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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….

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ANDOVER CH. OF CHRIST GIVES “PRAYING THROUGH THE WINDOW” NEW MEANING

It was dairy farmer Donnie Knowles who thought it up… but everybody got involved. Mid-way through their month of “Praying Through the Window”, the Andover Church of Christ (kind of near Cleveland, Ohio) took time during Sunday morning worship to feature a real “window” up on the platform, with the panes covered with brown paper. As members described the impact that prayer could have on the world, the paper was peeled away, one pane at a time, to reveal views ‘through the window’ of color maps of various countries and regions of the [real] 10/40 Window. They’ve kept the huge set of window panes on stage all month just to remind the members to lift up the needs of the least reached. These kinds of props and visual clues can be really helpful in creating an image that will stick in the minds of a church membership. Way to go Andover!

By the way, devices like these don’t have to be real expensive, either! Jokingly, I asked if Donnie’s cows minded the increased draft through their barn and, to my surprise, he replied, “No, we took these windows out of a barn that’s empty for now.” So, keep your eyes open for a local dairy farmer if you want to feature the 10/40 Window in your own church. If you find a willing and imaginative volunteer, maybe it won’t be such a “pain” to create your next enduring image! :-) So let’s get moo-ving!

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PLAN NOW FOR YOUR PRAYING THROUGH THE 100 GATEWAY CITIES RECEPTION

Remember Tommy Baker at Florence? He’s the guy that recruited 100 people in his church of 1000 in northern Kentucky to each pray for a different Gateway City throughout the entire month of October (as well as for the normal featured cities for each respective day). (You can download his earlier story by sending email to hub@xc.org with only the line
get brigadachurch-florence

Many have followed his plan and introduced similar approaches in their own congregations. Well stay tuned! His creativity is at it again. He’s putting together a reception for Sunday evening, Nov. 5, to which he’s inviting all those “prayer adoptors” and others who have shown interest in the project. They’ll have some refreshments, recount stories and answered prayer for the 100 Gateway Cities, then highlight some of the most desperate situations within the ‘window’. In correlation with the proposed timeline for Envision ’96, Tommy hopes that this army of prayer warriors can help the church in its selection of a prospective target area for a new PACE Project (where a particular church takes responsibility for putting together a relational network to plant a new congregation in a least reached city or people group). If you’ve got a moment right now, would you pray for Tommy and his Nov. 5th reception? Ask God to help those 100 people move their congregation toward action and initiative in a desperate area of the world.

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URUGUAYANS PRAY “THROUGH THE WINDOW”

Thanks to Larry Griffin, who reported that tonight the church in Montevideo will be on its knees! “Please be in prayer for an all-night prayer vigil that is being planned for this coming Friday evening [Oct. 27] from 10:00 p.m. til 6:00 a.m. We will be focusing on the needs of the 100 Gateway Cities in the 10/40 Window, educating the congregation on the needs, and lifting up our prayers in a concentrated effort to wage spiritual battle against the barriers limiting the evangelization of these cities. The members of the congregation have been participating all this month in the “Pray Through The Window II” campaign focusing on the 100 Gateway Cities. Please pray that this interest in the World Wide Mission of the church will continue to grow, and will be a positive influence on the spiritual life of the congregation.” For more information, subscribe to brigada-uruguay-montevideo by sending email to hub@xc.org with only the following line in the body of the message text:
brigada-uruguay-montevideo
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Y PARA ELLOS QUE HABLAN ESPANOL, …

La semana pasada, recibimos una carta de Ann Krebs 76423.2675@compuserve.com. Ella pidio’ noticias en espanol acerca de iglesias en la obra de alcanzar varias partes del mundo con la esperanza de Jesus. Dijo que este tipo de informacion serviria para mobilizar otras iglesias en la obra del Senor. Si tu quisieras leer noticias similares, sugiero que mandes un “email” a hub@xc.org con solamente estas palabras en la carta:
subscribe brigada-peoples-latam
subscribe brigada-argentina-laplata
subscribe brigada-ecuador-guayaquil
subscribe brigada-uruguay-montevideo

En esta manera, por lo menos, vas a escuchar noticias regularmente de algunos paises donde se habla espanol. Y si tengas noticias (en espanol o en ingles), favor de mandarlas a brigada-peoples-latam@xc.org con la esperanza que Ann y muchos mas van a orar por ti! (Okay Ann?)

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LOOKING FOR A FOLLOW-UP TO “PRAYING THROUGH THE WINDOW”? STAY TUNED

Next week, we’ll carry news about a worldwide prayer emphasis for January-February that coincides with the Muslim month of Ramadan. Don’t miss this chance to express your friendship, love, and concern for Muslims around the world!
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KNOW ANY GOOD INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS IN THE PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA?

If so, please send them directly to John McAdams 76026.3134@compuserve.com.
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“PRAY TODAY” FOR WINDOWS

Think about it. It’s a natural! You run Windows on your computer — why shouldn’t it remind you to pray for peoples who live in the 10/40 Window… and all around the world, in fact. That’s exactly what “Pray Today” does. Bob Hall SOCI136@cantva.canterbury.ac.nz , who serves as National Coordinator of the Centre for Mission Direction in New Zealand, tipped us off to this little program (that you put in your Windows “start up” folder). Thereafter, every time you boot Windows, you get information on a new Bible-less people (name, number, religion, status of Christian work and Scripture translation). You guessed it… developed by Wycliffe Associates (in England, no less; those English are always coming up with something clever! :-) ). For more info., contact your Wycliffe national office or Bob. By the way, they didn’t put in an ad for Wycliffe anywhere in the box. Seems as if they wanted to focus our minds on the need rather than the banner. Cool.
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INTERESTED IN KAZKAHSTAN? COME TO SAN DIEGO!

At least come during Nov. 29 – Dec. 1 for “Kazakhstan ’95”! 500 Kazakh government and business leaders are supposed to be present, along with U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher and the mayor of San Diego. The conference focuses on business opportunities in Oil, Gas, Minerals, and Agriculture. Of course, you can focus on other stuff as well. :-) Write Eric Frost eric.frost@sdsu.edu for more information or call the conference organizer at (800)564-4220 for a brochure. And thanks to Al Chong for the tip to Eric!
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SO HOW MANY PEOPLE GROUPS IS IT?

One Brigada reader recently wrote, “It seems like about a year ago there were ll,000 unreached people groups remaining on earth. How about letting us know at least every six months how many unreached have been reached, and how many are still remaining? I’m sure we would all get a thrill out of knowing this!” Rest assured that, for the most part, there are just as many “people groups” as there have always been. The difference is in the way we describe them. One major shift came about a year ago, when the majority of researchers finally agreed on the concept of using ethnolinguistic definitions rather than socio-economic distinctions. “Shazam…” All of a sudden, thousands of people groups were lumped together, many for the first time since 1974. (Makes for a great quote in your monthly mission report! :-) “I’m happy to report that while last month, there were 16,750 unreached people groups and, thanks to … [ahem] many factors, today that number is a mere 1,685 groups! Please send your check to….” :-) ) The truth is, we’re afraid that the progress implied by shrinking unreached people group “counts” might be oversimplifying the task a bit. In reality, it seems that the task has been redefined… but, in many cases, the work remains just as challenging. For example, simply by dropping groups with fewer than 10,000 in number, it might look like we’ve grown closer to our goal of making sure every group has opportunities to hear, but that depends on your perspective. (If you happen to be a part of a group numbering 10,000 people or less, it might still feel pretty lonely out there.) On the other hand, let’s admit that if a mighty people group nearby happens to hear and respond, let’s hope they themselves would take responsibility for reaching a smaller group next door.

Now… back to the original question, it seems that more and more researchers are finally coming closer to agreeing that there are less than 2000 ethnolinguistic groups (if you only count those numbering 10,000 or more in population) with little or no opportunity to hear the gospel. Of course, getting to them won’t be an easy task… So we’d better keep praying. Within the next 24 months, it looks like we’ll finally have a more accurate means of tracking the progress of mobilizing new church planting movements for at least those 2000 or so groups, thanks to the momentum being provided by the AD2000 & Beyond Movement. So … stay tuned. Your wish is about to be granted… depending on how you define it. :-)

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PRAYER FOR THE SIKH

I know, I know. I said I wouldn’t bring up this “sikh” pronunciation thing again. But this week David Greenlee wrote a note that just about caused me to fall out of my chair in laughter. Apparently, the pronunciation questions pre-date Brigada! David was serving as Program Director on the OM ship Logos at the time. He remembers one morning when he was speaking at a church in Lisbon and…, “At that time I didn’t speak quite enough Portuguese to preach, but enough to catch on (at times!) to what was being said. As I talked about people groups and (then) current crises, I referred repeatedly to the Sikhs. After a few minutes, though, I realized that my translator was missing something. First, not unusual, was the concept of “peoples” and “people groups”–assuming I just meant the plural of person. But due to my pronouncing “Sikh” “sick” he was more confused. So the people were challenged to pray for the “doentes” — that is, the “sick people” of India. Not a bad idea but not what I had in mind!” :-) Thanks for the memories, David!
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HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT “THE LAUNCH”??? You’re about to! Stay tuned for detailed information next week… and watch for your new issue of Mission Frontiers! Big stuff.

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Have a great week!

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