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The purpose of the Operation Christmas Child mission project is to demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to children & families who need the hope of the Gospel. Through this annual mission project, Grace Evan partners with Samaritan's Purse to share the Good News of Jesus and make disciples of all nations. Samaritan's Purse partners with local churches on the ground to distribute the shoeboxes, share the Gospel with them, and disciple them through "The Greatest Journey" discipleship course. Our shoeboxes in particular go to "hard to reach" places around the globe. Hard to reach places would be countries that are hostel to the Gospel, where there are not many (if any) churches, and the governments are opposed to Christianity.
We have increased our shoebox goal this year to 2000 (1000 boy shoeboxes & 1000 girl shoeboxes). Through your "above & beyond" giving to the Grace Venture fund, $20,000 for this project has already been approved to purchase the items for the shoeboxes by our OCC MIT.
The OCC Packing Party will be on Saturday August 1st, 2026 starting at 9am. We will pack the 2000 shoeboxes in two hours or less, load them onto a freighter truck, and then the shoeboxes will be off to their final destination around the world.
The contents have already been purchased in bulk by the OCC MIT thanks to your generous giving to Grace Venture. All you have to do is bring the family to pack & pray your hearts out while jamming to some snazzy Christmas tunes alongside your church family.
Let's get to purchasing the shoeboxes this summer & packing in early August! Have a great summer and see you on August 1st at 9am! If there are any questions, please reach out to OCC MIT leader Stacey Wright at wrightrstacey@gmail.com
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The Grace Venture Challenge began in 2003 and is a call on our GEC congregation to “Live more simply, give more sacrificially, & accomplish the Great Commission.”
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1. We believe the mission of the church is to glorify God by going into all the world to preach the gospel and plant healthy churches where disciples worship God, obey Christ’s commands, and grow to maturity.
2. We believe the gospel is the power of God for salvation; our task is to represent Christ by faithfully and verbally proclaiming God’s Word to the world.
3. We believe the Bible is sufficient, authoritative, and relevant for this core missionary task, providing both the message and method for our mission.
4. We believe God is sovereign in salvation; we rely on the Holy Spirit to convict and regenerate all whom the Father has chosen, graciously bringing them to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
5. We believe God’s Word and Christ's Lordship connect with and confront all human cultures; we seek to communicate the gospel in contextually appropriate ways and in diverse languages without fundamentally altering its content.
6. We believe healthy local churches are needed in every community; therefore, we strive to reach new peoples and places with the gospel while also strengthening churches and leaders where health is lacking.
7. We believe the church is the primary means of obeying the Great Commission among the nations as local churches identify, train, send, and support qualified missionaries.
8. We believe making disciples is normally a slow process that requires patience as believers grow to maturity in Christ through the ordinary means of grace in the context of a local church.
9. We believe planting and strengthening churches necessarily includes the work of identifying and training qualified, well-taught, reproducing local leaders.
10. We believe our mission should be carried out through gospel partnerships by cooperating and collaborating with faithful Christians throughout the global church.
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Ministry Initiative Teams (MIT’S) are the engine behind the mobilization of Grace Evan to our city, our nation, and to the ends of the earth. MIT’s are led by Grace Evan members who are accountable to the Grace Venture Strategy Committee.
Check out our MIT DIRECTORY to learn what MIT’s are doing and to make contact with the MIT leaders.
Want to get involved? Start an MIT? Need MIT resources? Start here
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Your faithful giving to Grace Evan and Grace Venture go to support 47 ministries that are vetted and approved by the Grace Venture Strategy Committee.
Our strategy of monthly giving is broken down into 3 categories: Church Establishing Ministries, Church Responsibility Ministries, & Church Ancillary Ministries. We also have Special Project Ministries that we support.
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One of our disctict values as a church is to use our resources to reach unreached people groups. Did you know that there are 17,281 distinct people groups in the world today? 7,246 of those are considered unreached. That’s 41.9% of the world’s people groups! Only 1% of missions giving and 3% of missionaries go to the unreached! Click the links below to learn more and how to pray.
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Good News Soccer Academy - June 15-18
French Camp VBS - July 6-10
Czech Republic Family Mission Trip - July 17-25
High School El Salvador Mission Trip - July 13-20
Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes - August 1
2026 Missions Conference - October 21-25
Christmas Food Boxes - December 12
A French Christmas - December 12
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Third Millennium Ministries - Biblical Education. For the World. For Free.
The Need
Just imagine the kinds of troubles that come when Christian leaders know little about the Scriptures. But where the church is growing quickly, there are very few well-prepared men and women to lead God's Kingdom. By the year 2050 more than half of the world's Christians will live in Russia, Latin America, and Africa. Between 80 and 100 million Christians live in China today. Christian minorities are growing throughout Muslim nations in the Middle East and along the Pacific Rim. But at least two million functioning pastors outside of North America do not have biblical and theological education. This is a big problem.
Historically, the church has tried to solve this problem in these ways:
Bring Leaders to the West
But only 10% of these leaders return to their homelands after completing their studies, and only half of those remain for more than 5 years. As a result, this strategy robs Christians in other lands of some of their best leaders.Send Missionaries to Teach
But today, missionaries only stay on the field an average of 5 years. Moreover, it takes several years just to learn the language and culture. So, their period of effective ministry is extremely short.Build Seminaries
But it is estimated that this would take an additional $15 billion every year to build and maintain these institutions. Furthermore, if everyone that graduated from a doctoral program in an Evangelical seminary joined the staff of a foreign seminary, it would take over 100 years to staff enough seminaries to meet the need that already exists today!
Our Solution
Traditional strategies are important and should continue, though they do need to be updated and improved. But even if these strategies were perfected, the need is far too great to be met by them alone. Thirdmill works with traditional efforts, but also has a new way of meeting the urgent need for well-trained leaders throughout the world.
We are saturating the globe with a multimedia, masters-level education for Christian leaders. Our lessons are used through print, audio, the internet, DVD video (special order), as well as radio and television satellite broadcast.
In our day could there be anything more important than biblical education for the world for free?
901 To The Nations Podcast
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