Operation Christmas Child Collection Week At First Baptist Bratt

November 15, 2017

Volunteers have been busy this week at the First Baptist Church of Bratt during “National Collection Week” for Operation Christmas Child. For the 24th year, the simple, gift-filled shoe boxes will bring Christmas joy and evangelistic materials to children in over 130 countries across the world.

National Collection Week for OCC is November 13-20. The First Baptist  Church of Bratt is the official drop-off location/OCC Relay Center for the north end of Escambia County, FL.

Pastor Tim Hawsey, Relay Center coordinator, said the shoe boxes are distributed by trained local pastors and volunteers around the world…right where the children live. The children that receive the box are invited to participate in a twelve step bible study called The Greatest Journey translated into their native language and taught by local people the children know.

Collection hours at the First Baptist Church of Bratt will be:

  • Thursday, Nov. 16: 9 a.m. -noon, 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
  • Friday, Nov. 17: 9 a.m. -noon, 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
  • Saturday, Nov . 18: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
  • Sunday, Nov. 19: 9 a.m. -noon, 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.
  • Monday, Nov. 20: 8 a.m. – 10 a.m.

“This is about being a blessing and bringing God’s love and hope to children in poverty around the world that would not receive it otherwise. We have gone through the intense process of been approved as a church to be a Relay Center to collect the boxes from individuals, families, and churches of our area, document and pack them into special cartons and take them to the next level for Samaritan’s Purse, and we have been blessed to do it for eight years now,” Hawsey said.

Operation Christmas Child boxes should be packed in a specific manner. For more information, call Hawsey at the First Baptist Church of Bratt at (850) 327-6529, visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ, or call (800) 353-5949. Resources are available for churches that wish to participate.

NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News