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(Indonesia)–Indonesia headlines today’s news. A radical Islamic group has claimed responsibility in the explosion outside the Marriot Hotel this week in Jakarta. That explosion claimed the lives of 14 people. Far East Broadcasting Company[1] broadcasts Christian programming in Jakarta and other cities in the region. FEBC’s President Jim Bowman says situations like this helps broadcasters share a message of hope. “The thing that Christian radio can do is just to calm people down and to keep reminding people about mortality and about the things that really matter. The fact is, people are always more open to the Gospel when these kinds of things occur.” Bowman says Christians around the world need to pray. “We can pray, of course, that our own broadcasters will be spared from any violence. They are all Indonesians and we can pray that Christians show their courage on the radio station in the face of it. And, to show people that because we have Christ that we’re not as concerned about the ultimate outcome of these things.”

(Sri Lanka)–Next, Voice of the Martyrs[2] reports five separate churches in the southern Sri Lanka were attacked a week ago by mobs led by Buddhist monks. The National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka believes that it is very likely that this spate of organized attacks is the beginning of an attempt to incite Buddhists against the Christian community, creating an environment of religious disharmony which in turn will be sited as a convincing platform to launch an impending anti-conversion bill.

(India)– India’s Hyderabad is among the leading metropolitan areas in India where technology and entertainment are common. Dayspring International’s[3] John Gilman just went to Hyderabad with the express intent of capitalizing that strength and moving their film ministry to the next level. “The purpose of our visit was to put our wonderful asset this all-Indian-acted life of Christ motion picture into DVD format. It’s an historic moment for us; we’re thrilled about it.” Gilman says with the new format, they can be realistic in looking at a growth spurt in ministry. “The digitalization of the movie will just enhance our film team’s ability to show the film in many different venues and help us to mobilize more women teams where they can carry the equipment.” In the old format, Dayspring teams shared the hope of Christ in 125-thousand villages. Gilman hopes the format change paves the way for their teams to reach 600-thousand villages in the next five or ten years.

(Latin America)–Elsewhere, it’s well known that the other part of evangelism is discipleship. For mission agencies, that poses new challenge, especially as they try to help church leaders in remote or inaccessible areas of Latin America. CAM International’s[4] Aaron Sandoval explains how the internet opened new doors for their outreach. “CAM International has realized the value of the internet as a tool for sermon outlines, study guides, articles, things that could be put to use immediately in the church and take them through the resource of the internet to these pastors in some areas of Latin America who do not have access to these Christian materials.” Team members took distribution as a matter of prayer. Sandoval says they found the answer staring them in the face. “Just about every little town in Latin America has an internet caf © in the center of the town. So, taking advantage of that infrastructure, we’ve been able to use it to take some of these materials and put it directly in their hands.”

(USA)–And finally, nearly 70 churches around the United States have already taken an active part in filming the entire Bible and putting it on DVD. However, Film The Bible[5] officials say thousands more are needed to join the Pursuing the Vision team. The goal is to raise 660-million dollars to film the entire Bible, which could be an incredible tool for evangelism worldwide. Because much of the world’s population is illiterate, their vision is to translate it into many languages and distribute it worldwide.

[1] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=FEBC [2] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=VOM [3] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=DAY [4] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=CAM [5] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=FTB ———————————————————————

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