As the Christmas season approaches, Lee Ann Smith is digging into the intentionality behind one of the most well-known ministries of Samaritan’s Purse: Operation Christmas Child.

“The stuff in these boxes is what is showing the love and joy of Jesus to children around the world,” she said. “A lot of places won’t let missionaries come in but they’ll let the shoe boxes come in because, let’s face it, we’ll do anything for our kids.”

Operation Christmas Child is a partnership between the organization and churches worldwide to share the good news of Jesus Christ and make disciples of the nations. Its mission is to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to the children who are in need around the world, Smith — the Operation Christmas Child project leader at Trinity Baptist Church — said.

Each shoe box is filled with toys, school supplies and hygiene items.

When the boxes arrive in those harder-to-reach places —170 countries, to be exact — the Gospel — transcribed in 67 languages — arrives, too.

“It’s an awesome way to share the Gospel with those who may have never heard of the Gospel before,” Smith said.

Trinity Baptist, which is a local drop-off collection site where community members can drop off their pre-packed boxes or pick up empty boxes to fill, collected nearly 900 boxes last year.

“That was excellent because we were still going through hurricane recovery and the pandemic,” Smith said. “This year, we’re in a better place and I’m hoping we can do many, many more with your help.”

Inside each box is a pamphlet with ideas to fill the boxes and an envelope for the $10 required processing fee.

Smith said the $10 covers shipping — which includes the use of planes, cargo ships, canoes and elephants to deliver the packages across the world — and the training for those who will ultimately share the Gospel and the visual materials they need in presenting it.

The boxes are designated for boys or girls in the age ranges of 2-4, 5-9 and 10-14.

The boys age range of 10-14 is the one category that usually has the least amount of donations, Smith said.

“In that age group, a lot of them are already trying to support their families so we try to provide them with tools like screwdrivers and hammers, fishing kits, things they could use to help out their families,” Smith said. “We also send solar calculators, deflated soccer balls and pumps, T-shirts. They really don’t have access to batteries much less anything electronic. Keep it simple.”

The deadline to return the filled boxes is Nov. 13.

“In addition to filling the shoe box, we really, really need prayer,” Smith said. “Franklin Graham who oversees Operation Christmas Child, said the most important thing you can pack in a shoe box is prayer and I believe that. Every box is prayed on here at our church, when we take them to the drop-off center we pray again, when we take them to the Dallas processing center we pray over them again, we pack them into a shipping container and we pray over them again. They’re prayed over again when they arrive in the country they’re headed to. We also ask that those who donate pray for the child who will be receiving their box that they will be mentally-ready and heart-ready to receive the greatest gift, Jesus Christ.”

Smith said when the Gospel is shared with the children after they receive their boxes, the group tries to find a local person in that area who can speak to them in their dialect for follow-up conversations.

“On the follow-up, they went up to a man who said, ‘Jesus people gave my children these treasures. I want to hear more about this Jesus.’ I feel like that’s what the shoe boxes are all about.”

Smith said data indicates that for every shoe box, 10 people are touched.

“When they get excited about something, they tell their siblings, they tell their parents, they tell their cousins, they tell their schoolmates. It just gets bigger and bigger. That’s pretty amazing.”

Smith said the area should be really familiar with Samaritan’s Purse already because the organization maintained a huge presence in Southwest Louisiana for the past two years, helping the area recover from Hurricanes Laura and Delta.

“They were putting on roofs, putting on tarps and really working to help our area heal,” Smith said.

Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love.

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Online: https://www.samaritanspurse.org