BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Trinity Baptist Church held a shoebox dedication service for Operation Christmas Child during the church’s Nov. 7 morning services.
Operation Christmas Child is a worldwide ministry originating in 1993 when Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham delivered 28,000 shoeboxes filled with Christmas gifts to children in war-torn Bosnia.
Since then, Graham’s organization has delivered over 188 million boxes filled with small gifts, school supplies and personal hygiene products to over 170 countries.
Volunteers also include in the boxes a 12-lesson course called “The Greatest Journey,” which teaches children how to follow Christ and share the gospel with others.
During the dedication services at Trinity, children walked down the two aisles of the sanctuary with shoeboxes. Some were dressed in large carton shoeboxes, others in costume frames, and still others rolled in cartons of shoeboxes. Some smaller children wheeled down the aisles in wagons.
The congregation sang the hymn: “Build My Life” during the parade of children while photos from different Operation Christmas Child activities scrolled.
Senior Pastor Brandon Denmark prayed over the shoeboxes that will be going to other nations as gifts.
Diane Michel of Trinity Baptist Church provided reporting and photos for this story.
