The mission of OCC is to demonstrate God’s Love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ though simple shoebox gifts.
Operation Christmas Child encourages caring people to pack empty shoeboxes with school supplies, toys, hygiene items, other small gifts, and personal notes. These gifts are collected in November and shipped to more than 90 countries to children suffering from war, famine, disease, natural disasters, and poverty. Each gift is a tangible expression to a hurting child that they are loved and not forgotten.

Along with the other 12 sending countries, our goal is 8.2 million shoe box gifts. Each one of these gifts represents a Gospel opportunity and a chance to reach a child and their family and friends with the Love of Jesus Christ. Praise God for this opportunity! I know that with your help and the guidance of the Holy Spirit we can and WILL meet this goal.

There are many powerful videos to watch that illustrate just how big an impact OCC has at the following location:
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/ (Click on the .tvViewer in the bottom right of the website).

Be sure to watch the video on how to pack a shoebox after reading this post (video is embedded below).

You know, it is estimated that there are hundreds of millions of children who have NEVER even heard the name Jesus Christ before. OCC is making great efforts to reduce this number.

Romans 10:13-15 tells us that
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “ How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

Now, National Collection Week is actually coming up very soon – it will be November 16th-23rd, so we have about 2 weeks. However, the great thing about this is that is takes no more than a couple of hours all total to get a shoebox together. Additionally, if you are interested in participating but cannot actually get a shoebox together yourself, we can accept monetary donations and will put together the shoebox for you. There is a poster on the front door that has my wife’s contact information on it. She will be filling the integral role of collecting and delivering the shoeboxes to the regional drop-off location. She can even come pick them up from you if that would be easier.

Before I finish, I want to issue a challenge. I challenge and encourage you to take a few moments out of your days in the upcoming week to reflect on how blessed we all are that we are promised eternal life through Jesus Christ. Not only that – but that we actually KNOW that as a fact. Once you have done that, I urge you to realize the wonderful and powerful impact a simple shoebox gift in the name of the Lord will mean to a child – this is not just a Christmas gift that we are giving; rather it is an eternal gift – a gift of knowledge that they are God’s children and are loved and can be saved and have eternal life.

How to Pack a Shoebox

In His Service –
Mike and Michelle Miller