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News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
On the WorldWide Web, browse https://brigada.org or
Brigada Today is “the missionary helper newsletter!”
Compiled by Doug Lucas
[Pass this issue to a friend! To subscribe, see instructions at end.]
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In this issue….
* FREE! TRANSLATE ON THE WEB!
* APOLOGIES TO ALL FROM ME, THE “FORMAT-CHALLENGED”
* FROM THE “AREN’T YOU GLAD YOU’RE A STUDENT” DEPT.
* NEED ONE OF THOSE “CALL BACK” PHONE COMPANIES?
* GLOBAL GLIMPSE ON STATS
* YOU’RE INVITED TO SCOPE OUT SCOPE
* SHORT IS SWEET: EMAIL ETIQUETTE
* WANT INFO ON THE CULTS IN THE USA?
* PREPARING TO SERVE
* TRAIN & MULTIPLY – THE RESOURCE
* FORMING MISSIONARY TEAMS
* BRING ON THE REENTRY STORIES!
* WHO CAN SEND FOOD AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES…
* NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER
* SEMINAR FOR ADVOCATES-REGISTER NOW!
* APOLOGIES TO THE WEB-CHALLENGED
* WEB-WATCH – AUDIO GREETINGS FROM NATIVE AM. CHRISTIANS
* TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY
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FREE! TRANSLATE ON THE WEB!
Carol nevinc@usa.net gets the prize for coming up with the Brigada “Tip of the Week”!!! She found where you can translate between five languages forward and backward in and out of English. It takes a bit of time . . . but it’s a GREAT help for those who are wanting to translate web sites, pages of information, etc. Granted, I’m sure it would take some polishing, but in my own simple testing, it at least provides a foundation for getting the translation started. Give it a try and let us know how it works for you! And Carol, enjoy those two tickets to Bosnia, free from Brigada! (Okay — so I’m kidding about the tickets — but we’re NOT kidding about our thanks!!!! God bless!)
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TO ALL FROM ME, THE “FORMAT-CHALLENGED”
Can you believe the mess in last week’s Brigada Today? I’d suggest throwing away the item about formatting addresses and web sites in email. Yikes. gulp I just hope this issue comes through better. What we were TRYING to suggest is: When sending items into <dlucas@TeamExpansion.org> for inclusion in Brigada Today, please enclose email addresses in < > pointy braces as in the example above. For web-sites (URLs), please just space down and leave them on a separate line. (Jonathan at MAFxc says that’s probably safest of all.) Please DO include the “http://” on the front of the web address. Some email clients watch for it as a queue for URLs. Thus, if you were giving the URL for the Brigada home page, you could give it…
So . . . again, apologies for the muddy “send” last week. Believe it or not, we used Eudora (which is supposed to be a standard) but the newest version (Eudora Pro Comm Center) evidently takes SEVERAL liberties with formatting sites and email addresses. Thanks for your patience as we work out the kinks!
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FROM THE “AREN’T YOU GLAD YOU’RE A STUDENT” DEPT.
Remember WinAlim (see last week’s Brigada Today, “ISLAM ON A DISK”)? Turns out that students can get it for $69. One user said it was definitely worth the bucks for the serious scholar of Islam. Thanks Jeff! http://www.islsoftware.com/html/the_alim.html
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NEED ONE OF THOSE “CALL BACK” PHONE COMPANIES?
I know they’re all around… but this one just informed us that Brigada Today readers could get a free month and new lower rates. Try it and let us know what you think… http://www.musictus.com/telecom%3Ehttp://www.musictus.com/telecom These callback companies promise international dialers (from outside the USA) calling into the USA that they can call a number locally which will then initiate a USA call from the company’s computer which will then allow the caller to connect to a USA dialtone. Pretty cool idea. thumbs-up
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GLOBAL GLIMPSE ON STATS
world globe Approximately 17 million people become church members globally each year through conversion while about 7 million leave the church. In addition to this, 53 million children are born into Christian families each year and 21 million church members die. This makes a daily growth rate of some 115,000 people of whom 27,400 are new converts and 87,700 are babies. Roughly two billion people claim Christianity with 1/3 considered to be Great Commission Christians.
(Source: Justin Long, Global Evangelism Movement / World Christian Encyclopedia, http://www.gem-werc.org via FridayFax, Feb 6, 1998.)
Global Glimpse is compiled each week by John Hanna, Caleb Project, Littleton, CO.)
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YOU’RE INVITED TO SCOPE OUT SCOPE
… the conference, not the mouthwash. The Strategic Congress On Prayer Evangelism ’98 will take place September 29-October 2, Tue-Fri noon, in Colorado Springs. Dick Eastman, International President of Every Home for Christ is hosting the event. Speakers include: Ted Haggard, Michael Fletcher and Rick Zachary. The emphasis is on partnering together to reach Least Evangelized People Groups, as well as “city reaching strategies.” For more information, contact Kevin or Barbara at kguttman@ehc.org.
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SHORT IS SWEET: EMAIL ETIQUETTE
Is it just my imagination or are we getting more email these days than we did 10 years ago? :-) My suggestion? Be kind to the animals: Don’t feed them more than they can bare. When you’re emailing someone, try your best to be as brief as the situation allows. Your recipient will be glad you did!
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WANT INFO ON THE CULTS IN THE USA?
Our volunteer compiler, Ted Bourdon 105332.551@compuserve.com, found two. The first is author George Barna, whose book The Index of Leading Spiritual Indicators is from Thomas Nelson/WORD Publishers. Get the sister newsletter from Thomas Nelson Word Ministry Resources, 800-933-9673 ext 2037. The second is The New England Institute of Religious Research (NEIRR), which conducts seminars on cults that are primarily operating in the New England area. However, in conversation with Bob Pardon, 508-947-9571, email neirr@ma.ultranet.com, they are a resource for much information on all cults. Thanks Ted!
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PREPARING TO SERVE
China ’98: Preparing to Serve, is a discipleship conference for Chinese Christian students to be held July 22-26, 1998 in Colorado Springs. Topics will include evangelism and discipleship training, cell-group planting, Bible study, etc. Invitations are being sent to appropriate potential conferees on the recommendation of ministry leaders. If you know of a student who should receive an invitation, please send the student’s name and address to ISI by email at China98Leadership@isionline.org.
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TRAIN & MULTIPLY – THE RESOURCE
“Train & Multiply” was originally developed by George Patterson as a Theological Ed. by Extension (TEE) course. But he especially found it incredibly effective to train church planters. You can get the course in several languages, including, for example, English and French with Black African pictures. A complete sample set of the materials with the Chilean (white) pictures and English text costs US$95 plus US$25 surface mail or US$50 airmail. At present the Black African English version is available only on diskette in Microsoft Publisher 3.0 format for US$300. (With these you can print out originals or booklets as you need them.) Says trainer Ian Benson, “The materials are for training new workers as leaders of groups – as these groups are established and multiply, so do the workers. They form an on-the-job pastoral training programme that is very flexible. Being flexible, it also requires discipline. Hundreds of churches have been established using this method – in different countries around the world.” If you haven’t studied them before, give them a chance. You’ll be glad you did! Write Ian at Coordmts@XC.Org for more info. Orders go to
The Missionary Training Service
18 Aston Way
Oswestry, Shropshire, SY11 2XY
United Kingdom
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FORMING MISSIONARY TEAMS
MTS also has a new booklet called The Missionary Team, which discusses how to form and lead a missionary team. This study helps a team develop a memorandum of understanding and an action plan. It outlines responsibilities of team members and the team leader. Other areas covered include:
* practical suggestions for building a strong team
* family life as missionaries
* dealing with culture shock
* relationships with the home church and sending agency
* spiritual warfare
* proven spiritual ways of raising prayer and financial support
* dealing with emergencies
* handling sexual temptation on the field
* organizing home leave and furloughs
Looks VERY good. How can we NOT order this book!??? US$6.50 plus Seamail: US$1.50 Airmail US$3.00. Checks go to
The Missionary Training Service
18 Aston Way
Oswestry, Shropshire, SY11 2XY
United Kingdom
Write Ian at Coordmts@XC.Org for more info.
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BRING ON THE REENTRY STORIES!
Neal Pirolo is writing a book on re-entry and wants to include real stories, although names and details may be changed to assure confidentiality. Please contact Emmaus_Road@eri.org if you have a personal or public example, and they will give you further details. You may also call 619-292-7020 if you have questions.
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WHO CAN SEND FOOD AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES…
Dick Gaffney is searching for names of agencies and companies willing to donate medical and food aid to people in need. He’s willing to send his compiled list back to us in a couple of weeks so the entire Brigada family will have access. If you know of someone or some agency, write him at RGaff13817@aol.com. Thanks Dick!
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NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER
Don’t forget about the National Day of Prayer, Thursday, May 7, 1998. Write mmejia@unidial.com for more information.
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SEMINAR FOR ADVOCATES-REGISTER NOW!
Want to adopt a people group, learn about them, develop strategies, mobilize resources, help build a network of churches and agencies to reach them? Register now for Caleb Project’s Resource Advocacy Training Seminar, May 7-9 in Denver Colorado. Read all about it at http://www.calebproject.org/rats.htm.
From John Hanna & Marti Smith for the Caleb Project Advocacy Staff (303) 730-4170, training@cproject.com.
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APOLOGIES TO THE WEB-CHALLENGED
We continue to try to remember to provide email addresses for those who don’t have access to the Worldwide Web. You can help us — if you send a great tip or source into Brigada Today, please don’t overlook providing alternative means of contacting… like email, snailmail, fax, and/or phone.
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WEB-WATCH – AUDIO GREETINGS FROM NATIVE AM. CHRISTIANS
WebWatch Catch up on your latest Mohawk language snippets at http://www.gospelcom.net/ibs/native-wind/audio They’ve got Cheyenne, Mohawk, Lakota and more!
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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!” ear of corn
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
Emphasis is placed on items relating to unreached peoples and challenges faced by those reaching them cross-culturally.
not symbolPLEASE 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!
OPCWARNING 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.
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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!
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