Written by
Beth Farrah, SMT Writer
Bloomfield, Missouri - Operation Christmas Child (OCC) is an organization that sends shoeboxes full of small gifts to second and third world countries around the globe. Although this organization stretches across all of America, Stoddard County has been a major participant throughout the last few years. Many churches, small organizations, and school clubs have taken part in packing shoe boxes.
Operation Christmas Child works through Samaritan’s Purse, a foundation that is dedicated to international relief. OCC is more than just a box full of small toys that are bought at the Dollar Store. For most kids that receive boxes, it will be their only Christmas present. OCC is also dedicated to showing children their world in a difference perspective: Jesus’ perspective. Each box will contain a small Bible or short books about Bible stories that are written in the child’s native language so that they will receive the light and love of Jesus.
Many churches throughout Bloomfield and Dexter will soon be holding ‘Packing Parties’, which is when the members of the church pull together and fill boxes with small items that may be necessities for the child or they will fill the box with smaller toys such as stuffed animals or crayons and coloring books. Many of the shoeboxes are filled with personal hygiene items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, wash cloths, bars of soap, shoes, shirts, socks, and other useful things that the child would need for their day to day life. Other gifts such as small toys, books, crayons, pencils, notebooks, and other things are also welcomed so that the child will have some form of entertainment.
OCC began in 1993 and they are thrilled to be celebrating their twentieth year this year! Last year, they had the joy of sending out their 100-millionth shoebox. This year will also be filled with great excitement because each year the boxes that are sent overseas are increased dramatically, so this time of year is always exciting for everyone involved in the program. Over one million children have received shoe boxes within the past nineteen years, so it is exciting to keep that trend going during the Christmas season.
Living Water Worship Center in Bloomfield and St. Joe General Baptist Church in Idalia has participated in this event for many years. Both of these churches, including many other churches in the Bloomfield and Dexter area will be collecting items for their OCC boxes. Packing Parties will be held in early to mid-November, so be sure to pick up supplies and pack a box!
The Light House Church in Dexter has the honor of being a drop-off site, where people in the surrounding area will drop their packed boxes there so they can be distributed to a bigger packing plant in Atlanta or New York City so that they can be shipped to other places in the world. This will be the Light House’s fifth year of participating in OCC and they have sent hundreds of boxes during that time. You can pack your own personal box and drop it off at the Light House. For more information on how to pack a box or what to include, visit samaritanspurse.org.
It costs $7 to send each shoebox so many donations and hard work is required to send a large amount but any participator will agree that it is worth it. People in this area have really stepped up and reached out and the number of boxes sent each year has increased tremendously. Stoddard County is filled with people that have great compassion for charities and the astounding results of Operation Christmas Child has really proved that.
Avid SMT Reader
Idalia, Missouri - The youth leadership of St. Joe General Baptist Church in Idalia would like to extend an open invitation to area young people and youth groups to attend a special program of Unchained & Unashamed. The event will take place on October 25th and 26th at the St. Joe Fellowship Hall beginning each night at 7:00 PM.
An extraordinary event, Unchained and Unashamed will feature Brandon Petty as the event speaker. Brandon is the pastor of the Generation Church just north of Nashville in Portland, Tennessee. His unique life experiences will allow youth to discover their own hope for the future through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Brandon's message will inspire young people to dream big and discover their own purpose in life.
"God put us here for more than just “existing” or “getting by”, Brandon shares on his website.
My Love In Red will be the featured group for the youth revival. The live band music of this group will electrify the night and bring both fun and worship to the activities.
My Love In Red travels throughout the Midwest playing at youth events and revivals. Their group is defined as providing the ultimate of worship through their music genre.Additional information about My Love In Red can be found on the Facebook page located at https://www.facebook.com/myloveinred.
There will also be door prizes throughout the night for the youth and a large crowd is expected for the event.
Organizers of the event expect that Brandon's message will have a great impact on our area youth and invite other church youth groups to get involved with the activities throughout the weekend. Interested groups are encouraged to contact Loyd Rice at lrice@bsnsports.com.
Additional information about the event can be found on the St. Joe General Baptist website at www.st-joechurch.org or on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/stjoechurch.
Written by
Beth Farrah, SMT Writer
Bloomfield, Missouri – Celebrate Recovery at Living Water Worship Center (LWWC) in Bloomfield just celebrated their first year anniversary! Although it doesn’t seem like such a long time ago that the church began working hard to make this new program come back to life here in Stoddard County, the members and leaders have already finished the first year within the program and are restarting the material being taught within the next few weeks. The upcoming year will be full of new lessons, testimonies, and people, so be sure not to miss out!
Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-based program that helps you get over your “hurts, hang-ups, and habits”. Although it is similar to a twelve-step-program, the founder of Celebrate Recovery believed that Alcoholics Anonymous was missing something: Jesus Christ. With services and minds centered on the Bible, Celebrate Recovery has a success rate of nearly 85%.
Living Water Worship Center plans to reach out and touch many lives in the local area and they have already handed out nearly 1000 Celebrate Recovery Bibles since they started last October. The leader of this program is Bryan Gentry, a former member of Celebrate Recovery, believes that the program will continue to grow and thrive in our area so that many lives will be touched and changed forever.
“My wife, Tish, and I are Ministry Leaders for Celebrate Recovery at Living Water Worship Center. CR is a Christ centered recovery program that helps people deal with and recover from all kinds of issues that make our lives become unmanageable,” Gentry explains. “Married for 28 years, Tish and I have always felt God's call on our lives to serve together in ministry. We had no idea that I would end up struggling with alcoholism that took our family to a very low place. Knowing God was the answer. He helped me make the decision to turn around. Celebrate Recovery and His Amazing Grace has kept me sober for three and a half years. God has given Tish and I the burden for others to find sobriety and healing for the entire family. With Celebrate Recovery, God will bring victory and healing for life's hurts, hang-ups and habits, including life controlling addictions.”
Living Water Worship Center reaches out helping hands to those lost or in need. With God’s grace and much needed support, many lives will be altered. Even those without “hurts, habits, or hang-ups” are welcomed and are offered a chance to have a closer walk with God. Adults, teens, and children are all welcomed to Wednesday night service because there are programs for each and every one of them.
Services on Wednesday nights beginning at 6:00pm have been going on for the past year, but don’t fret! Beginners 101 Class will be held for the newcomers to explain how Celebrate Recovery works and what it’s all about. The lessons will restart soon, which means that newcomers can just jump on in and not feel behind.
After a large group meeting held in the sanctuary, where Praise and Worship, Chip Time, and a testimony take place, members are welcome to branch off into different small groups. Small group meetings are broken down into chemical dependency and life struggles, each lead by a different staff member of the church. There are six different small groups: two for men, two for women, one for teens (youth group), and one for the younger children (The Celebration Station).
The church recently got the opportunity to host a movie night for a brand new movie called Homerun. The movie is about a baseball player who has many struggles within his life, including dependency on alcohol. Members and non-members of the church are encouraged to come to the movie premiere which will be shown at 6:00pm on Wednesday, October 23nd.
