Encouraging Students to Serve Children Around the World
Year-round volunteer in Ohio mobilizes students to get involved with Operation Christmas Child.
Adrienne Krater loves encouraging students to help reach children around the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through Operation Christmas Child. It’s her focus as a year-round student relations volunteer in the Dayton, Ohio, area.
Adrienne encourages local young people to pack Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts and tells them how God is using the Samaritan’s Purse project to share the Good News and great joy of Jesus Christ with children in need around the world.
“Student relations is getting young people engaged in ministry to impact lives through Operation Christmas Child,” Adrienne said.
A campus environment provides a unique opportunity for students to participate in Operation Christmas Child together, Adrienne explains. She organizes shoebox packing activities for students, participates in campus ministry fairs, shows Operation Christmas Child videos at university gatherings, and arranges for the videos to play on student center television monitors.
In addition to promoting Operation Christmas Child on her campus, Adrienne speaks to area high schools and colleges about how to get involved in the project. She stresses that this time in their lives as students isn’t just about preparation—God wants to work in and through them now.
Adrienne finds that when student participate in Operation Christmas Child as a group, it generates Gospel-centered conversations. Praying together for children who will receive shoebox gifts often leads groups to also pray more fervently for each other and those around them, she said.
“Operation Christmas Child helps open your eyes to the need of young people around the world to hear the Gospel—and that includes those around you,” Adrienne tell students. “Operation Christmas Child is a conduit for the Gospel to be shared in your community and around the world. God uses it in a big way to impact lives, both here and overseas.”
