Amidst the destruction and continuing fallout from Cyclone Nargis there is a tremendous need not only for support (if you’re looking for a place to give, try International Aid) but news.

One of our gospel.com community members is Mission Network News, which is a news outlet that offers a missions-focused take on the news. From their about page:

Mission Network News is a mission news service dedicated to keeping Christians informed on evangelical mission activity around the world; in doing so we hope to educate and motivate Christians to prayer, participation, and support of missionary work to help further the Great Commission.

They’re currently covering the Cyclone Nargis catastrophe and have been updating as much as possible. You can read all of their Hurricane related articles here.

From their report today called Ministry encourages churches in Myanmar response:

Global Advance’s David Shibley notes one prospect: “The government is being resistant to aid. However, this does give opportunity for some mission groups that are already on the ground there to be very significantly used.” There are some agencies with projects in the hard-hit areas that will be able to make use of an already-established distribution network.

By now, you’ve probably read reports about the massive cyclone that has left thousands dead and many more missing in Burma. Mission Network News reports:

The death toll could rise to over tens of thousands in Myanmar after a cyclone struck early Saturday, according to government sources. State radio says 22-thousand have died and thousands more are missing.

Some news sources report that the government’s response thus far has been slow or lacking. The road systems are not in good shape and communications are essentially down.

It is predicted that the cyclone may have the largest death toll since the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia which killed 181,000 people in its path. “Obviously hundreds of thousands of lives are being terribly impacted, having lost their bamboo homes and watching their family members die. It’s been horribly devastating,” said Gospel for Asia’s K.P. Yohannan.

It’s difficult to fathom that much death and destruction. And it’s all too easy to chalk it up as another “other side of the world” crisis that doesn’t affect us, and move on to the next headline. But when disasters like this strike, there is tremendous opportunity and need for a Christlike response. Among the many ministries and organizations already responding to the crisis are two from the Gospel.com community:

• Gospel for Asia, which has converted its Bible college in Rangoon into a makeshift shelter for refugees and survivors. They set up the shelter after the local police station was destroyed; it’s currently providing shelter to over 80 people, plus 70 children from a nearby orphanage that was destroyed.
• International Aid, which has a lot of experience responding to crises like this, is calling for financial help in organizing a large-scale relief effort.

In addition to these ministries, organizations such as the Red Cross are already reacting to the situation. Consider whether you can help out by supporting one of these relief efforts—and be sure to put the entire situation at the top of your prayer list. If and when we hear of other ministries in our community getting involved with relief efforts, we’ll note them here.

Each week, Past the Popcorn offers a thorough look at the latest round of films opening on big screens.

When the worst movie released on a given week is merely an uninspired romantic comedy starring Patrick Dempsey, you’re not doing too bad.

Leading the pack, of course, is the much-anticipated Iron Man, a comic book superhero PG-13 adaptation starring Robert Downey, Jr. Michael Brunk was wholly won over. “If Iron Man is any indication of what we can expect this summer,” he says, “I think we’re in for a great time.”

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