November 18th, 2025
The Great Commission
“And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.’” -Mark 16:15
Mark 16:15 is the verse that is known as The Great Commission. I grew up hearing this, but of course I was probably in my thirties before I thought about it too much. It was just something the grownups said, something preachers preached about. It had little to do with me until I was mature enough to understand that it actually had everything to do with me.
As I write this on Sunday evening, my car sits in my driveway containing 95 brightly colored red and green shoeboxes. Forty-nine more are already stacked in my classroom. All of them are waiting to be loaded into a truck tomorrow and taken to the Loxley First Baptist Church. From there, they will make their way to Atlanta. In Atlanta, they will be inspected. Some may have items added, others may have items taken out. What is and is not allowed by customs laws in various countries changes with astonishing speed these days. (Presumably, this is largely because people keep finding creative ways to smuggle contraband.) As the boxes are inspected, all of them except the ones for the very youngest children will have materials added that contain the story of the gospel. Once all of that is completed, the boxes will be sorted into pallets and shipped off to places all around the world, to children who have never before heard the story of Jesus. There will be workers in these places to teach and disciple the children who receive boxes.
As I often remind us, these boxes are not about toys or school supplies or water bottles. Those things are a means to an end. And that end is the fulfillment of a command from the very lips of the Savior: Share the gospel with the world. You may find this odd, but as I write this I am in tears. (Of course, I cry about pretty much everything, so don’t put too much stock in that.) I am moved by the thought of your generosity with your finances and with your time and energy. From folding to organizing to shopping to packing to stacking to loading up my little red car with a seemingly impossible number of boxes, you made this happen. And because of all of you, 144 children we do not know and will likely never meet will hear the story of the One who died for them.
Some folks expressed concern that boxes were not full enough, or that they had the wrong thing, or they didn’t have exactly what the packers would have liked to put in. Trust me, it’s okay. People at the packing center in Atlanta will take care of all of that. You have done your part and done it well. Soccer balls and stuffed toys and pencils and flashlights are not the point. You have given to 144 children a far greater gift than those things could ever, ever be.
Thank you, and thanks be to God.
Amen.
Jackie
“And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.’” -Mark 16:15
Mark 16:15 is the verse that is known as The Great Commission. I grew up hearing this, but of course I was probably in my thirties before I thought about it too much. It was just something the grownups said, something preachers preached about. It had little to do with me until I was mature enough to understand that it actually had everything to do with me.
As I write this on Sunday evening, my car sits in my driveway containing 95 brightly colored red and green shoeboxes. Forty-nine more are already stacked in my classroom. All of them are waiting to be loaded into a truck tomorrow and taken to the Loxley First Baptist Church. From there, they will make their way to Atlanta. In Atlanta, they will be inspected. Some may have items added, others may have items taken out. What is and is not allowed by customs laws in various countries changes with astonishing speed these days. (Presumably, this is largely because people keep finding creative ways to smuggle contraband.) As the boxes are inspected, all of them except the ones for the very youngest children will have materials added that contain the story of the gospel. Once all of that is completed, the boxes will be sorted into pallets and shipped off to places all around the world, to children who have never before heard the story of Jesus. There will be workers in these places to teach and disciple the children who receive boxes.
As I often remind us, these boxes are not about toys or school supplies or water bottles. Those things are a means to an end. And that end is the fulfillment of a command from the very lips of the Savior: Share the gospel with the world. You may find this odd, but as I write this I am in tears. (Of course, I cry about pretty much everything, so don’t put too much stock in that.) I am moved by the thought of your generosity with your finances and with your time and energy. From folding to organizing to shopping to packing to stacking to loading up my little red car with a seemingly impossible number of boxes, you made this happen. And because of all of you, 144 children we do not know and will likely never meet will hear the story of the One who died for them.
Some folks expressed concern that boxes were not full enough, or that they had the wrong thing, or they didn’t have exactly what the packers would have liked to put in. Trust me, it’s okay. People at the packing center in Atlanta will take care of all of that. You have done your part and done it well. Soccer balls and stuffed toys and pencils and flashlights are not the point. You have given to 144 children a far greater gift than those things could ever, ever be.
Thank you, and thanks be to God.
Amen.
Jackie
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