Newly married couples showered with shoes to benefit orphans

Two Texas Baptist brides who love Buckner International's Shoes for Orphan Souls ministry almost as much as they love their new husbands turned summer nuptials into an opportunity for guests to be part of something bigger.

Rebecca and Ron Pyle married late in life. "When we were planning the wedding, we decided we didn't need more stuff. We wanted to encourage generosity to a charity, and we chose Buckner. So, we decided to ask our guests to participate in a Shoes for Orphan Souls wedding shoe drive."

Amy Duncan-Stier, 25, served as a volunteer with Buckner in Guatemala after she graduated from Baylor University in 2008. Her father, John Duncan, is pastor at First Baptist Church in Georgetown .

"We did a shoe trip while I was there," she said. "And when I saw the need and saw what shoes meant to the kids, it just touched my heart. It's just amazing how those children would line up for shoes. … Since I got back from Guatemala, I've always wanted to do a shoe drive."

After she and Scott Stier got engaged, they talked about trading in a traditional gift registry for a request for shoes.

Initially, she wondered what people would think of having a shoe drive instead of traditional wedding gifts. She realized her wedding was a one-time event, and she and her husband would use the gifts they received for the rest of their married lives.

"In the end, my husband, Scott, and I wanted to start our lives out service-oriented, because that's what marriage is," she said. "It's about coming together and serving others and Christ for the rest of your life."

Duncan-Stier said she and her husband were blessed beyond what they could have imagined, receiving all the things they needed to set up their home in several bridal showers held in her honor.

Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays Email Address Amy and Scott Stier tied the knot with new shoes surrounding them. *(PHOTO/Allison Notgrass/Focal Point Photographics)

The shoe drive wedding reception also was a bigger blessing and a bigger hit with the guests than Duncan-Stier and her husband expected. Everyone loved having the opportunity to participate in ministry through a wedding gift.

"Little old ladies would come up to me in the weeks before the wedding and say, 'I've got my shoes for the wedding!' But it was shoes to give to the orphans, not to wear with their dress," Duncan-Stier said.

The couple collected more than 150 pairs of shoes at their reception, and several guests made donations to Shoes for Orphan Souls in their honor.

Rebecca Morton Pyle started planning her first wedding at 56.

"I had a great first half of my life," she said. "It was never a life-or-death, 'I have to get married' situation. But I wanted a different second half of my life, so I intentionally sought out God's choice."

She found her husband, Ron Pyle, through an online dating website. She committed to spend six months using the website, and when she first set up her profile, he had just decided to take a break from using the site. They nearly missed finding each other completely; he didn't log on again until her six months were almost up.

The Lubbock couple, who attend Second Baptist Church, dated more than a year before they married in June.

"I went to Oaxaca last November on my first Shoes for Orphan Souls mission trip, and it just captured my heart," she said.  "When we were planning the wedding, we decided we didn't need more stuff.

"We wanted to encourage generosity to a charity, and we chose Buckner. So, we decided to ask our guests to participate in a Shoes for Orphan Souls wedding shoe drive."

They kept their wedding small and married in Lewisville, near his family. About 60 guests attended, and 123 pairs of shoes were collected.

Scott Collins, vice president of communications for Buckner and a longtime friend of the bride, attended the wedding and spoke about the mission of Shoes for Orphan Souls at the reception.

"It was a traditional wedding in every way, except the reception," Collins said. "It was a thrill to walk into the reception area at the wedding and see tables piled high with shoes. That Rebecca and Ron would give up wedding gifts in favor of gifts for orphan children says so much about them and their love for children."

He picked up a zebra-striped pair of shoes from the collection table and told Mrs. Pyle he would deliver them to a child in Kenya in July.

"When he sent me a picture of the girl who got that pair of shoes, I got goose bumps," she said. "It was an immediate gratification to see that photo and to be reminded that these are real people the shoes go to."

"Because of this, other people have heard about Shoes for Orphan Souls from our guests telling the story to other people. I think that's so cool, because it's not about me and Ron. It's about the kids who need shoes and how we can help."