Ten thousand gospel seeds

DEMOREST, Ga. — Nate Weisser is no stranger to raised eyebrows and people thinking he is crazy. He admits that renting 10-by-30-foot storage units in the middle of July and filling them with stuffed animals is crazy.

But it also demonstrates passion, vision, and love.

A trailer-sized vision

Over the years, Nate and his wife, Bailey, as members of their church, genuinely enjoyed packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child. They knew the boxes would reach children around the world. After he joined the staff of River Point Community Church in Demorest as missions pastor in December 2021, Nate became responsible for the church’s Operation Christmas Child packing parties.

Looking back on past parties, he recalled climbing into a trailer after it was loaded and thinking, “It felt very empty.”

At the time, the church had prepared 1,000 boxes. “I thought, ‘Man, how cool would it be to fill up this trailer?'”

After determining it takes 7,500 boxes to fill a tractor-trailer, Nate set his goal.
Each box is lovingly packed with school supplies, toys, hygeine items, and hope—the kind found in the Gospel and the story of Jesus Christ.

Nate called those 7,500 boxes “gospel seeds” and went on to devise a five-year and ten-year plan.

Remember, Pastor Nate is quiet and humble, admittedly a bit crazy and a visionary. God is big and bold.

Surpassing the goal

“We packed 7,612 boxes,” exclaimed Nate, “which exceeded our goal for five years. And the Lord did some amazing things through that time. So after leaving that event last year, I remember knowing everything that had just happened was obviously the Lord orchestrating everything that lined up. We didn’t know how it was going to work. I remember crying on the way home just overwhelmed with emotion, and then getting into the New year, exploring with the Lord, what can we do as a church and a community?”

What’s the limit?

Nate does not have the answer, but one number has surfaced repeatedly: 10,000.

This year, River Point’s goal is to pack 10,000 “gospel seeds” and send them to children around the world.

A communitywide effort

It may be too large a goal for River Point Community Church to accomplish alone, but not too large for God, or for a community willing to help.

Since taking over the packing effort and first being challenged with packing 1,000 boxes, Nate has watched the goal grow larger. While he likes having some control and knowing the outcome, he also recognizes that the Lord has put something on his heart without revealing exactly how it will come about.

There are a lot of unknowns, but the strategy is clear: involve the community.

Grace Fellowship in Toccoa has committed to helping pack 1,114 boxes, and River Point in Rabun County is joining the partnership.

River Point also hopes to welcome back Trinity Classical School in Habersham County and the Habersham Christian Learning Center. Together, the two organizations donated more than 1,400 boxes to last year’s effort.

Those who want to support the vision of sending 10,000 gospel seeds around the world this Christmas may visit River Point Community Church’s Operation Christmas Child page.

“The boxes are simple,” Pastor Weisser explained. “A Christmas present in itself is not powerful, but when you have a box and you hand it to a child, and you get to tell them the hope of Jesus Christ, that’s the power.”

Seeing the other side

Last December, a River Point team traveled to Albania and partnered with a missionary who had thousands of Operation Christmas Child boxes to distribute. Although they were not the same boxes packed at River Point, members of the team were able to personally hand Christmas gifts to children in remote mountain villages on the other side of the world.

For Nate, the experience brought the mission full circle.

“To be on the side of organizing and packing 7,612 boxes last year and then going to a country on the other side of the world, and being able to hand a box to a child, see his face… knowing, that he is hearing the gospel. I got emotional,” he said, “and I remember it… that night, just crying again… knowing that the Lord has been able to use us as a community to make (a difference).”

Filling a box here may seem like a simple act, but Weisser said its impact can be powerful when a child receives it on the other side of the world.

Giving children an opportunity to “hear the hope of Jesus Christ” is the passion driving him toward this latest goal.

“Maybe one day when I get to heaven, I’ll be able to see all the kids impacted by our simple act here of just filling in a Christmas box and sending it out. I don’t know how many of those 10,000 will be effective, but the more that you do, the more chances there are of it being effective. So, I look forward to 10,000 boxes leaving.”