Local Operation Christmas Child Team Connects with India

2008-05-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

On Monday, May 6, 2008, the first celebration service was held at the First Church of the Nazarene for the newly created Santa Fe River Area Team. The team was established this year by Operation Christmas Child (OCC), a children’s international outreach project of Samaritan’s Purse. The team has responsibilities for creating awareness and managing the efforts of OCC for Alachua, Bradford, Putnam, and Union counties.

The Santa Fe River Area Team assisted in processing over 230,000 shoebox gifts collected across the state of Florida. The shoeboxes were loaded with items needed by the children such as toothbrushes, clothing, toys, schools supplies, and various other small items. The local area collection center hosted by the First Church of the Nazarene and manned by several other churches in the area collected and processed over 9,400 shoeboxes before sending them on to a processing center in Atlanta, one of six nationwide.

This year’s efforts have been jump started because two of the members of the Santa Fe River Area Team have received communication from India, where most of the shoe box gifts from Florida go. One was even a short video that showed the children of an orphanage in eastern India that received the gifts. The other was a letter from Tamil Nadu, a region in the southern part of India. Pastor Caleb, a native missionary to India, has been trying for ten years to get shoe box gifts for an orphanage that he serves. This was the first year that the children of the orphanage were able to be reached through the efforts of operation Christmas Child. Pastor Caleb also helped facilitate the delivery of a number of shoe box gifts to a children’s leper colony that he ministers to on a regular basis.

The video and the letters are reminders to this team and to others volunteering with Operation Christmas Child that their efforts are indeed a blessing to those reached with such a simple gift. The Santa Fe River Area Team is in its beginnings, but those volunteers staffing this team have been participating as individual families or even within their own local churches for many years. The team has great hopes as it is moving forward with plans that will culminate with collection week, this year being held November 17 – 24, 2008. The team is always looking for passionate, called volunteers to help with its efforts.

The next celebration meeting for Operation Christmas Child is a regional meeting being held in Kissimmee on June 6, 2008. The Santa Fe River Area Team will join with a dozen or so other teams to encourage each other and share their own stories of how participating with Operation Christmas Child in an effort to bless others, has brought them many simple, heart felt blessings in return. Over 7.6 million shoe box gifts were delivered to children all over the world from the 2007 efforts. The volunteers of Operation Christmas Child always keep in mind that each shoe box means that another child is reached with a simple gift of love even though we are thousands of miles away.

If you are interested in getting involved with Operation Christmas Child, please visit the OCC website.

Why the Bible?

2008-04-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

As a Christian, I have to subscribe to the teachings of the Bible. Why?

Although I do not totally agree with everything in his essay, Jason Hairston states its best in the following excerpt.

"What would Christianity be without the Bible? Non-existing. Every facet of New Testament Christianity is reliant upon inspired Scripture (II Tim 3:16,17; II Peter 1:3). If I tell someone that I am a Christian, they do not connect my confession with the Koran. Rather they perceive that I am a Christian, therefore I must adhere to the Christian faith, which is revealed in the Bible. New Testament Christianity cannot be separated from the Bible. Since the Christian faith is identifiable by characteristics exclusive to the Bible, it is only reasonable to say that in order for something to be Christian, it must be found in the Bible. The Muslim religion is not Christian. Why? Because the Bible knows nothing of Allah, Mohammed, praying to Mecca, or 'smiting infidels on the neck.' These are particulars of the Islamic religion, and can be found in the 'authority' for Islam, the Koran."

With that logic, do not sacrifice your personal study time. The Bible is your life manual. There are three specific needs that are met in your life from Bible study.

Intimacy

Understanding

Comfort

Intimacy with the God of this universe, the One who spoke worlds into existence and breathed the very breath of life into your body. He wants as much intimacy with each of us as we have in our marriages. He wants us to feel encouraged, loved, and safe. He wants us to live our lives with purpose and intent.

Understanding of Biblical truths so that you do not have to rely on some other man or woman to reveal God's will for you. I urge you to find a number of good Bible teachers that you can connect with through radio, television, or the Internet that will guide you through your studies, and not force their views on you with guilt or fear.

Comfort in knowing that others have gone on before us with similar life issues and shortcomings. However, the comfort comes in knowing that God took care of them, and He will take care of us.

If you do not know Christ or the God I'm referring to, then please feel free to email me so I can introduce to Jesus Christ, the rest is up to you.

Exact Ministries

Local Operation Christmas Child Team Connects with India

Why the Bible?