Now with 2193 Participants!
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….
* BRIGADA THIS YEAR!!!
* LOOK WHO’S TALKIN’!
* AD2000 & BEYOND’S MOST EXCITING CONTRIBUTION YET!
* LEARNING THE FIVE PILLARS AND MORE
* CATCH A STORY
* NEW ON THE WEB
* PALESTINIANS SEE JESUS
* PACK UP YOUR BAGS AND GET ON THE FAST TRACK TO THE UNREACHED
* CHRISTIANS AS SALT AND LIGHT
* HOW DO YOU SPELL ‘UNREACHED’???
* TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY
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BRIGADA THIS YEAR!!!
Literally one year ago yesterday Brigada “opened its doors!” The goal? “… to create a forum, an “op center”, a tool-box that could pull together the people, the resources, and the networks to aid in completing the task of reaching specific cities and people groups with the love of Jesus Christ.” We weren’t the only network asking those questions… so God heard not only our own prayers but those of many others! They were like many streams flowing into what has become one powerful river (to use an analogy from the AD2000 & Beyond Movement) — and guess what! The river is rushing!!! Literally one year ago, we asked, “What if a congregation or individual wanted to actually go to one of these 100 Gateway Cities from the October, ’95 prayer emphasis? What if there were two, or three, or more? How would they ever meet? How could they pray for one another and share strategies, ideas, and joint plans — so that we won’t all have to duplicate effort and ‘reinvent the wheel’ during mobilization?” And guess what!!! Literally one year TO THE DAY, AD2000 & Beyond’s Int’ Office has come through with seemingly the primary fulfillment of that question (Don’t miss “AD2000 & BEYOND’S MOST EXCITING CONTRIBUTION YET!” below!). Have we accomplished our goal? Thanks to God’s power, we’re at least on our way!!! If you’re a “Perspectives” student today and you need info. on an unreached people, today you can drop a note to Brigada-peoples. You can check and see if a conference has already been established for your group. (See “LOOK WHO’S TALKIN’!” below.)
What can we expect from Brigada for the coming year??? We’re praying that more networks for specific least evangelized people groups will form up. We’ll have to face the ever-challenging security question (currently resolved only by recruiting human volunteers to serve as ‘filters’ by handling front-door mail in non-sensitive countries). We’re praying for all the more resources for seeing the world through “global” eyes. (For example, within the next 60 days there’s a very significant resource coming out that will help you see the world by people groups — but it’s all very “hush hush” until it’s ready for release. :-) So stay tuned and start clearing a 3 foot x 5 foot wall space somewhere in your office, study, family room, or kitchen!!! :-)
I wish we could email ice cream to you today… or at least cake. But alas, Bill Gates hasn’t quite gotten that worked out for us… YET! So instead, we’ve decided to forego the mess (who wants ice cream all over their phone jack anyway!)… the fancy celebration, . . . and in characteristic Brigada style, get back to work!!! :-) But please do join us in prayer just now… and ask God…
“Dear Lord, thank you for the people of Brigada. Thanks for their cooperative spirits! Most everyone has switched on their email networks in spite of already busy schedules… with the sole purpose of trying to further the cause of worldwide evangelization. Assist them with their time management. Bring them closer to fulfillment of their individual visions of reaching the peoples of the world. And enable them to serve with boldness while they love and care for their families! Give us wisdom, skill and resourcing for additional “discoveries” and tools online, so we can continue to work more and more closely together, with less and less waste and duplication. Help us to find the information we need, and the people to whom you would lead us… and when you do, we’ll give you the glory. Thanks for the promise of spring, your resurrection, and the rest of 1996! Thanks for making a way for us for the future! And thanks for your great wisdom and holiness. We place our total lives in your hands! We are yours! Take us and use us for your will and your kingdom!!!”
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LOOK WHO’S TALKIN’!
One of our ideas for this anniversary issue was to list all the Brigada conferences and say a word about each. But then we remembered that you can do that automatically, if you choose, with the command “conferences”! The result is a little Brigada “chart” with all the conferences and their purposes — little one-line descriptions to help you get a better handle on “the big picture” and how each conference fits in. So if you want to zero in on the 45+ conferences in the Brigada family… as well as the many other email conferences hosted by MAFxc, just send email to hub@xc.org with only the word, “conferences”, in the text of the message (without the quotes). The hub computer will take care of the rest. When Brigada formed up a year ago, there was one and only one conference… and MAFxc (or CrossConnect, as it was known then) had 100 or so other email groups. Now there are scads !!! And by the way, if you’d like to see the people of Brigada, send the word “who” (without quotes) in the message above, on the second line. But be ready for a list of 2200+ participants to come bombarding back into your email inbox!!! :-)
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AD2000 & BEYOND’S MOST EXCITING CONTRIBUTION YET!
Wow! Exciting stuff! Just got this in from the Communications Director at the AD2000 & Beyond Int’l Office: “Would you like to see a World-Wide Web site that contained unreached people profiles of hundreds of groups including nice color photographs? So would we and we need your help. Go to the “mini people profiles” found for 1,700 least reached peoples under Joshua Project 2000 at http://www.ad2000.org and you will see that the last field of information contains a blank for “Links to more Information, Profiles or Photos.” For example you will find a link to a beautiful profile on the Uzbeks produced by Caleb Project. If you know of a WWW electronic profile or photograph for any of the peoples listed please send that address (URL) along with the name of the people group it matches to Dan@ad2000.org. You will see the link added within a day or two.” What’s more, they’re going to try to share links for more information, too, where available. For example, see the page on the Yanadi (if the Yanadi page you look at doesn’t contain a “more information contact”, see the experimental page at http://www.ad2000.org/peoples/jpl764a.htm ). Simply by clicking on the contact, you can jot a note off explaining how you’d like to get involved! David, Dan and Lee have worked so hard getting this project launched… and our hats go off to them!!! So — they’re askin’ for it! Load them up with your adopted peoples from the Joshua Project 2000 list! And please do not ask them to list email addresses for individuals residing within creative access areas! Obviously, they’ll want to be sensitive with secure names and addresses, so no need to even send them. Instead, find someone stateside who will serve as a “point person” to answer non-sensitive, general questions and serve as a kind of “foyer” to filter serious inquiries. Congratulations AD2000 & Beyond office, staff and leadership, and Lee (and Dan) in particular!!!! (By the way, if you’d like to help Lee with these projects, he’s willing to brainstorm about how you can volunteer. Write him at lee@rmii.com.) Thanks Dave, Lee and Dan!
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LEARNING THE FIVE PILLARS AND MORE
Islam is advancing worldwide! What can you do about it? The Zwemer Institute of Muslim Studies is ready to help you understand Islam. Zwemer offers Muslim Awareness Seminars for churches and small groups interested in learning how to minister to Muslims and study courses, at college and graduate school levels in all areas of Islamics. If you, your church, your mission organization, college, or graduate school is interested in learning how to approach Muslims in America or around the world, contact the Zwemer Institute by fax at (803) 781-1126 or by e-mail Dr. JimRomaine at jromai19@winusa.com. Thanks Jim!
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CATCH A STORY
Bill (and Amy) Stearns, noted missions mobilizers/authors, wrote this past week with this request: “I’m doing a book for Ralph and Roberta Winter on the spin-off influence of the US Center for World Mission. It’s one thing what goes on at that campus (35 acres of visionaries!); it’s another what God has done through that outfit’s impact across the globe–such as through Perspectives, resources, regional offices, people who were once on staff, etc. Got any fun stories about what God has done through and in people/events that are even very indirectly connected to the influence of the Center? Appreciate your input!” Send these stories to Bill at 73502.3126@compuserve.com.
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NEW ON THE WEB
Congratulations to Create International for having finished their new web site at http://www.iinet.net.au/~createit! Thanks to Calvin Conkey, ConkeyCreate@XC.Org!
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PALESTINIANS SEE JESUS – THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL GLIMPSE:
As many as 1 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip may have seen an Arabic-language, prime-time broadcast of the Jesus film Dec. 23 when it was aired by the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp. However, in Egypt, evangelical Christians are continuing to be severely persecuted and even killed for their faith. Three Christian booksellers face seven years in prison for selling imported Christian audio and video tapes.
(Source: “Advance,” March, 1996. Contact Mark Kelly at 70420.1057@compuserve.com or 8992 Midway Rd., Richmond, VA 23229. (c) 1996, Kainos Press.)
Global Glimpse courtesy John Hanna, Caleb Project, Littleton, CO.
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PACK UP YOUR BAGS AND GET ON THE FAST TRACK TO THE UNREACHED
Join Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and Wycliffe Bible Translators as they team up to offer the ” Missionary Training Programme” in Harpenden, England. This entry way for a career onto a frontier field with either agency starts September 8, 1996. The first four month phase begins with intensive classroom training and small group dynamics. You will get a foundation of missionary discipleship and skill development. The next 16 months will be on the field of your choice–serving and learning along side veteran church planters and Bible translators. After that–who knows–you and your team may pioneer a church or get the Bible translated among an unreached people! For more details send a message to hub@xc.org with only this line in the text of the message:
get brigada mtp
or contact the MTP at 100101.2565@compuserve.com. Thanks Jeff Pike!
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CHRISTIANS AS SALT AND LIGHT
MAP International’s 14th triennial International Conference on Christian Health Ministries (ICCHM) will be held June 1-5, 1996 on St. Simons Island in Georgia. “Christians as Salt & Light in Global Health” will focus on global issues that impact health in today’s turbulent world: health and human rights, low-intensity conflict, reconciliation, short-term mission, the stewardship of creation, AIDS, and medical ethics. A variety of speakers will be featured. For more information, contact Anamaria Lazo, ICCHM Registrar, at A-Lazo@mapint.mhs.compuserve.com.
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HOW DO YOU SPELL ‘UNREACHED’???
That’s been one of the toughest questions ever, down through the years. (We just received another inquiry on this subject this week, in fact!) Most recently, at least for the purposes of the Joshua Project 2000 project, missions researchers have concluded that a group would be unreached if the percentage of great commission Christians within it number somewhere less than 5%. But at the same time, they realize that in some large groupings, 5% is a lot of believers!!! So no model is perfect. At best, it’s probably just a way of seeing the relevant needs among all. Because when you get right down to it, a soul is a soul no matter where that soul lives, . . . close by, or far away! And by the way, new data will be released next month that will more effectively tell the story. Thanks to John Gilbert and many others, we’ll finally have a scale, of sorts, that will tell us how large the force for evangelism is among that group and how much response has risen up! So keep praying for the least evangelized, no matter where they live!
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TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY, send email to hub@xc.orgwith only the following message:
subscribe brigada
TO UNSUBSCRIBE (But we’re just getting started!!!! :-) ) send email to hub@xc.orgwith this line in the text:
unsubscribe brigada
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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
ADVANCE: Mark A. Kelley, Kainos Press, 70420.1057@compuserve.com
Web Wizard: Bob Mayhew, Brigada Volunteer, Mayhew@xc.org
Web Art: Patti Mayhew, pmayhew@discover.net
Technical Development: Jonathan Marsden, MAFxc jonathan@xc.org
Brigada Customer Service Manager: Revis Ann Massey, RevisAnnMassey@xc.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!
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