ATLANTA – Last year, Mark Snipes did most of his Christmas shopping out of one catalog – the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Global Missions gift catalog, where money spent helps the most neglected people in the world.

Snipes, a pastoral resident at Haddock Baptist Church in Haddock, Ga., purchased gifts in honor of his fellow church staff, family members and all 41 students in the church youth group.

"I wanted to help the youth connect with … how easy it is to help someone in another country," said Snipes, who spent $1 on behalf of each student to buy three meals for children with disabilities at Angel House ministry in China. "They loved it, and their families loved it. They asked me to get them gift catalogs this year."

Gifts cost anywhere from $1 to $20,000 and help people across the world by providing food, Bibles, agricultural supplies, wells and other needed resources. Gifts have often been purchased for the holidays, birthdays or other celebrations, and in memory or in honor of someone.

Barbara Van Hoose of Sarasota, Fla., has a large family – five children, their spouses and 16 grandchildren. Last Christmas, on behalf of each of them, she bought a blanket for refugees and migrants in the Middle East.

"This caught my eye, and I thought that would be one thing I could do … to involve them personally … [and] to do something that they probably would not have thought of or been aware of," she said.

If a gift is purchased on behalf of an individual, that person receives a card acknowledging that a gift has been purchased in his or her name.

The gift catalog is available at www.thefellowship.info/involved/give/ or by calling (800) 352-8741.

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.