Women who Change the World
Janeen Johnson
Janeen Johnson serves as the area coordinator for Operation Christmas Child for the Northern region of Arizona. She has been involved with "OCC" in some capacity for 14 years, and formally partnered with them in 1998, where she became a volunteer to run the collection center in Flagstaff, Arizona. Shannon and Janeen started together by simply praying that God would build a team of people that will reach out to our region around us with message of the project all year long, and ultimately reach children around the world with the hope of Jesus Christ. The great thing is that God answers prayers and brought together a high impact team of men and women together to reach community, business, organizations, churches, individuals and families to collect gift- filled shoe boxes. When God is part of a unified group, tremendous blessing and the favor of God rests upon our efforts as Christians. The growth of the ministry is astounding! In Northern Arizona for example during collection 2009, collaboratively, we collected 10,362 shoe boxes. The Lord has blessed us over the years considering that in 1998 our collection was just a little over 2,300.
Serving with "OCC" is a tremendous responsibility, but I would be thoughtless if I didn't tell you about the absolute side-busting, laughter-filled, plain ol' FUN it is serving with Shannon and others. God has the ability to call us to do big things like calling each of us to share the gospel to the world, and even though we lead busy lives He expands time for us and makes is a blast! We are also blessed to have very supportive husbands that come along side on what could be referred to as "Mr. Toads Wild Ride", thank goodness for Bruce and Jim shoring us up. And frankly, none of us want to miss what God is doing, because He is faithful to do through us what He calls us to do.
Operation Christmas Child
Every day boys and girls worldwide suffer from war, poverty, disease, and natural disaster. Operation Christmas Child, an international Christian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham collects gift-filled shoe boxes and delivers them in the name of Jesus Christ to children living in desperate situation around the world. Ultimately millions of children experience God's love through these simple gifts. These shoe boxes open doors for presenting the Good News of Jesus Christ by working in and through local churches where possible, offering children's literature and through culturally appropriate evangelistic and follow-up programs. In all humility, because of the faithfulness of God the project actually is the largest children's evangelistic outreach in the world, since the beginning of the church!
The ministry of Operation Christmas Child has certainly seen tremendous growth since its inception in 1993. The total number of shoe boxes collected in 2009 internationally was 8,166,491. God is calling everyone to serve in some capacity with Him and build His kingdom, all too often we sit on the sidelines wondering how to get involved, most of the time God is orchestrating a great leap of faith on our part. What you are waiting for most likely won't happen until you at least crack open the door. If you are interested in discovering and utilizing your God-given talents and abilities, with a biblically-based and highly focused development for individual and team effectiveness, then Operation Christmas Child is the ministry for you. The leadership in this project is committed to care for, support, develop and disciple us as we fulfill the Great Commission. For more information or to volunteer, visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ and fill out a volunteer interest form. Or call Janeen Johnson – she is always willing to talk about Operation Christmas Child @ 928-606- 7673.
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