Missouri Concert Tour Dates To Benefit Needy Children Around The World

Sept. 14, 2010 - PRLog -- Christian music artist and GRAMMY ® Award nominated singer/songwriter, Matthew West is hitting the road this fall and taking the world’s largest Christmas project along with him. West will feature Operation Christmas Child during The Story of Your Life concert tour and encourage Missouri residents to pack shoe boxes with small toys, hygiene items and school supplies for needy children around the world.

The Story of Your Life album, which is set for release Oct. 5, features 11 tracks inspired by the lives of West’s fans who submitted stories of restoration, celebration, pain, hope and more. While writing this new album, West said his eyes were opened to seeing the world in a different light.

A 2009 trip to South America also inspired West to look at the world differently. West hand-delivered simple Operation Christmas Child shoe box gifts to children living Bogota, Colombia. While traveling through the city’s slums, he was overwhelmed by the stench of trash-filled streets where these children live.

“This is their reality – these smells, the trash everywhere. This is their life. And in a few days when I return to my lush, privileged, better-smelling reality, these children will still be here. I’m hoping our visit can add a little love to their reality,” he said.

West will encourage his fans to join him in an effort to reach the world’s neediest children through Operation Christmas Child. Concert attendees will receive empty shoe boxes they can fill with small gift items a child would enjoy. From Kansas City, shoe box gifts will be sorted and sent using whatever means necessary—sea containers, trucks, trains, airplanes, boats, camels, even dog sleds—to reach suffering children around the world.

Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010 at 7 p.m.
   
High Street Baptist Church
900 N. Eastgate Ave
Springfield, MO  65802

Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010 at 7 p.m.

Colonial Presbyterian Church
9500 Wornall Road
Kansas City, MO 64114

Operation Christmas Child, a project of international relief and evangelism organization Samaritan’s Purse headed by Franklin Graham, has collected more than 77 million shoe box gifts since 1993 and hand-delivered them to needy children in more than 130 countries.

For more information about The Story of Your Life tour, visit www.matthewwest.com. To get involved with Operation Christmas Child, visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ.

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A project of internation relief organization Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child will hand-deliver some 8 million shoe box gifts to hurting children in more than 100 countries this year. It is literally the world's largest Christmas project.