frozen), be sure to throw in one of these pesky reset “keys”!
Spare ink pen refill — Okay, so this has nothing to do with the laptop or the phone. But it’s a handy place to keep the refill. Make sure you pick up the one that fits your favorite travel pen!
Phone connection adaptor for your destination country — Call Port (see above) or some other electronics/travel specialty shop in advance and try to buy the exact adaptor you’ll need. If you fail to get one in advance, start asking around once you arrive. A good place to begin is in some local Internet cafe or club, or maybe even a good computer store.

Okay… more later about how to use your kit!

WEB-WATCH – FAVORITE SEARCH ENGINE

Okay… so I’ll admit it. I’ve changed favorites a dozen times. First I like AltaVista (didn’t everyone?). Then it was probably Yahoo, or maybe HotBot came in there somewhere. AOL NetFind was decent, and several others have come and gone. But my favorite these days is http://www.google.com. Seems like it can read my mind. It’s fast and simple and very intuitive. It talks to me in plain English and I love the little bar graphs it shows. Now I know that once I write this item, 100 people are going to write and say they like such-and-such search engine better, but I’ll put my money on google.com every time. I guess it’s a personal decision. But try it… I bet you’ll like it.

TO SUBSCRIBE — To subscribe to BRIGADA TODAY, send email to brigada-today-subscribe@egroups.com.

TO UNSUBSCRIBE — Send email to brigada-today-unsubscribe@egroups.com. (Subject and text are ignored.)
IF IT DOESN’T WORK — Write Don & Judy, our Customer Services Managers at help@brigada.org. Yahooooo for volunteers!!!

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 <brigada-today-subscribe@egroups.com>.”
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!”
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.
Thanks to for hosting the Brigada mailing list.
Emphasis is placed on items relating to unreached peoples and challenges faced by those reaching them cross-culturally.

PLEASE 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!

WARNING 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.

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!