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News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]
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In this issue….
* URBANA GIVES UPDATE ON WORLD
* BRIGADA-TRAVEL-BIDS QUIETLY SAVING YOU HUNDREDS
* PRAY FOR LATINAMERICA 2000
* US CENTER OFFERS CHRISTMAS GIFT
* PRAYER – BE THERE OR BE SQUARE
* WE GET MAIL
* DON’T FORGET TO GET
* LATEST “VIRUS ATTACK” ALSO A FARCE
* BAR NONE – THE BEST EMAILED WORLD NEWS SOURCE
* ONE-DAY MISSIONS SEMINARS – THE MOTHER OF ALL SUMMARIES
* PACIFIC CHRISTIAN COLLEGE UPGRADES ON-LINE MBA IN NON-PROFIT MGT.
* FROM URBANA DAY ONE – “ONE DELEGATE WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE…”
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URBANA GIVES UPDATE ON WORLD
Wish you all could have attended the press conference yesterday here at Urbana 96. Director Dan Harrison told how that someone has figured out that there are approximately 332,000 missionaries at work in the world today . . . and only 4000 of those are working among unreached peoples. “Assembly halls the size of this one [19,500 capacity] could be filled over and over again without ever finding a single person who knows Jesus,” Dan testified. “We can’t afford another generation like this one.” Later, shooting straight with 20,000 students jammed into a packed-out arena, he paused and stated, “I think your generation can make a difference.” For the sake of the unreached, I surely hope so!
George Verwer followed suit with “7 words” — A Faithful Witness is
1. a Jesus-focused person,
2. a grace-awakened person,
3. a “Rag-a-muffin person”
(According to George, “Rag-a-muffin” describes, in England, a child that’s not dressed quite right, not all that clean, and kind of a misfit. God uses rag-a-muffin Christians!),
4. a Visionary person,
5. a Spirit-filled person,
6. a Proactive person, and
7. a Crucified person.
(These last two items are a real “scoop”! He didn’t get to them in his message . . . so 20,000 students are wondering around the Univ. of IL wishing they knew the last 2 of Verwer’s “7 words!” [We got them in an exclusive Brigada interview with George after the main session! :-) ]
But to me, Verwer’s clearest comments came in his reference to the people God can use. “I don’t believe we’re always successful at following His plan ‘A’. In fact, I don’t even know if He has a plan ‘A’. Sometimes I feel like I’m having to fall back on Plan ‘C’ . . . or . . . Plan ‘H’!!! But do you know what I say??? I praise God for a big alphabet!!!!” Verwer’s conclusion: God can use you, just the way you are! He specializes in using ordinary people to do extraordinary things!
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BRIGADA-TRAVEL-BIDS QUIETLY SAVING YOU HUNDREDS
A reader wrote this past week to thank the Lord for Brigada-Travel-Bids. That’s the conference made up primarily of travel agents from all over the world. They watch for your messages, then pounce on them, bidding for a chance to beat all the other agents in the group. They send the quotes directly back to you so that you don’t even have to subscribe to the conference to use it! (It’s configured in a special way to let you mail messages to it even though you’re a non-member.) To utilize the services of the agents in that group, just send your rough itinerary to brigada-travel-bids@xc.org and sit back and wait for the response! Well anyway, this reader wrote, “…As it worked out, my wife “just happened” to check email (I was in Indiana) and it was two hours before the deadline for the tickets my daughter needed. To make a long story short, an agent got the message in CO Springs, made arrangements and in the end, saved us $450 on the best that two travel agents tried to do for us here. Praise God!” Try it! You might like it! :-)
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PRAY FOR LATINAMERICA 2000
Would you take a moment and pray right now for Latinamerica 2000, a conference taking place this weekend in Panama (27-29 december). With more than 3,000 delegates from all the Americas countries (including more than 120 Denominational Leaders from the USA), the focus of this conference is the development of AD2000 National Initiatives and Joshua Project 2000. Their goal is promote the adoption (for prayer and church planting) of each of the 1,739 peoples in the JP2000 list in partnership with churches and mission agencies working in Latin America. I tell you – you’ll be hearing more about this one!
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US CENTER OFFERS CHRISTMAS GIFT
… Just about! Remember those global maps that keep popping up? Vernon Dueck of the US Center for World Mission in Pasadena, CA, has recently said that as a Christmas special for Brigada participants, he would offer the Status of Global Evangelization Wall Map — 24″x36″ Map (which retails for $9.95) for $4.95 (order 3 or more for $2.95ea) and the 36″x64″ Map (retails for $14.95) for $8.95 (3 or more for $5.95ea). For more info, contact them at gerry.dueck@wciu.edu, 1605 Elizabeth St., Pasadena CA 91104; Tel. 818-398-2236 or 818-398-2232.
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PRAYER – BE THERE OR BE SQUARE
The folks at Pete Wagner’s office wrote to Brigada participants this past week, “You are cordially invited to attend the 1997 International Conference on Prayer and Spiritual Warfare. These popular annual conferences are sponsored by Dr. C. Peter Wagner of the AD 2000 United Prayer Track and Global Harvest Ministries and Gospel Light Publications. To better serve the growing prayer movement they have three conferences across the USA:
March 12-14,1997 in Pasadena, CA;
May 21-23, 1997 in Virginia Beach, VA and
September 24-26, 1997 in St. Louis, MO.
Speakers include:
C. Peter Wagner,
Ed Silvoso,
Cindy Jacobs,
John Dawson,
George Otis,
Ted Haggard,
John Eckhardt,
Chuck Pierce,
Alice Smith,
Rolland Smith,
Dutch Sheets,
Bob Beckett,
Randy Clark and
Francis Frangipane.
Ross Parsley of New life Church will lead worship at all three meetings. C. Peter Wagner says, “If you want to keep your ear tuned to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches in these critical times, you won’t want to miss this conference!” Call 1-800-337-2334 or 805-644-9721 Extension 405 for a free color brochure. Or email Kay Hiramine at hiramine@oxy.edu for information.” Thanks gang!
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WE GET MAIL
One reader wrote this past week with this encouraging story about the recently published Gateway People Cluster list, “Let me reiterate with an illustration from my own life that Brigada IS working! While I have served as a cross-cultural missionary for nearly 6 years, I am primarily involved in training and mobilizing the existing church (currently in Brazil). This is where I’m gifted and called. But this has not diminished my desire to be used to reach unreached peoples in a significant way. I’ve been praying for several years as to where the Lord would have me invest some of my energies, ie. which unreached people I could serve as an advocate. Less than two weeks ago I felt that the Lord had finally pinpointed a people, the Tharu in south Asia. … Yet I was still largely unaware of the status of the Tharu as an unreached people. So imagine my surprise when I read the 13 Dec Brigada Today and discovered that the Tharu were an as yet unrepresented gateway people! Perhaps God has prepared me for “such a time as this.” Or more accurately, such a group as this! I might never have known except for Brigada Today! Please be assured that God is using the Brigada network! Yours for the Nations, Joao Mordomo, Crossover Communications International, Curitiba, Brazil.” For more information on serving as an advocate or a contact for a gateway people group cluster, contact jhanna@xc.org.
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DON’T FORGET TO GET
Don’t forget that you can “get” any previous edition of Brigada Today by either of two methods. If you have access to the worldwide web, our web specialist (Bob Mayhew, a computer services tech at a major university in California) archives every single copy at http://www.xc.org/brigada. But we live in a world where not every Internet-equipped individual has access to the web . . . so you can also “order up” any copy of Brigada Today using MAFxc’s automated email server. It’s like visiting Morrison’s Cafeteria on Sunday afternoon in Nashville, TN! Just retrieve a file list from the Brigada “archive” by sending the one word, “filelist brigada” to hub@xc.org (without quotes). Within minutes, you’ll receive in your email inbox a copy of the list of files stored in the archive. Pick out the one you want and send a message like this to hub@xc.org:
get brigada brigada-today.961228
Obviously, replace the 961228 with the year/mo./date of your choosing.
In addition, we occasionally place other files there for your pleasure! Like today, for example, here’s a file from a Brigada participant Russ_Cooper@sil.org who serves with SIL in Papua New Guinea. He writes about:
1. A Response to the concept of Brigada Today
2. A Report on E-mail use for missionaries in places like Papua New Guinea
3. Experimenting with E-mail “in the bush” via Packet Radio
4. 100th(!) NT in PNG in relation to the volcano eruption on Manam Island.
5. The magnitude of the task remaining in a land of 850 languages.
To get Russ’ great little update for Brigada readers, send this line in the text of an email note to hub@xc.org
get brigada png
This might not be surfing, but it’s like walking on water if you don’t own a surfboard!
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LATEST “VIRUS ATTACK” ALSO A FARCE
Heard about “PENPAL GREETINGS”? It’s the same genre as Deeyenda, Irina, and Good Times – all hoaxes. To date, there is no known “email virus”. (Pete Holzmann said we should send readers to http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/bulletins/h-05.shtml for documentation on this.) Granted – you should always check executables (any *.exe) before hitting the enter key, but no one has documented a case of virus attack via pure electronic mail. (Exception: Watch for WinWord and Excel “attached files” or make sure your copy of WinWord/Excel watches for “macro viruses”. For more information, get to Jonathan’s virus info page at http://www.xc.org/jonathan.
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BAR NONE – THE BEST EMAILED WORLD NEWS SOURCE
Without a doubt, I think we’ve discovered the very best emailed world news source. Subscribe at http://www.merc.com/. You can get as much . . . or as little as you want, targeted by topic, region, and size! :-) I love it! And . . . best of all, it’s free! If you don’t have access to the web, someone else can sign up for you. But remember – don’t sign anyone else up without first getting his/her permission! :-)
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ONE-DAY MISSIONS SEMINARS – THE MOTHER OF ALL SUMMARIES
Thanks to Rick Malm richardmalm@juno.com for assembling what looks to me to be the ‘mother of all missions seminar listings’! Thanks Richard! To get it, send email to hub@xc.org with only this line in the text:
get brigada missions-seminars
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PACIFIC CHRISTIAN COLLEGE UPGRADES ON-LINE MBA IN NON-PROFIT MGT.
Thanks to Nick Sherwin who has notified Brigada of PCC’s upgrades to his seminary’s on-line MBA. Among other changes, PCC has dropped the requirement for attending the “kick-off” workshop and they’ve now made the MBA available to students to begin the program at any time during the year providing they begin as a new class launches (generally, new classes begin at eight week intervals). Interested students can e-mail Nick at nsherwin@xc.org or visit PCC’s web site at: http://www.pacificcc.edu.
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FROM URBANA DAY ONE – “ONE DELEGATE WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE…”
My buddy, Eric Derry, will wrap up the day with an essay each evening. Here’s his recollection of last night: “By plane, train, bus, van & car they swarmed in from the four corners of the earth, littering the airports, bus stations, and highways, all teeming with anticipation. Some 20,000 eager friends of the Carpenter from Galilee converged today on the University of Illinois for InterVarsity’s 18th student mission convention, known simply as … Urbana ®.
So what happened ?
Imagine sitting on the floor of an 18,500 seat arena jam packed with a tremendous assortment of skin color, praising God with all your breath in another language, visually surrounded by superior quality video technology, and being challenged by down to earth radical men and women transformed by God’s grace, living on the edge by the power of the Almighty. Intersperse that with spontaneous praise, laughter, and expressions of excitement. Hear the thunderous yet harmonious praise chorus, “The Cry Of My Heart Is To Follow You”. Feel the continual refreshment “In Every Generation” as his faithfulness splashes on you like waves at the sea shore.
A thought. In the innermost parts. Wherever it is that my spirit and His have fireside chats. A sense of awe. Take mental pictures. This is important. More than an event. More than a gathering. More than singing. More than preaching. More than George Verwer “rocking the house.” We celebrated a remarkable missions history. We applauded the faithful truth-bearers. We surrendered some dirty broken vessels that needed cleaned up or repaired. We dedicated our next steps to the Master Designer. We pondered the plight of the millions to whom Jesus is a stranger. Their staggering number pierced our complacency as 1739 students waved a placard for each of the “least reached people groups” who eke out an existence without hope, without peace, without knowing “Abba Father”. George Verwer quoted Dwight L. Moody, “World evangelism can be done, must be done, will be done, and I say, ‘Why not this generation?!'”
And so it was, Generation “X” in the “Arena” of decision.
Then it hit me like a baseball bat in the face. My attention was drawn to the one delegate who made a difference. I saw him first on the highway in a van full of students. Then I saw him again in the registration line when I was waiting on “Solutions” to resolve some unforeseen problems. As my mind raced back through the events of the day (setting up the Adoption Center, unloading the placards, numerous conversations with a host of kingdom builders, press conferences, dinner with Betty Sue Brewster, the main event at Assembly Hall, then capping off the evening numerically sorting the placards with some precious InterVarsity staff-volunteers) I noticed the same delegate at every turn.
He made a difference just by showing up… just like He did 2000 years ago in a stable.
Eric Derry
[Thanks for the essay, Eric! We look forward to tomorrow!]
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subscribe brigada
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unsubscribe brigada
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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
*ADVANCE: Mark A. Kelley, Kainos Press, 70420.1057@compuserve.com
*Brigada Website: Bob Mayhew, Brigada Volunteer, mayhew@xc.org
*Technical Development: Jonathan Marsden, MAFxc jonathan@xc.org
*Brigada Customer Service Manager: Revis Ann Massey, RevisAnnMassey@xc.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!
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