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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….
* HUBMARKS
* TWO FOR ONE SALE CONCLUDES – USERS ONLY GET ONE BRIGADA TODAY TODAY
* PULL UP A CHAIR, LOG ON, AND GRAB THE COMMUNION CUPS, HONEY!
* IS THERE A SEMINARY PH.D. PROGRAM ONLINE?
* A GOOD BOOK A DAY
* GLOBAL GLIMPSE FROM A FLASHPOINT
* WHAT DO YOU DO WITH 12 PALLETS OF OLD GERMAN BIBLES???
* ADVANCE THE CAUSE!
* THE GOSPEL IN DRAMA READY TO GO INTERNATIONALLY
* SEND AND RECEIVE EMAIL IN HEBREW!
* REACH NUREMBERG TO REACH OUT
* LEST WE FORGET THOSE UNDER PERSECUTION
* MORE ON PATTERSON MATERIAL
* WHAT TO DO ABOUT NORTH KOREA
* WATCH THOSE REPLIES ON NON-MODERATED CONFERENCES
* TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY
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HUBMARKS
Today we cross a couple of landmarks, or, “hubmarks” as it were! Over 3500 subscribers now participate in Brigada conferences… and, from the very first Brigada Today (18th of Feb., 1995) ’til today, about 300 pages of resources, news, and referrals have been sent out to enthusiastic Brigada participants all over the world! To see these back issues, go to the Brigada web site, or send an email message with text
get brigada help-detailed
to hub@xc.org to find out how to use email commands to download previous issues, all archived on the Brigada hub and ready for retrieval!
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TWO FOR ONE SALE CONCLUDES – USERS ONLY GET ONE BRIGADA TODAY TODAY
:-) Yikes gang. There’s egg all over my face and it doesn’t come from the morning’s omelet! Thanks for your grace and forgiveness for the clutter of a second “bounced” Brigada Today (a “two-for-one sale???”), which, as most figured out, resulted from a Brigada participant’s email address “malfunctioning” and sending back a “bounced” message to the Brigada server. The surprising thing is… we receive literally dozens of these bounces in a typical week and all of them are dutifully routed automatically by the server to our faithful Customer Service Manager, Revis Ann Massey RevisAnnMassey@xc.org. However for the last two weeks, a single user’s email handler had somehow “outsmarted” the special intercepting software and had incredibly bypassed the required “approval” password routine, thus sending out hundreds…. thousands of pieces of mail by mistake! We’ve sleuthed out the culprit and unsubscribed him… a unique situation where his email handler would dial him up and send his email to him overseas! MAFxc personnel are still perplexed as to how his message beat their “gateway” and outsmarted the password-protection that’s supposed to prevent such errors. Either way, we apologize … and thanks for your forgiveness! Hopefully, you won’t see a duplicate today! :-)
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PULL UP A CHAIR, LOG ON, AND GRAB THE COMMUNION CUPS, HONEY!
That’s right. Soon you can attend church via computer, watching the entire worship “online”! First you’ll need to stop by http://www.vdo.net/download/ on the web and pick up a copy of VDOLive Video Player, which plays streaming (somewhatcompressed) video over the Internet. Then you can go to a site like http://citv.com/ to log on to “live” church over the Net!
What’s the advantage over TV? I’m not sure. I guess the preacher can always conduct live online surveys, to which you as a participant can answer back instantly? Or maybe at invitation time, you can type in the sins of which you’re repenting??? I jest. I think there’s a future for this technology, but I’m not sure online church services would draw me. I mean, if I can flip on the TV and see the Crystal Cathedral just fine, why would I want to draw my family around the laptop screen?
But as Chris Templar pointed out this past week, there just might be a future for this technology in missions education . . . or education for Missionary Kids! Chris wrote, “At 28.8 its still a little jerky, but on my portable I could watch for 8 hours with only two breaks, and apart from information overload by the end, got a lot of free tuition from experts for nothing!!” Imagine tuning in over the web to your child’s instructor for Spanish class… and you live in Japan! … or tune in to your favorite class at Fuller, though you’re posted in Ukraine! And when you want, just send in a question to the special address at the bottom of the screen… Low and behold, in a few seconds, the prof’ says, “Now here’s an interesting question from Kiev….” Shazam! Your question’s answered! :-) Now that would be mission education at a distance, wouldn’t it! Will it happen, most assuredly. Anytime soon? Not sure. First, the world needs the web! Second, someone has to figure out how to pay for all this stuff! In the meantime, enjoy it as a toy… kind of the way the first airplane pilots did with the Wright brothers’ new toy… or the way those first few phonograph cylinders sounded on Edison’s player. In 10 years though, it’ll be common place!!! And if you’ve already got video web-cast plans in your seminary’s crystal ball’s future, drop Chris Templar a note at ctemplar@jbc.edu. Chris, let us know if you hear back, okay? Thanks for the interesting query!
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IS THERE A SEMINARY PH.D. PROGRAM ONLINE?
Yes… Alvin Low 73524.1100@CompuServe.COM reports, ” Yes, Trinity Theological Seminary in Indiana has PhD program by extension. … Just GO….TDELTA and view their programs.” Thanks Alvin. And Bob Garrett says Southwestern’s DMin might be a good substitute (write wmc@swbts.swbts.edu for more info).
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A GOOD BOOK A DAY
One reader recommends you curl up on one of these cool fall evenings with Honey, We’re Going to Africa!, from Winepress Publishing ($13). (‘Course, if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you can read on a spring morning??? …and if you’re reading from the equator, you can curl up beside the ice block???) Reportedly highly praised by Dr. Ralph Winter, Dr. Charles Van Engen and by Dr. Roger Greenway. Write ASINTL@xc.org for more info. or check your local Bible Bookstore.
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GLOBAL GLIMPSE FROM A FLASHPOINT
Open Doors reports that the evangelical church in Basra, a city in Iraq near its border with Kuwait, has experienced wonderful growth. A few years ago the church there consisted of only two families meeting in a dilapidated church, but now has sixty families. They built a new church building in a convenient area of the city, partly with government assistance. Open Doors had delivered 30 tons of bibles and books to Baghdad in spring 1996, where the Bible was the most requested book at a book fair.
(Source: Open Doors 8/96, via DAWN FridayFax, 96-35. http://www.tecc.co.uk/jesusa/dawnindx.html)
Global Glimpse is compiled each week by John Hanna, Caleb Project, Littleton, CO — jhanna@cproject.com.
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WHAT DO YOU DO WITH 12 PALLETS OF OLD GERMAN BIBLES???
… tell someone on Brigada, that’s what! Brigada participant Jerry Kingery jerryk@bf.org, of Bible Foundation, has a line on 12 pallets of “old German Bibles (old script), hymnals, etc. available in Missouri.” Apparently, the source is open to contributing something toward freight! Write Jerry for details.
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ADVANCE THE CAUSE!
Advance editor, Mark Kelly, sent a special prayer request this week: “Turmoil in northern Iraq threatens to destroy the young churches established there in recent years. The translation Gospel of John came off the printing press just as the fighting erupted, and the New Testament is only a couple of months from completion. Violence has forced expatriate workers to withdraw. Ask God to continue the good work he has begun in the lives of Kurdish believers and to strengthen them for the trials ahead. Pray that their numbers would multiply in the face of hardship.”
Here’s the summary for this month’s Advance: ADVANCE: Praying for unreached peoples and persecuted believers Summary: September 1996
THE GOSPEL FOR EVERY PEOPLE — 300 churches organized in Hong Kong; God turns adversity into salvation in Benin; 600 decisions for Christ in Thai prisons; new radio station can reach 1 million Islamic Kurds; 40 million speak Kannada language; 120,000 Adegei in Caucasus Mountains.
THE PERSECUTED CHURCH — 13 believers held in Vietnam; Muslim militants murdered two Coptic Christians; Amnesty International report criticizes China; believers in Cuba forced to dismantle their own facility; Robert Hussein flees Kuwait.
SPIRITUAL FORCES OF DARKNESS — Slavery in Mauritania; starvation in northern Liberia; evangelical abortion rates; “Chaos Days” in Germany; compulsive gambling in USA; “Daddy’s Wedding.”
REJOICE! — Church growth in Basra, Iraq; healing in Ghana; 1,000 came to Christ in Cambodia; believer freed; desert village assists American congregation.
NETWORKING — Missions Bible studies; e-mail discussion on street children; free subscription to Voice of the Martyrs Newsletter; insight for Christians interested in witnessing to Muslims; Urbana ’96 missions convention; National Short-Term Missions Conference; low-cost computer-radio transmitter; Global School of Evangelism via the Internet; CD-ROM language program available at discount; Christian Reporter Web site.
FRONT LINES — Jesus’ message.
To download the full version of Advance, send email to hub@xc.org with only the words
get brigada advance.9609
in the text of the message (without quotes). Could we send the full text out to Brigada participants? Sure… but not all would want to receive the entire journal, we reason. This gives you the choice… and you only have to type in 3 words to receive it. Your call.
Thanks to Mark Kelly 70420.1057@CompuServe.COM for a great job month after month!
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THE GOSPEL IN DRAMA READY TO GO INTERNATIONALLY
Bryan Perrier venture@mindlink.bc.ca writes about a dramatic dance production, “The Crown”, that has struck a chord for the local area… and now Bryan, his wife, and their drama team are trying to discern where God could use them internationally. If you have an option, write Bryan directly for more info.
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SEND AND RECEIVE EMAIL IN HEBREW!
Our capable moderator for Brigada-Peoples sent along a tip this week that at http://www.hevanet.com/dshivers/mikhtav, developers have pulled together “Mikhtav,” Hebrew for the word “letter.” The site apparently includes discussions about topics of Israeli Jewish interest in Hebrew using Hebrew letters, instead of Latin transliteration. The site contains all of the software utilities that you will need to communicate on the list — downloadable software for Macintosh, PC or Unix Shell accounts. Thanks Chris!
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REACH NUREMBERG TO REACH OUT
In October the in city of Fuerth (next door to Nuremberg) a Missions conference organized by the German branch of “On Eagles Wings” plus a dozen or more different churches in the area will take place. Topics include: the local church as a basis for Missions, Prayer that changes the world, strategies to reach the unreached, Mission in the power of the Holy Spirit. Speakers are: George Otis, Douglas Layton, Walter Heidenreich, John MacFarlane, Hartwig Henkel and others. The organizers hope and pray for 1000 participants but so far only about 400 applications have come in…(please pray). Probably the most remarkable thing about the conference is the location. Brigada’s “European Correspondent” :-) , Kerstin Hack, writes, “It is the first major Missions conference in the city of Nuremberg. To us in Germany this is historic. Whereas Berlin used to be the strategic headquarters of the Nazi powers, Nuremberg always was the spiritual headquarters in which all the worship of Hitler took place and from which the horrible Nazi propaganda went out to the whole of Germany and the rest of the World. We hope and pray that the Lord will use this conference to break the curses of the past and turn this city (and our nation) into a spiritual headquarters for Missions reaching the ends of the earth with salvation. Hail to Jesus and Jesus alone….” Dates are October 2 – 5, 1996 — “Reach out ’96” Missions conference in Nuremberg, Germany. Kerstin, if I could be there, I would! Thanks! Kerstin is at 100711.2622@CompuServe.COM. And my voice is much better Kerstin. Thanks for asking!
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LEST WE FORGET THOSE UNDER PERSECUTION
The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is to be held September 29, 1996. This is an event, called by World Evangelical Fellowship, has dozens of endorsing agencies and organizations, from the Southern Baptist Convention and the Assemblies of God, to Prison Fellowship International and Campus Crusade. More Christians have been killed in situations related to their faith in the 20th century than the previous nineteen combined! At least 150,000 churches from over 100 countries will be praying on the same day (Sept. 29) for the plight of Christians who are discriminated, harassed and persecuted for the faith in Christ. Please join them! For materials call (toll free in the USA) 1-888/Lets-Pray. For more information call WEF at 630/668-0440 or e-mail BrianOConnell@xc.org.
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MORE ON PATTERSON MATERIAL
Thanks to Ian Benson coordmts@xc.org for this additional info. on Patterson’s training materials — very fascinating and seemingly very effective wherever they are used! “The 62 booklets to which Brigada referred are part of an activity-oriented pastoral training programme designed to foster a movement for church multiplication. By God’s grace, they have been successfully used in Latin America, Asia and Europe in different contexts.
The programme was first developed by Dr George Patterson in Central America where he established about 100 churches over 20 years. Other users of the materials have had even greater success in church planting. The original materials were edited by a team of experienced SEAN TEE writers including George Patterson himself. The present revised version is produced by the Missionary Training Service, an organization dedicated to the training of workers for the unevangelised world.
The Church Planting Guide, which is part of the set, has been used to begin several thousand churches around the world. This is also sold separately at US$9.50 including airmail postage worldwide.
The full set of 62 booklets, including airmail postage, costs US$130. This includes the Pastoral Trainer’s Manual which explains the whole programme, the Student Activity Guide which is the activity-based curriculum, and all the booklets divided into two levels. … We hope that the materials will soon be available with Black African drawings, and in French too. We have contacts with people preparing the materials in Hindi, Turkish, Thai and other languages. Licenses to translate and/or produce the materials usually start at US$150.” Ian has more information on pricing. If you intend to buy, make sure you write him first at coordmts@xc.org for instructions on payment. Thanks Ian! I continue to be fascinated by the results of this unique training curriculum!
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WHAT TO DO ABOUT NORTH KOREA
Gary Russell gary.russell@cbn.org writes “150+ people/day are dying of starvation in North Korea, where a sizable underground church has survived and is growing. Does anyone know a source of surplus grain? Christian friends can arrange shipping of up to 20,000 tons if the grain is donated. Write gary.russell@cbn.org or, in the USA, call 1-800-715-3292.
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WATCH THOSE REPLIES ON NON-MODERATED CONFERENCES
As you know, Brigada’s top level, which puts out this Brigada Today, is a moderated conference, meaning that a special “approval” line (with a password) is required [MOST of the time :-) for messages to be passed to subscribers. But zillions of Brigada conferences operate on literally a daily basis to do most of the actual work of Brigada — that of linking up people with a common affinity or love for some least reached people. Many of these conferences are unmoderated, meaning that any message to the conference is passed out to all those who have joined. It’s worth our while, every so often, to remind Brigada participants to be careful with their use of the “reply” button when reading these conferences. User Jim Nickel wrote this week, “I’ve noticed a number of what appear to be personal messages or replies appearing on certain conferences. Let’s remember that messages posted to a conference or sent as replies to messages posted to a conference go to everyone. If the message is not something that everyone on the conference needs, may I suggest that it be sent to the personal address of the addressee, which can always be found in the header of the message under “originally from.” Some of us have quite a bit of e-mail to wade through, and it becomes quite a time- and $$-waster to have to download & read mail not meant for us.” Well-said, Jim. Many agree. So… use the conference… wisely!
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TO SUBSCRIBE TO BRIGADA TODAY, send email to hub@xc.org with only the following message:
subscribe brigada
TO UNSUBSCRIBE (But you’ll miss next week’s announcement about buried treasure!!…. okay… maybe I’m exaggerating!), send email to hub@xc.org with 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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