19980920 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….

HERE WE GROW AGAIN

Brigada keeps growing! Thanks to those who are passing the word around. Here’s a sample of 3 or 4 days growth from this past week. (Lyris tracks these daily growth figures as a standard feature.) The number beside the date lists the new subscribers for a particular day in the life of Brigada:
09/26/1998: 8
09/25/1998: 5
09/24/1998: 15
09/23/1998: 21
09/22/1998: 15
Thanks for speaking out!

BIG: WHERE DO YOU GO FOR STATS ON DENOMINATIONAL GROWTH?

Suppose I want to know how big the Southern Baptist denomination is (number of members) in the USA and in the world. Where would I go to ascertain that kind of thing? Is it on the web??? If you have a lead, send it to Ernest ERNJOY@aol.com. He’ll publish a report to us about how to do it. This kind of thing would be helpful when assembling reports about our own denominations as well as church growth as a whole. ‘Course, someday, Barrett’s new book will be out, right?

GET THE ELECTRICITY FLOWING (TRIPP LITE FOLLOW-UP)

Thanks to those who sleuthed out more information on power inverters. You can always check out http://www.tripplite.com for more information, but the bottom line was, as Joe & Audrey reported, $61 for the lower wattage model (PV140) and $89 for the really cool one (PV300).

WEB-WATCH: GET YOUR CLASSICS ON THE NET!

Have you seen http://ccel.wheaton.edu/ lately? Roger tipped us off on the offerings. Wow.

Incredible options. (We left out all the “underscore” _characters to keep this from looking so confusing. By the way, do we still have to underline copies of _books_ on the web like _this_?) You can get The Confessions of St. Augustine, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, The Holy War, Pilgrim’s Progress, John Calvin’s Commentaries, On the Christian Life, Institutes of the Christian Religion, G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections and Select Sermons, Francois Fenelon’s Spiritual Progress, Charles Finney’s Lectures on Revival text files and Lectures to Professing Christians, John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Thomas Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ, Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God, Martin Luther’s Table Talk, Andrew Murray’s The Deeper Christian Life, The True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16, and The New Life: Words of God for Young Disciples. You can also get At the Masters Feet, Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, J. Hudson Taylor’s Union and Communion, and the Kneeling Christian. Anyway… great list of books. Check it out!

GET BIBLE SOFTWARE AT 50% OFF

Logos Bible Software is running their first ever special just for field personnel with a limited time offer of 50% off software. This offer includes items for older computers as well as new. They have Bible Software on floppy diskettes (Spanish, French & Dutch versions, too), shipping to US address. Inquiries and orders go to Pat Rappuhn at trish@logos.com. Hats off to Mark for the tip!

GLOBAL GLIMPSE ON SUDAN

The U-S bombing in Sudan is making it difficult for evangelical workers in war torn Sudan. [One worker, whose name Brigada has withheld for security reasons,] with Voice of the Martyrs just returned from that country, where they distributed food, medicine and the Gospel to the people there. [He] says despite the difficulties, they were able to help the local church distribute 32 tons of food and medical supplies, and show the Jesus Film. He says local church leaders were thrilled. “This was the first opportunity that churches had been given to actually participate in a relief program and the first time that they’d actually been given resources with which to minister to their people.” Up to three thousand people watched the film and many came to Christ.
(Source: Mission Network News, September 22, 1998 www.gospelcom.net/mnn)
Global Glimpse is compiled by John Hanna, Caleb Project, Littleton, CO.

JAPANESE WORKERS UNITE!

Have you heard about the new Equippers conference for Japanese people and those ministering to them? It’s jointly sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ, International Students Incorporated, Japanese Christian Fellowship Network, and The Navigators. Organizers say, “Over the years many Japanese come to the States either as businessmen or students and become Christians here, but when they return to Japan often stop attending church for a variety of reasons. It is our hope and prayer that God will use this conference to stop this downward trend, and to equip both Japanese Christians and those who minister to them with the necessary tools and spiritual resources to stand strong.” Last year’s conference brought together over 180 people at Berachah Christian Retreat Center, outside Seattle in Auburn, WA. This year’s dates are from Dec. 27th (Sunday) through January 1st (Friday). Cost is $210 per person. Arthur Hollands and Koichi Hirano will be the keynote speakers and most sessions are held in Japanese but translation will be available. If you are interested or know someone who may benefit from this please contact USHQ@JCFN.Org for more information. Or you may call 303-730-4226 and ask for Setsu or Yumi.

REGISTER NOW FOR MEDICAL MISSION CONFERENCE

On November 6 – 7, 1998, Southeast Christian Church will present its 3rd Annual Medical Mission Conference. For detailed information about the conference, browse http://www.medicalmissions.com. Guess who they’ve got coming: David Thompson, a career missionary surgeon who works in Gabon, West Africa. He’s the guy featured in the unforgettable last 7 minutes of the Generation video that everybody’s showing these days (from Mars Hill Productions). Highly recommended. I’ve been using those last 7 minutes to close out one of the messages I’ve been preaching on Matt. 24:14. Gang… It’s powerful. The Elmers are going to be there too… (Duane and Muriel) as well as a ton of other workshop speakers and profs. They’re even presenting helps for raising funds for short-term mission trips. CME credits for physicians and CEU credits for nurses up to 5.5 hours will be available for taking this course. And guess what — there’s no registration fee! (However, a love offering will be taken.) For more information or for a brochure concerning the conference, call Stephanie Garling, 502-451-5317, extension 4725. Book your travel now — the “Breeder’s Cup” will be held in Louisville the same weekend as this conference. Stephanie Garling also has motel/ hotel information available for participants.

SOUTHERN AFRICA WORKERS TO GATHER

If you work in sub-Sahara Africa, here’s the gathering for you! The Southern Africa Christian Resource Exhibition is taking place in March of 1999 in Harare, Zimbabwe. To get more information, send an email note to subscribe-sacre-99@xc.org for the latest. Attendance is open to anyone.

AFMA MISSIONS EVENT TO INVITE EFMA/IFMA

AIMS is still taking reservations for the annual AFMA missions leadership retreat, set for Nov. 19-21 in Houston, TX. Dr. James Engel is the keynote speaker… and the networking alone should be tops. For additional information, contact AIMS at aims@aims-usa.org.

SOUTH ASIA CONSULTATION ON STRATEGIC INTERCESSION

Convened by North India Harvest Network in Co-operation with AD 2000 and Beyond Movement, THE YMCA Tourist Hostel, New Delhi, Nov. 3-6. The purpose? To study together prayer for evangelism and social transformation, To focus Intercession on the unreached peoples and the poorest of the poor of North India and other countries of South Asia, To study and understand the biblical concept of spiritual strongholds & spiritual mapping, etc., in South Asian context, To edit the Consultation papers and make them available for training programs in South Asia. Participation is by Invitation only. But if you or someone you know should be invited, write Rev. S. D. Ponraj, Bihar Out-Reach Network 10/1-A, New Patliputra Colony, Post Box- 5 Patliputra Patna Bihar 800 013 or tel. 0612-263802

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE NEWS SOURCE?

Roger RogerDoriot@XC.Org wants to know… He uses some of the Infobeat services to get e-mail news, sports, etc. But he wants more! If you’ve got a favorite email or web source, send it to him and he’ll compile a list/report for publishing in a couple of weeks in Brigada Today.

TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT – WANTED: INSPIRING MISSIONS SUCCESS STORIES

So where does one go for really inspiring missionary success stories? Is there a web site? Jay jlink@nafwc.org needs one for Uganda … but where does he go? If you know of a great site or a great source for great illustrations, send it to him and he’ll collect them and in a couple of weeks send us a report for posting here in Brigada Today.

HEARTLAND MISSIONSFEST COMIN’ ROUND THE CORNER

Connect with the AD2000 & Beyond Movement in Tulsa this February 25-27. The 1999 Heartland MissionsFest will focus on “Joshua Project 2000: the progress and possibilities” with keynote speaker Luis Bush. Over 50 workshops will inform missions-minded North Americans about AD2000 tracks including Business & Professionals, Worship & the Arts, and Church Planting Among Muslims. Ron Rowland will introduce the dynamic database being developed for Joshua Harvest: All Peoples, All Persons. Workshop speakers include Terry Law, Doug Lucas, Beverly Pegues, Ross Patterson, Phyllis Kilbourn, Jill Harris, Bill Waldrop, and Keith Wheeler. Co-sponsors include ACMC, AIMS, Caleb Project, and the U.S. Center for World Mission. At the last Heartland conference over 2,000 participants came from 16 schools, 23 states, 100 churches, and 101 missions agencies. To receive a brochure or exhibitor packet send your snail mail address to hmfinfo@usa.net or phone 1-800-366-6641.

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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!