Their days often start early and end late, but when you’re doing what you love, the busy days don’t really seem like work at all. “This brings us joy every day. We give every day to God, every part of this ministry,” said Barbara Korn, who is part of the dynamic duo known as “The…
Operation Christmas Child
Passing the Shoebox Baton: Meet a National Team Coordinator
The millions of shoebox gifts packed in 2020 are currently being processed for overseas shipment and will soon be on their way to National Leadership Teams around the globe. These volunteer teams work together with local churches to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to children through the distribution of your prayerfully packed shoebox gifts.…
Operation Christmas Child
Shoebox Gifts Open Doors Among the Unreached in Asia
Shoebox Gifts Open Doors Among the Unreached in Asia Animals, trees, and hand-crafted idols … each is worshipped reverently by different unreached people groups within one Asian country. Families have remained in bondage to these dark beliefs for generations, but light is beginning to shine. We give thanks for how the one true living God…
Operation Christmas Child
Caring for Grenada a Year After Beryl
Last summer, Hurricane Beryl ripped through the Windward Islands as a Category 4 storm. The tiny island of Carriacou—20 miles northeast of mainland Grenada and home to nearly 10,000 people—received the brunt of Beryl’s fury. Sustained winds of 150 miles per hour thrashed its shores and whipped through its rolling hills ripping roofs off houses…
Operation Christmas Child
A Gift of Forgiveness in Rwanda
Finding Forgiveness in Rwanda One man’s journey of survival and redemption “Mommy, where can we run to?” These heart-wrenching words greet visitors to the children’s exhibit at Kigali Genocide Memorial Center. The child who uttered them before falling victim to one of the bloodiest three months in history is now just a memory enshrined in…
Operation Christmas Child
Good News and Great Joy Shared in Ethiopia
This week Edward Graham, COO of Samaritan’s Purse, joined with a local church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to distribute hundreds of gift-filled Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Before opening their presents, girls and boys listened to a child-friendly presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “I want these kids to know that they are loved and…
Operation Christmas Child
From Wyoming to the World with Love
Jana Ginter lives on the southeastern plains of Wyoming, 30 miles east of Cheyenne, a place where golden wheat fields stretch in almost every direction to the far distant horizon and where acres of sunflowers glow in the late-summer sun. Here, “next-door” neighbors live several miles apart, separated by spacious farms and cattle ranches, most…
Operation Christmas Child
A Young Girl in Ecuador Shares Her Amazing Testimony
Iglesia Nueva Generación in Cutuglagua, Ecuador, was predominantly a congregation of adults until they got involved with Operation Christmas Child. But when they coordinated an outreach event for children in June 2021, they were glad to see youngsters coming to the church, said volunteer Maria Yucailla. The event was successful and followed local health guidelines…
Operation Christmas Child
Faith on the Mountaintop
Pastor Rick and his team knew it would be tough—physically and spiritually—to reach the remote village they had been lifting up in prayer. To share the Good News of Jesus Christ there, the group had to scale steep mountains, cross rivers full of rocks and stones, and push through dense bamboo and vegetation. Their journey…
Operation Christmas Child
Starting Churches with Children in Peru
In the past four years, brothers Jamber, 22, and José, 19, have helped to start two churches in the gold mining town of Cajamarca, Peru. Growing up, both received Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes while attending Gateway to Bethlehem, a church in a middle-class neighborhood. “I was really happy, really joyful,” José said, remembering receiving his…
