A Home For The Holidays

This is Sam from the Mask on Journey Podcast, and our goal with the podcast has helped you to try to find your way in this difficult world. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. Kingdom Pursuits, where you hear from ordinary people instilled with an extraordinary passion. Together we explore the stories of men and women who take what they love and let God turn their passion into Kingdom Pursuits. Now, live from the Truth booth, your host, Robbie Dilmore.

Well, you're not quite that lucky. You've got Bill Nixon. Thank you for tuning in to Robbie Dilmore's Kingdom Pursuits. Robbie is hosting the Masculine Journey Men's Bootcamp this weekend, and I asked me, Bill Nixon, to sit in for him.

If you listen to Robbie's Christian Car Guy radio show, my voice might sound familiar to you. It's my pleasure to share some time with you this morning with some dear friends of mine, Bobby and Diane Pledger. And with the Pledger is Patty Miller, and they're going to talk about just the most wonderful ministry, a shoebox ministry where presents are delivered around the world. And along with them, we have Julia Toon with Green Nest. Green Nest is a special program in Winston Salem. They work with a number of organizations, but the one that I learned about them through is City with Dwellings, and they help homeless get over their homelessness and get settled into places to live. And Green Nest helps provide all the things that they need once they've got a roof. We want to talk about Samaritan Purses, Operation Christmas Child and their worldwide Christmas shoebox ministry.

We just had a wonderful hour before on the Christian Car Guy show. And Bobby, Bobby, tell us a little bit about the shoebox ministry. Well, Samaritan's Purse has a ministry called Operation Christmas Child. And what we just simply do is ask people to take just a regular shoebox, where they bought shoes and have the shoebox, or they can buy a plastic container that looks like a shoebox, and fill that shoebox with school supplies, hygiene items, articles of clothing, small toys, and things like that. And then there are many drop-off locations in the area. And then this coming week is actually National Collection Week. So this is big for us this time of year. And so the shoeboxes will get processed.

And then they'll go out to over 100 Second and Third World countries where children will receive those shoeboxes. I know that you've been working with this a number of years. How long have you been doing this? Diana and I have been working with Operation Christmas Child for 13 years now.

Wonderful. Patty, Patty, how long have you been helping with the ministry? I've been packing shoeboxes for over 25 years with my children as they grew up. But I have been a volunteer for the last five. When you volunteer, what do you do in addition to packing shoeboxes?

It really begins early in the year. I look for things on sale, to things that will go in a shoebox, be it a soccer ball, be it a doll, be it a toothbrush. And as I shop, I tell people what I am doing. I talk to friends, I talk to neighbors, and I try to make aware that shoebox is not just for November, that it's an all-year process of gathering items.

Thank you so much. Now let's remember that Kingdom Pursuits is a call-in show. We want you to be active in your participation. We'd love for you to call in to 866-348-7884. If you've participated or worked with the shoebox ministry, we would love for you to call in. If you're familiar with citywithdwellings.org, we'd love for you to call in and share.

And Greennest. Greennest WS is a really neat ministry. And Julia, would you tell us a little bit about the ministry? I'm sure a lot of folks haven't heard of it and they need to.

Yes, well, we've only been around for about five and a half years, so we're young, so it's not surprising that some haven't heard of us yet. We take donations from the community of gently used furnishings and housewares. We display them in a beautiful showroom. And then through partner agencies, we connect to people who are transitioning out of homelessness into stable housing. Now, if you can imagine being homeless and walking down the street, you have nothing and you need everything.

And so we have all of the items you would need to fully furnish a home. And so those families and individuals who have gotten homes then have an appointment to come and shop at Greennest. They get their own appointment without competition from others. So the individual family will come on their own with a case manager or agency rep and they get to choose the things they like and need. Choice is a big part of our program. Many of them have not had an opportunity to choose things like this for themselves before. Dignity is a big part of this.

We want them to feel respected and honored. We want them to have a warm experience when they come to Greennest. We think it makes a huge impact that they are able to choose for themselves the things they need for their houses or apartments that previously were totally empty without anything.

And if you can imagine that, not being able to have anything to cook for yourself, not having a bed to sleep in, all of those things they're able to get at Greennest for a small furnishing fee and then they can have their fully furnished homes. In addition to those general furnishings, we also have a program called Up Off the Floor. That program, we get the referrals through the school system of children who are sleeping on the floor or multiple to a bed and they're able to, those families can come and get a new platform bed, mattress and bedding for that bed for each child who's in the home who needs a bed.

And there's no charge to that program. That is fully funded by donations from the community. Now citywithdwellings.org is one of your partners, social services.

Who else are you partnered up with? We have 80 agencies and also churches that we partner with. So we have a number of churches who also are working in the community and have some connection to families and individuals who have been homeless and now are in need of furniture and other housewares for their homes. So there actually are a number of churches that we partner with and they're the ones who identify those in need who could benefit from visiting Greennest. And you've got a web page, greennestws.org and you've got a Facebook page.

We do as well as Instagram. And I encourage people to follow us on social media because on social media we're able to share a number of stories of these individuals and families who come to Greennest. And so you have a deeper understanding of some of the tragedies that have befallen people and how they've gotten to this place and then to have this opportunity to start over in such a wonderful way.

It really is. It's an incredible place to work and we love being able to share those stories on Facebook and Instagram. In Winston-Salem there's a really neat organization citywithdwellings.org and it's a one place where the homeless can go and get almost all of their resources taken care of and help them get a path out of homelessness. And when the COVID came in there were a number of homeless that were in high risk health situations and they found apartments for them. And they realized after they found apartments for them that by separating them and giving them all the resources they needed most of them were correcting the things that they needed to and were coming out of homelessness and they needed a place to stay. And a number of organizations including the United Way started rebuilding apartments for these folks to move into. Well the apartment was just one small piece of it. I mean that's just four walls and a roof but Greennest stepped in and helped provide all the things that you don't even give a thought to.

I mean dining room table, kitchenware, silverware. One of the families that they were working with there was a lady that just was unbelievably helpful and was trying to take care of the community watch and really stepped out there to make sure her neighbors were taken care of. When the volunteers found out she had almost no furniture at all it really touched their heart. And I know that there's a great need for this. You know somebody that's going through an estate sale.

You know somebody that's already sold all their stuff and they're trying to figure out what to do with it. This is a wonderful ministry to think about sending those items too. So we want you to keep them in your prayers and we want you to tune back in in a few minutes and learn more about these wonderful opportunities. We are familiar with the word new as Christians in scripture.

Esther Allen Fleece on Focus on the Family Minute. We know about the New Testament, the New Covenant. God makes us a new creation but very few of us are talking about the new name that he gives us and I believe that every Christian will get a new name. In scripture we see in the Old Testament many times God would give a physical name change to somebody and we see that also in the New Testament.

But even if there isn't a physical name change like how I've gone from Esther Fleece to Esther Allen. Even if there isn't a physical name change there will be a spiritual change. There is an old and a new. And this word new defined in scripture is not found exactly like you were before. And so every single one of us who is in Christ we have a testimony of newness. We have a new name that God wants to put on display not our old brokenness. God's word tells us he's making all things new. More from Esther at familyminute.org.

Here's Dr. Robert Jeffress with today's Pathway Minute. You know we have our own Pharisees in the religious world today. I think about some I know right now. They love to point out people in public life they think are sinners and they call them heathen, scoundrels. They deal with them with absolute contempt. They think they are spiritual giants but in fact they are simply smug self-righteous little snots in the eyes of God. God hates that.

He absolutely hates that. If you want to know what the heart of God is it's not to hate sinners. It is to love them.

It's to pray for them and rejoice when they come to God. Today's Pathway Minute is provided by your station and Pathway to Victory. To hear the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress go to ptv.org. Here's a Renewing Your Mind Minute with Dr. R.C. Sproul. Ladies and gentlemen if God is the creator of the whole world and has not simply been isolated by a power higher than Himself to have dominion and rule over one tiny corner of human life that we call religion, but if He's really the creator of the universe and if He is the sovereign ruler over all things, then all things find their meaning and their significance as they are related to Him.

The late professor Cornelius Van Til once said, there's no such thing as a brute fact and there's no such thing as a mute fact because every fact is tied to its creator and find its meaning and its significance in its relationship to God. For today's special offer visit renewingyourmind.org. Well we are so glad that you came back to Kingdom Pursuits. We want you to pray about the ministries that are on air today. We want you to call in and share your story or ask your questions.

The best call in number is 866-348-7884. We are talking with some volunteers from two wonderful ministries this morning. One of them is the shoebox ministry and the other is Green Nest which helps the homeless and it also helps families that have children that need a bed to stay in. That extra child comes along and you've only got that one extra bed. But we want to talk to Patty. Patty's sister shared a wonderful story with her that just touches her heart and she'd like to share a little bit about that story. Well prayer is such an important part of packing a shoebox. You wonder what the needs are for these children but if you pray before you pack the box you will be amazed at how God gets the perfect gift to the right child. There was a little boy in Uganda and his mother died of AIDS.

He went to live with his grandmother. His grandmother at the age of two realized that the boy was mute and so she took him to the witch doctor and the witch doctor said there had to be a sacrifice. If he was going to help the boy there had to be a sacrifice. The sacrifice was three fingers that he cut off of the child and obviously his sacrifice did not work.

Only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ dying on the cross will help us. But this little boy went to an orphanage then and he was there about two years and Samaritan's Purse came in and gave out shoeboxes. This little boy was very stoic. He had no communication. He stood in the corner.

The employees at the orphanage said they could not get the boy to even smile or to respond. One of the workers noticed him and went over and opened a shoebox and started to show him the things that were in the shoebox. He had a ball. He had no response. He had crayons. He had no response. But at the bottom of the box was a pair of gloves.

He got so excited and smiled for one of the first times they had seen him smile and he put on the gloves and wiggled his fingers because now he had a hand like everybody else. We hear story after story after story of how the right box gets to the right child and how important when you pack a shoebox that you pray that God will put this box in just the right place. Thank you so much. Bob, there've been a lot of large organizations in the past, a lot of big churches that have come together and provided hundreds and hundreds of boxes. And I know this COVID has just made this process totally different than it has been in the past.

What is the program doing with COVID in mind to help make sure all these needs are met? Well, for people who can't get out and go shopping or just don't want to get out with all this COVID going on, they can simply go on to SamaritansPurse.org and there's a link there for Operation Christmas Child. And on that website, you can actually what's called build a box. And so for $25, you can pick a list of items of hygiene items, school supplies, clothing, toys and things like that. And you can actually pack a box for a child and that $25 includes the shipping. And so you will be able to pack a shoebox for a child from your own home. And so you can still share that love of Christ with that child. And so when a child gets that shoebox, it may be the only shoebox that child gift that child will ever receive in his lifetime.

We've heard so many stories of that being the case. We've got a caller. We've got Adrian. Adrian, are you there? Beth Ann, make sure I'm doing this right.

Adrian, can you hear us? You have to put it on hold now. Oh, shoot. I'm sorry. Did you get her number back? Adrian, I hit the wrong button. Please call us right back.

I'm sorry. Adrian's a volunteer. Would you share a little bit about what you know about Adrian? He's actually a volunteer with City with Dwellings that you mentioned before. And she is she works for City with Dwellings and brings individuals and families from City with Dwellings over to Green Nest to shop for their furniture. So she's been to Green Nest many times. She's one of our best customers, I guess I would say.

She's a wonderful volunteer. Adrian, are you back? I am. Wonderful. I'm so sorry.

I hit the wrong button. What would we appreciate you calling in? Can you share with us a little bit about what you know about Green Nest?

Absolutely. I am a volunteer for City with Dwellings, which, as you said previously, helps to house homeless and very low income people. We're on top of the Douglas Battery building right there off of Broad Street. And I am the representative from Green Nest from City with Dwellings to take folks that have been recently housed by us over to Green Nest. These are people who, as Julia said previously, have been in shelters or just in tents walking down the street with nothing but what's in their backpacks. They have nothing, nothing.

So then we finally get them into an apartment and they walk in and there's nothing but a refrigerator and a stove, which is a real another trauma of like, oh, my gosh, what am I going to do now? The good news is there is Green Nest. And Green Nest is another ‑‑ Julia is the CEO of Green Nest. But there are many volunteers there. And you get an ‑‑ I make you an appointment and or the other housing case managers would make you appointment there. And this is going in right on Brooktown Avenue is where Green Nest is. And it's convenient and we're serving people in precise county.

And we know and you can know where your furniture is going if you donate furniture. It's a wonderful thing. I go in there with a client or guest, as we like to call them, and they have nothing. And they get to be all by themselves in Green Nest. They're made special. They feel special.

And the volunteers there are the most gracious, compassionate people you could ever imagine. And they go and they get to pick out their own furniture. And they can get everything, everything, a couch, a coffee table, end tables, beautiful lamps, their sheets, their bedspreads, their towels for the bathroom. It is phenomenal what they can get for a really low ‑‑ it's about $200 to $250 that they can get everything. And it is life changing.

We go back to their apartment in a truck and their furniture is placed all around. And it is life changing for these folks. They now have something that's theirs. It's theirs.

And they don't usually have something that's really theirs. So this Green Nest, I cannot tell you how special a place it is. And I really invite you, and I know Julia probably already has, to go and visit Green Nest.

You can go on the website and find out the address. Paul thinks they would appreciate an appointment, you know, but it's difficult if you just walk in because they're in there with another guest. And the thing with dwellings, we'd love to have you come ‑‑ 625 Spring Street, North Spring Street, right on top of the Douglas Battery and Auto Mechanic Shop.

It's been there forever. And we would love to have you come in and see what we do at City with Dwellings as well. How many days a week now are you doing an outreach? Is it three days a week at City with Dwellings? Yes, City with Dwellings is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 930 to 1130. And if there are special cases, we have some paid people, not many, but some, we can't afford very many, who take on special cases in the afternoons.

But that has to be made by appointment when you check into City with Dwellings during our open hour. And you're working with, what, 50 to 60 homeless people each of those three days? Well, since COVID, of course, there's restriction on how many can come in.

Of course, when they do, they have masks, hand sanitizers, their temperature is taken, et cetera. But normally, this time last year, we were having at least between 85 and 115 come into our Community First Center there on Spring Street. So it is a wonderful place for people to feel respected and have compassion shown to them and help the less fortunate feel that their lives are really counting in this world. Now, last year at this time, we've got numerous facilities across the City that help homeless with a place to stay when it gets cold. Samaritan, Bethesda, Winston-Salem, you were the hub that helped somebody find a place because otherwise, they'd show up at Samaritan and they were full and they'd have to walk up to Bethesda and find out they were full. So is City with Dwellings coordinating a place for people to put their head down during the winter?

Yes. So the last six years, we've housed about 100 people homeless in our four shelters. That music means that we're about coming up to a hard break. I want to thank you so much for coming and talking to us about these two programs. And I want to thank you for all that you do to help the less fortunate in our community.

You are a blessing to many people, including me, and it's just been a pleasure to talk to you this morning. The legendary singer Pearl Bailey was the first person to record a song in 1952 called It Takes Two to Tango. And then President Ronald Reagan used that song in a 1982 press conference with reference to American and Russian efforts to establish diplomatic relations. Actually, it takes two to do a lot of worthy things in life, and some not so worthy. For instance, it takes two to argue.

It's a little difficult for a man to sustain an argument when he's the only participant. Next time you're tempted to argue or quarrel, do what the Apostle James said, be slow to speak. This is David Jeremiah encouraging you to get on the road to new life and discover God's ways to promote peace on Route 66. Route 66, driving the word home.

Log on to Route66life.com. Start your journey home today. This is John MacArthur with more portraits of grace. For centuries, Israel has eagerly awaited the promised Messiah. Yet in the person of Jesus Christ, the Messiah already came. But since He didn't fit Israel's blueprint of a reigning political Messiah who would deliver them from Roman oppression, the nation rejected Him, tossing Him aside like a worthless rock. Christ, this rejected cornerstone, however, is precious to believers, but remains a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to unbelievers. People trip over a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense is large enough to crush a person.

The point is clear. Rejecting Christ brings spiritual devastation of enormous proportions. Let such a frightening reality motivate you to take every opportunity to evangelize the lost. This is John MacArthur praying you're continuing to be portraits of grace.

What does it take to live an uncommon life? Here's former Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy with today's Uncommon Moment. During his last years as an active player, Andy Pettit served as a positive influence with the younger New York Yankee pitchers. He had seen so many situations, survived the New York media for so long, and had dealt with the pressure time and again that he was able to model, directly and indirectly, big league skills and Christ-like habits for others on the staff.

You should strive to do the same, whether in the church body as a whole, in a smaller accountability group or Bible study, or in your everyday life, knowing that people are looking for an example of how to be like Jesus. Tony Dungy, author of the popular Uncommon book series. More at coachdungy.com. That's coachdungy.com. Well, we want to thank you for tuning back in to Kingdom Pursuits. This is Bill Nixon filling in for Robbie Dilmore with some absolutely wonderful guests and a few spectacular ways that you can be the hands and feet of Christ in our community. We've got Julia Toon with us who is with Greennest.

Or if you're on Facebook, you can go to Greennest and pull it up. And what they do is after the community has helped the homeless get into a place to stay, it's one thing to be wandering around without a roof and walls, and it's another to get roof and walls and to walk in and have absolutely nothing there to put your head on or to fix a meal with. And Greennest is that second most important part of making that home a home. A few things that they're looking for right now is bedding. Now, if you hear this and you actually have access to extra long twin bedding, I'm telling you the Holy Spirit had you tuned into this show because it's got a place for you to make that donation. But any type of furniture, you think about having a place to stay, you're a mother with a couple of kids and those kids are having to sleep on the floor.

How would that affect you? If my mother passed away recently and we went and when we went through the house, we looked for items that we thought would be perfect for citywithdwellings.org and we packed up the car and when I called them, they said, well, we've got an even better place for you to take all those items. And we took them over to Greennest. So if you know of an estate that's got stuff left over after that estate sale, if you're cleaning out the basement and you're trying to figure out what to do with those items, if your child has just graduated from college and you've got this stuff that you're trying to figure out what to do with, we want you to remember Greennest and call Greennest and see if they can come pick it up or if you can arrange to take those items to them.

Julia, tell us a story or two about how these gifts of love have made a difference to people in our community. Well, a couple of weeks ago, there was a gentleman who came to shop at Greennest. He was a veteran.

He had not had housing in 20 years. And on the day he came to shop for his furniture at Greennest, he was that afternoon going to get the keys to his apartment. It was very exciting day for him.

He came to Greennest and sometimes when people come to Greennest, they're really overwhelmed by all the many choices that they have and how beautiful everything is. This gentleman, he knew what he needed and wanted. He went right for everything, picked it out.

He was very sure of himself, made decision after decision after decision. And we come to the end of his shopping trip. And right at the end, we share some things.

We have like a freebie corner where we have lots of additional items like artwork, like throw blankets, some other things that we have excess of that people can select for themselves. And so he's over in this corner and he found a throw blanket that had Stevie Wonder on it. And as it turns out, he was a big Stevie Wonder fan. Well, I think what had happened was it all hit him at once. He'd been homeless for 20 years. He was getting the keys that afternoon. And he had just selected all of these wonderful things to furnish his new home. And then he found the Stevie Wonder blanket and tears just started streaming out of the corners of his eyes. We have a lot of tears at Greennest and they're all happy tears.

It's a wonderful place to be. We had also about a week ago, we had a young mother come to us. She had a couple of kids. They had been in their apartment for six months. They had one mattress and that was it.

Nothing else. They needed everything. And when she, actually, it wasn't at the end of her shopping trip. It was throughout the entire shopping trip that she kept crying. She kept just saying, oh, this is so beautiful.

Oh, this is so wonderful. I can't believe I'm getting all of these things for my children and for myself. And we're going to have this more warm and inviting and functional home. That happens a lot at Greennest. There are a lot of people impacted by homelessness who have had real, really traumatic experiences in their lives. When they come to Greennest, they're at a turning point. They have finally gotten housing. They're turning their lives around and then they get to choose these wonderful items that the community has donated.

And it's a bit overwhelming for all of us involved. Our motto is that we are transforming the community one nest at a time. We believe that that nest not only includes the individual or family who's getting furniture, but it includes the donor. We invite donors to come in and see how their furniture is impacting others in the community. And we believe that's transformative for those of us who volunteer and work at Greennest every day. We are transformed by the people's lives who are impacted, the people who donate, the people who volunteer as well as the case managers and the agency reps who come to us. I have had an agency rep say that the first day she came with a client to Greennest was the best day of her working life.

And we believe that's true. It is a transformative experience for all of us involved at Greennest. And I invite others to be a part of us. Donate, come volunteer with us, come visit us and tour.

We'd love to share Greennest with you. We have a lot of safety precautions in place right now because of COVID. So we do limit the number of people in the building at a time.

But we invite you to give us a call and we are happy to arrange a time that can be safe for all for you to come see how we operate in the community. Winston-Salem does a phenomenal job with vets that are on the street if they don't have major drug and alcohol problems. I've been assured that if there's a vet that's dealt with or dealing with those problems, that there's an apartment for them. But what's an apartment if you show up and there's no furniture in it? What's an apartment if you show up and there's no silverware in it? There are lots of people that have gone through a bankruptcy, lost a job. The landlord calls up and says, you got to get all your stuff out of here.

What in the world? Where do you take it? You get your life back in line, you get a job, you get a place and then it's just empty. Can you imagine it being empty? We need to help folks fill that apartment up with love and allow them to get their head straight to help seek the help they need, the resources and to get their life back together. That is so much less expensive for our community than trying to deal with people as they go through the rotation of the Samaritan ministry and then the mental health center at the hospital and then the court system. Part of this fix, part of making life whole is having those basic needs in the home that they're in. So I ask you to pray for this ministry and if next week somebody says, a neighbor of yours, a friend at work says, what are we going to do with this leftover furniture? What are we going to do for these items? Boy, I've got all this stuff down in my basement. I've got to get rid of it.

Do you think there's a place for me to take it? I'm going to say to you the reason that they mentioned that in front of you and greenness comes into your mind is because the Holy Spirit wants you to say, boy, there's a neat ministry I heard about and I want you to check it out, see if they can come pick it up. I want to encourage all of you to go on your Facebook, pull it up and search Greennest and just sort of look through the pages and see if anything particular touches you.

And I want you to see if you can remember to go to greenestws.org, Greennest with one N-W-S and look at their webpage because it's a fascinating webpage. It's an awesome ministry and see if there's something there that touches you and gives you a chance to pray for a particular individual need. Our community does a wonderful job with the homeless but this is one important piece of helping the homeless stay unhomeless and to have a positive outlook and a future and to get back into the mainstream. And remember the children that are sleeping on the floor on cardboard and the children that are sleeping on the floor on a foam mattress and you got that extra bed in the basement, that extra bed in the attic, you're trying to figure out a way to make some space. Pick up the phone and see if they'll come pick them up and remember that there are folks out there that would really love to see the love of Christ made available through your love offering. Please pray for Greennest and please pray for the box ministry and tune back in in just a few minutes and we're going to find out other ways that you can make a difference in God's world with just a $25 donation and a few choices. Thank you for tuning in to Kingdom Perceived. Okay men, this is your time.

Maybe you didn't choose this but you're here now. You're going to go out there and be an all-star caregiver. Cook, clean, be there emotionally and physically.

You got to dig deeper. Drive them to physical therapy, doctor's appointments because that's what caregivers do. Don't give up. Show the world that you're tougher than tough. Caregiving is tougher than tough.

Find the care guides you need at AARP.org slash caregiving brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Dr. Michael Yusef. In the first Passover, the angel of death passed by and when he saw that blood on the doorposts, he passed over. That's where we get the word Passover of the firstborn of God's children and they lived. But in the last Passover, which is the cross, the angel of death will pass over and cannot touch anyone who had been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. In the first Passover, God's people had to offer sacrifices whether they can afford it or not. But in the last Passover, which is the cross, Jesus paid the full price by his own blood on Calvary.

Everyone who comes to him in repentance and faith will receive eternal life. Passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth. That's what Dr. Michael Yusef does each day on Leading the Way. Join us this week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in New York City. I've had enough of this mockery of God. I've had enough of living in this powerless place.

I'm not going to sit here and lick my wounds any longer. I'm getting up and I'm going to do something that will bring glory to God. Make sure to be with us every week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon. We want to thank you for tuning back in. We want to lift up to you The Cure and Amy Cabo at One Eastern. Wonderful show if you're available at one o'clock. You can set your watch. You can go into that and put a note on there that it sends you a buzzer at quarter till one.

You can tune in to Amy Cabo and listen to her show on this network. We want to talk a little bit more about the Christmas box ministry. Patty's got a wonderful story she'd like to share and then she's going to tell you how you can spend a little twenty five dollar donation and where to go to do that.

Yes. It's the power of a simple gift both for your own children and for the children of the world. I love it when parents and grandparents work with their children and very thoughtfully and prayerfully put items of hygiene, soccer balls, stuffed animals in a shoe box because the power of that box is tremendous for our six county area. Last year we did thirty seven eight hundred and forty two boxes which is a wow.

Wow. This year we are hoping to do a little bit more. But what is really important to me is not just a child receiving a shoebox. It is the opportunity for them to learn about Jesus Christ and the power of Jesus Christ. After they receive a box they have the opportunity to do a twelve week Bible study where they learn about Christ they learn stories about Christ and they learn how to share it with other people. Last year from our thirty seven thousand boxes we did to a hundred different countries we had eight hundred eight thousand and ninety eight children that accepted Jesus Christ. Just think how many children that is that they learn and they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

To me that is a harvest. That is a harvest of young souls simply by packing a shoebox. Now somebody that can't go out and physically put a box together still has an opportunity to participate this year. Bobby tell us a little bit about how somebody that really feels a need a desire to help that what they do in the next fifteen minutes. They can simply go on to SamaritansPurse.org and then go to the Operation Christmas Child link there and there's a place where you can do what's called build a box and you for twenty five dollars you can choose hygiene items schools supplies clothing items and then you can build a box and then it will be sent out to a child in a second or third world country and so this this box is not just something that is tangible where the school supplies are going to wear out or the clothing is going to wear out and things like that this is an opportunity for a child to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and how he loves them and gives them the opportunity to accept Christ in their life so it is it has an everlasting impact on a child. So for twenty five bucks I can go to what site SamaritansPurse.org and then the Operation Christmas Child link in there and for twenty five bucks I can fill up a box with school supplies with hygiene items and it covers the postage it does it does it will be delivered to the child wherever that country that they're sending them and I can track that box yes you can go online and also if you're if you're just packing a shoebox on your own and taking it to a church that gets that gets processed you can go online and pay for your shipping there and you'll receive a barcode that you'll put on your box it will be scanned at processing and then you'll get an email saying what country that box went to and your church your friends people that love you pulled their money together and they sent you to Togo to be absolutely sure that those gifts showed up in a wonderful condition and that every dollar that every one of those twenty five dollars went exactly where people expected it to go. Yes in twenty seventeen my wife Diane and I were able to go on a distribution trip to Togo in Africa and so the trip was you know fairly expensive but there were we had donations from our friends and family members that paid for the whole trip and so we were able to go to Togo for ten days and so we saw firsthand what it's like to be at the at the receiving end and see these children open up these shoeboxes and so many of them had never received a gift before and so they they heard the gospel of Jesus Christ before they were given that box and so they not only did they get a tangible gift but they had the opportunity to receive an eternal gift. Thank you Bobby thank you all for being on and coming and sharing about this wonderful ministry and Green Nest if you're a property manager there's a hotel in town that's changing into apartment complex if you're aware of a bunch of home items that could need a new home themselves we want you to think of Green Nest if you know of an estate sale if you've got that house that your aunt passed away in and you just got no idea what you're gonna do with all those items if you know of a place that needs to figure out where all those household items need to go remember Green Nest go on Facebook pull it up or greenest.org and pray about these ministries today thank you so much for tuning in and pray for this this station and we love you and appreciate you tuning in on a regular basis let this be a day that you show Christ to others we love you and keep robbing in your prayers amen. This is the Truth Network.