Opening Doors to Discipleship with a Globe

When Maya Kisieviа, known affectionately as Mako, travels for Operation Christmas Child outreach in Georgia, she always brings one unusual item with her—a small school globe.

It is not just a prop. It is a doorway into the story.

“Our programme is called The Greatest Journey,” she tells the children, holding the globe in her hands. “And today, we are starting a journey together.”

Soon the children realise that if they stick with the course, they will learn 12 exciting Bible lessons that will show them how to know, grow in, and share Jesus with others. And this adventure of following Him surpasses all others!

Going to the Highways and Hedges

Mako and her team do not wait for children to come to them. They go looking for them.

Recently, the team travelled through villages outside Tbilisi, moving from the Manglisi area toward Marneuli, where Azerbaijani communities also live. In one trip, they reached four different locations. This meant four villages, four programmes, and four opportunities to share the Gospel with children who may not otherwise hear it.

There were no printed invitations. No formal registration. No prepared auditorium.

The team simply arrived, stopped the car, and began looking for children. One woman on Mako’s team seems to know someone everywhere—a taxi driver, a relative, a friend of a friend. Through these local connections, doors open. Sometimes a family offers their own yard. Sometimes the children gather at a stadium. Sometimes the programme happens right in a public park.

Compelling Them to Come In

In one village, 22 children came. In another place, more than 100 children gathered—little ones, older children, and young teens all sat together, listening as Mako spoke through a microphone and speaker.

The programme begins with songs, games, and conversation. Mako introduces the team and explains that they have come from a church. She tells the children about Samaritan’s Purse and why the team has brought Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. But before the gifts are given, she invites them into something even deeper.

She opens the story of The Greatest Journey.

Using the globe, posters to illustrate the Gospel, and “stops” along the way, Mako helps the children understand that this is more than a one-day event. It is an invitation to begin a journey with God. The children participate, answer questions, hold visual materials, and become part of the story.

For Mako, like many Operation Christmas Child ministry partners around the globe, placing a shoebox gift in a child’s hands is not the end of the outreach event; it is the beginning of discipleship.

Because many of these villages are difficult to revisit regularly, she finds creative ways to continue with the children. Some receive a link to online lessons. Others receive books when online access is not possible. The follow-up is not always easy, but Mako continues to look for ways to help the boys and girls finish the course.

Her hope is to gather the children again, perhaps in one central place, and celebrate a graduation.

This is what ministry looks like in the villages of Georgia—a small team, open yards, children gathered from the street, a microphone, a few posters, a globe in hand, and a faithful invitation to take the next step in following Jesus.

Mako and her team are not simply distributing gift-filled shoeboxes. They are opening roads to new life in Jesus Christ. And for many children, that road begins with a simple question: “Are you ready for The Greatest Journey?”

“Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled’” (Luke 14:23).

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