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In this issueâŠ.
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS BRIGADA?
Brigada, pronounced âbree-GAH-dahâ (rhymes with armada), is the rough equivalent of a âbrigadeâ â 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 Christâs 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 WASNâT
Well as this issue goes to press, weâre 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.
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I like âcâ 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
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Longtime members of the
Brigada family will recall that we celebrate 2 different birthdays, of sorts. January 25th is a kind of âfoundersâ dayâ for us . . . the day that conversations first started up on the
Brigada âsystem.â 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 Brigadaâs public birth. Jonathan is the techie who originally helped come up with the software that made
Brigada possible, long before there were sites like âegroupsâ on the web. Early on, he quipped, âI wonât be satisfied until we have 10,000 people involved in weekly participation in a
Brigada conference.â So⊠the big question is . . . when will we cross the 10,000 mark? Well someone has suggested (and it wasnât 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 âem a line and tell âem about the great subscription price (Free!!!
![:-)](file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Julie/Desktop/images/grin.gif)
). Or tell âem there are actually some resources here every now and then. Or⊠maybe tell âem weâre giving away a $10,000 prize to the 10,000th subscriber! (NOT!) Tell âem anything â just get âem aboard!
![:-)](file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Julie/Desktop/images/grin.gif)
(Okay â Iâm joking!) Seriously though, if youâd help us get the word out, weâd sure like to hit 10K by March 21st, 2000 â when weâll 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. Weâd love to have you there!
STOP THAT SPIKE â NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE
Are you needing a late stocking stuffer for someone you missed on Christmas Day?
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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 itâll stop the power spikes regardless of the voltage â 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
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If youâre having a tough time tracking the pupils in your missionâs correspondence school, maybe itâs 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!
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Otherwise, $25 isnât 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 â 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
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So, how do you get your books to the field? Kerby sends his by the book-bag! âFor 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.â Great tip, Kerby. Thanks.
NEED KIDS AROUND THE WORLD FOR MONGOLIAN BIBLE
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Holger is coordinating the production of a new all year childrenâs Bible in the Mongolian language. His Germany-based ministry (MUV) is looking for 365 digitized images of childrenâs photos. The childrenâs 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 childrenâs Bible in PDF format will be mailed to every contributor once the book is finished. Canât beat that. How âbout helping Holger out!
INDONESIAN EVANGELISTIC WEBSITE
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Aimed at Indonesian Muslims, âKebenaran Untuk Hari Iniâ (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. METSâ 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 âhands onâ experience among English speaking Muslims. For more information contact IDEA Ministries at
ideamin@ideaministries.org.
FREE BIBLE STUDY SOFTWARE
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Not sure how they can do it, but at:
http://www.e4.net/ theyâre giving away free Bible study software on the Logos system. I ordered mine . . . so Iâll let you know what I get. If youâre 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?
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Grace has a few. Check out:
Thanks Grace!
TWISTERCOM.COM OFFERS 7 CENTS/MIN. RATE
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Hereâs the lowest rate Iâve 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 theyâd love to hear from anyone who has any type of resource that would help returning missionariesâfrom 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. Weâd all like a free copy if we contribute.
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Okay⊠so Iâm joking about the free copies⊠but weâd all love a chance to pick one up for our returning missionaries!)
FREE ONLINE TRAINING: PS 101
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Teresa says PS 101 will help you hear and discern Godâs voice more clearly. She wrote, âThis 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.â I havenât taken the course myself, by the way â but would love feedback from those who finish it.
TONGA, TSONGA, AND TONGAN â LEARN THE DIFFERENCE
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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 languagesâ 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, Womanâs 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 childrenâs division has already premiered at
http://www.21stCenturyKidsConnect.org. Donât 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
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According to Keith, you just might be able to get a free copy of the âSharifâ 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 youâd like the copies and clarify that they wonât sit around. You just might get 100 copies free! Note that the translation is into standard Arabic â 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, âAlthough 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 âdependenceâ 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?â If youâre interested in offering an opinion on this subject, I suggest you use the âthink-tankâ for responses to
Brigada. Just send a message to
brigada-responses-subscribe@egroups.com then follow the directions. Youâll join an email âforumâ 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
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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. TOMAâs focus is on the high risk, most needy and most remote villages where malaria and other tropical diseases continue to devastate tribal groups. If youâd 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
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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.
DONâT FORGET: FREE LONG DISTANCE TO THE USA
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Donât forget about Dialpad. We mentioned it a few weeks back â 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 itâs probably not quite up to speed for that . . . but hey⊠if youâre 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
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If you tried unsuccessfully to download Wycliffeâs free mission lessons, itâs been moved to this new URL:
http://www.wycliffe.org/catalog/BrightIdeas/home.htm
TO SUBSCRIBE â To subscribe to BRIGADA TODAY, send email to brigada-today-subscribe@egroups.com.
TO UNSUBSCRIBE â Send email to brigada-today-unsubscribe@egroups.com. (Subject and text are ignored.)
IF IT DOESNâT WORK â Write Don & Judy, our Customer Services Managers at help@brigada.org. Yahooooo for volunteers!!!
COPYRIGHT â 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: âFor a free subscription of Brigadaâs weekly missions publication, write <brigada-today-subscribe@egroups.com>.â
IMPORTANT: To copy or reproduce Brigada Today for any other reason is illegal and is not permitted.
DISCLAIMER â Please note that thereâs 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 donât assume that the opinions on those sites are identical to those of the Brigada family of networks. âEat the corn, leave the cob!â ![ear of corn](file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Julie/Desktop/images/corn.gif)
For subscription questions or problems, write help@brigada.org.
SUBMITTING CONTENT â To submit content or ideas to Brigada Today, first please get a copy of âGuidelines for submitting items to Brigadaâ Then, once youâve 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 DONâT SUBSCRIBE US TO YOUR LIST â Itâs 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 doesnât join many of those, for obvious reasons (like being charged big-time for overseas access). So as a general rule, please donât bulk-mail us! See the note above if youâd 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 â sorry. Nothing personal. We suggest you apply the same standard to everyone. Ask first!
WARNING ABOUT FORWARDING EMAILS â Please, before forwarding any kind of request (even if it says âplease send this to all your friendsâ), please check to make sure it has a VERIFIABLE ORIGIN, a VERIFIABLE PURPOSE, and a VERIFIABLE CLOSURE (OPC). By following this simple approach, many âemail virusesâ 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! Thatâs the dream of Brigada!
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