19980927 Brigada Today

Now with over 7500 participants!
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….

NEW VIDEO – THE RIFFI BERBERS OF NORTHERN MOROCCO

Apart from the famous carpets that bear their name, the Berber people of Northern Africa are virtually unknown by the outside world. In the rugged, isolated Rif Mountains of Northern Morocco live a freedom-loving people who have clung tenaciously to their distinct cultural identity and language – the Riffi Berbers. Caleb Project has recently produced a 28 page prayer guide and 11 minute video (with a condensed 3 minute version on the same video) focusing specifically on the 1.8 million Riffi (reef – ee) Berbers. There is no Bible in their native language and no indigenous Riffi church movement. According to workers serving among them, there are fewer than 50 Riffi believers in the world! Use these new tools to pray for the Kingdom of God to be established among one of the least evangelized people groups in the world. To order this prayer guide and video call Caleb Project at 303-730-4170, or email info@cproject.com.

NEW POSSIBILITY FOR INT’L COMMUNICATION: “FAMILYPOINT”?

Have you heard about FamilyPoint? Browse it for free at: http://www.familypoint.com/html/registernow.cfm?ts=1089 I’m still trying to size it up, to be honest. But on the surface, it looks to have possibilities for creating quick and dirty international communication networks. Though definitely designed for “family” interaction (e.g., the homepage is affectionately code-named, “the fridge” – complete with a ton of notes!

), once you look past the cutesy interface you see a powerful enterprise-computing environment. It accepts uploaded pictures and attached files for each message in the topic-oriented password-protected forums. AND there’s live chat to boot – it even tells you which “family members” are online at the top of your screen at all times. Within seconds, I had set up a test “family” (for our 10 International Services team members in Louisville), within a larger “big picture” extended family (the whole Team Expansion organization throughout 24 countries). You can send “invitations” to prospective subscriber “family members” with the press of a button… so it’s easy to let people know about the conference. And it’s fast (at least, so far). There are ads at the top, but they’re not all that distracting, in my opinion. And most are very “family oriented” – toys and all. And wait ’til you see the graphical interface on the calendar! Each and every appt. is coded to a particular family member – and you can zoom in and look at notes for each one! This kind of stuff costs thousands in a professional computing environments… and you need a web administrator to figure it out . . . and you STILL won’t get the ease of conference-creation that you get in these easy “family” screens. ‘Course, there’s no email echo, so your international friends without web access will be out in the deep freeze, rather than the fridge. And those who *have* web access aren’t likely to want to waste it monitoring “the fridge” each day, unless there’s something pretty valuable there. So MAFxc still has it beat for the email list-server back end. But the folks at MAFxc could take a lesson from the ease-of-use and tons of options at FamilyPoint . . . Maybe banner ads will enable the future of enterprise computing? If I find out for sure, I’ll leave you a message on the fridge. Oh – and one other thing… don’t expect Brigada Today to transfer over there. I doubt they had families of 7500 in mind.

TIRED OF TURNING UP 65000 SEARCH HITS?

Try Infoseek’s new “Express” meta-searching tool. Amazingly, it’s free! It’s got GREAT browsing capabilities for search results (the end of the “back” key when searching), excellent configuration options, but granted, lacks support for advanced search techniques. Still, for the price, you won’t beat it. For example, I got a note this past week from a friend in a creative-access country saying he had heard that his entire work was posted on a web page for the whole world to see. I hopped on HotBot and couldn’t find a thing, then wrote him back and said not to believe a word they said. He wasn’t there. The next day I discovered “Express,” did the search again and located 3 pages immediately! They were at the top of the order, too. The secret? Express uses multiple search engines simultaneously. My guy was listed at Altavista but not HotBot! So… if you want to save tons of time and make your searches on the web more effective, get Express by browsing to http://www.infoseek.com and click on the “get Express” button in the upper-right-hand corner. It’s the best for the money!

INTERNATIONAL SPIRITUAL ENCOURAGEMENT FOR MISSIONARY KIDS

Now you can get it for free via “Kids’ World,” a new email newsletter for kids, co-authored by Rachel Timperon (age 14). Rachel and her Dad (or was it her grandfather?) pull together a weekly mix of stories, quizzes, competitions, birthday announcements, and personal greetings. Aimed at 8-15-year-olds, this email is sure to encourage your son or daughter on the field… or on home service… or simply at home in the USA! To subscribe, write rachel@tassie.net.au. Thanks to the Southeast Outlook (of the Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, KY) for the tip!

PROGRAMMERS LEAVE THEIR MARKS

Have you ever heard about those “Easter Eggs” that programmers hide in the code of the applications they’re writing? My opinion of them varies according to what kind of mood I’m in and which day it is.

Some days I think they must have too much time on my hands if they resort to stuff like this. Other days I realize that it’s frustrating work trying to get everything working together. It’s no wonder they resort to writing surprising “hidden features” – just for some fun after hours!

I hope they’re not using up TOO many bytes and bits though. We already have enough code bloat!

Anyway, to see an Easter Egg in Windows 98 (consisting of a slide program about the Microsoft campus and surrounding area, complete with a credit roster of every last person who ever worked on Windows ’98), follow these secret steps: Step 1: Double-click the clock in the tray portion of the Task Bar. This opens the Date/Time properties dialog box. Step 2: Click the Time Zone tab. Step 3: Press and hold your Ctrl key. Place your mouse pointer over Memphis, Egypt (you might have to look this up on a map) then press and hold your left mouse button. Pretend to drag something to Memphis, TN, then release the left mouse button. (Memphis, of course, was the code name for Windows ’98.) Don’t let go of your Ctrl key. Step 4: Still holding down the Ctrl key, point to Memphis, Tenn., then pretend to click and drag something from there to Redmond, Wash. (again, check a map). Then release the left mouse button. You won’t see anything happen on screen while you do this. There aren’t any numbers of objects on the map in the dialog box. Step 5: Release the Ctrl key. An animated dialog box should appear, listing several Microsoft developers, complete with images of the Microsoft campus and the Seattle area. If you don’t see it, try the steps again carefully. It takes some people two or three tries. Thanks to Frank Condron and Brian Livingston for this tip.

OKAY, OKAY – I GIVE – SO WHAT ABOUT THE YEAR 2000 PROBLEM?

I’ve put this off as long as I dare. Okay. Uncle. Our organization has finally organized a Year 2000 (Y2K) initiative. If you haven’t hear about the Y2K programming problem [time to crawl out from under your rock!], it stems from the fact [yup… it’s a fact] that many programs were created by programmers who didn’t want to be so presumptuous as to think that their stuff would be used past 1999. Call it short-sighted… or call it humble… either way, they dropped the ball on us. And the sorry thing is.. they dropped it as recently as 2-3 years ago, even while some were already warning of impending doom! So… for example, say your organization is currently gearing up to begin using a new accounting package, say… Quickbooks, with a template custom-designed by your accountant guy. You’d better warn him to switch to Quickbooks 6.0 (June ’98), because previous versions aren’t going to be reliable come Monday morning, January 3rd, 2000. (Did I hear a “gulp”

in your office?) So … how do you learn about this Y2K stuff? Best pick up a copy of any current computer journal (e.g., the Oct. 6th PC Magazine) or check it out on the web at any (or all!) of the following sites:
http://www.pcmag.com/y2k
http://www.zdnet.com/y2k
http://www.y2knews.com
http://www.year2000.com
http://www.yahoo.com/computersandinternet/year_2000_problem
http://www.garynorth.com
http://www.mitre.org/research/y2k
http://www.y2k.com
http://www.bug2000.co.uk

BOSNIA VIDEO ONE OF MOST POPULAR

The new 14-minute video, “A HOPE AND A FUTURE FOR BOSNIA,” is turning into one of the most popular yet! This new look at “a cauldron of conscience” is organized in 5 major sections (in case you want to use it across 5 different meetings): Introduction, History, Situation, Challenge, and Testimony. With this one video and the tons of actual on-site footage, you’ll finally figure out what has happened there and how desperately that we need to pray. The producer, Dave Dunlap, worked in audio and video for NBC television for over 10 years. He still freelances regularly for CNN and documentaries like 20/20 and 60 Minutes. Digitally processed from start to finish, this Bosnia work is top quality for viewing or projecting to your family, at your local church, or in your mission office, regardless of continent or color. For more information, write Dave at 104165.2242@compuserve.com or simply send a check or money order payable to Team Expansion, attn: Dave Dunlap, 3700 Hopewell Rd., Louisville, KY 40299. Tel. 1-800-447-0800. Fax 502-297-9823. (Dave says sorry, no credit cards please.) If you’re ordering the tape for a particular showing, please note your deadline. Don’t forget to add $3 shipping (unless you can pick up the tape in person). If ordering from within the state of Kentucky, add $1.02 sales tax.

ALGERIA… AUSTRALIA… THEY BOTH START WITH “A”!

Okay. So it was probably late. And I was probably blitzed. But that doesn’t give me permission to substitute the word “Australian” for “Algerian”!

(Nov 11th item “DO YOU WORK WITH ALGERIAN ARABS?“). The address is correct at t-work@pobox.com. But note in the text about “Australian Arabs” was, as you guessed, pure “sleep-keyboarding!”

Apologies to my Muslim friends… and everybody down under.

ONLINE EVANGELISM PAGE UPDATED

The Brigada online guide to using the Web for evangelism has been extensively updated. It includes suggestions for writing evangelistic pages and testimonies, how to promote pages on search engines and in other ways, foreign language pages, witnessing in chat rooms and lists, church pages, plus links to lots of top webmaster resources, tutorials, and software. There is even a poster you can print out for your church noticeboard to tell others about this resource. https://brigada.org/today/articles/web-evangelism.html

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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!