- TWO NEW RESOURCES CELEBRATING GLOBAL WORSHIP
- ADDITIONAL NEW SITE FOR READERS WITH INQUIRING MINDS
- FREE DOWNLOADABLE MULTI-LINGUALTRACTS
- “HAPPINESS METER” LEAVES READERS, WELL, UNHAPPY
- WRITERS’ SERVICES
- DIGITAL TALKING BIBLES NOW IN AFRICA
- MORE IDEAS ON PRAYER FOR MISSIONS IN THE LOCAL CHURCH
- RAISE YOUR FULL SUPPORT IN 8 TO 10 MONTHS
- THE BACKPAGE: THE ABILITY TO IMPROVISE (PEYTON-STYLE)
- CLOSING STUFF
- TWO NEW RESOURCES CELEBRATING GLOBAL WORSHIP — “All the World is Singing: Glorifying God through the music of the nations” traces the amazing use of culturally-appropriate music in evangelism, church- planting, discipleship and worship. This Reader of 45 stories comes bundled with a CD-ROM illustrating the stories with audio, video, pictures, music scores and other media. For information see
http://www.worldofworship.org/alltheworld/
Also available is “Sounds of Global Worship II,” an audio CD of 22 songs from 16 regions from around the world. A colorful 28-page booklet serves as a listener’s guide to this tour of the global church at worship. Songs come from Asia, Africa, Middle East, Central Europe, Central America and South America. For more information, visit
For more information on either one, write
ffort2(at)aol(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address, please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] (Thanks to these folks for pitching in $50 toward the costs of operating Brigada! We appreciate you!)
- ADDITIONAL NEW SITE FOR READERS WITH INQUIRING MINDS — Recently we featured some online news sites, along with “pushed” email news that could inform and enlighten. Inquiring Brigada participants seemed in consensus on at least one overlooked & favorite site that rec’d a resounding vote of affirmation:
http://www.foxnews.com/foxfan/registration.html
(Thanks Jim, Joseph and others, for waving the banner for Fox News.)
- FREE DOWNLOADABLE MULTI-LINGUALTRACTS — Free downloadable tracts for ministry to Muslims, Eastern Orthodox and new believers in several languages are available at:
http://web.mac.com/kerbyrials1
The tracts are in English, Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian, French, Portuguese, Chechen, Tatar or Korean. Most tracts are in both PDF and Word formats, and print out ready to use or copy. The author, missionary Kerby, asks all who choose to translate any of these tracts into new languages to send the new translation in PDF and Word format to him at kerbyrials(at)aol(dot)org. [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .] That way others can use them, too. (He would also like to know if you are using the tract(s), and any comments you might have.)
- “HAPPINESS METER” LEAVES READERS, WELL, UNHAPPY — Thanks to the readers who responded regarding the July 28th item, “6) CHECK OUT THE “HAPPINESS METER” FOR YOUR COUNTRY”. Our faithful Brigada participants found, accurately, that the resource mentioned was no longer available. We contacted the original source and learned that a new study will be posted in September, documenting new and more information about the study. In the meantime, the original source provided these related alternative links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5224306.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/28_07_06_happiness_map.pdf
- WRITERS’ SERVICES — Everything from Manuscript Preparation to Ghostwriting is available at:
The staff there is reported to have been named among the Top 1000 Christian Sites. They are thrilled to work with writers from all over the world. You can also write them directly…
stephanie(at)christfirst(dot)net
(And no, in case you’re wondering, we’ve never utilized their services for Brigada, although we’re sure they’d do a great job. :-) )
- DIGITAL TALKING BIBLES NOW IN AFRICA — Talking Bibles International is excited about the fact that for the first time ever, to their knowledge, digital Talking Bibles are available in Africa. 1,000 Talking Bibles are on their way to Malawi, Africa. Organizers from the Bible Society of Malawi were to have dedicated the first Chichewa First Audio Bible in the stadium in Blantyre, Malawi.
- MORE IDEAS ON PRAYER FOR MISSIONS IN THE LOCAL CHURCH — Users viewing the web edition of Brigada Today will find here some additional ideas on prayer for missions in the local church. Thanks much to those who took the time to contribute!!!
Here are some extra ideas…
Hi, Doug!
About 8 years ago I heard an OMF missionary speak about the importance of starting a prayer team. I decided to do it & call them “prayer advocates.”
In a newsletter originally & later when I speak, I ask people to sign up, mostly via email. I won’t add anyone to the prayer advocates list unless they ask. Some Sunday School teachers forward to their whole class. Lots of pastors use the list in their Wed. night prayer meetings. Some will even run it on their church weekly newsletters.
I send a monthly list of 10 – 12 specific prayer requests with an “Answered Prayer” list at the end. Sometimes I send out one or two emergency requests also during a month. “Specific” is the key, I think. Then it’s easy to see when a prayer is answered & praise the Lord for it.
From seeing 26,000 pray to receive Jesus when we began, we have now jumped to over 102,000 — & haven’t really added more staff. Only the power of God released thru prayer can account for this! We have seen so many miracles as our prayer advocates prayed!
Some people only take time to pray right at their computers when the list comes out. Some print it & pray daily for one or two of the requests.
I hope this is helpful! Feel free to ask questions…….
JudyThe best ways I have seen for people to take on a commitment to pray
for missions, missionaries
and the lost people their church is seeking to reach are:
1) start with existing prayer groups in the church. See if they’d be
willing to adopt a part of the world your church is focused to reach.
Ask them to make prayer for this country/missionaries and people group
a regular part of their prayer focus when they meet
2) Give this group the option (in the future and with training) to be
a part of the actual ministry to this county. Once they have been
there, they will pray with more information and more heart
3) Also, you can make a focus on Prayer for part of the Missions Fair,
Some ideas that can be effective:
a) Have a Speaker focus on Prayer (say during a lunch, dinner or
dessert):
—form attendees into small groups to pray for the missionaries and
mission targets that your church supports on the spot
—Have the Speaker or Missions Chairman challenge people to find a
way to continue to pray through their existing fellowship groups, Bible
Study groups or Prayer groups
b) Have an event in which each target country/people group is
represented by a table with a Person representing the ministry,
(oreferably a supporter of the ministry) and a letter or email and
photos from the missionary on the field.
—Prepare the Representative at the table to become a prayer group
leader for that country.
—Make prayer the immediate focus (modeling!) that will happen when
others visit that table.
—Have the Rep. invite those who visit the table and pray for the
mission of focus to join a prayer group and become
prayer supporters/prayer warriors for those missionaries.
—Start with whomever says yes and build, promote, support, inform and
train this beginning group. If prayer is fostered and the results of
prayer are promoted to the congregation, more people will want to
become part of the ministry through prayer.
c) It usually takes one or two people committed to the missionaries on
the field to invite others. So another dea is to find out from the
missionaries whom in the church they have already as part of their
support network and whom particularly are their prayer warriors. These
people are your best bet to help expand the prayer network for your
missionaries.
d) One last idea, get a few people praying for you in your role as
Missions Chairman, praying for you, the Missions Committee and the
Missions Fair and for the Missions Prayer Groups you want to form.I hope these ideas help foster more creative thinking on how to
motivate prayer…
Blessings,
SusanHave people make a limited time commitment to a definable goal in
groups of three or more (this prevents a couple from being a “group”
all by themselves and losing some of the accountability factor).Say, they will pray for one hour every month for one year for (fill
in the blank).If there is someone in your church who could compile mission prayer
requests on a monthly (quarterly, etc.) basis, this is an excellent
resource, and helps people start to pray. Of course, as you know
there are also generic suggestions for missions prayer on the web and
other places.You could also compile the prayer requests at your missions
conference that will be used all year (six-months, whatever).Just a thought. Our mission team started some of these groups for
our work years ago and they are still going strong. We compile the
requests monthly and send them out.God bless you,
Linda Karner
in Japan with Mission to the World (PCA)
- RAISE YOUR FULL SUPPORT IN 8 TO 10 MONTHS — Raising support doesn’t have to be a terrifying ordeal and it doesn’t need to take two or three years to bring your support up to 100%. Jerry has spent much of his 41- year career with Wycliffe teaching missionaries that partnership development can be a joy-filled ministry that blesses the church with a greater vision. He has founded Kingdom Come Training, a ministry that can come to your location, live and interactive, via video conferencing and equip you with the skills and attitudes that are guaranteed to help you succeed. KCT will send you the equipment and the software you need. Give Jerry a call at (503) 314-7211.
http://www.kingdomcometraining.com
jerry(at)kingdomcometraining(dot)com [As a means of preventing spam for our contributors, in the preceding email address(es), please replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .]
- THE BACKPAGE: THE ABILITY TO IMPROVISE (PEYTON-STYLE) — Fans of American-style football will have no doubt heard of (if not watched) Peyton Manning and his incredible audible style. In yesterday’s game against Houston (43-24 in favor of Manning’s Indianapolis Colts), one could see Peyton at his best. My 17-year-old son and I watched with smiles on our faces as Manning threw 3 touchdown passes, broke a franchise record set by none other than John Unitas (2797 pass completions), and led his team to touchdowns on six of their first seven possessions. (And even then, the one time they didn’t score, they took the ball all the way to the endzone then the rusher unfortunately fumbled it in front of the goal line.) In fact, they didn’t have to punt until the 4th quarter.
These fireworks would all be beautiful in and of themselves, but Manning makes it even more interesting by his unique improvisational style. You see, instead of calling his team together for a huddle, during which he maps out the plan and sketches the vision for the team, he repeatedly just motions for them to head back to the line of scrimmage. So… in a manner that seems almost comical at times, he stands there at the line of scrimmage, shouting out signals and instructions on the fly, once he’s analyzed the defense. Now granted, he’s practiced the team on his cadence and his calls. But nevertheless, I have to believe that some of these quick decisions are being made on the spur of the moment, based on the line-up that the defense is throwing his way. I laughed out loud as I would see receivers raising up from the line of scrimmage so they could hear the call… and time after time, successful pass after successful run, Manning’s madness shredded the defense, gained yardage, and ultimately brought victory. Which brings me to my point — 3 of them, in fact.
a) Practice makes perfect: Experts of Manning’s game say he’s an incredible perfectionist. Apparently he’ll stop practice to go look at a tape of the play, then rearrange everything right there at the moment. The team puts up with his perfectionist tendencies, of course, because they know it results in precision… and professionalism… and purpose. So . . . in the world of missions . . . let’s practice. Let’s do our research, find out what works, then try to reproduce it ’til we get it right. Let’s reinstitute right training, require top performance in the classroom, and focus on mentoring and internships ’til our new guys (and old guys) get it right.
b) Read the defense: Let’s get to know our enemy, Satan. And let’s understand the challenges thrown at us by alternative religions that would seek to subvert Christian causes. Let’s study their writings, learn the ups and downs of their philosophies and ways, and learn how and where they miss the mark. Let’s show incredible respect and sensitivity — while at the same time explaining the best that Christianity has to offer — then let our audience make the best choice. With the Holy Spirit as their guide, why do we fear?
c) Let’s have fun: There’s no doubt about it… missions is hard work. (Even Manning gets sacked sometimes. But his line will do anything they can to try to protect him… and that’s hard work too.) But in the midst of it, you can see it in his eyes. In his heart of hearts, he’s just a big kid having fun. Let’s make missions fun again. Let’s enjoy every moment of every new phonetic sound in the new language we’re learning. Let’s see the connections that bring joy to our hearts. Let’s find good in the people with whom we serve. Let’s keep the moments light, make the fun days long, and have a great time making eternal differences in the lives of the people we’ve come to serve. Because after all, at the end of the day, victory will be oh so sweet. :-)
Doug
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