Lisbon Baptist Church is sponsoring a kickoff program for Operation Christmas Child in Bladen on Tuesday, September 30, at 7 p.m. The event will be held in the cafeteria of Elizabethtown Primary School.

The purpose of the event is to generate interest in the program and to develop a network of organizations and individuals to spearhead the movement in Bladen County.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of the Samaritan's Purse, distributes gift-filled shoe boxes and gospel literature to millions of children around the world.

For the first time since Operation Christmas Child was initiated, Bladen County will have a Relay Center for the program. Lisbon Baptist Church has volunteered to perform that function in the county this year, according Carol Hardin, one of the organizers of the effort.

The purpose of Operation Christmas Child, according to Hardin, is to share the joy of Christmas and the love of Jesus Christ with suffering children living in desperate situations around the world.

"By partnering with fellow Christians worldwide, the programs makes it possible for millions of children to experience God's love through these shoe box gifts," said Hardin.

"We want to emphasize that Operation Christmas Child is for everyone, not just the churches," said Hardin. "It is a community effort. We hope churches from every denomination, as well as secular organizations such as civic groups and businesses, will participate.

"Our goal is to collect 5,000 boxes in Bladen County that can be distributed by Operation Christmas Child in areas where there are few resources," she said. "In many areas of the world, the best gifts these impoverished children can get may be school supplies, and in many of the countries, the children can't go to school without first having the supplies they need.

"A shoe box of school supplies can make a tremendous difference for these children," she said.

Hardin said Lisbon Baptist Church has participated in the program for eight years, but in the past, the boxes that were collected had to be taken to a collection center in another county.

"We wanted to become more involved in the program and so we attended an organizational meeting in Wilmington on September 9," she explained. "At the meeting, the need for a relay (collection) center in Bladen was brought up.

"We decided to accept the challenge and become the relay center for the county," she added. "We believe this is a very worthwhile program and we hope to generate broad support for it here in the county."

Samaritan's Purse, in its mission statement, describes itself as a "nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. 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 through His Son, Jesus Christ."

The Christian humanitarian relief effort was founded by Dr. Robert Pierce, a minister who was deeply moved by what he saw while visiting suffering children on the Korean island of Kojedo. After the visit, he wrote the now well-known words: "Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God."

Evangelist Franklin Graham, who now serves as the organization's president, founded the Operation Christmas Child initiative.

Operation Christmas Child is but one of the Christian-based humanitarian efforts initiated by the Samaritan's Purse organization.

For information on the program, contact Linda White at 645-4655, Connie Harrelson at 645-6330, or Hardin at 645-4779.

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