Fourth-generation Buckner keeps
the family focused on compassion
___By Toby Druin
___Buckner News Service
___DALLAS--It should be no surprise that a call to the Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls office in Dallas will get you a Buckner.
___Michelle Buckner, great-great-granddaughter of founder R.C. Buckner, continues his heritage with the institution and has given the program a "Buckner" presence for the past

MICHELLE BUCKNER labels boxes of shoes donated through Buckner's Shoes for Orphan Souls project.

several months as assistant to director Tiffany Taylor.
___Her father, Gary, is pastor of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Dallas. He is the son of Travis Buckner and the grandson of R.C. Buckner's son, Hal, Michelle Buckner credits her father and her mother, Pat, with giving her a heart for ministry.
___"I love ministry and people," she said
___Now 27, she attended public school through the 10th grade and then was home-schooled through the rest of high school and then in college through the Advanced Training Institute International, where she focused on counseling and working with children.
___She has used that training for active ministry at her church, where she teaches an "Acts of God" class to youth on Sunday evenings and also teaches clowning. She uses her clown identity, "Happy Heart," for a gospel witness. She began a van ministry at the church, picking up children and youth from apartment complexes in the area. And she and her family sing together.?
___She became familiar with the Shoes for Orphan Souls program in a rather oblique way. She and her brother Micah were providing a cleaning service for Buckner's Adoption and Maternity Services offices in Dallas; through their association there they learned about the shoe drive and got their church involved in it.
___She began volunteering her services in various ministries, including working at the Valley View Mall shoe collection center. There she learned about Buckner's "Journey of the Heart" trip to Russian orphanages. With her church's help, she went on the trip and through it met Tiffany Taylor.
___She began working in the shoes program as a volunteer last June, "and it has just grown from that," she said. "It's been a God thing."
___One of her favorite Scripture verses is James 1:26-27, which describes pure religion in the sight of God as visiting orphans and widows in their distress.
___This fall, she also visited orphanages in China and came home with two lasting impressions--one of a terribly burned but very loving Chinese toddler and the other of the crowds around a Buddhist idol.
___"It was so shocking to me," the younger Buckner said. "I am glad I have been taught about God and a risen Savior."
___The work with the shoes program is very satisfying, she said. In China, they were met at the orphanages by children wearing hand-me-down shoes and borrowed clothes.
___"It is great to see and work with the children and to put the shoes on their feet," she said. "They just light up when they get them."
___The experience has helped cement a call she has felt to missions, especially working with children, she said, quoting Psalm 25:4-5: "Make me know thy ways, O Lord; Teach me thy paths, Lead me in thy truth and teach me, For thou art the God of my salvation; For thee I wait all the day."
___"I feel he is the one who directs my path," she said. "It's wonderful to have such a great family heritage and to work in a Christian organization. It's better to have a good name than great riches."
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The Baptist Standard