I’m sure most of you have heard of Operation Christmas Child, or OCC.
Operation Christmas Child is a program started by Samaritan’s Purse. It started in 1993 by Franklin Graham for the homeless, injured and hopeless children of war-torn Bosnia. Now it has grown into a worldwide operation with hundreds of volunteers and thousands of recipients. Every year, children all over the world are blessed with a shoe box filled with toys, school supplies and other such gifts. The shoe boxes are given by people from churches, schools, families and other groups.

Now, more then 103 million shoeboxes are collected and delivered to more than 150 countries, each one representing a chance to spread the Gospel. 

My church is one of the few hundred 5,000 drop off spots in the US. I have been able to go and help out a few times this week. I saw many people come through, bringing their shoeboxes to be packed up and sent to a sorting center. I even got to pack a few boxes myself. It is a thrilling experience.

I don’t know how many of you participate or have heard of Operation Christmas Child, but I believe it is something you should look into. Being able to provide a gift for a child in need is an amazing thing to do. And, it help spreads the Gospel. The children who receive these boxes are invited to join in a twelve day program that shares the Gospel with them. Hundreds of children have been saved because of it.

I have helped my church with Operation Christmas Child for three years. It has been an amazing experience for me over the years, and I’m so glad that I was able to be apart of something so big.

Now, I know that it may not seem, to you, that a something as simple as a shoebox could make a world of a difference. But it does. Those shoeboxes are a simple gift to you, but to them it makes a world of a difference.