Cornerstone Church of Bristow has hosted “Touch of Christmas” for years, and every year the weather brings its own personality. This year was no different—a thick fog blanketed the parking lot before sunrise, and the December air was cold enough to call for blankets, heavy coats, gloves, and scarves. Even so, cars were already lined up along the road as daylight was just arriving, some families waiting up to an hour and a half for to make it through.
Volunteer's from the early sunrise were already at work, pouring hot chocolate and firing up grills. Chi Alpha college students ministry, who have now served at Touch of Christmas multiple times alongside Cornerstone, kept the hot dogs coming so no one left hungry.
Bristow police officers directed traffic with steady hands and familiar patience, keeping everything safe and smooth.
What families received in a few hours began the Sunday before, when the sanctuary was cleared and turned into a warehouse. For the next six days, trucks arrived with toys, groceries, household items and personal needs and the people showed up day after day to pack. Volunteers shopped, wrapped, sorted, and packed in joyful, loving care of each other.
For a smaller church, the scale of the event can feel impossible. Yet every year it happens, and every year the people serving speak the same quiet truth.
Sonya and Matt wouldn’t miss it. Sonya put it simply: “To call it volunteering is an understatement. It’s an indescribable flow of love.” Even in nippy, foggy weather, there’s no place they’d rather be than serving beside the Cornerstone family and loving the neighbors driving through.
Joy, as she’s affectionately known by her grandchildren and nearly everyone at church, loves the personal shopping trips most. She chooses toys for children she may never meet, yet selects each one as though she were spoiling her own grandkids—pouring Joy’s warm, generous spirit into every package that will roll through the line.
Sisters Carrie and Caylee both said they feel thankful just to be part of it—to serve with the church and bless people they might otherwise never meet.
Sugar, full of personality and gratitude, could hardly stop thanking God for the privilege of serving. “He blesses us so we can bless others,” she kept saying, smiling through the cold.
Newcomer Julian stood wide-eyed at times. “I’ve seen mountain-moving moments,” he said. “It’s like an avalanche of love pouring out.”
No one at Cornerstone claims to make it happen alone. They simply step forward to serve and pray and what’s needed shows up—faithfully, year after year. On a cold, foggy morning in Bristow, hundreds of families drive away warmer and lighter, carrying more than presents. They carry the gentle reminder that God sees them, He cares, and He is still at work through His hands and feet at cornerstone church.
That, more than anything, is the real gift of Touch of Christmas.