Six years ago Brandie Owings was a reluctant shoebox packer.
It was the first year her church, Hollins Baptist Church, Goodwater, in Central Baptist Association, had participated in Operation Christmas Child (OCC), and with all the other holiday expenses and activities, purchasing shoebox items just added to her load. Plus, she didn’t know anything about Samaritan’s Purse and what they did with the shoeboxes.
Within months God had opened her eyes in more ways than one.
“I asked my pastor to pray about what ministry God was leading me to do, and then I saw a story about Operation Christmas Child on Facebook,” Owings said. “I did a little research, and I saw story after story about how God matched just the right box to the right child. There was no denying God was in the ministry.”
Owings had found her ministry, and since then she has encouraged members of her church and others in Central Association, where she serves as ministry assistant. Last year the association collected 1,380 shoeboxes. This year may top that.
Those boxes, plus millions more collected in Alabama, across the United States and in countries around the world, will be delivered to children in some of the poorest countries in the world.
Since OCC began in 1993, the organization has delivered 157 million shoeboxes to children in need in countries in Central Asia, Africa and Latin America. For some of the children it may be the first gift they’ve ever received.
But OCC is about more than the toys, hygiene items and school supplies contained in each box. Since 2010 more than 11 million children who have received a shoebox gift have participated in The Greatest Journey — a 12-lesson discipleship program. Children learn from trained, local volunteers what it means to follow Jesus and share their faith with friends and family.
It’s a project that unites church members, associations and a vast network of more than 500,000 volunteers worldwide in filling, collecting, shipping and distributing shoebox gifts for one purpose — to share the love of Christ with children who need to hear the gospel.
Opportunity to pray
An important part of the project for many churches is the opportunity to pray over the boxes before they are sent to the collection center during National Collection Week, which this year was Nov. 12–19.
Bethany Baptist Church, New Brockton, in Coffee Baptist Association, found a creative way to lead their RAs and GAs in prayer for their shoeboxes.
The children prayed in three stations, using colored blocks to build a “wall of prayer.” Each block represents a step in the journey of a shoebox: yellow for collecting items, orange for packing boxes, green for shipping, blue for distribution and red for discipling children who receive the boxes.
“It was a great way to help kids learn to pray,” said Barbara Westerbeck, area coordinator for the OCC Alabama/Georgia Wiregrass Area team. (Carrie Brown McWhorter)
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