Randall Murphree
AFA Journal editor
Above, Samaritan’s Purse president Franklin Graham distributes Operation Christmas Child boxes in Ecuador.
October 2015 – Bob Pierce’s heart was broken by the squalid conditions of malnourished and hopeless children on a Korean island he visited in the 1960s. He began to pray, “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.”
In 1970, Pierce founded Samaritan’s Purse to begin ministering to those children in Third World countries. In 1973, his path crossed that of a passionate and adventurous young student who latched onto Pierce and traveled with him to some of the globe’s neediest mission fields. In 1979, not long after Pierce’s death, that young protégé became president of Samaritan’s Purse.
And, oh yes, that young man’s name was Franklin Graham. AFA is honored to partner with SP and invite readers to participate in Operation Christmas Child 2015. Now, having been at the helm of that ministry for 36 years, Graham recently shared some encouraging insights with AFA Journal. Graham is also president of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
AFA Journal: Was Operation Christmas Child a part of Samaritan’s Purse when you came on staff?
Franklin Graham: No. At that time Samaritan’s Purse had three employees. His two secretaries quit [after Pierce’s death], so for a while Samaritan’s Purse was just me. Operation Christmas Child did not come in until about 10 years later.
AFAJ: Did you anticipate the kind of growth and impact it would have?
FG: No, not at all. Of course, this is something that God has done. People have asked me, “Franklin, how did you do this? How did you do that?” Well, I’m not that smart. God has done it. This goes back to the war in Bosnia. We were asked by a man in England if we would be willing to send some shoebox gifts to children who were affected by the Bosnian war. He asked me in July, and I said we would be glad to help. We hung up the phone, and in a few hours, I had already forgotten the conversation.
AFAJ: How did the subject come up again?
FG: In December, my secretary came into my office with this look on her face that said, “You are in trouble.”
I said, “What did I do?”
“Remember that man from England?”
“What man from England?”
“That man from England that you promised to get some shoeboxes to.”
Then I remembered. I quickly took the idea to one church in Charlotte whose manager was on our board of directors. I asked him if he would take an empty shoebox to church on Sunday night. We took some toys down there to fill up a box and show his congregation how to do it. He opened the box in front of the congregation, put the toys back in, and asked people to bring their boxes back on Wednesday night and the next Sunday. We were hoping to get a couple of thousand. There were about 11 thousand boxes. It is something that God has done ever since.
AFAJ: When did you start consciously incorporating the gospel into the project?
FG: The second year of our involvement, the man in England bowed out. The second year it cost us $1 million. That was a million dollars we didn’t have. So we were in the hole financially. Now, it hadn’t been a Christian program. It had been run by Christians, but there was no attempt to tell these children about God, about Jesus Christ. It was just doing a nice thing.
I told our staff, “If we can’t make an attempt to reach these children with the message of Christ, we’re wasting our time. These boxes are just a sideshow. We need to either make this an evangelistic program or get out of it.” All the staff agreed. So, that day when we made that decision – that’s when Operation Christmas Child really took off.
AFAJ: How did you begin to make that happen?
FG: Our goal was to reach every child with the gospel. We ask people who pack the boxes to get involved by beginning to pray for the child who is going to get the box. So, before the box even leaves their house they pray for them. We ask the churches, when they collect the boxes, to pray collectively for all the boxes that they have collected and to pray for the children who will receive those boxes. Then we use local churches and pastors to distribute the boxes. So, we ask the churches in the countries where we do distributions to pray for the children who are going to receive the boxes. We know that God will hear the prayer of a righteous person.
Last year we collected about 10.4 million boxes. That means we had 10.4 million people – plus their friends and churches – praying for children around the world. I think God is going to hear those prayers and do something about it. So, every year we see hundreds and hundreds of thousands of children around the world invite Jesus Christ into their hearts and their little lives. And that is our goal.
AFJ: How does The Greatest Journey complement the shoeboxes?
FG: In our desire to include discipleship, we developed The Greatest Journey beginning in 2010. Now we can give to churches that sponsor OCC the material and means to help disciple each child and help that child to grow. In most of these Third World countries, literature is not available. Sunday School programs are not available. They are poor and they can’t afford such literature. This program may be the best thing we have ever done. (See below.)
AFAJ: Any significant element we haven’t covered?
FG: Yes. The most important thing is just to pray. For people who pack boxes, I think the most important thing you put in a box is prayer. Have the children in your home and the people in your church gather around and pray for those gifts, that God will use those boxes as a tool to open up hearts of children – and men and women – around the world to receive the Word of God. 
Shoeboxes and the gospel
At the Samaritan’s Purse website, you will find inspiring shoebox success stories and all you need to know to participate in OCC 2015: location of collection stations, how to pack a shoebox, how to build a shoebox online, and other ideas and resources. Collection week is November 16-23.
The Greatest Journey is a dynamic 12-lesson Bible study course that OCC provides to help local pastors teach children the gospel. “This year,” said Franklin Graham, “close to three million children are involved and it is growing.” The goal is to provide a curriculum booklet for every child who receives a shoebox. TGJ is in 97 countries. Worldwide, OCC has trained 240,000 teachers through local churches. They take children through a program including Scripture memorization, regular Bible study sessions through the church, encouragement to share their faith with friends, and a graduation ceremony.
“At the end, we give each child a Bible,” Graham said.
Operation Christmas Child
P.O. Box 3000
Boone, NC 28607
samaritanspurse.org/occ
800-353-5949
