Along the Way: Their mission trip from Greenville to Tanzania was – only the beginning

In the past year or so, thousands of dolls have traveled with missions volunteers to share the gospel with children in places such as Nairobi, India, Senegal, Chile and Brazil. Recently, some headed to a remote, mountain school in Haiti.

Todd Deaton

Handsewn, stuffed, and painted to reflect the cultures of their respective destinations, the dolls speak of God’s love for all his children through a necklace of colored beads. Their ministry is so effective that if it keeps up, the International Mission Board may have to start holding special commissioning services.

In March 2007, a team of missions volunteers from Berea First Baptist Church, Greenville, headed for Tanzania, carrying along 800 dolls made by members of area churches. An article in The Baptist Courier told how the dolls were bringing joy to the Masai children.

Not long after reading that article, Edith McCloskey, a member of First Baptist Church, Columbia, wanted to do something to honor the memory of a fellow church member. She sensed the Lord reminding her of the article she had clipped from the pages of the Courier.

Her own church had recently sent several mission teams to India, and McCloskey thought about having the young people make dolls to distribute on an upcoming trip. But she wasn’t sure about her idea because the deceased member didn’t seem to have been the type who would have liked dolls.

After reading about Berea First’s “Dolls on Mission” ministry, a member of Columbia First led a host of volunteers to start a similar project at her church that is now touching thousands of children.

At the funeral, however, she noticed that inside the coffin was a beautiful doll. That was the affirmation she needed. When she shared her idea, she was told that she couldn’t have picked a more appropriate project. So McCloskey contacted Charlie Barnett, then associate pastor at Berea First, to get a pattern for making the dolls.

“They may have been the little flame that got it all started,” she recalled, referring to the Berea doll ministry. “These dolls will soon be like little lights all over the world.”

“We didn’t know it at the time, but the Holy Spirit did,” she acknowledged.

The first project was to provide 25 dolls to go to Nairobi. McCloskey felt compelled to add more colorful beads to their hair braids. Though at the time she did not know why, when she showed the dolls to Barnett, she understood the reason.

“These are perfect to reach the Masai tribe,” he responded. “They are known as the ‘bead people’ of Africa, and these will speak well in their culture.”

Following the death of a pianist in her church who was “another dear encourager,” McCloskey decided to send some dolls to Senegal, where the woman’s family had gone on mission trips.

This time, with the 80 dolls sent were puppets and soccer balls, on which the white spaces had been colored in to help convey the message of salvation. After hearing a missionary in Senegal tell about Jesus, 14 boys accepted Christ.

The doll ministry continues to expand. With the 90 dolls recently sent to an orphanage in Africa, tote bags – filled with school supplies, toy cars, balls, crayons, teddy bears and other items – were also sent for the children.

When Ann Fallaw, a retired missionary, gave some dolls to children at an orphanage in Brazil during a mission trip, she used the bead necklaces to share the gospel story. “Many of these little girls already knew Christ, but they became soul winners,” McCloskey shared. “By the end of the week, two of the girls had already won others to Christ.”

In August, seven Columbia-area churches filled 125 tote bags with school supplies, toys, balls and dolls for a missionary from Open Door Baptist Mission in Greenville to distribute at a Baptist school in Haiti. “It’s so remote that he has to fly in on a missions aviation airplane,” McCloskey added. “Through our Woman’s Missionary Union, we had heard about the work there, and we wanted to help,” she explained.

The retired school teacher is still amazed at how God is using the doll ministry, as the effort now includes more than 125 participants and several other area congregations. The tally of dolls made, which have been given out in 25 countries, reaches well into the thousands.

“If I hadn’t seen that article in The Baptist Courier, none of this would have happened,” she said. “Now, thousands of children all over the world are being blessed” – along the Way.