19980510 Brigada Today

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News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
On the WorldWide Web, browse https://brigada.org or http://www.eGroups.com/list/brigada-today
Brigada Today is “the missionary helper newsletter!”
Compiled by Doug Lucas <DLucas@teamexpansion.org>, Louisville, KY
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In this issue….

THE LOST ISSUES MUST REALLY BE LOST

Well everyone scoured their archives . . . and if there were any Brigada Today issues prior to Feb. 18th 1995, apparently nobody hung onto them. Even the logs at MAFxc (then called CrossConnect) indicate Feb. 18th was the first edition. Thanks to all who tried to help — and yes, we were trying to find editions from 1995, not the current year. Sorry I didn’t specify!

“IT JUST HAPPENED” SETS ALL-TIME READER-RESPONSE RECORD!

It was hard to believe the number of encouraging notes that came in after last week’s soccer story item, “SPECIAL EDITORIAL: DOES IT EVER “JUST HAPPEN???” Yikes

— sounds like there are MANY people around the world who are chipping away at giant tasks… getting very little credit, but serving a grand and global God! Thanks for the encouragement, gang — but those determined souls who are showing step-by-step determination are the ones who deserve the credit… along with Jesus who sees them through!! Why not pick out one of THEM to write this week instead of me!

AS “THE WORLD” TURNS

GMI appreciates the interest in the “Operation World Plus” CD. The cost of this CD is $29.95 plus $5.00 for shipping and handling of the product within USA ($10.00 outside USA). For orders from Colorado and California, please include sales tax (7.25% for California, 6.1% for Colorado Springs, 4% for El Paso or 3% for other areas in Colorado). Thanks for your cooperation. For more info, write info@gmi.org.

A TOOL FOR PRAYING FOR THE UNREACHED

Galcom International has produced a new version of the “Go-Ye Network CD” called “Target The Nations”. This provides specific information about each of the 11,886 people groups that live in the 233 nations of the world, along with video teachings on prayer by Bill Bright, Ted Haggard, George Otis Jr. and Peter Wagner. It also includes:

The PIN (Peoples Information Network) data base of unreached peoples groups
A file on the main world religions
25,000 screens of text
150 pictures
Drawings, and 50 voice files
Answers to questions on adopting a people group
Current disease outbreak information
Information on most known terrorist groups
A directory of U.S. and Canadian world mission agencies working among the unreached.

All in all, it contains 648 megabytes of data and will run on IBM compatible 486 or higher (full screen video on Pentium). Offered by Galcom International for $19.00. To order write:
Galcom International
Box 270956
Tampa, FL 33688
or email GalcomUSA@aol.com.

USE YOUR COMPUTER AS A SHORTWAVE!

Have you checked out http://www.broadcast.com ? They’ve got TONS of radio stations LIVE now . . .including the BBC World Service. Rick pointed out that you can go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/index.htm but you can also shop for just the right station from just the right place at the broadcast.com site. Check it out! (Recommended: modem speed of 14.4 or better; you’ll also need some of their chosen utility software, namely, Real Audio rvplayer.) So who needs an expensive short-wave when you’ve already got your laptop!

WEB-WATCH

Have you visited http://www.scruples.org ??? Wow!

Talk about a page! This site has something for everyone . . . especially tentmakers. Dozens of links . . . and lots of annotated content. Some classy stuff. For example, there’s the Scruples Business and Missions Page at http://www.scruples.org/bizetmiz/ which is apparently a ministry of YWAM, British Columbia. Top notch stuff.

SUPERBOOK VIDEOS IN FARSI ABOUT THE SUPER BOOK

Finally, after a long, long wait the Superbook Videos in Farsi (Persian) language are available. Our prayer is that millions of Persian speaking people (children and adults) will benefit spiritually from these colorful Bible cartoon videos. The videos come in a set of six with 2 stories (OT histories plus the Birth of Jesus Christ) per video. Also available for Persian speakers is the Children’s Bible by Kenneth Taylor. For ordering details contact: Persian World Outreach at 102367.1315@compuserve.com or 818-349-3132 or PO Box 371161 Reseda CA 91337.

“DEFINE WORLD CHIRSTIANITY; BE BRIEF; BE PRECISE”

Okay – so maybe the challenge isn’t THAT great. But Craig would love to know everything you know. He’s promised to fill us in here with a compilation in a couple of weeks. He writes, “On May 29 we are having our first Missions seminar for our movement here and I was wondering if you have a report on the current stats of the world Christian movement that I could use for a presentation on the movement’s growth and what God is doing in the world today. Anything you have would be a great help.” Email Craig at tasker@online.ee in Estonia. You could send him graphs, charts, references to URLs, emailed text, etc. He’ll compile it and make it available to all of us. Thanks!

DO WE CHECK ALL THE SITES WE RECOMMEND?

A reader wrote this past week to point out a criticism of a site we had recently recommended in Brigada Today. In the process, I realized that we probably haven’t said enough about the fact that there’s no way we can possibly “screen” each portion of the web sites we sometimes recommend. So… a new line has been added in our “closing” — stating that the opinions expressed in a recommended site aren’t necessarily those of the Editor. But maybe you already knew that.

GLOBAL GLIMPSE ON THE NET

Although the Internet has yet to be proven as an effective means of evangelism, it has nevertheless become an indispensable tool for missionaries and those who support them. Through the work of MAF and others, nearly every mission worker, no matter how remote, is able to use e-mail to communicate quickly and easily with the rest of the world. Despite its bad reputation from pornography, many in the missions community believe that the Internet and the WWW are a wonderful gift from God, especially because of the ways He has used them to unite diverse believers from around the world in true collaborative partnership.
(Source: Caleb Project field report, 5/1/98)
Global Glimpse is compiled each week [and sent out via the Internet to some 5000 readers, according to the compiler) by John Hanna, Caleb Project, Littleton, CO.

ARE YOU A DIRECT-SUPPORT MISSIONARY?

Then Chris’ new email conference might apply to you. To subscribe to this mailing list, you can send mail to Majordomo@missionaries.com with the following command in the body of your email message:
subscribe direct-support

MAY 1998 ADVANCE IS READY TO “GET”

Mark Kelly does a GREAT job assembling the Advance each month. Here’s a summary:

THE GOSPEL FOR EVERY PEOPLE — Pray for Cairo; the Kalmyks of Russia; the Cham of Vietnam and Cambodia; openness and resistance in Togo; rebel defections in Cambodia; the Western Punjabis of Pakistan; Celebrate Messiah 2000

THE PERSECUTED CHURCH — Punjab court sentences Ayub Masih to death; two Colombians poisoned; Myanmar troops attack Karen refugee camps; Pakistani believer despairs of getting kidnapped daughter back; Peruvian believer unjustly accused; Rashid Turibayev serving two-year prison sentence; American witness stabbed to death in Bihar; Swedish missionaries remain in captivity; students at Islamic university make decisions for Christ

SPIRITUAL FORCES OF DARKNESS — Buddhists pay homage to Buddha’s tooth; Asia economic problems drive people to suicide; Vietnam has world’s highest abortion rate; racist groups in USA grow 20%; medical technician charged with injecting HIV-infected blood into infant son

REJOICE! — 30,500 decisions for Christ in Egypt; Kumbh Mela festival flops; three grandmothers unexpectedly released from jail; new believer returns to Muslim homeland; death row inmate leads 42 other inmates to Christ; destroyed Sudan church building rallies congregation, neighbors; opportunities for the gospel in Iraq; Cambodia government approves Christian radio station; Danish police crack international child pornography ring

NETWORKING — 30 Days of Prayer for Hindus; 50 most unreached people groups of China and Tibet; Celebrate Messiah 2000; Jesus film available on Internet; resources for teaching missions to preschoolers, older children and teens; community banking program helps impoverished families support themselves; India missions website; new video series on unreached people groups; Praying Through the Window IV: “Light the Window;” prayer teams for Tibet

Thanks Mark!

BUILD THE WAVE FOR IRAN

Don’t forget about that “wave” of prayer around the globe (a la the kind of “waves” you see at football stadiums and Promise Keeper rallies) for Iran. Great idea. Write RapAdvance@aol.com for more information or if you’re willing to pray May 29-30 for a group in Iran. Put “The Wave” in the subject line.

PHILIPPINES CONGRESS SHIFTS DATES

On March 13, we posted information re: the Philippines Centennial Missions Congress. The dates were June 23-26, 1998. This Congress has been postponed to October 20-23, 1998. Please pray for this Congress to realize it’s main goal of seeing all the remaining UPGs in the Philippines adopted and that many churches will be “locked on” to a global missions vision. The postponement was necessary as many things were reportedly not going to be ready in time for the Congress. If this Congress realizes the goals mentioned, great steps will be made for the Gospel, not just in the Philippines but even abroad into the rest of Asia. Please contact Jeff Woollett of YWAM Philippines at woollett@pworld.net.p if you have any questions.

SO WHY IS BRIGADA TODAY ALWAYS DATED 3 DAYS EARLIER?

Back in the early days (early ’95), life just didn’t seem to be so hectic… and for some reason, we could always get it out Friday morning. When sending dates began to fluctuate some, one reader suggested we always use the same DAY of the week as a sending date… and so far, we’ve eventually gotten out a weekly issue without fail, since Feb. 18, ’95. However, maybe the title should have been something like, Brigada Recently.

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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!”
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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.
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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!