8 Million Gift-Filled Boxes to Reach Needy Children Around the World

By By Eric Young 3 Dec, 2008 07:30 EST

The world’s largest Christmas project is celebrating the collection of 8 million gift-filled shoe boxes that will be shipped overseas and hand-delivered to needy children around the world.

Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has collected and hand-delivered more than 61 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in some 130 countries. This year’s collection of 8 million will go out to more than 100 countries.

“The cool thing about these boxes is that each of these will be filled with toys but they’ll also have a gospel tract in the language of the people that will be receiving it,” says pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif.

“And you can also put a letter in it if you’d like and even correspond with the people that will receive the box, and many people have written back,” he added.

On Tuesday, the Orange County Processing Center for Operation Christmas Child sent off the boxes that it had collected, marking the first send-off of the three scheduled to take place this week. On Wednesday, the Denver Processing Center was scheduled to send off at 10:30 a.m., and on Thursday, the Charlotte Proccessing Center will have its send-off at 10:30 a.m.

“[H]aving been on the receiving side – where we gather the boxes – and the distribution side, I’ve seen the look of joy that comes in a child’s face when they open up that box,” Laurie told members of his congregation Sunday before his megachurch dedicated the 8,000 boxes it had collected.

“And it's Christmas for them,” he added, noting also that the boxes are distributed all year long.

This year, churches and households across America joined with those in 10 other countries to send gift-filled shoe boxes throughout the world. More than 2,200 collection sites were set up throughout all 50 states in America and more than 130,000 volunteers worldwide – including some 100,000 volunteers in the United States – joined forces to prepare the boxes for transport to distant lands.

Though National Collection Week officially concluded on Nov. 24, shoe box gifts can be mailed to the office of Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse, which runs Operation Christmas Child.

On the Web:

www.samaritanspurse.org

Survey: Hong Kong teens generally identify with traditional Chinese cultural values

In order an effort to promote traditional Chinese culture, the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong, in collaboration with Macao YMCA, Guangzhou Suigang'ao Teenagers Institute, and the Teacher Chang Foundation of Taiwan, has conducted a survey on teens measuring their cultural awareness. They found that Hong Kong youths generally identify with and support the values of traditional Chinese culture.
Global Lutherans celebrate Reformation Day, ‘trusting in the power of grace in a merciless time’.
Yesterday, October 31, was Reformation Day, and Lutherans around the world held various events in commemoration. In Singapore, the Lutheran Church advocated for Christian communion, while the German Lutheran Church encouraged believers to face the challenge of “trusting in the power of grace in a merciless time.”
Many American churchgoers expect their pastors’ sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues
American churchgoers are looking for more than biblical explanation from their pastor each week. Many expect the sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues.
2.1M Korean Christians estimated at joint worship service to affirm family, oppose gay marriage, pray for nation
In the afternoon of Reformation Sunday, Oct. 27, some 2.1 million Christians gathered for a joint worship service from 2pm to 5pm in Seoul, Korea to “unite for repentance, revival, and restoration of holiness in our society.” According to organizers, an estimated 1.1 million joined onsite despite the bad weather with another 1 million joining online. The unprecedented joint worship service brought together Korean churches across denominations as they affirmed traditional marriage and family and
Willow Creek Community Church invites believers to write prayer cards for the next president
This past Sunday, Willow Creek Community Church based in Illinois invited believers to “pray for the next president” during the service. The church not only expressed its concern for the upcoming election but also emphasized the role believers should play in the process and the importance of offering prayers for the nation's leaders.

8 Million Gift-Filled Boxes to Reach Needy Children Around the World

Survey: Hong Kong teens generally identify with traditional Chinese cultural values

Many American churchgoers expect their pastors’ sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues American churchgoers are looking for more than biblical explanation from their pastor each week. Many expect the sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues.

Survey: Hong Kong teens generally identify with traditional Chinese cultural values

Global Lutherans celebrate Reformation Day, ‘trusting in the power of grace in a merciless time’.

Many American churchgoers expect their pastors’ sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues

2.1M Korean Christians estimated at joint worship service to affirm family, oppose gay marriage, pray for nation

Many American churchgoers expect their pastors’ sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues
American churchgoers are looking for more than biblical explanation from their pastor each week. Many expect the sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues.