Love Packages By Pastor Joe

“Every hole is a soul!” “Every space in a shipping container could hold another piece of literature which another soul could read and come to Christ!”

These are some comments from Steve Schmidt as volunteers packed ocean bound containers leaving from Love Packages. The process begins long before the doors are shut on the 20-foot container, however. Weeks earlier, boxes come in to the receiving area from all over the United States, most of which are packed by individuals who live in the central part of the U.S. Everything and anything religious in nature is found in these packages, requiring 100% of the literature to be sorted by Steve, Aaron and/or Vern.

This process has been happening for over 40 years. Rest assured any non-biblical material is thrown away or recycled. The next step in the sorting process is where we come in, taking the sorted items and repackaging them according to their use. Bibles, Education materials, Christian pastoral reference books, tracts, and various Christian books are each packaged separately and color coded for future use.

Another very important part of the equation is the material received by Christian publishing facilities in the United States. Even though 95% of the materials sorted at Love Packages are in English, people all over the planet are excited to receive these materials. It’s hard to believe there are still places on the planet where pastors don’t even have one copy of the Bible. Vern and other staff often travel multiple hours to pick up pallets filled with Christian materials ready to be packed on one of the 100 plus containers. Thankfully no sorting is necessary, yet the pallets need to be broke down to save space in each ocean-going box.

Steve could easily pack the containers with pallets and fill the container in less than 15 minutes. Instead, twice a week about 10 individuals including staff and volunteers hand pack the 1300 square foot vessel from top to bottom and remove all pallets. Hopefully each of you will have an opportunity to work inside the container or help with getting items to those hand-packing every square inch. Every space is filled with words of Eternal Life!

In less than 6 weeks we are leaving for central Illinois- let me suggest you stay after church today and sit in on our first organizational meeting. Please don’t let finances be the reason you can’t go! This could be a life changing experience for you, but you will never know unless you attend. Aaron Dokken is now on staff because one visit to Love Packages changed his life. Maybe the life changing event that takes place in your heart causes you to be more passionate about getting the Word of God into the hands of people you will never meet until eternity!

Mission trips are a great place where God places a vision or dream in your heart- they have made me into the person I am today. Imagine the possibilities if we will just believe God for what he says in his Word. Scripture tells us God is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20-21). Today could be the beginning of a new journey of experiences because you step out of your comfort zone and trusted God to direct your journey.