...A Christian ministry that sent 200 responders to Sri Lanka to help with tsunami relief efforts has also equipped its workers with specially designed gospel tracts entitled "When Disaster Strikes." These witnessing tools, newly released by the Texas-based American Tract Society (ATS), were given to Victim's Relief Ministries, one of many groups engaged in the disaster response. Mark Brown, vice president of ATS, says the tracts will be used by many relief agencies. "It's a tool that people can take with them," he notes, "and we really want people to be discerning in their use of it. A lot of people need all kinds of things right now -- food, shelter, medical assistance -- and sometimes you kind of have to wait just a moment while they get all those needs met, and then give them a gospel presentation. So we're encouraging missionaries and different agencies to carry these tracts with them, for when the time comes up and it's right to use that in an effective way." ATS mobilized quickly to provide ministry resources as soon as word of the devastating waves in Asia reached the U.S. "We've always been responding to different kinds of disasters," Brown says, "and in the last 10 years we've really developed a 'Quick Response Program' that will literally stop the presses and get a tract on that's needed halfway around the world if necessary. And we'll get it to print and into the hands of people and churches within a very short period of time." The ATS spokesman notes that ATS was providing its services in times of crisis even as far back as the Civil War, and after September 11, 2001, the agency printed more than 4 million gospel tracts relating to the terrorist attacks.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 10:14:47 PM