The nearly 500 children who crowded into the Evangelist Church of Nazon in Port-au-Prince were in for a surprise.

“The children who came here today did not know they were going to receive Operation Christmas Child gifts,” said Pastor Jeûne Cleber. “This is a surprise. After all they have been through, the children needed to be encouraged. We wanted to put a smile on their faces and let them know that with God, everything will be okay.”

Pastor Cleber, who also serves as the executive director of the Council of Evangelical Churches of Haiti, is coordinating Operation Christmas Child distributions and implementing The Greatest Journey discipleship program in churches across Haiti. Samaritan’s Purse gave 250,000 shoe box gifts to children affected by the catastrophic earthquake that devastated the nation on January 12, 2010.



“We are training church leaders how to share the Gospel with children,” Pastor Cleber said. “We want the children to know Christ and receive the greatest gift in life.”

Every child received a copy of “The Greatest Gift of All,” an evangelistic booklet translated into Creole.

The children followed the lead of the enthusiastic song leader, standing, clapping, raising their hands, and shouting the final words to well known stanzas like, “If you’re happy and you know it say AMEN!”

The song leader is a woman named Odany Louissaint, who serves as the director of children’s ministries at the church and is a compelling champion for child evangelism.

“I love working with children,” she said. “I knew children from this church who were killed in the earthquake, and others who had broken arms and legs or other injuries. They suffered so much. I want to use my gifts to help kids know the Gospel. The gift they receive from God will be life changing.”

The children were thrilled when they learned that they would receive gift boxes, and Pastor Cleber made sure they knew that the boxes were given in Jesus’ Name.

“These gifts and The Greatest Journey program help strengthen the children’s faith,” he said. “That’s the most important thing.”



One little girl captured the essence of the event when she set her box aside, ran up to a member of the Operation Christmas Child team, and gave her a big hug.

“I love you!” she said. “And I love Jesus!”

Samaritan's Purse , Haiti , Help for Haiti , The Greatest Gift of All