Since 1994, we have experienced the joy of supporting a "hands-on" missions project through Samaritan's Purse called Operation Christmas Child. This simple endeavor sends a message of hope to children around the world who otherwise would receive nothing for Christmas. It provides children through the age of 14 with a small Christmas package, relief aid, and Christian literature.
The process is simple: church members wrap an empty shoebox and its lid separately in wrapping paper, and then fill it with items such as dolls, cars, flashlights, clothing, toiletries and hard candy. The boxes are brought to the church after Thanksgiving and are blessed during a special worship service before being taken to Samaritan's Purse headquarters in Boone. In the past, the boxes we have prepared have gone to such places as Castro's Cuba and the Russian city of Chernobyl, site of a nuclear accident in 1986.
Pleasant Gap Baptist Church is one of more than 56,000 churches and other organizations who participate in Operation Christmas Child. Besides the benefits received by the children who are given the shoeboxes, it has been a tremendous source of blessing to our church as well, as families work together to prepare these gifts of love that will touch the life of a child somewhere in the world. We do so in the words of Jesus, when He said, "Anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward."
For Operation Christmas Child's HomePage, click here
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