Christmas Outreach... "Brown Bag Ministry"

The Brown Bag ministries began in December 1988. We decided to do something for the Indian Children living in the labor camps. The idea of a brown lunch bag filled with candy and small gifts was born.

We asked several local churches here in our own neighborhood to help us with this project. They thought it was a great idea to give something special to the kids during Christmas and they were more than willing to help. We started with one labor camp that year giving out about 300 decorated brown bags. The kids smiles made our hearts ache. It was so little compared to what our kids in the States would be getting. But, this was the open door to this labor camp where we were given permission to come back and preach about Jesus.

The first team leaves for Baja between December 1 and December 18 and stays for the weekend. Every year since 1988 the number of bags given out has grown. In 2002 over 4,000 children were reached with gift bags.

Usually around December 26 I, with another team, leave for Sonora (18 hour drive) to do the Christmas program and give out gifts to the kids. What a joy to be able to share with the kids and adults the Christmas story as well as the brown bags. Sometimes we use puppets, drama or a Spanish Christmas video to tell the story.

The Christmas brown bag ministry has been the tool to open up doors to villages for the Gospel and now we have churches or home cells in these areas. We never dreamed that a small thing like a lunch bag was going to be used in such a mighty way.

Maybe you're wondering how you can get involved in this outreach. Well...let us know you want to do something and well help you. If you live outside of our area but still want to get involved we can always use a financial gift to help with the added expenses. See Christmas Pictures