The Greatest Journey & Christopher's Story

After receiving a shoebox gift, children have the opportunity to enroll in The Greatest Journey, Operation Christmas Child's dynamic, 12-lesson Bible study course guiding them through what it means to faithfully follow Jesus Christ.

Every shoebox gift delivered by Operation Christmas Child is a tangible expression of God’s amazing love, but a shoebox is just the beginning. It also presents an opportunity in more than 100 countries for our church partners to invite children into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ through The Greatest Journey. Since 2009, millions of children around the world have learned what it means to faithfully follow Jesus Christ through The Greatest Journey. As a result, lives are being changed for eternity and new churches are springing up in communities across the globe. TWO children EVERY MINUTE around the WORLD are ACCEPT JESUS as their SAVIOR through The Greatest Journey!
We praise the Lord for making The Greatest Journey one of the largest discipleship programs in the world today. But there are many more boys and girls we still urgently need to reach with the truth of God’s Word.
CLICK HERE for a video link about Christopher's Story and The Greatest Journey 

The Greatest Journey Haiti 

Peru

Will you help us “go and make disciples of all nations” as Christ commanded? Sign up for a monthly gift of $6, and each year you will give 12 children study materials, a New Testament, and the opportunity to learn what it means to devote their lives to sharing the Good News of eternal grace through Jesus Christ.  Donate Now to TGJ

QUICK LINKS FOR RESOURCES:

1.      To order free and specialty resources: Click Here

2.      To order GO (Gospel Opportunity) Boxes: Click Here

3.      To follow your shoebox online and learn its destination country: Click Here

4.      To learn how to disciple children in The Greatest Journey: Click Here

5.      To build a shoebox online: Click Here

6.      To print off “How to Pack a Shoebox” instructions & labels for your group: Click Here

7.      Find Your drop-off location: Click Here

8.      Read Shoebox Stories: Click Here -“It wasn’t just a gift—it was a life-changing experience. I received a tool to transform my life! – Devon, Shoebox Recipient.

May week 1 Operation Christmas Child Prayer

OCC Mid-South (Arkansas, Tennessee & Kentucky) Requests:

1. Praising God for all of the Mid-South volunteers who attended a Connect conference this year! 
2. Pray for the Mid-South goal of 820,001 GOSPEL OPPORTUNITIES. NEA GOAL is 11,222. USA is 9,500,000. 
3. Please continue to pray for new churches to partner with us in 2016 as drop-off locations. 
4. Pray for the upcoming Connect trip to Zambia next week. Pray for safety and good health for our staff and volunteers. 
5. Pray for Franklin Graham and the Decision America Tour as they continue to travel around the United States. Praising God for amazing turnouts in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky!!

OCC NEA Requests: (Craighead, Clay, Greene, Lawrence, Mississippi, Poinsett, and Randolph Counties):

1. Pray for our 2nd Quarterly Prayer Call of 2016 on May 9th – for the presenters and those joining the Skype session.

International Prayer Requests:

1. Praise God for the 52 countries that have received shoeboxes and volunteer teams are now working hard in Outreach Events to share the Good News with children.
2. Praise God that approximately 131,000 children are about to start The Greatest Journey (12 lesson discipleship program) and another 170,000 have started TGJ and are about to be presented the opportunity to receive Christ. Pray their hearts are wide open to the Gospel!
3. Pray for the shoeboxes still enroute on ships to children in five countries. 
4. Pray for tax exemption of shoeboxes in five countries primarily in Africa and South Asia. 
5. Pray for customs clearance of the sea containers filled with shoebox Gospel Opportunities in eleven countries including Madagascar and three sensitive countries in North Africa, South Asia and East Asia. 
6. Pray for Venezuela, their shoeboxes have been blocked the past 4 years. 
7. Pray as we integrate the NO CANDY and NO TOOTHPASTE into our 2017 campaign of shoeboxes. Due to increasing customs regulations, we will be phasing out these items. Candy and toothpaste have become items of regulatory issue, often causing complications with the delivery of shoeboxes. The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to share the good news of Jesus Christ using a simple shoebox gift as a platform to open doors to share the Gospel. Including these items are increasingly proving to prevent entry into a large number of our recipient countries and blocking the opportunity to share God’s love with children in need. For this reason, toothpaste and candy will still be allowed during this year’s 2016 collection, but will become official inappropriate items in 2017. To see an up-to-date list of what can and can’t go in a shoebox, visit our website here. If you have further questions, please email us at occinfo@samaritan.org

This week also join us in praying or Cameroon and Burkina Faso in Africa.
Cameroon: Shoebox gifts collected in the United States in 2015 will be delivered to 137,496 children in Cameroon. Praise God that over 539,629 children have received a shoebox since 2001, when Operation Christmas Child began distributing gifts here. Cameroon has 23.7 million people and is located in Central Africa. 43% of the population is 14 years old or younger. Only 9% of the population is Evangelical Christian.

1. Pray God will protect the volunteers and Ministry Partners in the mission field during the outreach events and trainings. Pray the ministry partners fully understand their role and continue to engage in OCC. 
2. Pray The Greatest Journey discipleship program (TGJ) will have a great impact on the children and will transform their lives. Pray the testimonies will be included in the reports. 
3. Praise God for the peace in Cameroon. http://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child-countries/cameroon/

Burkina Faso: is A landlocked country of the Sahel. Prone to drought and famine. Shoebox gifts collected in the United States in 2015 will be delivered to 202,200 children in Burkina Faso. Praise God that over 1,026,229 children have received a shoebox since 1999, when Operation Christmas Child began distributing gifts here. Burkina Faso has 18.9 million people and is located in West Africa. 45% of the population is 14 years old or younger.

1. Pray for the children as they complete their TGJ Bible classes.
2. Praise God for His provision for OCC.
3. Pray for the safety and the ministry of the team members as they travel to support the project. 
4. Pray God continues to strengthen and motivate partners, who hold the Gospel sacred, to join OCC. http://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child-countries/burkina_faso/

Children in Cameroon receiving Shoeboxes

Quarterly Day of Prayer and Fasting, May 4th, 2016 Operation Christmas Child

May 4th is the OCC's Quarterly Day of Prayer and Fasting.  That means Operation Christmas Child volunteers and staff AROUND THE WORLD are praying TODAY together for this ministry!!! Tonight I am asking you to pray for The Greatest Journey and Venezuela. TGJ is so successful that 2 kids per minute are being saved! It teaches shoebox recipients how to follow Jesus and has impacted over 2.7M children in just six years. We are working to improve this program and need your prayers.

Prayer Requests for The Greatest Journey are:

1. Pray that the Lord will guide our team in setting the best schedules for production, testing, translation, training and teaching the updated materials in the classroom. 
2. Pray for the creative team to meet the production project schedule. 
3. Pray for all of the stakeholders to have wisdom as they provide feedback so the children receive the best discipleship that is relevant in their context.

Also, pray for Venezuela - their shoeboxes have been blocked for the past 4 years.  Pray with us that these doors will be opened again.  

A boy in a slum area of Venezuela arrived at an OCC gift distribution with an old baseball glove tucked under his arm. He told a volunteer, “I wish there was a new glove in my box.” He opened his gift to find a new glove! It was the first time the national OCC team had seen a baseball glove in a box. At the same distribution, a little girl who was a dancer got ballet shoes, a tutu, tights and a tiara in her box.

Gospel Multiplication through Prayer - “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15a)
Operation Christmas Child volunteers are the most motivated people on the planet. There is a passion for the expansion of the Gospel in the hearts of our volunteers. As stories of children’s hearts impacted by a simple shoebox gift continue to come in, we are seeing that passion grow. The effects are unmistakable – unprecedented unity is occurring among church leaders causing the church around the world to work together so children have an opportunity to hear the Gospel.

The enemy doesn’t like the passion or the unity that is taking place and resists our efforts with all his forces. But, we will not let the trials weigh us down because we remember that we are promised there will be trials. We take hope in the truth that our efforts have been orchestrated by God and the results belong to Him. Regardless of our role, it is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). He loves to give us the desires of our hearts as we pray and fast for the salvation of children throughout our countries. It is our heart connected to a loving and gracious Father through prayer that facilitates more prepared hearts, more Gospel seeds planted, more discipleship and more communities impacted.

Because of our prayers and efforts, Gospel multiplication is exponentially growing and young preachers are being sent to share the Good News.

May Items of the Month Operation Christmas Child & FFWBC

Our May items of the month are girls toys, dolls and accessories. Here are 2 sweet photos: 

Meet Dora, a 4th grader,  from Guyana. She came to the OCC Outreach Shoebox Distribution Event with her Dora the Explorer backpack and guess what was in her shoebox...her very on DORA DOLL right on top! God orchestrates little details of our lives and HE has a specific child in mind for each shoebox Gospel Opportunity that you pack! 

The little girl from Trinidad was thrilled about her accessories she received!!!! Each gift can touch a child's life forever. 

#behindthebox #neaocc #ipackedashoebox have you?  

What goes in the box is fun but what comes out is eternal! 2 kids per minutes are accepting Christ as their personal Savior through The Greatest Journey discipleship program that the children can go through after receiving their gift-filled shoebox! #wemakedisciples 

April Item of the Month Operation Christmas Child

What's your favorite "wow" item for your gift-filled shoeboxes? What goes in a shoebox is fun...what comes out is eternal! I like to put a soccer ball or a stuffed animal! Our APRIL item of the month is stuffed animals. 

Here is a story for you:

“My name is Sveta, and I am nine years old. I have dreamed all my life about a doll with long black hair. We knew that someone was going to bring presents to our orphanage, but I could not even begin to think that in that present I would see what I wanted! I prayed and said, 'Lord, all that will be there I will accept with great joy and excitement and be thankful and will try not to sneak a peek early.' And then when I opened my gift box I saw a doll! Can you believe that she had long black hair! I believe that I was at that moment the happiest person in the world! I am so thankful to God that he loves me so much and takes care of me.” 

This little girl from Colombia held on tight to the stuffed animal she received in her shoebox gift. You can send this kind of joy too when you include a stuffed animal packed with prayer. 

When you pack a stuffed animal in a shoebox, you give a child something they can hold and love. This little boy from Bulgaria couldn't contain his excitement over the bear he received in his gift!

Operation Christmas Child Week 4 April Prayer Requests

WEEK 4: OCC Mid-South Requests

1. Pray for Connect volunteers and OCC staff as they travel to the Connect Conferences in Atlanta that starts this week!
   
2. Pray for our 2nd Quarterly Prayer Call of 2016 on May 9th – for the presenters and those joining the Skype session.
   

 NEA Requests

1. Pray for our NEA Team as we grow. Praise God that HE provided 9 new prayer partners, 2 new team members, and we have some new people Melinda has been talking to for other areas of our team!
   
2. Pray for our goals for shoebox collections for 2016: 11,222 Gospel Opportunities!!!!!
   

This week we will continue to pray for Sensitive Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA):

1. Praise God the tax exemption has been granted.
   
2. Praise God the team members were able to attend the national volunteer training.
   
3. Pray for the safety of the team members.
   

 

A 2^nd MENA Country Request we as Prayer Warriors:

1. Praise God for the local partners in the south who are willing to cooperate in the Outreach Events.
   
2. Pray God will continue to open doors in the north and south of the country.
   
3. Pray the team will find the right consignee.
   
4. Pray for the upcoming Outreach Events.

Pray With Operation Christmas Child 3rd Week of April Requests for MENA Sensitive Countries

April WEEK 3:
OCC Mid-South Requests
· Pray for Connect volunteers and OCC staff as they travel to the Connect Conferences in Atlanta April 28-30.
· Pray for our 2nd Quarterly Prayer Call of 2016 on May 9th – for the presenters and those joining the Skype session.
· Pray for our Prayer Teams and Coordinators as they try to get prayer requests out to people who will commit to prayer – we are in great need of new prayer partners all over this region.

NEA Requests
· Pray for our NEA Team as we grow our team
· Pray for our goals for shoebox collections for 2016: 11,222 Gospel Opportunities!!!!!

MENA- Sensitive Country
· Pray for the provision of a warehouse for the shoeboxes and for a smooth process with customs.
· Pray God provides a Prayer Coordinator to join the team.
· Pray for the Ministry Partners and The Greatest Journey discipleship program trainings.

MENA (Middle East & North Africa) Sensitive Country
· Pray for the upcoming Outreach Events and the start of the discipleship program.
· Pray God protects the country from evil plans.
· Pray for an end to the wars in the MENA countries. Pray God will bring reconciliation and forgiveness.