HENRYETTA, Okla. – The holiday season is not always the easiest for those less fortunate. For many like David Lindsey, they understand that the holiday season is a time to celebrate joy, however not everyone may be in a position to celebrate. That’s why David Lindsey, and many other volunteers from various churches across the Mvskoke Nation and Georgia teamed up to spread Christmas joy by donating and packaging gift boxes with toys for children. More than 30 volunteers from a dozen churches delivered over a thousand gift boxes over five days.
David Lindsey comes from a family strongly rooted in their faith. His dad, Fred Lindsey, was the former pastor at Wetumka Indian Baptist Church. Before that, he was the pastor at Little Quarsarty Baptist in Cromwell. Fred Lindsey also pursued mission work, and was described as a man who “wore many hats”. These evangelism efforts also contributed to the Muscogee Seminole Wichita Baptist Association (MSW), an intertribal church league that assists local congregations in their goal of spreading the Gospel. Fred Lindsey served as the director of missions for the MSW.
The gift box donation effort has been a holiday tradition for the Lindseys since the mid 2000s. Fred Lindsey first organized the effort when he met Bill Combs, who was also a well-known figure within the Indian Baptist church community. Together the two men would evangelize in reservations across the country, hosting revivals and teaching vacation bible school. Their evangelism efforts took them to Alaska, Arizona, the Dakotas, Montana and Canada.
“My dad always said ‘If I can reach one child and get them to the Lord, I feel like I’ve done something’.” – David Lindsey
Although Fred Lindsey traveled many places, he was never alone. Fred Lindsey’s wife, also David Lindsey’s mother, Susie Lindsey, traveled spreading the Gospel to fellow Native Americans. The couple met Bill Rush, a church leader from Georgia who organized gift boxes to be donated to his local community as well. When Rush met Fred Lindsey, he knew that he was called to help contribute to the Indian church communities in Oklahoma.
Susie Lindsey passed away in 2015, which prompted David Lindsey to move back home to Oklahoma to take care of his father. That’s how he got involved with the gift box donation movement. According to him, the annual movement has come a long way.
“It’s been growing every year they show up,” Fred Lindsey said. “More people started coming and the amount of gifts started getting bigger.”
Local churches involved in the gift box donation movement include Middle Creek, Wetumka Indian Baptist, High Spring, Buckeye Creek and Salt Creek. Churches from out of state included Epworth, The Ridge, Jefferson Avenue, Bethel, Pleasant Hill, Pleasant Grove, Hot House and Epworth.
The Muscogee (Creek) Nation played a role in the donation movement. According to David Lindsey, the tribe donated money to Wetumka Indian Baptist so that they could build sheds for church vehicles and storage for the gift box donations.
“When you give that child a gift box, they just light up,” David Lindsey said. “As soon as you hand it to them and they have it in their hand they are so appreciative. They absolutely love it.”
Fred Lindsey passed away in February of this year. Although his father is no longer around to give toys to children in need around the holidays, David Lindsey is proud that his father’s legacy continues to live on. He also remarked that the success of the donation movement would not have been possible without Wetumka Indian Baptist Pastor Woody Fields, Middle Creek Pastor Mark Smith and all of the local pastors involved.
Each year more and more members of the community are reached due to the kind efforts of the churches. According to David Lindsey, church leaders in Georgia were very pleased with collaboration efforts with the local Oklahoma churches. Next year, they plan to organize more volunteers and provide even more gift box donations. To learn more about the MSW, visit their website, mswbaptistassociation.org.
