Priority! Spring 2013 by The Salvation Army: SAconnects

Spring 2013

L I FE STO R I E S

G O D’S PEO PL E

Foxworthy He’s Just Jeff At Atlanta Mission

Losing It All In Arizona Highly Caffeinated, Humble New Yorker Atheist Becomes ‘Good Soil’

In Any ‘Season,’ Perspective Makes All the Difference

ately I’ve been thinking a lot about the seasons of my life, probably because I am preparing to enter retirement. As I’ve reflected on the ebb and flow of God’s work in my life, I can’t help but real-

ize that He’s been using those seasons to draw me closer to Him. Throughout his letters, the Apostle Paul frequently recounts and reflects upon the seasons of his life. We learn how one season of Paul’s

life, marked by hatred and vigorous persecution of Christians, was transformed during his journey to Damascus into a lifetime devoted to preaching the Gospel throughout the world. Even as Paul followed Christ, God continued to shape and direct him through the various seasons of his life. One thing we learn from Paul is that the circumstances that define our “seasons” are far less important in God’s eyes than the perspective with which we choose to navigate them. How easy it would have been for Paul to declare his life a complete disaster and allow his spirit to fold during his treacherous journey to Rome! If being imprisoned with Silas and later hauled off for trial by the Romans weren’t discouraging enough, then being shipwrecked on Malta in the middle of winter and bitten by a poisonous snake would have surely done me in. And yet Paul’s experience and faith presented an opportunity to embrace a perspective that presumed God’s sovereignty and purpose—when they were especially difficult to see. In my life, I’ve learned that choosing to embrace a faith–filled perspective the way Paul did makes all the difference. When I do, burdensome circumstances tend to fade and become secondary to the remarkable things God accomplishes in my life and in the lives of those around me. In fact, I often don’t think of those times as “seasons” at all but rather as warm highlights reminding me of God’s goodness and work in my life. I’ve also learned that if we trust that God is still sovereign, we can still grow and benefit even as we stumble through one of life’s hard seasons. Remember, God is always working in the difficult seasons of your life. He has a plan and purpose for each of you, and you can trust Him to be in control—whatever your life season. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

Lt. Colonel Barbara Hunter Assistant Chief Secretary USA Eastern Territory

Salvation Factory is an imaginarium in which engineers of Salvationism focus on innovation in research, development and design, providing resources and training which support and enhance the mission of The Salvation Army.

Research

Understanding the essentials of Salvationism and the ever changing culture— researching the past, the present, and the future.

Develop

Exploring the best strategies to save souls, disciple, train, and mobilize Salvationists—developing the best resources, programs and tools for ministry and mission.

Train

Facilitating specialized formal and informal learning—training Salvationists to use the new tools developed by the Factory.

Design

Resource

Engineering the interface between Salvationist essentials, the next generation and new technologies—designing new media infrastructures to accelerate Salvationist mission.

Collaborating with the front–lines in order to research, develop and design the best tools that will enhance the mission—resourcing with time, personnel, and products.

USA Eastern TerritoryÊUÊSalvation FactoryÊUÊSchool for Officer TrainingÊUÊwww.salvationfactory.orgÊUÊ845.368.7242

SPRING 2013

COVER STORY

FEATURES

Volume 15 No. 1

Foxworthy: Not ‘Churchy,’ Just Real Stand–up “redneck” comedian and game–show host Jeff Foxworthy has been a Jesus follower since age 7, when he proved to his mama he was ready to go to the altar. Now host of “The American Bible Challenge,” he also serves every week at the Atlanta Mission downtown.

A Connection Severed by Addiction Jeff Taylor had it all growing up. Then he got hooked on painkillers after a football injury. Still, he landed a high–powered job on Wall Street, where cocaine was the designer drug. Eventually, he lost it all and found himself doing dishes in a Salvation Army rehab center.

31 A Highly Caffeinated, Humble New Yorker

In her early 30s, Marcia Larson works in the heart of Midtown at Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal. Unlike many of her peers, she’s a Christian—and the youngest member of the

Cover photo by Inset photo by

Salvation Army’s National Advisory Board.

Reclaiming Rocky Soil When Ryan Read first heard Jesus’ parable of

Cover Photo Courtesy Game Show Network Photo above by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for ATI

DEPARTMENTS 5 Upfront

the four soils, he was in prison. He knew what kind of soil he was. But many years later, he’s leading a “Good Soil Initiative” in Racine, Wis.

6 Who’s News 21 Prayer Power 38, 46 MyTake 48 127 Years Ago

ng 15 Years! i t a br Cele

RITY! PRIO

Living in the Present Will your life change as much in the next 10 years as it did in the last 10? In a recent Harvard University study, most people who were asked that question said no. “It’s not that we don’t realize change happens, because we all admit at every age that a lot of

…promoting prayer, holiness, and evangelism through the life stories of God’s people

change has happened to us in the last 10 years,” said

THE SALVATION ARMY

researcher Daniel Gilbert to the website LiveScience.

Territorial Leaders USA Eastern Territory

However, “All of us seem to have this sense that development is a process that has delivered us to this point and now we’re done.” Complete. Nothing more needed. Content. In a good place. That sounds great, right? But some might see it this way: We’re stagnant. Set in our ways. Stuck. Going nowhere. Doesn’t sound as good, does it? How does this perspective on looking back and looking forward work for us as

Commissioner Barry C. Swanson Commissioner Sue Swanson

Chief Secretary Colonel William Carlson

Editor Linda D. Johnson

Art Director Keri Johnson

Christians? Not so well, I think. We look back so that we can learn and repent of

Senior Designer

sins we have committed. When those sins are forgiven, we leave them with the

Saoul Vanderpool

Lord. And if we have received praise, we leave that with the Lord too. Flora Larsson (mother of General John Larsson) put it this way:

Contributing Editors Warren L. Maye, Robert Mitchell

Contributing Writers Jackie Bentson, Lindsay Bonilla, JoAnn Shade, Robert E. Thomson, Anne Urban, Glenn Welch, Gail Wood

Let me not walk in my yesterdays; not live again the used–up hours,

Graphic Designers

regretting the misspent moments,

Joe Marino, Reginald Raines

brooding over the rebuffs,

Circulation

fingering the tattered glory–rags,

Deloris Hansen

clinching them close to my eager breast.

Marketing

Instead, Larsson says, she will “wear ‘today’ hopefully, grateful that it is mine.” And what of tomorrow? We should not conclude that we are complete, never more to change. But is it up to us to predict what our lives will be like 10 years from now? That’s laughable! Our Lord Jesus said that we shouldn’t worry about tomorrow. The Father takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, and He will take care of us. That’s why we need to remember to walk and talk with the Holy Spirit each day. We need to wear each “today” hopefully, grateful that it is ours, because it is His too, and He is in control. In 10 years, if the Lord grants us that much time, we’ll be amazed at how much we’ve moved in His direction. In the Lord, this day is the only day that matters. Every day.

Christine Webb

SALVATION ARMY MISSION STATEMENT The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination. Priority! is published quarterly by The Salvation Army USA Eastern Territory. Subscriptions are $8.95 per year; bulk rates available. Write to: Priority!, The Salvation Army, 440 West Nyack Rd., West Nyack, NY 10994–1739. Volume 15, No. 1, Spring 2013. Printed in USA. Postmaster: Send all address changes to: Priority!, 440 West Nyack Road, West Nyack, NY 10994–1739. Priority! accepts advertising. Copyright ©2013 by The Salvation Army, USA Eastern Territory. Articles may be reprinted only with written permission.

USA National website: www.SalvationArmyUSA.org

Editor

EVANGELICAL EVANGELICAL

PRESS ASSOCIATION

Upfront: Cuba Connection New Uniform Brings Tears Israel L. Gaither, then territorial

store,” Major Ronald said. “He

commander. Lugiano runs the

cried and cried.”

territory’s Supplies and Purchas-

Major Deborah says the uni-

ing Department, or Trade store.

form presents the “best picture

He wrote to the territorial com-

of who we really are”; she often

mander, “Of particular note was

provides uniforms for missionar-

hose outside The Salva-

his tattered uniform that he had

ies who visit THQ.

tion Army may not un-

had made for him by a Cuban

derstand how important

seamstress, who made it from a

tical robes,” she says. “It should

the uniform is to soldiers and

picture of a uniform he carried

be of the finest quality.”

officers.

on him.”

Captain Julio Moreno (at

Lugiano said Moreno was still

“Our uniform is our ecclesias-

Major Joan Brewer stayed until after 10 p.m. on Friday to tailor the uniform.

right in above picture) didn’t

proud to wear his uniform, with

have an official one. Yet he

its big buttons, pocket flaps, and

was the divisional commander

faded epaulets (not features of a

who he could give his old uni-

in Cuba and was to attend a

standard uniform).

form to,” Major Deborah says.

“He was already thinking of

Moreno attended the Satur-

holiness retreat at the Salvation

“He had never had a brand–

Army’s USA Eastern Territorial

new uniform before in his life,”

day morning covenant service in

Headquarters (THQ). He had

Lugiano said.

his new uniform and rededicated

only a patchwork uniform, nothing like “regulation.” “He shared his heart–warm-

Lugiano and his wife, Major

himself to the Lord and the mis-

Deborah Lugiano, were so

sion of winning more souls for

moved by his story that she took

Christ in Cuba.

ing story about his struggle to

him to the Trade store after the

bring the Gospel to the Cuban

meeting and fitted him with a

“Make sacred garments for your

people in a communist country,”

brand–new uniform complete

brother Aaron to give him dignity

said Major Ronald Lugiano, in

with extra shirts and hat.

and honor.”

an e–mail to Commissioner

“He was like a kid in a candy

Loves ‘Ride’ I just received the Priority! for Winter 2013 and I LOVE “One Divinely Appointed Ride.” In fact, I shared the story with some friends at dinner the

www.armyconnections.org

—Exodus 28:2

other night. What a great way to see the hand of God in this man’s life! Thanks for a quality issue. Pauline Hylton Clearwater, FL

SA Timeline in Cuba 1916 Jamaican Salvationists arrive to work sugar cane fields. 1918 SA is legally established. 1959 Communists take over. SA social work nearly ends. 1980s–90s Church/state relations begin to improve. 2001 SA’s Latin America North Territory establishes Cuba Division, 2 new regions. 2013 Cuba has several corps (churches) a senior home, rehab center, vocational training center, feeding center. 5

Who’s News

Olympic Swimmer Uses Fame for Fund–Raising

Photo by Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

by Gail Wood

athan Adrian’s parents admit they were surprised by their son’s accomplishments—three Olympic gold medals and a silver medal in swimming. But Nathan, the American record holder in the 50– and 100–yard freestyle, is just doing what he’s always done: Winning in the pool and helping The Salvation Army. Cashing in on his celebrity status after winning two golds and a silver for the United States last summer at the London Olympics, Nathan chose the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign as his charity, bringing national attention to the 121–year–old fund–raiser for the poor. “I’m very pleased that he did that,” 6

says Jim Adrian, Nathan’s father and biggest fan. “He rang the bells as a kid.” As a young boy growing up in Bremerton, Wash., Nathan would tag along with his father to work for The Salvation Army at the local mall. “I remember ringing bells, helping my dad pick up kettles at the end of the day and bringing them back to The Salvation Army,” Nathan says. Jim, who has been involved as a volunteer with The Salvation Army for 17 years, was trying to teach his son a lesson about helping. “In raising our kids, we emphasized several things,” says Jim, a retired nuclear engineer who was recently named chair of the advisory board for The

Salvation Army in Bremerton. “One was get a good education. Another was once you commit to a sport you were going to stick to it. And then, we also wanted them to do some community service along the way.” Message learned. Sometimes, after swim practice, Nathan, with hair still wet, would stand by his dad at the mall and ring bells in front of the kettle. Nathan’s teammates would sometimes accompany him and his dad. Nathan says the Army was an easy choice for him as an adult. “I’ve always liked the way The Salvation Army runs itself and believe it is a great means for giving back to those in need,” Nathan says.

first at olympics With the world watching, Nathan did the unexpected last summer at the Olympics by becoming the first U.S. swimmer to win the 100–meter freestyle since 1988. The 6–foot–6–inch American won by one–hundredth of a second, coming from behind in the closing to dramatically beat Australia’s James “The Missile” Magnussen. Nathan, a 2006 Bremerton High School graduate who went on to become a five–time NCAA champ at the University of California, also won a gold medal in the 400–meter medley relay and a silver in the 400–meter freestyle www.prioritypeople.org

relay. He returned from London a hero and was a guest on many TV programs, from “Today” to “Tonight.” In Nathan’s hometown, a street that goes by the pool he trained in as a teen now bears his name. Nathan’s climb to celebrity and gold medals began when he started swimming competitively at age 5. With his mother, Cecilia, as the designated taxi driver, Nathan made his daily swim practices. There was a period when he trained daily in Tacoma and his mom faithfully drove her youngest of three children 30 miles to the pool. But it was never just about swimming. “What we tried to instill in our kids was to help others and to be good citi-

zens,” says Cecelia, who is a nurse. For the Adrians, swimming was a family affair. Nathan’s older sister, Donella, swam at Arizona State on scholarship, and older brother, Justin, swam at the University of Washington.

focused on Brazil Now, with the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than four years off, Nathan continues to train, hoping to make the U.S. team for a third time. He made it for the first time as a 19–year–old for the 2008 games in China. That year he swam a leg on the 400–meter freestyle in the preliminaries, and the relay team won a gold in the finals. In December at the Winter National Short Course championship in Austin,

Texas, Nathan, who majored in public health and graduated cum laude, had a disappointing meet. After breaking the meet record in the 50–meter freestyle during the prelims, he jammed his fingers into the wall and scratched from the meet. But with Nathan’s heart set on the next Olympics, Jim says his son will be fine. “He’s working out about 30 hours a week in the pool and with weights,” Jim says. “It’s very much a full–time job. That’s his focus. He’ll be working the next four years to get to the Olympics.” Between swimming and ringing the bells for The Salvation Army, Nathan has a busy schedule. But that’s nothing new. It’s what he’s always done.

‘Godfather’ of Corrections by JoAnn Shade

Photos by Dan Shade

www.prioritypeople.org

n 1968, Norm (Sonny) Hills crossed the threshold of the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio and has never looked back. As a psychology/ sociology student at Ashland University, his entrance into that historic prison was purely voluntary. He was beginning a career that would take him into prisons across Ohio. 7

Who’s News

Watching Norm bounce his great– grandson Anthony on his knee during Sunday worship or hearing him whistle as he counts the kettle donations at the Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Ashland, it’s hard to picture him as a prison warden like the one in “Shawshank Redemption,” filmed at that same Ohio State Reformatory. But this low–key, unflappable man is affectionately known as the “godfather” of corrections in the state of Ohio. He has served as warden at six Ohio institutions over the course of his career, worked as deputy director for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections with responsibility for 16 of Ohio’s prisons, and had a three–year stint on the state’s parole board.

Not here to punish Norm’s philosophy on prison is simple. “There needs to be order, structure, but we’re not there to punish anyone— the court has already done that.” He’s seen the pendulum swing from his early days when prison work was more punitive in nature; inmates were expected to walk in lock–step; and the water in the toilets froze in the lower level cells in Mansfield. Now, with dormitory–style housing, extensive vocational training and educational opportunities, and therapeutic support, prison has become much more humanized. Norm jokingly calls it “hug–a–thug,” but he knows it’s better than the old days. “We’ve got to do a lot more inside– out work, preparing the inmates to suc8

ceed when they leave prison,” he says. That includes spiritual preparation. “Many of the men come to prison with Grandma’s religion tucked away inside them, and they discover that inside, ‘there ain’t nothing else,’ ” Norm says. He lights up as he describes the expansion of the Kairos ministry at North Central Correctional Complex, his current responsibility. This international ministry, whose goal is to grow and nurture strong Christian communities within prison walls, recently targeted 25 young inmates for a Kairos weekend, pairing them up with committed believers at the prison. Some of the men, Norm says, were tough guys, and he expected a number to back out of the program. But, to his surprise and delight, 100% stayed through the weekend. One man told Norm, “I’m not going back—I’m committed to this walk of faith.” Both The Salvation Army and prison work have become a family affair for the Hills. Norm and his wife, Donna, along with daughter, Corey, and her husband, Kevin, came to the Kroc Center dedication weekend April 2009, and they’ve found a home there. Norm and Donna are now faithful soldiers (members of the congregation).

thing deeply profound from her dad. “He looked at me and said, ‘Don’t ever forget that inmates are people too.’ I was like, ‘WHAT?’ and thought to myself, ‘That’s it?’ As time went on and I spent more and more time working in a prison, I realized how important his advice was.” Corey later left prison work due to health problems, but her husband, Kevin, carries on as a captain at Cleveland’s Northeast Pre–Release Center. What of the future for Norm? To the man who’s been lured out of retirement three times by new challenges, who knows? Donna, his wife of 43 years, has had health problems in recent months, with 1–year–old Anthony just blocks from his home, Norm would like to be closer to Ashland. But prison work gets in the blood. It was Salvation Army Founder William Booth who said, “While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, I’ll fight.” It’s likely that Booth wanted to find a way to keep people from entering prison, but Norm Hills can claim those words too; he wants to provide men with the vocational and spiritual tools to stay out of prison once they are released.

profound advice When Corey followed her dad into corrections work, she asked him for advice. She never forgot what he said: “I’m going to tell you one thing and you need to remember this for your entire career.” She thought she would be hearing somewww.prioritypeople.org

‘I am transformed’ by Robert Mitchell

onny Foringer has had quite a life for someone who is only 27 years old. He grew up without a father in Sierra Vista, Ariz., near the border with Mexico. As a child, he often heard gunshots in his neighborhood. Drugs invaded his life early and he was involved in a Mexican gang. “I was a big–time drug addict, actually,” Ronny says. “I was selling it, running it, using it for like 10 years. It started when I was 9.” Ronny’s heart almost stopped once while he was doing drugs and he was in the line of fire a few times. He was also sexually abused as a child. “Jesus had His hand on me,” Ronny says. “I shouldn’t be alive, honestly. I should be dead right now, but there has to be a reason God has kept me alive. I know that He’s been calling me [to] something bigger.” Ronny entered the Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC) in Tucson, Ariz., but he admits he didn’t take the program seriously at first. He was constantly written up, fought with the staff and other clients, and stole property. He was eventually kicked out for stealing a laptop, but after another drug relapse, he returned to the ARC in Tucson vowing that this time would be different. www.prioritypeople.org

Who’s News

“I’ve rededicated my life a lot, but I always knew I still wanted to get high,” Ronny says. “When I came back this time, in my heart, I [knew I] was done. “Right then, I knew it was God telling me, ‘You’re not going to do it anymore.’ Right there I knew I couldn’t steal anymore. I [thought], I can’t act like this. I have to learn how to change. Since that day, I’ve been learning how to change my behaviors and my attitude.” Ronny also has come to grips with the sexual abuse that he hid from the world for years.

a life built off one moment “I didn’t like who I was,” he says. “That’s why I got high. I had to deal with me. As soon as I did that, I was able to move on in my life. … My whole life has been built off that one moment.” Ronny, who graduated from the Tucson ARC five years ago, has now been clean of drugs and alcohol for six years. He was enrolled as a senior soldier (member) at the Tucson Amphi Corps (church) two years ago. Captain Jason Koenig, corps officer

(pastor) at the Tucson Amphi Corps, says Ronny is a “very active” soldier who holds two jobs: one with the after–school and Summer Day Camp programs at the corps and another handling IT at a Toyota dealership. “His past could have kept him from truly changing his life, [but] during the past two years he has become more seasoned about following God’s plan for his life,” Koenig says. Ronny says, “I know God has utilized me in a way that I would have never been able to do if [my past had] never happened to me.” Ronny recently graduated from ITT Technical Institute with an associate’s degree and is working on a bachelor’s. “His life is a great example of how a person gives himself to God, and God works miracles,” Koenig said. Ronny is also the high school Sunday school teacher, the driver who picks up youth on Sunday morning, and the church’s multi–media person. “With his computer expertise, he has assisted in setting up our GED lab and our youth computer lab, along with im-

proving our multimedia in the chapel,” Koenig said. “He feels that this is the church home in which God has led him to continue to grow and be active.” “I’ve just grown tremendously the last two years since I’ve been here,” Ronny says of the corps. Ronny says he is inspired by Salvation Army Founder William Booth and, like Booth, wants to help “others.” “Who did Jesus go and help? He helped the lost and hungry, and so that’s what I believe true religion is,” Ronny says. “We should just go out there and help people, and that’s what The Salvation Army does. That’s why I love it. “I also want to give back what was freely given to me. I would still be out there or I’d be dead if it wasn’t for The Salvation Army.” Ronny says he also is driven by the words of James 1:27, which says to look after orphans and widows and keep from becoming “polluted.” Whether it’s with drug addicts or the victims of child sex abuse, Ronny has already helped people and says he wants to make an even bigger difference.

Finding Fulfillment in Fashion Story and photos by Jackie Bentson

ven as a child, Sarah Kincaid says she was fascinated by the fashion industry. “I liked sewing, dress–up, and ‘Punky Brewster’ [a 1980s sitcom] from a young age and worked at a clothing store in high school.”

In 2002 Sarah left her home state of Michigan to pursue her dreams. She attended Columbia College in Chicago to study fashion merchandising and management. To help pay her expenses, she worked 30 hours a week at a trendy retail chain store just off Michigan

Avenue in the heart of the city. “I really enjoyed working [there],” recalls Sarah. “I loved the people I met and learned a great deal about business management, delegation, and teamwork.” She coupled her degree and work experience with a personal enrichment www.prioritypeople.org

“I felt God was pushing me back toward retail, but in a God–honoring environment. So I prayed about it.” In 2012 God opened another door. Sarah was offered a different job with The Salvation Army, this time with the Chicago North Side, Ill., Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC). As store merchandising supervisor, she would oversee the center’s nine thrift stores, which had a new emphasis on creating a higher–end thrift store experience. study–abroad program in London. Sarah’s career seemed to be on track, yet she wasn’t so sure it was the right track. “Selling merchandise that didn’t cost much to make at a high price point never sat well with me,” says Sarah. “I became more concerned about the source of these items. I’d wonder, ‘Who in Cambodia is making this purse?’ or ‘Are they being paid fairly?’ ” During this time Sarah also felt a greater need to live a life fully submitted to God. She had a hard time seeing how working in fashion could be fulfilling spiritually. “I had to remove myself from the retail industry because I wasn’t sure how God–honoring it was,” says Sarah. “I believe that your work is a form of worship; it’s one of the ways you love and serve God.” Sarah accepted a position at the Salwww.prioritypeople.org

vation Army’s Central Territorial Headquarters in Des Plaines, Ill. In her job, she raised funds to support Salvation Army children’s homes and represented Sally Ann Fair Trade products, which provide sustainable income for women in developing nations. Sarah could be true to her convictions and fulfill another passion—helping others.

Finding god–honoring niche But her skills and passion for merchandising never wavered, so in her spare time, she started retailing vintage clothing and household items both online and through an event called the Vintage Bazaar in Chicago. Scouring the area for worthy secondhand items soon became one of Sarah’s strengths. “Once I was more mature in my faith, I started thinking even more critically about the ethical and environmental choices consumers make,” says Sarah.

thrift store maven She readily accepted the position. Not only does Sarah see how it fits with her education, skills, desires, and experiences, but she also agrees with what the thrift stores stand for environmentally. “It’s one of the best forms of recycling,” she says. “Instead of used items becoming garbage, they’re either resold or recycled.” And the proceeds from thrift store sales benefit ARC beneficiaries working to get out of a lifestyle of addiction. “Not only do I love what I do, [but] it [also] supports people who need help. It’s something I can get behind and something I want to be a part of,” says Sarah. “It seems as though the things I’ve studied, the places I’ve worked, and the ways I’ve served [have] all led up to the place I’m at. God answered my prayers to work for Him in a way that excites and fulfills me.” 11

All That I Am

Foxworthy: Not ‘Churchy,’ Just Real

You might be a Christian if …

Photography Courtesy Game Show Network

by Robert Mitchell

www.prioritypeople.org

All That I Am

... you had a praying mama.

Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for ATI

“I had one of those prayer warrior moms who prayed for people for 30 years when I’m going, ‘Give up, Mom. They’re not gonna quit drinking. Give up.’ She never does,” says Jeff Foxworthy with a laugh. Today, he’s a famous comedian best known for his “You might be a redneck if … ” jokes and most recently, hosting the TV game shows “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” and the wildly popular “The American Bible Challenge.” In case you’re wondering, Jeff is a Christian himself. He accepted Jesus at age 7 while growing up in Atlanta. He can still remember the Sunday morning he told his mother, Carole, he was going forward for the altar call. “My mother grabbed me and she said, ‘No, you’re too young to know what you’re doing.’ I guess I argued, which is one of my gifts, to the point that she had the preacher come to the house that afternoon and sit down and talk to me. The preacher walked out going, ‘He knows what he’s doing.’ ” Jeff went back to church that night and walked the aisle officially.

‘Churchy people’ “I knew at a real early age that I loved the Lord, but I always had a kind of a dichotomy in that I knew I loved the 14

www.prioritypeople.org

Lord, but I would also look at these ‘churchy’ people and I knew I couldn’t be like that,” Jeff says. “I knew I was wired different. That was probably a struggle for 25 years to figure that out. “You know, is it possible to love the Lord and yet not look, dress, and act like you had everything going on? It took 25 years to finally hear the whisper of Him going, ‘Do you not think I know how you’re wired? I wired you. I don’t want you to be like that. I’ve got something different for you.’ Boy, that was freeing.” What God had for Jeff was a career as a stand–up comic, television star, and game show host. Jeff was working at IBM in Atlanta when he won a stand–up humor contest and his career skyrocketed. He is now the best–selling comedy recording artist in history. Many Americans got to know Jeff, a multiple Grammy nominee and the author of 11 books, when he hosted “5th Grader.”

settings are not where he is most comfortable. He has led a weekly Bible study at The Atlanta Mission, a homeless shelter, for the last four years. “Even today, He’s my favorite thing to talk about, but I don’t really want to go talk about Him in churches,” Jeff says. “I’d much rather be down at the Mission talking to crack addicts and alcoholics. They get it. They understand grace better than ‘churchy’ people.”

Jeff says he attended a documentary festival at the Carter Center when, just by chance, he saw brochures and a display table for The Atlanta Mission. He admits that his previous involvement with homeless people consisted of giving them a few dollars from his car.

The least of these He soon found himself down at the Mission and, after he went there lunch a few

Jeff with Team Minnie’s Food Pantry on ‘The American Bible Challenge.’

Army connections In March, Jeff will begin his second season hosting the Game Show Network’s “American Bible Challenge.” The one– hour show’s first episode last year drew 2.3 million viewers, the largest audience in GSN’s 17–year history. The Salvation Army, which sponsors the show, receives a $1 donation from GSN for every download of the show’s free iPhone or iPad app, a mini–version of the show, complete with Jeff’s voice. Jeff has also spoken at Salvation Army events in Georgia, but church www.prioritypeople.org

All That I Am

“I jokingly say now I didn’t want to be standing in line in hell looking up and going, ‘It was the game show, right?’ ” Jeff says with a laugh. “I never want to do anything to trivialize God. So my first thought was, I didn’t want God to be a game show. “I wanted it to be for people who were seeking, or didn’t know what they were doing, to look at it and be able to see something there that they wanted to be a part of. Jeff is the best–selling comedy recording artist in history.

times, the director asked Jeff to lead a small group. “I looked at him and said, ‘You couldn’t find anyone more qualified than me to do this?’ ” Jeff recalls. But he agreed and started out with only 12 of the 120 men in the program. “Now, four years later, I have about 25 guys that go down there with me to lead every Tuesday morning and we have all 120 guys in the program in a small group,” Jeff says. “You look and go, ‘Wow. That’s kind of cool.’ One little step of faith and look what God’s done.” Jeff says when he first started leading the group, some questioned if he would return the next week. He did. “They’re so used to people just popping in and out of their life,” Jeff says. “When I first started going down there, I was Mr. Foxworthy. Now I’m just Jeff, which is kind of where I like to be.” 16

Jeff says volunteering at the Mission has been one of the blessings of his life.

Another show “I look at these guys and I’m thinking, ‘There but for the grace of God am I.’ Yet the relentless pursuit of the Father is no greater for me than it is for them. It just makes me very grateful. They bless me. I love these guys. You’d pay money to listen to these guys pray. “The Mission is something of such worth compared to most of what I do in life. Not that there isn’t value in laughter, and I think there is, but this is real value down there.” Jeff had a similar attitude about “churchy people” when he was first approached about hosting “The American Bible Challenge.” If the show was only going to appeal to Christians, he told the organizers he had no interest.

Love and grace “That wasn’t going to come through people who had knowledge of Abraham’s lineage. It was going to come from seeing people going out in their community and lovin’ on other people, you know, feedin’ people that needed feedin.’ ” When Jeff heard that the contestants would not be playing for themselves but to win prize money for a charity of their choice, he was in. “That was different and showed [the contestants] loving people,” he said. “That kind of brought me around to say, ‘OK, let’s do this.’ “I felt like from the beginning, here is my role: I want to be the guy pushing love and grace in all of this.” Jeff laughed when asked how he would do as a contestant. “I’d do a lot better on the New Testament stuff than the Old Testament stuff,” he says. “They’d probably kill me on pronunciation. “If anybody ever saw the cards that I hold, it’s the phonetic pronunciation of a www.prioritypeople.org

lot of those Old Testament names. I’d do OK. I don’t think I would win. My mom would tear them up. My mom would do really good.”

Critical acclaim Jeff says he is surprised by the show’s success; it was picked up for another season. “Bible Challenge” is now GSN’s top original series ever. “I guess I shouldn’t be [surprised],” he says. “God can do anything He wants. It’s the highest–rated thing in the history of the network. Part of me went, ‘Wow, a show about the Bible on a non– Christian network is the highest–rated thing they’ve ever done.’ “Hardly a day goes by that people don’t come up now and want to talk about the show. It’s always positive. People like it. If we get to reflect that light a little bit and show what it can do in and through you on a game show, that’s neat.” Jeff says he braced for criticism of “Bible Challenge,” but not from the secular world. He figured it would come from Christians who “think we can’t have fun or do something like this.” “I think that’s one of the biggest shortcomings of modern–day Christians is that a lot of us just lose our joy, yet it’s one of the attributes God breathed into us,” Jeff says. “I just want to look at them and say, ‘It’s OK to laugh. It’s OK to have fun. God can handle it.’ “We don’t need to be as hung up and as uptight as we are sometimes. I think people on the outside look at it and say, www.prioritypeople.org

‘That doesn’t look like a whole lot of fun.’ When in truth, it should be. We should be the most freed–up people on the planet. Shouldn’t we?” Jeff says he believes God gave the world children so we could see how He feels about us. “I know when my kids are laughing and my kids are happy, it thrills me,” Jeff says. “It just thrills me all the way through and through. I think He feels that way about us. If we believe what we say, we should have a smile on our face all the time.”

Clean humor Jeff was once part of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour with Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and Ron White. Jeff never uses profanity in his stand–up act, and audiences can sense there is something

different about him. “Sometimes I’ll walk up to the line, but I don’t want to cross the line,” he says. “I think you can talk about just about anything if you give the audience a little credit. There’s joy in that when people come up and say, ‘You’re the only comic I let my kids listen to.’ I’m like, ‘Cool.’ ” When Jeff became the best–selling comic of all time, reporters asked if that meant he was the funniest in history. Jeff doesn’t think so. “It just means I had a wider audience. I had stuff you didn’t have to turn off when your aunt and uncle walked in the room. I probably started that way because I was always scared my mother might come into the back of the club. I didn’t want to have to answer to her,” he says with a laugh.

Contestants with Jeff on “Bible Challenge.” 17

see

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“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” —Psalm 139:14 (NIV)

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www.womensministries-tsa.org Commissioners Barry C. & Sue Swanson Territorial Leaders

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OVERSEAS

Graham, 5 years old, walks home from school in K ibera, Africa’s largest slum. He is fortunate. Most of the children in his school are AIDS orphans. Graham’s mom is HIV–positive, but she is healthy. She is grateful that The Salvation Army helps with Graham’s school fees. You can help children like Graham all around the world through Overseas Child Sponsorship. Call Today!

Northeast: (845) 620–7237 | South: (404) 728–1366 | Central U.S.: (847) 294–2065 | West: (562) 491–8301

Prayer Power

Forsaking All for Him, Then a Gift by JoAnn Shade

signments agonizing, and she longed for her estranged family. But there were no letters from home in Norwalk, Conn. How she wrestled in prayer during those long autumn nights! Surely she had rightly heard the call of God to become a Salvation Army officer. She had been willing to forsake mother and father to serve the lost, but she hadn’t realized how much she would miss her tight–knit family, how her loneliness amidst the bustle of the training school would cut so deeply. “Lord, give me a sign,” she prayed. “Help me to know whether to return home or to remain here in the Bronx. I just don’t know what to do.” On Dec. 22, as the other cadets prepared to travel home for Christmas, Myrtle was resigned to spending the holiday in the training school. Just then, a young cadet called to her from the doorway.

surprise visitor Myrtle and Amos Shade

ineteen–year–old Myrtle Cogswell, one of 15 children from a poor Connecticut family, entered training school to become a Salvation Army officer in September 1929 against the wishes of her mother, who depended on her daughter’s wages from the pocketbook factory to feed her large family. She told Myrtle that if she went to New York, she never wanted to see her again. Her heart torn between obedience to her mother and to God, Myrtle traveled to the Bronx with just a few belongings. With only an eighth–grade education, Myrtle struggled to keep up in classes. Her natural shyness made the sermon aswww.prioritypeople.org

“Myrtle, you have a visitor downstairs.” No one had come to call on her in four months—who could it be? Myrtle quickly pulled on her uniform tunic and hurried down the imposing staircase to the large foyer. From the steps, she saw a tiny woman pacing back and forth in front of the mullioned window. Hesitantly, the woman turned around and extended a box toward the young cadet. “I kept worrying about my girl, so far away and without a warm coat, so I had to come to make sure you were warm enough,” Mrs. Cogswell finally said. The prayer of a frightened young girl had been richly answered in that unadorned winter coat, a symbol of reconciliation and grace. In the years ahead, as Lieutenant Cogswell shivered in the shadow of Pennacook Falls in Rumford, Maine, traipsed up and down the hills of Ithaca, N.Y., and established a home in Binghamton, N.Y., with the young Amos Shade, that simple coat remained a steadfast companion, a treasured reminder of a mother’s love for her daughter, of a Father’s faithfulness to His child. 21

Prayer Power

All by Grace by Lindsay Bonilla

ike most people in his native Colombia, Estith Bonilla grew up Catholic, but by high school, he had his doubts about God. “I thought Christians were crazy,” he says. “I enjoyed ridiculing the ones in my school and neighborhood.” Then Estith’s older sister, Vicky, became a believer and decided to hold a prayer meeting in their home. Estith saw that as an opportunity to corner more Christians with his difficult theological questions. But when he entered the living room where they were gathered, instead of demanding that they give their proof for God, he listened. As the meeting drew to a close, the leader looked at Estith and asked if he would like to pray to receive Christ. “I have no idea why,” says Estith, “but I nodded my head and repeated the sinner’s prayer.” The entire group was overjoyed. They invited Estith to attend church that Sunday, and he agreed. However, once they had left, he found himself not at peace but frustrated. “I was thinking, ‘What’s wrong with me? What have I done?’ I had Left: Estith Bonilla today in front of his home church, Akron Citadel Corps. Below: Estith as a teen with his sister, Vicky.

www.prioritypeople.org

made a confession of faith that I didn’t really understand or believe, and I hadn’t asked any of my questions.”

determined to get answers The last thing Estith wanted to do was to attend church, but being a man of his word, he decided to go. However, this time he was determined to get the answers to his questions, even if it meant causing a disturbance. “I told Vicky that if I heard the pastor say anything that I didn’t agree with that I would stand up and challenge him on the spot.” Vicky begged him not to, explaining that he should wait until the service concluded and speak with the pastor privately. Estith didn’t make any promises. The church met in a small garage, and when Estith arrived on Sunday morning, he found the congregation praising and worshiping God. “I stood in the doorway watching people lifting their hands and shouting, ‘Hallelujah,’ and I thought, ‘What in the world am I doing here? These people are crazy!’ ”

a first prayer from the heart But since he was already there, he went in. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t even know how to pray other than by recitation. But I got down on my knees like I saw the others doing and said, ‘God, if you’re real, if you’re in this place, then show me.’ That was the first prayer that came from my heart.” Soon tears were flooding down Estith’s cheeks. “I didn’t understand what was happening, but looking back, I believe the Holy Spirit touched my heart.” After that experience, Estith became very involved in his church. By the age of 15, he was preaching God’s Word in the public squares of his hometown, Manizales. “Once someone threw a bucket of water on me to make me stop,” he recalls www.prioritypeople.org

with a laugh. “Another time, an inebriated man tried to beat me up.” But Estith’s passion for the Gospel could not be quenched, and when he wasn’t preaching in his hometown, he and a friend would make weekend trips to remote Colombian villages, sometimes traveling hours on foot.

preaching with a megaphone “We would preach on the street corner, speaking into a megaphone so the whole village could hear. Then afterward we went door to door visiting the people and asking them what they thought of the message.” Four years later Estith moved to Spain. As soon as he got settled, he began looking for a church. “I went to a phone booth and began calling random churches. On my fifth call, someone answered at the Salvation Army’s Madrid Central Corps (church) and said they were holding a prayer meeting that night.” Estith went and has been a part of The Salvation Army ever since. Today Estith and his wife, Lindsay, are soldiers at the Akron, Ohio, Citadel Corps where Estith participates in the worship band. They have also had the privilege of serving overseas with a Hands On mission team. However, Estith recognizes that none of this would have been possible without prayer. “God has guided my path every step of the way and shown me that the answers to my questions lie in faith. I wasn’t seeking Him. In fact, I was fighting against Him, but through the fighting He found me.” What started as simple prayer he didn’t understand has led to a life lived in faith. “It’s all by grace,” says Estith. “All by grace.” 23

Salvation Story

A Connection Severed by Addiction Photography by Mark Peterman/Getty Images

by Robert Mitchell

As a 10–year–old growing up in Arizona, Jeff Taylor would ride his bike to church and says he felt a “big connection” with God. But drug abuse would cause him to lose that—for a long time.

www.prioritypeople.org

Salvation Story

“W

henever you start abusing a medication or a drug or a mind–altering substance, it severs your relationship with God,” Jeff says. “That conscious contact you have with that tremendous power is just gone. It just exits. I lived my entire drug– abusing life without any connection.” Jeff’s childhood wasn’t perfect, but he remembers it as a “life of privilege.” He was a star golfer in Arizona as a teenager and his high school friends were drug– free. Jeff also was an All–State football player and highly recruited by several colleges. He ended up living the dream of every Arizona schoolboy when he earned a football scholarship to the University of Arizona. Then, injured while playing football, Jeff was given painkillers. “I never forgot how the narcotics made me feel,” he says.

Having it all, Losing it all Jeff began abusing drugs at age 19 after his mother committed suicide. The problem accelerated after college when he landed a job with a prestigious Wall Street securities firm. It was the 80s and drugs were everywhere. “Cocaine was rampant in that business back then,” Jeff recalls. “Older people, younger people; there was a lot of cocaine on Wall Street. It was the designer drug. It was at parties. It was used like alcohol used to be.” Even as Jeff made more and more money for his clients, his addictions began to take over his life. He went 26

Jeff in his prison days

through two failed marriages and several jobs where he tried to hide his problem. He eventually ended up homeless on the streets of Phoenix, committing “survival crimes” to fund his drug habit. “Lost it all,” he says. “You don’t live on the streets unless you’ve lost it all, and it only took about four years.” Jeff tells several harrowing stories of God saving him from the dangerous people he stole from, but he also accumulated a long list of felonies across Arizona. Now 54, Jeff has been incarcerated a total of 28 months through six jail sentences and one prison term. A turning point came when he was arrested in 1995 and sent to the Coconino County Jail in Flagstaff, where he got sick and couldn’t eat for a month. Jeff was called to a meeting and told that tests showed he was HIV–positive.

Death sentence “Drugs and alcohol rob most people of their ability to care,” Jeff says. “I didn’t care. I had just been told basically that I’m going to die in prison because I was

looking at probably a four– to six–year prison sentence. “In 1995, AIDS was a death sentence. I would have been dead quicker than if I had gotten a death sentence in court.” Jeff just wanted to go back to his cell, but the sheriff explained that was not possible. Jeff had been in fights, and he had to be isolated; he was sent to a windowless cell with a slot in the door to receive his food each day. Angry with God, Jeff would yell at the jail guards and at no one in particular. The guards would turn off the lights and make him sit in the dark when he threw fits. “That’s when God decided to reveal Himself to me,” Jeff says. “The only way I’ve ever really been able to explain it is if you’re a little kid and you’re scared and you have a nightmare and you’re just terrified and you run into your parents’ bed, where you felt secure and things would be OK.

Learning humility “Just take that feeling, from being terrified to being loved and secure in an instant, and multiply it times 100 and that’s how I felt. As I’m sitting in this cell, I had a great time. I had God’s Holy Spirit in me. I don’t hear God speaking; I feel God telling me, ‘It’s all going to be OK.’ It was just a life–changing event.” Jeff began to see miracles. New tests showed that he was not HIV– positive. His big break came when a judge sentenced him to the Salvation Army Harbor Light in Phoenix. When he arrived in August 1995, the www.prioritypeople.org

Jeff (right) with Lt. Colonel Joe Posillico, divisional commander for the Salvation Army’s Southwest Division, and National Advisory Board member Marlene Klotz–Collins.

former Wall Street trader was assigned to the dish–washing room. “I was in a 50–percent tax bracket and now I’m doing dishes,” Jeff recalls. “I said, ‘This is humiliating.’ They said, ‘No, it isn’t. You’re just being humbled. Do a good job in there. Do it for God. Clean those plates as if you’re cleaning them for God.’ ” Chapel was at 6 a.m., and Jeff can still remember the Salvation Army officers starting the day with a cheery, “Don’t we have an awesome God?” The beneficiaries also attended professional counseling classes and did all the chores before the day ended at 9 p.m. www.prioritypeople.org

Learning to love himself “We earned our bed there,” Jeff says. “It was a great model. It brought structure into our lives. It was the hardest thing I ever did. What’s easy is lying around a prison cell. “It taught us discipline and structure and, more importantly, it gave us the ability to accept the Holy Spirit and just turn our will over to God’s will.” Jeff graduated from the Harbor Light in February 1996 but stayed on until 2002 as an employee and community liaison. “The drug treatment delivered by The Salvation Army is by far more ef-

fective than any other modality of treatment, no question,” Jeff says. “They just love you until you learn to love yourself.” The Salvation Army also sent Jeff for accreditation to run Arizona’s first state– licensed nursery for children of homeless and drug–addicted parents. “Getting that license was difficult,” Jeff says. “We had 28 drug–free babies born there.” Jeff later became a lobbyist and expert witness at the Arizona legislature. Being a border state with Mexico, Arizona has a huge drug problem and its state prison population has exploded in recent years. 27

Salvation Story

Becoming activist Jeff says 48 percent of Arizona’s state prisoners are back behind bars within four years. “This is not sustainable financially,” he says. Jeff says Arizona spends 12 percent of its state budget on corrections at the expense of other pressing needs. “We’ve decimated education,” he says. “We’re way out of balance. We’re closing school districts. Class sizes are getting bigger and we have higher dropout rates. “As I tell the legislature, ‘If you continue to cut education, you’d better build bigger prisons because you’re going to need them down the road.’ We’re all backwards on what we’re funding. What we fund is the wreckage of addictions— that’s police, courts, and prisons. Why don’t we fund treatment, education, and diversion?” For example, Jeff explains, “I was released with the same drug problem I was arrested with every time—until I was sent to The Salvation Army. Then they focused on the drug problem. We can’t incarcerate the addiction out of somebody. It just doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that half of them go back.” Jeff worked to get the state to allocate $10 million to fund residential treatment for parents at risk of losing their children due to addiction. He was instrumental in getting another bill passed, which offers a tax credit for donations to orga28

nizations such as The Salvation Army that serve the homeless and families in poverty. A third bill he helped get through was to release first– and second–time drug offenders 90 days early to receive transitional services.

Relapse, recovery In 2006, Jeff had another setback. He was riding his bike when a car struck him; he suffered broken bones and a chest injury. He relapsed with painkillers and committed a drug–motivated crime that landed him in prison for two years. While there, Jeff heard the original transitional legislation was not being implemented. Through inmate mail, he helped get new legislation passed that released non–violent offenders to receive transitional services. “You don’t tell me God doesn’t exist,” Jeff says. “It’s hard enough to get any legislation to benefit prisoners in the state of Arizona.” Today, Jeff works for Phoenix–based Sage Counseling, which delivers transitional services, as its designated lobbyist. “We engage [clients] in everything from furthering their education to parenting classes to drug treatment to getting them jobs,” he says. “We do 70 groups a week just in the Maricopa County Jail.” Jeff says the number of repeat offenders is starting to come down in Arizona.

“Were just getting rolling on this,” he says. “That’s God.” Looking back, Jeff says he would wind down each day after trading stocks and think how empty his life was. Today, he helps the “least of these” find wholeness and eternal life through his work with Sage Counseling and at Mountain Park Community Church in Phoenix. “I always felt like a fish out of water,” he says. “I created wealth for people who didn’t need more wealth. That’s pretty empty. I wasn’t doing any community service or helping out my fellow man in any way.”

Peace of mind It’s 10 a.m. on a typical weekday for Jeff and he has already been on the phone with two families, helping their drugaddicted children. “Making a lot of money never did me or anybody else around me any good,” Jeff says. “The work I do today, you can’t put a price on. I go to bed with peace of mind and a feeling of accomplishment, doing what God designed me to do. “Leading them to the Lord and having the Lord remove their desire to use drugs. What bigger gift is there than that?” When asked what Christ means in his life today, Jeff says, “Everything.” “I wouldn’t be sitting here today,” he says. “I wouldn’t be doing the work that I do today.” www.prioritypeople.org

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Making a lot of money never did me or anyone else around me any good.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

‘I’m old enough to know something about preparing for the future.’ —Edwin Lee, Salvation Army intern.

“As part of my education, I’m preparing for the future by helping The Salvation Army. I found that the Army helps many people plan for their family’s future with information on wills and estate planning. The information is provided at no charge. “

Doing the most good®

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The Advisors

A Highly Caffeinated, Humble New Yorker

Photography by Antonio Bolfo/Reportage by Getty Images

by Linda D. Johnson

In the ultimate of corporate workplaces, Marciaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beliefs are no secret.

www.prioritypeople.org

The Advisors

arcia Larson lives the life of a busy New Yorker. In her early 30s, she’s an HR project manager at Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal and has worked for News Corporation (Dow Jones’ parent company) since 2007. She manages people and projects until they get done, which has earned her the nickname “bossypants.” She oversees an internship program, deals with vendors, runs speed–recruiting events, teaches Twitter, and handles all the details of projects. When she goes home at night, it’s to an apartment in the financial district downtown. Marcia does live a fast–paced life. But she is unlike most of her corporate peers in one significant way: she is a Christian. And that makes her anything but typical. For one thing, that downtown apartment might as well be a house church. Marcia lives with three of her five siblings: Wally Jr., the eldest; Esther (#5); and Leslie, the youngest (Marcia is #4). They have devotions together on Sunday and use their apartment for a small group Bible study and to show hospitality throughout the week. Of course, as in any family, there are squabbles. Sometimes the sisters want to watch “American Idol” and Wally just isn’t interested. “The baby (Leslie) often can’t get to dessert fast enough before some of us dig in (OK, that’s me spelunking in the Ben & Jerry’s!),” says Marcia. But she adds, “It’s a blessing to have a support system and to share life together. God hasn’t blessed us with spouses yet so in the 32

interim we’re living as family. It’s a bit countercultural.”

‘Best audiovisual’ In the ultimate of corporate workplaces, Marcia’s beliefs are no secret. “Being out of the closet as a Christian means people expect more of me. It makes me think twice about what I say and do,” Marcia says. “Joni Eareckson Tada, my hero, says her personal mission statement is to be the ‘best audiovisual for Christ the world can see.’ I pray that may be true in my own life.” In the city, Marcia keeps her life in balance through involvement at Redeemer Presbyterian Downtown, where Timothy Keller is the senior pastor. “Tim really speaks to a Type A New Yorker, someone who can get overly focused on doing and achieving, the person who is often the older brother [or sister] in the Prodigal Son story; the older brother who thinks ‘Well, I’ve been good, so where’s my reward?’ … “My favorite Tim sermon was on Hannah. … He explained that if we can’t handle God saying ‘no,’ we’re actually living out a prosperity theology of sorts. “Are we asking God for more of Him or more of His gifts? Can God say ‘no’ to a child or a job or a husband or health and still know that like Job, I’ll say, ‘Blessed be your name’? That hit home. Sometimes my prayer list is so selfish.”

First meeting From a very young age, Marcia has learned just the opposite: humility.

Her family’s life verse is taken from Micah 6:8. “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Before she could begin that walk, she needed to find Jesus for herself. That happened at Vacation Bible School when she was just 5. “I knew about Heaven, and I understood that’s where I wanted to go. So I accepted Jesus,” Marcia remembers. Then came a follow–up conversation with her grandfather about what it meant to accept Christ. He encouraged Marcia and her siblings to memorize Scripture. “In the interest of full disclosure, my grandfather provided a nice financial incentive, $1 a verse. Poor G–diddy had to retract that offer when we memorized all of Ephesians!”

Psalm 119:11 As an adult, Marcia has come to realize that Psalm 119:11 (“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”) is “the key to knowing God’s heart and truly living for Him.” Today Marcia begins with a devotional time each morning and a “spirit of perpetual prayer throughout the day. When the Word says we’re to ‘pray without ceasing,’ it reminds me that though the hymn says ‘I need thee every hour,’ it’s more like every minute.” Marcia’s adult faith is also “more about what God has called her TO than what God has saved her FROM (hell).” www.prioritypeople.org

‘ … though the hymn says “I need thee every hour,” it’s more like every minute.’

www.prioritypeople.org

The Advisors

She began to see purpose outside herself as early as age 9, when she went on her first mission trip with Teen Missions International. Later, mission projects to Pakistan and Afghanistan

revealed to her the power of freedom in Christ, particularly for a woman. “When Galatians says we’re ‘neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female,’ it’s a powerful statement about how God

views His children and why the Salvation Army has a female General.”

Army in the family Marcia is a third–generation supporter

Marcia’s NAB Blog

arcia Larson immerses herself in social media, so it seemed natural that when she joined the Salvation Army’s National Advisory Board, she would start a blog about her experiences.

asked. As Mark Abels likes to remind me, ‘I’m not old.’ Not very experienced. And yet you’ve welcomed a 32–year–old single woman so warmly and lovingly into your ranks. Thank you.

On her induction:

entry titled ‘Not Today’:

I felt a little bit like Saul … not Saul chasing after David, but early Saul. The Saul who at the beginning of 1 Samuel is tapped by God to step up to leadership and responds, ‘But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin?’ Later, Saul runs over and hides in the luggage (chapter 18). I didn’t hide in my suitcase … but was tempted … It is humbling to be

A man with no limbs called out to a woman for help. Reluctantly the woman said, ‘Not today … I don’t have any money for you.’ ‘M’am, I don’t want your money. I just wondered if you could button the top button of my vest since it’s so cold?’ I’m writing this with tears rolling down my cheeks to think of how often I’ve ignored the Holy Spirit’s prompting to help—assuming someone wanted money, when they just really needed a helping hand.

Being on the board of the NAB is more than advising on business matters. It’s about being reminded of not just what we’re called to DO (the Most Good for the Most High) but who we’re called to BE in Jesus Christ. …

I pray that in the coming weeks I’ll say ‘today’ when asked to help a stranger in need. I’ll say ‘today’ when God asks me to speak up for His glory. I’ll say ‘today’ when asked to BE and DO good for His glory and the furtherance of His Kingdom.

www.prioritypeople.org

Courtesy Margaret Larson

of the Army. Her grandfather would always take his children to listen to Salvation Army keyboard and organ players on the street. “I was embarrassed because of my friends,” says Margaret Larson, Marcia’s mom. “We always worked at the soup kitchen too.” When Margaret married her husband, Wallace, he also became involved with the Army and now serves on Phoenix’s Advisory Board. Today, Margaret lives in Phoenix and commutes once a month to visit her Manhattan–based children, where she also volunteers with The Salvation Army in New York, most recently serving on the 2012 Gala Committee with Marcia. She also volunteers for Lyncrest, a Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Program for women in Phoenix. “She has a real heart for this,” Marcia says. Twice a month, Margaret coordinates bringing volunteers to help the 12 women in the program; often, the volunteers are her own kids. The Larson family also put on Salvation Army aprons each Thanksgiving and Christmas as they help serve 5,000 needy people in downtown Phoenix. “It’s a reminder of how blessed we are,” Marcia says. “What I love about the Army is that we’re not just feeding people turkey; we’re feeding people’s hearts with the spiritual nourishment of Christ. As I told Commissioner Bill Roberts recently, the Army gives the

cup of cold water but doesn’t forget the ‘in Jesus’ name’ part.” Roberts is the national commander of The Salvation Army, and as a member of the National Advisory Board, Marcia has come to know and admire him and his wife, Commissioner Nancy Roberts. “It’s a privilege to rub shoulders with people like them,” Marcia says. She’s the youngest member of this

prestigious group, which includes many leaders of business and industry. (See sidebar.)

Micah Global Part of who Marcia Larson is called to be is a servant of the Lord in other lands. Her parents are very much involved in that passion. Back in 1988, Margaret was concerned that Christ was not the 35

The Advisors

Margaret Larson visits with her daughter Marcia in New York City.

center of Wally Jr.’s life, so she sent him on a short–term mission project to Egypt with Teen Missions International. “The Lord used that experience to re–energize Wally’s faith; for many years, each of us siblings served on short–term mission projects around the world,” Marcia says. “These experiences honed my faith, taught me the value of manual labor—we were steel–tying, making bricks, laying sidewalks—and provided a global perspective.” Then, in 1998, Marcia’s parents decided the family would go on mission 36

projects together so they could use their professional gifts as lawyers, reporters, and nonprofit experts on the mission field. That’s when the Larsons founded the Micah Global Foundation, with the family’s life verse as the theme verse. In 2011, the Larsons ministered in Tanzania among the Maasai. “We held orphans left in the fields, dumpsters, even in a latrine,” Marcia says. “These precious children screamed when we put them down after holding them—a reminder of how the physical touch of a fellow human being and the

spiritual touch of our Heavenly Father are our two basic needs. “Tanzania also led us to a ‘stick church’—a bunch of sticks making a circle in the dirt so the 30 of us could worship. So often in New York the physical church and the operating costs require tremendous energy and resources. But church isn’t about the building at all; it’s about what happens in that building. The Maasai taught me that.” Last July, the family trip was to Ghana, where the team partnered with The Salvation Army. www.prioritypeople.org

Courtesy Margaret Larson

Margaret and Leslie Larson (Marcia’s youngest sister) on a mission trip to Papua New Guinea in 1994

“So often in Africa,” Marcia says, “celebrities join trendy causes. People make promises, pull out, and have no staying power. What we appreciated about the Army’s approach is that it’s Africans helping Africans. The Army has proven its dedication and perseverance for 90 years—the Army isn’t leaving.” For Marcia, mission trips are not the only way or time she ministers. “I do view my work as ministry, whether it’s at Dow Jones [Wall Street Journal], with our family foundation (Micah Global), working on Salvation Army projects, or by God’s grace, with a family of my own someday. “It’s all done as unto the Lord, and as Dorothy Sayers once said, ‘As we are, so we make.’ ”

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MyTake

When Work Gets Tied Up with Self–Worth by Lindsay Bonilla

Photo by Lambert/Archive Photos

Work can be a great thing, but it cannot be the foundation of our identity.

here does my value come from? As a Christian, I thought I had the answer. You see, I’ve always maintained that my worth comes from God’s love for me. However, for much of my adult life, I fear that I’ve been living out another story altogether. In this other story, my need for success at work has become my own veiled attempt to earn my self–worth. And I don’t think I’m alone. Work has become such a defining part of us that one of the first questions we ask someone we’ve just met is, “What do you do?” In the United States, we consider this perfectly normal, but when I lived in Spain, no one ever asked me that, and it bothered me. After all, who was I apart from what I did?

two work traps In his book, Every Good Endeavor: 38

www.prioritypeople.org

Connecting Your Work to God’s Work, Timothy Keller explains that people are meant to work. Work is one way that we partner with God, following in His creative footsteps. Yet sin entered the picture and mucked things up. As a result, most of us have fallen into one of two traps. We either demonize work, becoming lazy and lethargic, or we elevate it to such heights that we seek our redemption through it, which leads to overwork and exhaustion. Like many Americans, I fall into the second camp. Perhaps that’s why the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10 resonates so deeply with me. I’ve long known that I’m the hard–working Martha. What I didn’t know was that my insistence on being constantly productive was fueled by my need to secure my own redemption rather than receive it at the Savior’s feet.

fleeting ‘success’ Work can be a great thing, but it cannot be the foundation of our identity. That is a role only Christ was meant to fill. And as long as we insist upon having it otherwise, we will never be at peace with ourselves or with our work. I have seen this truth in my own journey as an artist/writer. At various points, www.prioritypeople.org

“success” to me has meant everything from earning a paycheck to booking a prestigious gig to seeing my words in print. But upon accomplishing these goals, I realized that the happiness they brought was fleeting. Soon I was off and running, trying to achieve something bigger and better so I could have that “successful” feeling again. Come to think of it, that sounds like someone in the throes of addiction, which is why the term workaholic should be taken seriously, given how destructive it can be to a person’s well–being and spiritual condition.

loving God through work? But what Keller’s book has helped me understand and what my recent experience corroborates is that once we grasp the fact that our self–worth does not come from our work, we become free to love God and others through it. Today I am intent not on stringing together a list of accomplishments but on figuring out how I can best be an agent of God’s healing and redemption in the world. In fact, one of my favorite places to practice storytelling is in the community room of an inner–city apartment building. There’s no pay and the press isn’t bang-

ing down the doors to broadcast it, but the children can’t wait for my visits. In addition to “working for my redemption,” I’ve also struggled with whether or not I should be in a specifically Christian field of work. But what I’ve realized and come to embrace is that God calls His people to many different vocations, and when the work is done out of love for Him, no vocation should be considered secular. Storytelling and writing are two of the best ways I have of loving God and others. In fact, as I’ve pursued these passions, God has opened doors of ministry that I could never have imagined. I have a long way to go in learning how to sit at the Savior’s feet and receive all my value from Him, but I believe that I’m on the path to a healthier notion of work and its place in my life. In a culture that ascribes value based upon a person’s productivity, Christians have a unique message. But if we want others to grasp it, we must first commit to modeling it in our own lives. In addition to Keller’s book, the writer also recommends The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life by Os Guinness.

Redeemed To Serve

Photography by Darren Hauck/Getty Images

Reclaiming Rocky Soil by Anne Urban

yan Read was in a prison chapel service when he first heard Jesus’ parable of the four soils. Looking back, he knows that for most of his life, he was anything but good soil to receive the Gospel message. In and out of juvenile detention, then county jail, Ryan had finally ended up in the state penetentiary at age 19. He was serving a two–year sentence for a crime involving weapons. 40

In his early years, Ryan says, “I had no sense of right and wrong.” Growing up in a small town in Ohio, he had more or less raised himself with no moral input. Though he lived in a two–parent home, Ryan says his folks were way too absorbed with their own dysfunctional lives. The few things Ryan heard about Jesus were as relevant to him as stories about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the

Tooth Fairy. He just thought adults, like kids, needed something to believe in. “I considered myself an atheist realist,” says Ryan.” I was selfish and manipulative, using people and burning bridges wherever I went.” In prison, Ryan’s first cellmate was an affable “lifer,” so he was content. But then the lifer was replaced by a brand– new, enthusiastic Christian convert. Ryan quickly tired of his new “celly,” www.prioritypeople.org

who more often than not spent his time loudly singing Gospel songs and offering prayers and Scripture readings at the top of his lungs. The only thing Ryan could tolerate about the guy was his impressive card tricks. One day Ryan finally snapped. He shouted, “Please, just chill out, man!” His celly’s response was a promise to teach Ryan card tricks if he came to chapel with him that Sunday. www.prioritypeople.org

And that’s where Ryan heard the parable of the four soils for the first time. “That actually makes sense to me,” he recalls thinking. After the message there was an altar call. Ryan just sat in his chair. Then he thought he heard someone call his name. After a few seconds, Ryan’s cellmate leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Tell God, ‘Yes!’” When Ryan knelt at the altar, his

hearing strangely faded and a vision unfolded: He was kneeling at the foot of the Cross as Christ’s blood flowed down over him. It was imagery totally unfamiliar to him. “When I told people what happened, they went crazy,” Ryan said. In the following months “two wonderful prison chaplains” discipled him and he attended Bible studies with other prisoners who encouraged him. 41

Redeemed To Serve

“I was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit,” he says. But when Ryan was unexpectedly moved to another prison, he suddenly found himself bad soil once more.

Rocks and weeds “I ran into some of my old ‘homies’ and soon started back on drugs and hustling,” Ryan says. When he was released from prison, he entered a correctional halfway house and immediately resumed manipulating people, a skill at which he’d become quite talented. Ryan soon wiggled his way into the affections of a female parole officer and moved in with her. Still in the throes of addiction, he started his first real job as a concrete pourer—and was amazed to discover he was good at something. He took pride in his newfound abilities and was eager to learn more. He worked his way up the company’s ladder to crew leader, but as his success escalated, so did his substance abuse. Soon he lost everything. Everyone he knew, including his family, wrote him off.

puffed up with pride Ryan tried rehab programs from time to time, but his stays never lasted long. “I thought I had too much game and was above it all,” he says. “Even though I was a homeless crackhead by then—robbing people and scraping to get by—I couldn’t see myself as being one of them. I took pride in the fact I could always find a woman and use her for shelter, money and a car.” 42

www.prioritypeople.org

He became a transient, moving from city to city in Ohio, then to Detroit, robbing and playing the dope game along the way. Finally, homeless on a cold winter night wandering the streets of Toledo, Ohio, Ryan came across a Saturday night church service in a high school gym. He hadn’t reached the point of repentance, but knew he could get help there. People at the church prayed with Ryan, took him to a shelter, and offered to buy him a bus ticket. Ryan felt strangely compelled to go to Cleveland.

hen Captain Jerry Henderson met Ryan Read, he knew he’d found the right person to implement the Good Soil Initiative (GSI) at the Salvation Army’s Racine, Wis., Corps (church). Henderson, the corps officer (pastor), had been looking for someone to implement the new program, which deploys youth development coordinators in strategic locations throughout the Midwest to assist youth in their personal development and service to their communities. www.prioritypeople.org

After first stopping at a store to shoplift some new clothes, he boarded the bus. He remembers stumbling out of the bus terminal the next morning in a seedy section of downtown Cleveland. He was cold and disoriented and blinking his eyes at the bright sunlight when an Arab cab driver suddenly appeared by his side. He said, “Come with me,” and whisked Ryan away in his cab, dropping him off in front of a mission shelter. “These people can help you here” were his parting words.

At the Racine Corps, Ryan works with 60 kids ages 5–12. His first project is a culinary arts program that focuses on peer mentoring and is taught by volunteer professionals at the corps. ‘Thirty of our kids will be entering their teens this year,’ he says. ‘Good Soil gives us a chance to concentrate on prevention rather than having to perform intervention later on.’ Ryan is particularly tickled that he’s associated with a program named Good Soil because it resonates with

pride finally broken Ryan stood outside the shelter for a while, still struggling with his stubborn pride. It was beginning to dawn on him that Christ was still reaching out— too many windows and doors had slammed shut or flown open to lead Ryan to this point in his journey. Realizing he had nowhere else to go, Ryan walked up the steps, approached the reception desk, and asked for a bed. He was shocked to be told, “Come back at 4 p.m.”

his personal testimony. His story demonstrates how intensely Christ can pursue someone and how the Gospel seeds we scatter as Christians can really take root. (See main story.) As GSI coordinator, Ryan consults with com-

munity organizations, parents, teachers, schools, and area businesses on aspects of developing good citizenship. He often walks through the community to get the perspectives of residents and shop owners. 43

Redeemed To Serve

That’s when Ryan’s pride finally broke. He begged to come in and just lie down somewhere. Mercifully, he was led to a bed, and his immediate needs were taken care of right away. For the next year, Ryan was enveloped by Christ’s love while living in the shelter. “The staff poured themselves into me. After 45 days, I was clean from drugs,” Ryan says. He began faithfully attending church.

Immersion He eventually moved into transitional housing, started college classes in social 44

sciences, and immersed himself in church ministry. He was happy to do anything for his church, from janitorial work to laying a new parking lot. He had a natural penchant for talking to people about Christ and often did street evangelism. His pastor became his spiritual father and other godly men stepped in to mentor and disciple him. Ryan’s ministry responsibilities grew as he faithfully served God. Eventually he was offered the youth pastor position. Among projects he started was a Christian hip–hop group that proved wildly popular. Several of the kids he

worked with while youth pastor at the church are now serving as missionaries or are students at Christian colleges preparing for ministry. Along the way he caught the eye— then the heart—of Jamie, an associate pastor who had spent time as a missionary in El Salvador. Now married for five years, the Reads have two daughters: Madalyn, 4, and Morgan, 4 months. With a new family to support, Ryan took a job as a case manager at the Salvation Army Railton House, a transitional housing program for parolees and homeless men in Cleveland. After www.prioritypeople.org

Madalyn was born, however, Jamie realized she needed more help, so the Reads moved to her hometown of Milwaukee, where her parents still live.

Home in Racine Hoping to transfer his employment with The Salvation Army, Ryan looked at his options in the greater Milwaukee area and at divisional headquarters, but none fit his needs or interests, so he returned to construction work. A while later, Ryan felt compelled to submit his resume once again to the Army’s divisional headquarters and was www.prioritypeople.org

thrilled to interview for the youth development director position in Racine, a small city just south of Milwaukee. Captain Jerry Henderson, who’d been the corps officer for only a year, described the corps to Ryan as dormant and almost dead. Its congregation was composed of older adults. In not quite a year, Ryan has been instrumental in helping the captain and his wife, Captain Loreen Henderson, begin to turn the corps around. And earlier this year, Ryan and Jamie were enrolled as soldiers (members) of The Salvation Army.

A humble man, Ryan strongly identifies himself with the Apostle Paul. “I was chief among sinners, a mocker and blasphemer. But, thanks to Christ’s grace and God’s patience, now I’m serving Him!” Ryan says. In fact, he’s still chuckling over a recent visit from Racine’s chief of police, who wanted Ryan’s input on youth outreach. “I found it amazing to be in a consulting position, considering my history!” Ryan reflects. “But, I’ve learned we’re all messed up, broken people who’ve simply been found by Christ!” 45

MyTake

No Place Like Home by Glenn Welch

www.prioritypeople.org

Photo by Skip ODonnell / IStockPhoto.com

his world is not my home; I’m just a passin’ through, we sang at the conclusion of my Dad’s graveside service, not quite with the usual pep but with plenty of conviction and assurance. But 10 years later, I was painting “There’s no place like home” on the header of a kitchen cupboard. Our homestead was a welcome sanctuary. Still, something tugged at my heart not to allow this Earth to become my heaven. Thoughts of heaven became even more significant to me when I recently learned I might have esophageal cancer, which doesn’t offer a very good track record for survival. I thought about how some people face cancer with a fighting spirit, saying, “I’m going to beat this thing.” Friends and family pray in faith, believing God MUST provide a miracle—as if physical death were an

Photo by Skip ODonnell / IStockPhoto.com

evil enemy trying to rob us of extended life we should have coming to us. I can’t bring myself to look at it that way. After all, Jesus died when he was 33 and he’s my Master. He said a servant isn’t above his master, so I’ve always felt that I can’t expect better than what happened to Him—so any years I live beyond age 33 is gravy! And I’ve had trouble picturing physical death as the arch–enemy. If it is, then the enemy wins every time! Sooner or later we all die. I don’t think I have the right to ask, “Why me?” I should rather ask, “Why not me?” The dying part shouldn’t be such a grave disappointment because I won’t be saying goodbye to Jesus—I’ll be ushered into his presence! As unworthy as I feel, I know that this “welcome home” will be for real, because God promises in Romans 8:35–38 that nothing will separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus! A country song quips, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” It’s reassuring to know that the songwriter doesn’t speak for everyone. Being human, I have mixed feelings, and www.prioritypeople.org

maybe that’s healthy. It’s good to want to continue living here on Earth but it’s even better to be ready to die. Paul said, “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body” (Philippians 1:21–24). Even as a Christian with strong faith, I imagine I’ll have some dark days ahead, perhaps filled with much suffering. I might experience some anxiety as the “point of no return” draws near. But what makes it easier is to know the mind–boggling love of God and to realize what’s in store. Remember the story of Zaccheus? Jesus basically said, “Hey, I want to come over to your house!” That’s something a friend would want to do. Then in John 14:2–3 Jesus says he’s going to prepare a place for us and take us to be with him. I can picture Jesus whispering to Zaccheus on his deathbed, “Hey, buddy, I went to

your house once; why don’t you come over to my house this time—and you can even stay and live with me!” That would be going way beyond the call of duty if he were simply being a polite host. Yet that’s what Jesus says to each of us who’ve accepted him. “Hey, let me come to your house (your heart); then afterward, why don’t you come to my house (heaven)?” The beauty of it all is the “why.” Why would the perfect Son of God ever want to put up with us lowly, faulty humans in his own house for all time? There’s no angle. He simply says, “That you also may be where I am.” It’s enough to make me want to sing … “O Lord, you know I have no friend like you. If heaven’s not my home; then Lord, what will I do? The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.” The writer, a Salvation Army bandmaster in Marion, Ind., wrote this essay when he thought he might have cancer. Doctors soon found there was a mixup in his biopsy records, and he had instead a minor health concern. 47

127 Years Ago

An Invading Army by Robert E. Thomson

or 15 years after it was founded as The Christian Mission in 1865, The Salvation Army was confined to the British Isles. But in 1880, Commissioner George Scott Railton and seven “Hallelujah Lassies” declared war on sin and evil in the United States. In the following eight years the Army “invaded” 16 additional countries, including France, Canada, India, Switzerland, South Africa, New Zealand, Denmark, the Netherlands, Jamaica, and Norway. Railton was one of the pioneers in Norway, along with Commissioner Hannah Ouchterlony, a Swedish officer, and Staff–Captain and Mrs. Albert Osborne, parents of the sixth General of the international movement. In almost every case, the Army pioneers met with resistance and ridicule. Police officials consistently ignored attacks by hooligans, and the press frequently used cartoons to mock the Salvationists and their efforts to reach the common people with their ministry. But in Norway, a well–known artist took the Army’s efforts seriously. Wilhelm Otto Peters painted a now– famous depiction of the Army march-

‘Storming a Fishing Village’ hangs in the chapel of the Oslo Temple in Norway.

ing through the tiny coastal village of Son. Entitled Stormangrep på en Fiskerby (Storming a Fishing Village), the huge canvas, approximately 6–by–9 feet, was purchased by the Norwegian National Art Gallery. In 1979 it was placed on permanent loan to The Salvation Army. Today it hangs in the chapel of the Oslo Temple Corps (church). Almost all of the individuals pictured can be identified, although most of the first names have been lost. Of particular interest is the artist’s sister, the woman in the foreground carrying a guitar. The gentleman at the far left is Mr. Gronbeck, the village baker and the son of a bishop in the Norwegian State

(Lutheran) Church. His wife is in the left foreground with her hands crossed. Under the window, from which an unknown child is watching, and wearing a hat, is Miss Schinrud, daughter of a shipbuilder. Her father was also the owner of the building in the background, built in 1648, which the Army rented as a headquarters for its evangelistic and social service ministries. The drummer is Juel Gulbransen, a potter by trade and the one–time mayor of Son. Three of the participants in the procession were Salvation Army officers: Lt. Colonel Utgaard, just behind Miss Peters and playing a euphonium; Brigadier Johanna Iversen, to the left of Miss Peters; and Colonel Klaus Ostby, playing a cornet behind the drum, who became known as “the father of Salvation Army music in Scandinavia.” The Salvation Army continues to flourish in Norway, where today there are nearly 400 active officers engaged in ministry. And “Storming a Fishing Village” is a constant reminder of past victories and current challenges.

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