20000507 Brigada Today

In this issue….

THE COUNT: JP LIST UPDATE FROM AD2000

Here’s the count… Let’s start praying in earnest about how we can find folks to lay claim to the last 254 people groups that no one has adopted for the purpose of church planting. (Thanks to Dan for this update!) And once again… may I say that I find this list very disconcerting… since so many of us prayed for “a church for every people” (and we were asked to define that as a church of 100 people) on the Joshua Project list . . . and it appears that approximately 2/3 of the task has not been completed. Rats.

I guess we need to set our sites on the future… Who will help us focus on finishing the task!

Peoples on active JP list – 1592
Peoples on active JP list no Church of 100 reported – 1116
Peoples on active JP list no reported on-site Church Planting team – 526
Peoples on active JP list not targeted or “claimed” – 254

GRACE’S COLLECTION

You’ve probably seen her lists of resources, web links, and pointers. She sends them now and then via Brigada. But now you can get them in their very latest form, right off the web. Grace’s collection is now up and running at http://www.skyfamily.com/gracew.

CHECK OUT CULTUREGRAMS

The free sample is worth the read each month, in and of itself. http://www.culturegrams.com

FOLLOW THE NORTH STAR

NorthStar Academy, an online school for TCK’s and homeschoolers, offers students in grades 7-12 a full academic programs based on a USA curriculum. We have students from 26 countries attending our classes via the internet, and students whose parents are with SIL/Wycliffe and New Tribes Mission receive special scholarships. Please contact Brett at brett@northstar-academy.org for more information.

CONFERENCE FOR MISSIONARY WOMEN

Women of the Harvest, a magazine especially for women serving Christ cross-culturally, is holding a conference for missionary women in Quito, Ecuador. The conference will run from the evening of 27 October until noon on 29 October. Liz Curtis Higgs will be the speaker, Dr. Gerald Nelson will be the Bible teacher, and counseling will be available! The cost is $15 (your travel and accommodations are additional.) Email harvestmag@aol.com for registration information.

SHARPENING YOUR INTERPERSONAL SKILLS WORKSHOPS FOR MISSIONARIES

If your mission would like to sponsor a five-day SYIS workshop for your staff, or as an intermission project, contact Ken at ken@relationshipskills.com. This ministry is sponsored by Wycliffe Bible Translators. Over 100 facilitators from 29 organizations have been trained to provide these workshops. Twenty-five workshops have already been scheduled for this year, in twelve countries. Go to http://www.RelationshipSkills.com for more details.

RADIO BROADCAST RECOMMENDATIONS

The quarterly easy-English evangelistic paper SOON ( circ. 800,000) has a worldwide readership. They have started to give frequency details of Christian stations in the paper each time, and try to cover one geographical area of the world each time – there would not be space to do the whole world! For future issues, they would like recommendations for broadcasts in W Africa and E Europe. Please send any information to tony@soon.org.uk. SOON is available free to anyone who can use it, with similar papers in French, Swahili, Portuguese and German for learners: https://brigada.org/today/articles/olympic.html

PRAY FOR THE JULA OF MALI SCREEN SAVER

Have you heard about Hesed Interactive? They’re releasing Unreached People Group Screen Savers. The first highlights the Jula of Mali. The screen saver can be downloaded from Hesed Interactive’s web site at http://www.hesed.com/jula.htm. The screen savers in the project combine vivid photographs and beautiful music with prayer points for specific unreached people groups and are provided free of charge by Hesed Interactive as a service to the body of Christ. The screen savers are also updateable so that users can periodically install new content with timely prayer requests.

SHORT-TERM CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING

Over 30 Short-Term missionaries completed the 3 day Missionprep training in Toronto. Participants experienced a language learning component in Toronto’s down town ‘China town’. Now it’s time to register for the language acquisition seminar, 18-30 June. They also have a culture & language seminar 4-19 July in Toronto. All sessions are in Toronto. These sessions are really designed for missionaries going cross-culturally for one year or more. For more information contact Robert micanada@interlog.com or check out http://www.tyndale-canada.edu/tim/missionprep.

CHURCH PLANTING MODELS INTENSIVE

Get your church planters ahead of the curve. A great tool for helping you understand which, if any, model is appropriate for your situation! This short one-week module in August will survey and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of various church planting models used around the world. Identifies key factors which the church planter can implement in a context-specific, phase-out oriented church planting strategy. Trainer is Dr. Tom Steffen of Biola University and the workshop is offered August 21-25, 2000 in Union Mills. NC. Contact the Center for Intercultural Training at 800-887-1786 for more info. or look at http://www.citi.org. Other targeted training modules are also available.

GOT SPANISH?

Now you can get it! Try the Centro de Idioma Espanol (CIE). CIE offers programs for various levels, from one month to one year long for short-termers and for career long-term missionaries. Located in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the center is just five minutes from the border of El Paso, Texas. They use native profs so you’ll get the real thing. Write Ike cmfmexico@compuserve.com or see http://www.cmfmexico.org. Or write P.O. Box 26998, El Paso, TX 79926. Tel. (in Mexico) 52-16-13-00-35.

WEBWATCH: TAKE AN ONLINE LOOK AT THE 1040 WINDOW

Have you checked out the 10/40 Window site at http://www.1040window.org? It’s a very effective page, with great “ambience”. (Make sure your speaker is turned on for the full effect.) Thanks to Tim for the tip!

THE BACKPAGE: “YOUR HELL IS BETTER THIS HEAVEN”

I’m “out of Africa” now, having just arrived back in Louisville last night. It was great to see the wife and kids again. They’re great friends… and some of the people I met on this trip are now super friends too. Some I just can’t get out of my mind. I was there trying to help our organization link with others to help refugees in an area that is war-torn and ravaged by famine, conflict, and human tragedy. There was one young man whom we’ll call Mohammed. He said, “I saw all the bad things my people had done to each other. Yet, they all considered themselves good Muslims. Then I saw — even during the very civil war itself — Christian people from the USA and other Christian lands, trying to help us. All the warlords and Muslim religious leaders were telling us what bad people the Christians were, and that we shouldn’t listen to them if they try to tell us about Jesus. The Muslim clerics told us all these Christians were going to Hell and that only Muslims were going to Heaven. Then I’d hear gunfire in the night, outside my bedroom window.” Then he turned to me and swallowed hard. “I finally decided that if I had to make a choice, it looked like your “Hell” was better than the “Heaven” to which I was headed.” Today, Mohammed is helping write radio messages for the only Christian radio program being beamed into that Muslim region. Please pray for him and for all those who will hear the messages he’s helping to prepare. Thanks!

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