The Christmas Store, a ministry of First Baptist Church Sevierville, Tennessee, celebrated 40 years of helping Sevier County residents in need during its annual event Dec. 12-13 at the church.
The ministry began as a project of the church’s Brotherhood (men’s ministry) and Royal Ambassadors and later evolved into The Christmas Store, recalled layman Dwight Stokes.
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Stokes, who has served as general sessions and juvenile court judge in Sevier County since 1998, graduated from law school in the late 1970s and became involved in FBC’s Brotherhood ministry and served as RA director.
One of his mentors was Frank Atchley, a lifelong deacon at FBC and Stokes’ predecessor as RA director. “I went with him to deliver food and toys before the store started and he was at every Christmas Store as a counselor until he died. He led many people to Christ.”
The men would put together food boxes and the RAs would collect used toys that they would refurbish. Members of the Brotherhood and RAs would deliver the food and toys to families in need, he said. “We saw where the people lived and their needs and were able to share the gospel,” Stokes said.
He stressed that from the beginning, the entire congregation was involved. The church’s WMU and Acteens and Girls in Action (GAs) were active participants as were other groups in the church, Stokes said.
Forty years ago, leaders of the ministry felt they could serve more people if the event was held at the church campus, thus The Christmas Store was born, the judge said.
In the early years of the ministry, the event was still driven by the Brotherhood and RAs with help from the entire congregation, Stokes noted.
As they moved from refurbished toys to new toys, the RAs led the way in fundraising to buy toys and support the event, he added.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Lonnie Wilkey and originally published by the Baptist and Reflector.
