FAITHFUL OBSERVATIONS: Samaritan's Purse

My wife, Jane, and I have had an amazing time interviewing people involved in ministry in our area. What is most encouraging is that most of those interviewed are volunteers and those who aren’t, depend heavily on volunteers to come alongside in this ministry.

Our latest opportunity over a cup of coffee was with Cliff Hall, area coordinator with Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child. We were familiar, like many people, with Operation Christmas Child as part of the Samaritan’s Purse ministry but didn’t know the entire history or how it operated. Cliff provided a fascinating history.

Cliff, who started this ministry and how long has it been in operation?

Samaritan’s Purse was started by a missionary by the name of Bob Pierce in 1970 after stumbling across some courageous women in China who were living among lepers and orphans, sacrificing everything to share the love of Jesus Christ. Their selfless love gave Pierce a vision for ministry. He dedicated himself to finding and supporting other such Christians who were caring for the poor and suffering in the distant corners of the world. After visiting suffering children on the Korean island of Koje-do he wrote, “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.” That vision is still the vision of Samaritan’s Purse.

Samaritan’s Purse started as an International Relief Organization and has evolved into much more. International and National Relief, World Medical Missions, Operation Christmas Child and Heal Our Patriots to name a few.

Now the name we see associated with Samaritan’s Purse today is Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham. How did that connection come about?

In the summer of 1973, Bob met an adventurous young student named Franklin Graham, who had a heart for world missions. Franklin began spending more and more time with this seasoned statesman and his heart was captured to the mission field. Bob Pierce died of leukemia in 1978, and a little over a year later, Franklin Graham became the president and chairman of the board of Samaritan’s Purse. Through nearly 40 years of earthquakes, famines, wars, hurricanes and other disasters, Franklin has led the ministry.

Many are familiar with the movie a few years ago, “Facing Darkness” about Dr. Brantley and Samaritan’s Purse in west Africa during the Ebola epidemic. However, most people are familiar with “Operation Christmas Child” that we see each fall. Tell us more about that.

This is where most of my involvement is and it came about with my wife, Lori, who started packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child about 21 years ago. This program was started 25 years ago and after I retired I became more interested and that led to volunteering and eventually becoming the area coordinator in the Panhandle of Idaho for Operation Christmas Child in 2013. At that time we were using Spokane as a major collection point and in 2013 we set up our collection locally. We have eight drop-off points in the Panhandle and four in Coeur d’Alene area. We collected 5,320 boxes our first year in North Idaho and last year collected 11,034, which was 40 percent more than the year before.

Drop-off locations pack the shoeboxes into cartons and deliver them to our collection center at Anthem church. There we place them on a semi-trailer where they will go to Denver for inspection and distribution. Denver will go through 1.5 million boxes to make sure they are correct in three weeks with 180 volunteers. Remember, all of this is done by volunteers except for a small team in Denver to oversee operations! Nov. 18-25, 2019, will be collection week all over again!

What happens to the shoebox? Where does it go? What does it contain? Who gets it?

The shoeboxes are designated to go to one of 115 countries and will be distributed to schools, orphanages, hospitals, missions and organizations to children in those areas. Each shoebox contains toys, hygiene items, school supplies and even clothes like socks and shoes. We met one woman who as a child was an orphan in Guatemala. She got very excited about a toothbrush because she had been sharing one with 10 other girls. There are three categories of ages: 2-4; 5-9; and 10-14 with designation for boy or girl. We don’t go to the same place each year but will alternate to different sites and return perhaps once every five years.

Samaritan’s Purse is obviously a Christian ministry. Is there anything included that has a Christian message?

Yes, with each box the child receives a booklet called The Greatest Gift, in their own language. This booklet tells the child about Christ. Then in most countries the child has an opportunity to sign up for a 12-week discipleship class entitled the “Greatest Journey” that tells the story of Christ and teaches them how to be His disciple. Over 18 million children have enrolled in this course over the last eight years and nearly 9 million have accepted the Lord for the first time. This has been an amazing outreach along with the shoe box.

This has been an eye opening interview. I am sure many people don’t realize all that is involved with Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child. If people want more information or how they can help, how do they reach you?

We are always available to share what God is doing through this ministry. And we continue to need partners and more involvement from churches and organizations to assist with OCC and disaster response. They can phone me, Cliff Hall, at 208-755-2940 or email me at readromans5.8@gmail.com.

(Cliff will also be speaking this Wednesday, March 27, at 9:30 a.m. at Seasoned Salt Fellowship at North Country Chapel for those interested in learning more.)

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Bob Shillingstad is a regular contributor to The Press of local faith news. Email Bob: bjshill@mac.com