19991226 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 (but made public on 21 March 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.

THE Y2K PROBLEM THAT WASN’T

Well as this issue goes to press, we’re seeing very few Y2K problems. Hopefully, that means that either

it was a big sham,
everybody did their part to prepare, or
maybe it was a combination of lots of hype and lots of preparation.

I like “c” the best. To any and everyone who helped keep us from a Y2K disaster, thanks We appreciate you!!!
(For Team Expansion, it was a summer intern named Bryan. We appreciate you Bryan!)

WE CELEBRATE 2 BIRTHDAYS

Longtime members of the Brigada family will recall that we celebrate 2 different birthdays, of sorts. January 25th is a kind of “founders’ day” for us . . . the day that conversations first started up on the Brigada “system.” But since those conversations really started up with just 2 guys (Jonathan Marsden and Doug Lucas), we remember March 21st as the real anniversary of Brigada’s public birth. Jonathan is the techie who originally helped come up with the software that made Brigada possible, long before there were sites like “egroups” on the web. Early on, he quipped, “I won’t be satisfied until we have 10,000 people involved in weekly participation in a Brigada conference.” So… the big question is . . . when will we cross the 10,000 mark? Well someone has suggested (and it wasn’t I!) that we should shoot for that goal for March 21st. Bottom line: If you know of someone who should be getting Brigada Today, please drop ’em a line and tell ’em about the great subscription price (Free!!!

). Or tell ’em there are actually some resources here every now and then. Or… maybe tell ’em we’re giving away a $10,000 prize to the 10,000th subscriber! (NOT!) Tell ’em anything — just get ’em aboard!

(Okay — I’m joking!) Seriously though, if you’d help us get the word out, we’d sure like to hit 10K by March 21st, 2000 — when we’ll be exactly 5 years old!

MEET THE ADOPT-A-PEOPLE GURU AT BRIGADAFEST

Want to meet then new Executive Director of the Adopt-a-people Clearinghouse (Dick Bashta)? You can… at BrigadaFest, Feb. 3-5, Louisville, KY. For more information, see the link for BrigadaFest in the lower left-hand side of the page at http://www.teamexpansion.org. We’d love to have you there!

STOP THAT SPIKE – NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE

Are you needing a late stocking stuffer for someone you missed on Christmas Day?

Joe and Audrey have recommended just the thing. Head on over to http://www.cdw.com and do a search for the APC SurgeArrest Notebook Pro surge protector. They say it’ll stop the power spikes regardless of the voltage — 110 or 220. Sounds like a great little investment. For just 32.38 plus shipping (about $3.00 to addresses in the USA), it sounds like a good deal, given it has a 5-year/$5,000.00 protection policy. Thanks Joe & Audrey!

RECORD-KEEPING DATABASE FOR CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS

If you’re having a tough time tracking the pupils in your mission’s correspondence school, maybe it’s time to browse http://www.hisway.cc/donandbev/database.htm and check out a trial version of the database that can reportedly help you manage. The trial version is the fully operational database but limited to five individuals/students. This limitation will be removed when you register it according to the instructions included in the download file and database (requires $25). The self-extracting download file is approximately 11 Mbytes, so it may take a while to download depending upon your modem speed. But hey… if you only have 5 students, the trial version sounds like the berries!

Otherwise, $25 isn’t so bad, when you need the help tracking success!

PAINTINGS PROMOTING THE HARVEST

Catch a view of some great paintings on missions at http://www.rikberry.com/paintngs.htm. Canadian artist, Rik Berry, has created:
Behold the Kingdom – See With New Eyes http://www.rikberry.com/behold.htm
and
Send Us to the Harvest http://www.rikberry.com/sendus.htm
and
The Great Harvest http://www.rikberry.com/greathr.htm
Thanks for the tip, Grace!!!

SENDING YOUR BOOKS BY THE BAG

So, how do you get your books to the field? Kerby sends his by the book-bag! “For the last couple of years we have been sending books by the postal service M-BAG rate. This has allowed us to send our books at a rate of 75 cents a pound (or thereabouts) without any customs problems. It takes about six weeks for the books to arrive (by boat) but we have never lost a shipment. This book rate is available to most countries to my understanding. A minimum weight is required by the U.S. Postal Service (I think 20 pounds). My suggestion is that any books sent this way be sent by a larger post office that would be familiar with it. Each box inside the bag should be individually addressed in the language of the nation you are sending it to, I believe.” Great tip, Kerby. Thanks.

NEED KIDS AROUND THE WORLD FOR MONGOLIAN BIBLE

Holger is coordinating the production of a new all year children’s Bible in the Mongolian language. His Germany-based ministry (MUV) is looking for 365 digitized images of children’s photos. The children’s Bible gives daily scriptures each day from January 1 thru December 31, providing a Bible story in Mongolian text (available in print and electronic [PDF] format). To show the Mongolian children that there are kids all around the world who love Jesus, Holger would like to include pictures of children from all nationalities and ethnic background. Just send an email with an attached digital photo, along with the name and country of origin of the child hgrimme@t-online.de. As a reward for this donation, a free copy of the children’s Bible in PDF format will be mailed to every contributor once the book is finished. Can’t beat that. How ’bout helping Holger out!

INDONESIAN EVANGELISTIC WEBSITE

Aimed at Indonesian Muslims, “Kebenaran Untuk Hari Ini” (Truth for Today) is a lifestyle/spiritual type website, with a purpose of witnessing to Indonesians Online and distributing the Jesus film in Indonesian, Sasak and Madurese with the possibility of other Indonesian languages in the future. The author encourages anyone who has a similar website or search engine with a similar purpose, to link to the site. The URL is http://members.xoom.com/inikebenaran/index.htm.

ONSITE CONFERENCE ON SHARING HOPE WITH MUSLIMS

Join METS 2000 from May 25th to July 6th in Istanbul, Turkey. METS’ purpose is to provide orientation to the Muslim world and ministry in a Muslim context for Christians who prayerfully seek to learn what God plans for them in the future. It provides training in Muslim evangelism and culture and “hands on” experience among English speaking Muslims. For more information contact IDEA Ministries at ideamin@ideaministries.org.

FREE BIBLE STUDY SOFTWARE

Not sure how they can do it, but at: http://www.e4.net/ they’re giving away free Bible study software on the Logos system. I ordered mine . . . so I’ll let you know what I get. If you’re in the USA or have access to Net2Phone, you can also call 800- 942-3766 toll-free. Check it out! $8 for the shipping and $5 minimum donation. Sounds like a great deal. (Thanks for the tip, Daniel!)

LOOKING FOR RESOURCES ON MISSIONARY FURLOUGHS?

Grace has a few. Check out:

Debriefing Form on Web Site: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5645/Questionaire.html
Furlough Resources http://www.iteams.org/ITeams/resource/crdb/Topic-Furlough.html
Maximizing Missionary Furloughs http://www.acmc.org/furlough.html – article
STN’S Furlough Assistance Page http://www.speed.org/eng/furlough.htm

Thanks Grace!

TWISTERCOM.COM OFFERS 7 CENTS/MIN. RATE

Here’s the lowest rate I’ve seen for phone credit cards and incoming toll-free numbers. Try it! Pay one fee of $4.95 per month for everything, plus a one-time setup fee of $14.95 to set up the 800 number. Sounds like quite a deal. Dial them toll-free from the USA or via net2phone at 888-894-7882 or browse http://www.twistercom.com. They also claim to have Internet access at bargain basement rates too.
(Thanks Stayton!)

REENTRY CARE RESOURCES

The staff of Emmaus Road International is getting serious about an early 2000 publishing date for their book on reentry care. The manuscript is in the hands of an editor. They are still interested in including a Resource Section. So they’d love to hear from anyone who has any type of resource that would help returning missionaries–from children to adult, from single to married, from furlough to completed assignment. Just send them a brief paragraph describing the resource and a contact address for obtaining the it. By the way, the book is still unnamed. Any ideas? Respond directly to ontheroad83@hotmail.com. Thanks! (And Yvonne, please let us know when it becomes available. We’d all like a free copy if we contribute.

Okay… so I’m joking about the free copies… but we’d all love a chance to pick one up for our returning missionaries!)

FREE ONLINE TRAINING: PS 101

Teresa says PS 101 will help you hear and discern God’s voice more clearly. She wrote, “This course consists of weekly email lessons and workshops and is a time commitment of about 1 hour per week for 10 weeks. It makes students effective in being Spirit-led and in sharing their faith, increasing their ability to discern His leading more easily. Classes begin Jan 10. Registration closes Jan 4, but late registrations are accepted until Jan 21. To register, Email your first and last name, gender and age to Registrar101@aol.com or register online at http://www.godspeak.net/godspeak/101/goreg.html. The course is sponsored by GodSpeak International, http://www.godspeak.net.” I haven’t taken the course myself, by the way — but would love feedback from those who finish it.

TONGA, TSONGA, AND TONGAN – LEARN THE DIFFERENCE

For a complete listing of the $3-15 Jesus video/film/Sony8mm (in 557 languages) and VCD/DVD (in 8 languages), a four ministry audioscripture inventory (in 300 languages), along with an index describing all languages’ corresponding geographical areas and how to order them, plus how to order mini-$500 portable video projectors, send an email to: KeithK@idmail.com or GaryS@idmail.com.

NEW MISSION MOBILIZATION & EDUCATION NETWORK

A newly forming, ground-breaking network of mission agencies, denominations and associations recently hired Mark Sigmon as Director. Also the Director of the Center for World Missions of Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI, Sigmon brings excellent credentials and experience in mission collaboration. Charter members are ACMC, the Association of Christian Schools International, Caleb Project, SIM, CB International, TEAM, Woman’s Missionary Union of the Southern Baptist Convention, World Concern and Wycliffe Bible Translators. The network serves to share missions mobilization vision, identify key resources, target gaps in missions education resourcing, and address options by which the gaps may be filled. Their initial project will be the launch of a website to reach these goals. The children’s division has already premiered at http://www.21stCenturyKidsConnect.org. Don’t see your organization listed above? Please contact Mark Sigmon at missions@cornerstone.edu for further information.

TRY FOR A SET OF FREE COPIES OF THE OT/NT IN ARABIC

According to Keith, you just might be able to get a free copy of the “Sharif” translation of the OT/NT (just completed). Just send your Name, Postal address, Email address, Telephone, and Fax (if available) to chicadelic@hotmail.com. Explain why you’d like the copies and clarify that they won’t sit around. You just might get 100 copies free! Note that the translation is into standard Arabic — so many additional Arabic speakers should be able to read it.
(Thanks Keith!)

DIALOGUE ON HOW TO REACH THE AFRICAN CHURCH

Larson would like to spawn a bit of dialogue on how to reach African unreached people. He wrote this past week, “Although the African Church is growing, many remote villagers are dying from hunger, aids and from the effects of war without having chance to hear the gospel. Through some may listen to the gospel on radio, there are still millions of villagers in villages whom Western missionaries are unable to reach due to impassable roads. Many African preachers are also unable to reach these places due to lack of resources. And while the Western Church is busy talking about avoiding the creation of a spirit of “dependence” on the mission field, many Muslim nations are pouring in millions of dollars in many African nations in order to convert many people into their religion. Does any one have an answer on how the Church can effectively reach the unreached remote African villagers?” If you’re interested in offering an opinion on this subject, I suggest you use the “think-tank” for responses to Brigada. Just send a message to brigada-responses-subscribe@egroups.com then follow the directions. You’ll join an email “forum” that you can set for either email participation or web-only reading. Larson can maybe jump in as moderator.
Thanks Larson!

HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE AMAZON

Tribal Outreach Medical Assistance(TOMA) is a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting health and survival of tribes in the Amazon basin. Teams of physicians, dentists and paramedical personnel make trips to numerous remote jungle clinics that are staffed year-round by missionary healthcare workers. During these visits, TOMA provides medical care, training and medications/supplies for several months. TOMA’s focus is on the high risk, most needy and most remote villages where malaria and other tropical diseases continue to devastate tribal groups. If you’d like to request that they visit your area, write toma97@aol.com or visit http://www.galinks.com/toma.

GLOBAL GLIMPSE OF A NEW CENTURY

Beginning December 23rd, 1999, the Millennial Tribute to Jesus was aired in more than 150 countries to a potential viewing audience of more than 500 million people. The production, global distribution and follow up of this special edition of The JESUS Film are being coordinated by The Network for Strategic Missions. It features 50 famous political, entertainment and sports figures of different religious faiths, each giving tribute to the life, character and influence of Jesus. Task Forces in each country will facilitate the activity of more than 500 organizations partnering together to respond to those who, after watching the program, desire to learn more about the life of Jesus.
(Source: Justin Long, Network for Strategic Missions, http://www.thetribute.com and http://www.strategicnetwork.org.)
Global Glimpse is compiled by John Hanna, Caleb Project, Littleton, CO.

DON’T FORGET: FREE LONG DISTANCE TO THE USA

Don’t forget about Dialpad. We mentioned it a few weeks back — remember my buddy Rick? He likes it a lot for family and friends. Another friend named David just recommended it this past week. A buddy and I tried it for business use and it’s probably not quite up to speed for that . . . but hey… if you’re overseas, it might be better than the connection you get by phone!

http://www.dialpad.com Check it out. Free long distance to the USA from anywhere in the world.

FREE MISSION LESSONS ONLINE

If you tried unsuccessfully to download Wycliffe’s free mission lessons, it’s been moved to this new URL: http://www.wycliffe.org/catalog/BrightIdeas/home.htm

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