Immanuel Baptist Church Newton Youth Ministry

News: HOKSBA
Saturday, September 1, 2007

At Immanuel in Newton our youth have a passion for Operation Christmas Child.
"Operation Christmas Child (OCC) brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the Good News of God's love. This program of Samaritan's Purse provides an opportunity for people of all ages to be involved in a simple, hands-on missions project while focusing on the true meaning of Christmas-Jesus Christ. Is your heart broken by the desperate plight of millions of children around the world? Whether they are refugees of civil war, survivors of a natural disaster, or victims of extreme poverty, these little ones need to know that they are precious to God. That's the motivation behind Operation Christmas Child, the unique project of Samaritan's Purse that enables caring people to share God's love with hurting girls and boys in the far corners of the globe."

Some people think that OCC comes just once a year, kind of like Annie Armstrong, Lottie Moon or Viola Webb. But to a mission minded person or church, we know that each of these are year round, on going works that do not stop or start at any given point. We give more of an emphasis to each at certain times of the year.

The youth at Immanuel Baptist Church, Newton Kansas give time, energy and money to Operation Christmas Child throughout the year. For the past several years the youth have worked at a fireworks stand during July in order to earn money to take a mission trip to Aurora, Colorado. This mission trip is to work in the processing center to further prepare the shoeboxes for their shipment overseas. In October the kids work a stand at the Taste of Newton and sell bierocks to earn money to purchase items to put in shoeboxes. We have a great time when we all get together and go shopping at many stores around town to purchase items to fill these boxes; it is fun to watch teenagers out buying toys for kids. Then we have a party and get together to sort what we have bought and pack the items in shoe boxes.

We encourage the whole church to be involved in as much of this as we can. During the month of October we begin collecting shoebox gifts from our church. We have many people that cannot fill a shoe box on their own so they bring items for the youth to use to fill their boxes. We have some members that cannot get out to shop for items and they will give money for us to purchase items or just to send along to help cover the postage.

This year, National Collection Week for OCC is November 12th-19th, and our church will be the Relay Center for Newton/Harvey County and the surrounding areas. This is the fifth year we have used our church for the Relay Center. It is not only the youth that work in the Relay Center, this is a church wide event and all are encouraged to spend some time collecting and putting the boxes in cartons. We tend to get excited when groups bring in 250 or 300 boxes to us at one time. We also get excited when families bring in one box and they share how much fun it was to shop for a child. On the 19th, we load all the boxes into a truck and transport them to the Collection Center at Metro East Baptist Church, where they are loaded into a semi and sent to the processing plant.

Once we get through National Collection Week, we prepare to take our trip to Aurora, Colorado and spend several days at the end of November and first of December working in the processing center. There are many different jobs to do at the processing center and we all have the opportunity to work in each area. We have some people who cannot work on their feet, and there are sit-down jobs as well. It is so awesome to see the many people that travel many, many miles in order to work for this. The expenses of motels, food and gasoline do not stop families or groups from serving God. We have met people from all across the United States that just want to come and be a part of making a difference in the life of a child.

This is our fourth trip to Aurora in order to work in the processing center. Last year we took three adults from other churches in the Wichita area with us. This year each of them are planning the trip again and taking others with them.

If you want more information about Operation Christmas Child you can visit their website at www.samaritanspurse.com. We have youth and adults that are ready and willing to come to your church to share what this ministry has meant to them and how you can become more involved.