19991212 Brigada Today

In this issue….

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS BRIGADA?

Brigada, pronounced “bree-GAH-dah” (rhymes with armada), is the rough equivalent of a “brigade” — in Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Albanian and even Filipino! Founded 25 January 1995, the idea is to stand side by side to pass buckets of hope for those most in need of Christ’s eternal message! Check out nearly 5 years of weekly back issues at https://brigada.org. See recent back issues and links at http://www.eGroups.com/list/brigada-today. Brigada Today is compiled by Doug Lucas DLucas@teamexpansion.org, Louisville, KY.

HOW TO PHONE HOME WHEN THERE’S NO PHONE

Imagine that you are in a remote village in Asia. You desperately need to communicate with your HQ or call your homeland and the only phone is two hours away by foot. For this reason Mission Aviation Fellowship is pleased to offer the MAFlink satellite phone and COMSAT Planet1 services. At the size of a notebook computer, the MAFlink phone provides voice, fax and data. You can actually call your homeland from the middle of the Gobi desert or receive email on top of mount Kilimanjaro! Due to the high demand for emergency back-up equipment, phones are in short supply. MAF has a very limited stock during the month of December, so act quickly. Packages start at $2795. For more information, check out http://maflink.maf.org/sat/description.htm, e-mail planet1@maf.org or call Jim Camomile at (909)794-1151.

DESTINATION 2000 COMING UP

Calvary Bible Church (Kalamazoo, Michigan) is hosting a “Destination 2000” global missions emphasis conference on October 13-14, 2000. A children’s track for grades 1-6 will also be provided. For details, contact Roger, RBusPs67@aol.com.

DECEMBER ADVANCE READY TO PICK OFF THE SERVER

Remember Mark’s Advance? It’s baaaaaa-aaaaack! Just send a blank email to: advance199912@brigada.worldchurches.org (subject and text are ignored). Here’s a quick table-of-contents: Summary of Advance!, Dec. 18, 1999
Yemen’s Tahima people group; 500 saved in Benin; ” Righteous Way” voice delivered from illness; chief of unreached people group requests Christian funeral; Christian doctors witness in Mongolia; believers in peril in Indonesia; Pakistan judge denies bail for Christian brothers; woman saved after World A believers’ names published; new Fulbe believers persecuted; new Chenchu believer remains steadfast; rock star Elton John criticized for homosexual routine; child sacrifice in Ethiopia and United States; 13-year-old dies at hands of homosexuals; young people flocking into China’s churches; American high schools teach abstinence; scrap of New Testament leads two to Christ; miraculous salvation of two families; missions-oriented student mobilization conference Feb. 18-19; International Justice Mission

LEARN ABOUT MISSIONARY CARE

Take a look at Grace’s list of missionary care links! You’ll want it — if you’re at all into pastoral care for missionaries. To get it, just send an email to missionary-care@brigada.worldchurches.org and the 5K document will be sent to you as an email.

THE FINAL ANALYSIS IS IN!

Final Analysis: A Decade of Commentary on the Church and World Missions, by Jim Reapsome, has arrived. This 240-page hardbound volume contains Jim’s top 100 “Final Analysis” columns from Pulse. To get yours, send a check for $14.95 for each copy to EMIS, P.O. Box 794, Wheaton, IL 60189, or fax your credit card orders to (630) 752-7155.
(Please provide your name as it appears on the card, account number, expiration date, and whether using Visa or Mastercard.)

FOR THOSE WHO SHARE FILES

Want others to have access to files over the web? There are a number of new services that give you this option. Terry likes freedrive, because you can upload up to 20 MB of any type of data on their server. Then, you can give the passcode to other people, who can download the information at their convenience. Find it at http://www.freedrive.com/. You have to agree to receive a once-a-week email ad, but hey… that’s what filters and the delete key are for!

GRACE’LL TELL YOU WHERE TO GO (FOR MOBILIZATION INFO)

Thanks to Grace for compiling this great list of web links for those seeking to mobilize others toward missions:
MOBILIZATION WEB SITES

11 Ways To Involve Yourself in Missions http://www.ris.net/~nwilson/involve.html

Caleb Project Mobilization Resources https://brigada.org/today/articles/caleb.html

Enlist to a Dream, Not a Job http://www.nobletec.com/~khm/seminar/flow.html

Fingertip Mobilizer Resource for Missions http://www.globalmission.org/fingertip.htm

Missions Education and Mobilization Network http://www.ris.net/~nwilson/memnet.html

Missions Mobilization Cartoons/Art http://www.calebproject.org/toons.htm

Mobilising Second Career Missionaries – article http://www.om.org/relay/stories/1-98secondgen.html

Motivations for Missions http://www.calebproject.org/motivat.htm

Networking Concepts and Strategies for mission mobilization. http://www.ris.net/~nwilson/ntwrking.htm

Recruiting: Mobilization of Students http://www.acu.edu/academics/missions/jam/mobstud.htm

Top 10 Bible Studies on Missions http://www.ris.net/~nwilson/biblstdy.html

Top 10 Things Everyone Should Do for World Missions http://www.cccc.ca/Resource/Topten.html

Would You Pass the Test for the Mission Field? http://www.stmarkumc.com/jimnotes1/jim33.htm

Thanks Grace!

HOW DO I KNOW WHAT BRIGADA FILES ARE AVAILABLE?

Now that we’re starting to accumulate a few of those autoresponder files, how can one obtain a list of what’s available on the Brigada system? Just send a blank email to info@brigada.worldchurches.org and you’ll get a 3K listing of all files, together with instructions on how to retrieve them. The files are listed, along with their size and an annotated one- line description of their respective contents.

NONTRADITIONAL GRADUATE THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION

Have you worked on a graduate degree in this manner? Researcher seeks your input pertaining to nontraditional theological education. If you have prepared for the mission field or ordination in this way, or have an opinion on this subject, please reply. This research seeks to evaluate such programs and then provide links for further information. Of particular interest are experiences regarding the accreditation of such programs, their usefulness in the field, your perceived value of the learning, the feasibility of taking graduate classes in a nontraditional ways, and degree acceptance by mission boards as well as for ordination. Please provide your experiences to Daniel at dmg86@bellsouth.net. He’ll put together a report for us here on Brigada.

SEND A CHRISTMAS CARD BY MAIL

The following sites were found (by Grace gracew@idmail.com) to have helped eliminate paper-based mail greeting cards. Maybe it’s not too late if you’re sending Christmas cards to…. Send the electronic version as well:

123 Greetings: http://www.123greetings.com/

Bird Greeting Call Card: http://njcnews.org/card.html

Blue Mountain Art: http://www1.bluemountain.com/eng/interactart/index.html

Christian ones: http://www.cjsspecialties.com/woftn03.gif

Email greeting cards or virtual flowers: http://asiatravel.com/birthday.html or http://www.indiaexpress.com/greetings/

Free Christian Email cards: http://165.227.230.3/freebies/Ecards.htm http://members.aol.com/fjart/post.html

Games Electronic Greeting Cards: http://www1.bluemountain.com/eng3/games/index.html

Little Africa Post Cards: http://www.littleafrica.com/cards.html

Orthodox Christian Cards: http://www1.bluemountain.com/eng3/orthodox/index.html

Vancouver, BC postcards: http://www.tourism-vancouver.org/docs/about-new/vpost.html

Virtual Wonders: http://cards.eesite.com/

SEEKING WISE MEN (AND WOMEN) WITH MISSIONS SAVVY

Here’s a missions leader bneuen@aol.com that is searching for ways to get people involved in missions conferences and with missions in general. He’d love your best recommendations for getting others involved in missions in general and with missions conferences in particular. By January 10th he’ll compile a report for us to post here on Brigada as an autoresponder.

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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!