FingerTip--INTERNET MISSION CENTRE LAUNCHED

Student Mission Advance (SMA) has introduced a mission resource centre on the Internet, called "FingerTip". SMA, an agency best known for their national student mission conferences, has taken the role of mobilizing students for missions one step further through the broader exposure which is offered by the Internet.

The resource centre has several key components: "The Opportunity Database" is designed to bring together information from many of the opportunities for missions service. There are currently 20 agencies who are at various stages for entering opportunities into the database. Already there are opportunities for 56 different countries and FingerTip staff estimate that they will have 1000 opportunities in the database by the end of December. The opportunities are sorted by location, agency, type of service, date, and duration, which enable users to find the opportunities that interest them quickly and easily.

"The Agency Gallery" brings together the "home page" displays from all the mission agencies who have these displays on the Internet. Each display is accessed through the simple "click" of a mouse. Currently there are over 30 listed, and that number is expected to double over the next two months.

FingerTip also features a "Mail Room" which, along with the "Agency Gallery" will be tied directly into FingerTip's opportunity database. When a young person sees an opportunity that interests them, they will have instant access to more information about the agency offering that opportunity, as well as have the capability to E-Mail the agency directly.

Staff at FingerTip will also be maintaining a "Mission News Room" and "Mission Calendar". Through these two features, individuals will be kept up to date on significant events that are happening both overseas and in North America. Several "on-line" mission magazines are featured in the "Mission News Room", and the "Mission Calendar" will keep you informed about important conferences, speakers, and training events happening throughout North America.

Work is also underway on a "Research Centre" which will provide connections to much of the important Mission Research material which is available on the Internet.

FingerTip also provides some important links to other important Christian/Mission material. Included among these is a comprehensive Internet Christian library, as well as a "Prayer Room" for emergency mission prayer requests. For those whose interest is not primarily in the missions area, FingerTip's "Resource Room" provides connections to a large collection of other Christian material.

Student Mission Advance is making FingerTip available to the public through the Internet at no additional charge. All that is needed is an Internet connection. --Submitted by: Mike Bell, FingerTip Coordinator, Student Mission Advance Hamilton, ON, Canada. For more information, SMA can be reached at: E-Mail: fingertip@netaccess.on.ca Phone: 905-572-6992 Address: Box 91051 Effort Square, Hamilton, ON, Canada, L8N 4G3

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