rachelh@myweeklysentinel.com
TROY — Victory Church’s “Operation Free Christmas Tree” will take place this Thursday, Dec. 3, and Friday, Dec. 4, at the Troy Tops parking lot at 6 p.m.
The church gives away about 100 Christmas trees every year and have been doing this for the last 14 years.
“The whole idea behind it is to show our community that we’re not just here to meet spiritual needs but tangible needs and to show them the love of Jesus in a tangible way,” said Josh Payne, Pastor of Victory Church. “And what better way than a Christmas tree, because it was at a tree where Jesus died to save us and so we give that for free, there’s no cost, to say to people salvation is free, God’s gift to you is free and this tree is free - our way of saying Merry Christmas, we love you and more importantly God loves you.”
Payne says it’s also a great way for them to connect with so many who follow them online and on the Voice of Victory weekly radio broadcast on many stations across the region.
Operation Christmas Tree also works as a way to spark a movement of kindness and generosity in others who are inspired by the event.
“It comes down to our community being kind to each other and so when we show an act of kindness what happens is everybody who sees this, everybody who participates and everybody who gets a tree, it plants a seed of generosity in their heart so that then they go and perpetuate that generosity to somebody else, that’s the hope.”