PEMBROKE, N.C. – Two Morning Star Ministries leaders drove 2,100 miles in a 26-foot U-Haul box truck across Interstate 40 after Thanksgiving to deliver 2,000 Christmas shoeboxes and other gifts for Native American youngsters in Oklahoma, New Mexico and as far West as Flagstaff, Arizona.
The Christmas gifts had been gathered by members of Burnt Swamp (Southern) Baptist Association’s 71 churches, where Steve Strickland is Director of Missions. MSM affiliates with the association and with FoNAC, the Fellowship of Native American Christians, a Southern Baptist network of Native American ministries and churches.
“We discovered that in providing gifts we touch lives at Christmas for children who would perhaps not otherwise experience the love of God,” Charles Locklear told Baptist Press. Locklear leads Morning Star Ministries (MSM). He also is pastor of Bethany Christian Fellowship Church (SBC) in Pembroke, N.C., his second church planted in Burnt Swamp Baptist Association.
“Our ultimate goal is to make it clear this Christmas gifts ministry is an expression of Christ’s love in us,” Locklear said. “We want to introduce Native children to Jesus, and this is a great opportunity to do so.
“That’s exactly what this is about,” Locklear continued. “Most all Native Christian leaders believe fewer than 5 percent of Native Americans declare themselves to be Christian. We want to increase that number.”
The shoeboxes include a variety of items designed to delight a child, such as warm socks, small toys, school supplies and toothbrushes and other hygiene supplies.
Other gifts too big for shoeboxes included jackets, blankets and even toboggans this year. In the past, bicycles, basketballs, footballs and other larger items also were given for older children.
“It’s more a Christmas gift project than just shoeboxes,” Strickland told Baptist Press. “This ministry makes a real difference on the reservations. They deliver to isolated areas where there is a lot of poverty. It’s a great ministry and we get to be a part of it every year.”
Morning Star Ministries has been doing the Christmas gifts ministry for eight years, Locklear said. The idea came to him when he was informed about how many Native communities were not considered by those who share with the underprivileged during the Christmas season.
“I’ve been doing ministry for 35 years on reservations from the Seminole in Florida to the Blackfeet in Montana,” Locklear said. “Some reservations are off the path where people in other groups would not think of going. Native American children? If we weren’t doing this, a lot of kids wouldn’t get any gifts at all. That’s what we’ve been told.”
Jay Mule pastors Chief Cornerstone [Southern Baptist] Church in Geary, northwest of Oklahoma City, and is Director of Missions for the Cheyenne Arapahoe Baptist Association.
“We have three churches in western Oklahoma that are having a Christmas program, service or dinner and we wanted to have gifts for the children,” Mule said. “Our goal is to reach as many people as possible with the Gospel, and this is a time most people go to church. We want to bless them with the gifts.”
Morning Star Ministries (MSM), in a box truck driven by Locklear and Chris Hunt, pastor of Berea Baptist Church and MSM’s secretary/treasurer, delivered gifts to Oklahoma City for delivery across eastern and western Oklahoma, to Albuquerque and Grants, N.M., and to Flagstaff, Ariz.
“I asked them in advance how many gifts they thought they could practically use,” Locklear said. “They always say, ‘the need is much bigger than you can provide.’”
Daniel Taggart, executive director of Flagstaff Mission to the Navajos in Arizona, said this year was the first year his group received the shoebox gifts.
“We were blessed!” he said. “There’s about 180,000 people on the res and there are still many areas where kids may not get a gift because we still have 70 percent unemployment here. The gift they get from us may be the only one they get.”
About 30 percent of the Navajo reservation population is 19 and younger; 13 percent – about 23,000 – are 9 and younger, according to U.S. census statistics.
“Charles Locklear has a big heart,” Taggart continued. “We are grateful for his willingness to do this for our children and their families.”
Locklear and Hunt dropped off the now-empty box truck at a U-Haul dealership in Flagstaff before taking an American Airlines flight home.
“We felt like the impact was actually a tremendous effort because it represented a lot of children, and a lot of children who would not have gotten Christmas otherwise,” Locklear said. “Every gift was significant because it was going to the hands of a child who would treasure it.”
Still to come this year for Morning Star Ministries: Gifts for pastors on several reservations across the United States – Locklear has ministered on 40 or more – and, “If we hear of churches doing a special Christmas meal we will provide financial support as we are able. If we get a request from a church wanting to do gifts and/or a meal we will be happy to respond to pastors serving in Native communities.”
Morning Star Ministries, online here, is busy throughout the year.
“We do revivals on reservations, hold leadership conferences, send out construction and VBC teams,” Locklear said. “There is something going on pretty much all the time, and we depend on God to give us partners to provide for the needs we are presented with.”
The first American has become the last American to be seriously considered as a target for evangelism, Locklear said. That’s why he is constantly nurturing about 10 young men sensing a call to the ministry.
“It is evident that if Native Americans are going to be reached with the Gospel, then other Native Americans must take the lead and provide the example as to how that can change,” said FoNAC Executive Director Gary Hawkins to. “Morning Star Ministries serves with a heart of compassion to help the often neglected and underreached Native people of the USA. Charles has been a dear brother and ally to FoNAC throughout several years.
“This Christmas season, Morning Star along with the concerted efforts of the Burnt Swamp Baptist Association, are blessing so many Native families. We at FoNAC hold both these wonderful ministries in high esteem for their sacrificial service in doing God’s Kingdom Work among Native Peoples of America.”
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