Multi award-winning Christian music artist Michael W. Smith joins in special holiday season celebration for Shoes For Orphan Souls in Dallas, Texas

Contact: Lesley Burbridge-Bates, L.A.B. Media/Rogers & Cowan, 615-567-6201, lesley.bates@labmediaonline.com  

DALLAS, Jan. 8 /Christian Newswire/ -- During the 2008 holiday season, GodTube.com and Buckner International teamed up with Grammy Award-winning Christian singer-songwriter Michael W.  Smith for a special service project and surprise performance at the home office of the orphan relief organization. Located at the Buckner Center for Humanitarian Aid in Dallas, Texas, Smith visited the Shoes for Orphans Souls warehouse and surprised volunteers with an unplugged performance. Smith played three songs, including hit song "Friends" and revealed a special piano piece he had recently written for his granddaughter.

GodTube recently announced the multi-faceted partnership to facilitate the expansion of Buckner International's mission and outreach on a global scale.  Shoes for Orphan Souls is just one of the many ministries and services of Buckner International, which provides new shoes and socks to orphans and at-risk children in the United States and throughout the world. From conducting shoe drives to humanitarian aid trips, Shoes for Orphan Souls provides hands-on opportunities to individuals, groups and organizations which desire to transform lives through social ministry. Since 1999, more than 1.6 million pair of new shoes and socks have been distributed to 65 countries.

"Shoes for Orphan Souls is an amazing ministry," Smith said. "The kind of partnership Buckner and GodTube have established will help open doors for people to be the hands and feet of the Lord. And it's always been my hope, dream and prayer that if the Church at large did what these guys are doing together, it would change the world."

Buckner International is a vast organization founded in 1879 with the purpose of caring for widows and orphans based on the New Testament mandate of Jesus Christ. For nearly 130 years, Buckner has cared for the diversified needs of those Jesus called "the least of these." In addition to Shoes for Orphan Souls, Buckner also provides adoption services, foster Care, residential Care, retirement, transition ministries, Camp Buckner, church and community services and global initiatives http://www.buckner.org/.

GodTube is a global technology company that creates social networking tools for the faith based and family marketplace. As one of the largest providers of Christian content in the world, Godtube.com reaches well over 2 million unique visitors a month, with over 30 million page views and maintains over 500,000 registered users. Providing a place for Christians to connect, watch and share videos, access podcasts and music, read the Bible online through the Virtual Bible, upload prayers to the Prayer Wall, and add and network with friends, Godtube has become the largest Christian social network in the world. GodTube is owned and operated by Big Jump Media Inc.

GodTube is currently hosting "official" video content from the Shoes For Orphan Souls event that can be viewed via web at http://www.godtube.com/bucknerinternational.