Drive down River Styx Road just outside Wadsworth, Ohio, and you’ll come across the “Styx and Stones Farm” sign. Pull in the driveway on any given Saturday morning in the fall, and it will be tough to find a spot to park. On one edge of the driveway sits a barn that’s at least 175…
Operation Christmas Child
Missouri Churches Send Shoebox Gifts Off with Prayer
The farming community of Belle, Missouri, has a population of just 1,300 people, but on Sunday, they accomplished much through prayer. At their 23rd annual Operation Christmas Child dedication service at First Baptist Church, 120 people from more than 25 different churches gathered to commit 1,744 shoebox gifts to God’s purposes around the globe. Each…
Operation Christmas Child
The Good News Blossoms in West Africa
Johnjames left his home in Nigeria to serve as a missionary in Gambia, a nearby West African nation, in January 2020. He brought with him his 5-year-old son, Unique, while his wife and newborn son planned to join them a couple months later. Due to the global pandemic, however, those travel plans were thwarted. Undaunted,…
Operation Christmas Child
Scaling Mountains with Shoebox Gifts and the Gospel
The steep footpath that ran alongside the cliff had become a trail of slimy, unrelenting mud. But it was the only way to reach a Filipino community nestled in the mountain forest—a nearly 35-mile walk from the nearest town. Undaunted by the conditions, Pastor Jacob*, together with his wife, daughter, and a small ministry team,…
Operation Christmas Child
She’s Got a Passion for Sharing Christ Through Shoeboxes
The first thing you notice about 24-year-old Amanda Urgolites is her smile—bright, warm, welcoming, continual. That’s not so unusual, you might say. But Amanda’s radiant smile is all the more remarkable because she has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), a rare and incurable collagen deficiency disorder that causes her ligaments to stretch and malfunction. Her bones dislocate…
Operation Christmas Child
Why I Pack Shoeboxes: One-Word Witnesses
On social media this fall, Operation Christmas Child asked shoebox packers to pick one word that describes why they send gifts to boys and girls in need around the world. We thought you’d be encouraged to see some of the responses from our volunteers and staff as you prayerfully prepare to fill your own boxes…
Operation Christmas Child
Bringing Good News and Great Joy to Grenada
Saint Andrew in Grenada is locally known as the “Big Parish” because it is the largest of the six parishes on the West Indies island and is the only one that shares a border with the other five. It is also called the nation’s breadbasket, due to its rich agricultural history. Most of the island’s…
Operation Christmas Child
God Is Using a Small Texas Church to Bless Many Thousands of Children
Update (Nov. 4, 2021): Since this article was originally published, Grace Baptist Church of Wild Peach, Texas, has continued to exceed its shoebox-packing goals. In 2020, despite the global outbreak of COVID-19, the church packed 12,617 shoeboxes—117 over their goal. They also saw God’s provision regarding their $9 donation per shoebox gift that year. “We…
Our Ministry
Opportunities Arise for Punta Gorda Church After Hurricane
Pastors of New Life in Christ Church in Punta Gorda, Florida, had been praying that God would bring revival to their congregation and to their community. They didn’t want the Gospel to just stay inside the walls of their church. However, they never imagined that God would answer their prayers through a fierce hurricane named…
Operation Christmas Child
Hundreds of Children in the Bahamas Receive Shoebox Gifts at Christmastime
Hundreds of boys and girls received gifts and learned about the hope of the Gospel during a series of Operation Christmas Child shoebox distributions on the island of Grand Bahama, Dec. 27-28. The celebration was a welcome time of joy for the children as the island continues to recover from Hurricane Dorian. Local church partners…
