SAconnects, Volume 10, Number 2, 2024

Even

the smallest seed has the potential to change the world.

MUSIC MINISTRY

AT THE SALVATION ARMY

MUSIC.SACONNECTS.ORG

Programs where people of all ages learn to worship through music.

WHO WE ARE

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Programs The Salvation Army of Northern Kentucky hosts a day of women’s empowerment. Plus: How to help someone with trauma.

People Sebastian Galvez knows that a single act of kindness can create ripples in the world.

History Since the beginning, women have played a vital role in Salvation Army ministry.

Faith in Action Affordable housing is a major issue. See what The Salvation Army is doing in Buffalo, N.Y.

RECOVERY

Feature A simple encounter with a jailyard bird changed the trajectory of Darnell Nixon’s life.

Thrift Store Finds Beautiful items for your spring decor are waiting at The Salvation Army.

LIVING

Spiritual Life Development

Explore a spiritual menu to satisfy your hunger for God. Come and dine.

Spiritual Health What can we do in our churches about the scourge of pornography?

Volunteer Spotlight

A volunteer gives back to the Salvation Army homeless shelter that took him in years ago.

Veggie Power! Children enjoy God’s bounty from the garden at The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Camden, N.J.

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Overseas Child Sponsorship

C hildren overseas are facing thre ats that include trafficking, illiteracy , illness , lack of nutrition , and violence and recruitment from gangs.

Your help is VITAL .

Sponsor Salvation Army children’s homes, schools and afterschool programs.

For more information, visit our website. Or call 845–620–7435 or e-mail overseaschild@use.salvationarmy.org

FOUNDER William Booth

GENERAL Lyndon Buckingham

TERRITORIAL LEADERS

Commissioner Ralph Bukiewicz

Commissioner Susan Bukiewicz

CHIEF SECRETARY Colonel Ivan K. Rock

DIRECTOR OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

Joseph Pritchard

EDITOR IN CHIEF / DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS

Warren L. Maye

MANAGING EDITOR Robert Mitchell

EDITOR / HISPANIC CORRESPONDENT

Hugo Bravo

COPY EDITOR / PROOFREADER Donna L. Ng

ART DIRECTOR Reginald Raines

PUBLICATION CONTENT

MANAGER AND DESIGNER

Lea La Notte Greene

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Dave Hulteen Jr., Joe Marino, Karena Lin

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Lu Lu Rivera

CIRCULATION Doris Marasigan

THE 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.

2015 Award winner 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022,

WARREN L. MAYE Editor in Chief

“

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

—Genesis 2:15

Mr. Hunter was a next-door neighbor who taught me how to grow food in my own backyard. Don’t get me wrong—as a kid growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1960s, buying food was my family’s first option. That’s why Mr. Hunter’s garden, full of tomatoes, carrots, beets, and potatoes, intrigued me.

What delighted me most were his grapevines. The deep blue Concords were juicy and delicious. He grew them on scaffolds built of wood. I could walk under those structures and pick as many grapes as I wanted.

Did I tell you about the chickens? He raised them too. They would cackle and flutter around my feet as I picked the grapes.

But because of urban sprawl, much of the city where such gardens once grew is now covered with asphalt and concrete. Today, children explore the world via computers and rarely feel soil between their toes or see live chickens. A few years ago, I was stunned when a child asked me, “Do chickens have feet?” He could only imagine fried chicken parts displayed on a KFC or Popeyes menu.

As I reflect on those days in Mr. Hunter’s garden, I realize that even then my love for grapes was far different from his. Ancient Greek offers three distinct words for love: eros, philia, and agape. My love for grapes was eros, a passionate, selfish desire to eat and enjoy them. Mr. Hunter’s love for them was agape, a deep commitment to grow, nurture, protect, and provide for them.

My passion for grapes evaporated once I’d spat their seeds to the ground. But that same ground was where Mr. Hunter’s love for them began.

In this issue of SAconnects, you’ll explore what agape love looks, sounds, and feels like when seeds are planted, be they organic or spiritual or thoughtful. It is my prayer that the seeds for thought embedded within will reveal how The Salvation Army cares for people and the earth we all live on. Since the beginning of time, providing such care has been God’s mandate to us. What role will you play in our fulfillment of God’s call?

Love Be yond Surging Prices

Food pantries . Warm meals. Sack lunches.

e goal of the Salvation Army’s Love Beyond campaign is to increase public awareness of our year–round services. We love beyond hunger, homelessness, destruction, fear, loss, loneliness, despair, overdue bills, and so much more. We love beyond the circumstances of those we serve, seeing and valuing each person.

March 22 is World Water Day

to raise awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. The Salvation Army, together with its ministry partners and others around the globe, has worked hard to improve water sources in many countries.

This year, Christians will celebrate the risen Christ very early— on March 31! Unlike fixed holidays such as Christmas or July Fourth, Easter is considered “movable” and can fall anytime from March 22 through April 25.

There are references to The Salvation Army in more than 140 feature films. Some notable ones include Guys and Dolls, Born on the Fourth of July, Captain America: Civil War, Seabiscuit, A Christmas Story, Titanic, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Spider-Man: Far from Home, and Do You Believe? A few, like 2013’s Silver Bells, feature the organization prominently.

DONOR CORNER

Nigeria-born Clifford Omoruyi first learned to play basketball at The Salvation Army Newark Westside Corps in Newark, N.J. Muhammad Oliver, Cliff’s legal guardian and basketball coordinator at the corps, wanted Cliff not just to get the benefits of learning to play, but also to understand how many people were committed to seeing him succeed.

Did you know?

In 1945, the life of Evangeline Booth, the first woman to be General of The Salvation Army, was immortalized in the pages of DC Comics’ “Wonder Woman” comic book. Booth was included in the monthly feature “Wonder Women of History,” which told the stories of real women who had made a lasting impact. Along with Evangeline Booth, over 70 women were part of “Wonder Women of History,” including Joan of Arc, physicist Marie Curie, and abolitionist Sojourner Truth.

When Omoruyi became the star center of the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights basketball team, he had the opportunity to give back to the place where he developed his talent.

“Because Cliff is an international student, he’s not legally allowed to earn money from endorsements in the United States,” said Oliver. “So, Cliff asked if what he made could go to The Salvation Army. We learned that he could be paid, if he donated his earnings.”

Earnings from licensing Cliff’s name, image, and likeness bought uniforms for the Newark Westside Corps basketball team and paid for their travel to compete in tournaments. The funds also made it possible to redesign and repaint the corps gymnasium and basketball court.

“It is such a blessing to see the impact that Cliff has had on this organization, on and off the basketball court. The young people who enter our building are inspired to be on the same court as he once was and that means something to our organization,” says Lieutenant Lesley Colón, corps officer at Newark Westside. “His gifts have had so much more value to them than monetary value; they have left a lasting impression on the experience and futures of the young student-athletes within our basketball program.”

RICH

“But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.”

—MALACHI 4:2

The solar panels over the parking lot and on the roof at The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Camden, N.J., have modernized the Kroc, says Benjamin Ovadia, the center’s community relations and development director.

“One of the appeals of doing solar power was that we could get the needed panels upfront without cost. It’s important to be open to this modernizing of the Army and be a catalyst for conversations on how we can better operate,” says Ovadia.

Major Keith Maynor witnessed the installation of the solar panels while serving in Camden in 2022. He says that beyond the financial savings that come with solar power, The Salvation Army has a duty to embrace new technology that will protect and preserve God’s creation (see cover story, p. 16).

“We have a biblical mandate to be stewards of our earth and take care of it for future generations. It’s not about playing for a political audience,” says Maynor. “This kind of work is inherently good and God-honoring. We’re blessing our local mission by freeing more resources, and we’re investing in the future of the earth.”

A Day of Empowerment

Before Captain Wanessa Moore planned the first Women’s Empowerment Day at The Salvation Army’s Northern Kentucky Corps, the center was already a welcoming space for survivors of trauma.

“A lot of the women who come for help are suffering from trauma, mental illness, and depression, especially after the pandemic,” Captain Moore says. “There was one client who came to us after losing a family member to COVID-19. It had left her in such a deep depression that she lost her job and her home.”

Along with the usual support offered by The Salvation Army, such as food and utility assistance, the woman also asked for undergarments and feminine hygiene products.

“We took some time to pray with her and get to know her better; she had some underlying self-esteem issues from not being able to provide for her own needs,” says Moore.

When a survivor of domestic violence came to the corps seeking help, she too asked for undergarments and hygiene products. Their situations were different, but the two women had both suffered trauma and were looking for the same needs to be met.

“We could supply them with what they needed, but we also wanted to meet with women like them in a deeper way, letting them know that they matter and deserve encouragement.”

Members of the corps decided to use a donation from a local philanthropy to buy

a hair washing station, then held their first Women’s Empowerment Day. They reached out to local hairdressers about doing a day of pampering for the women who came to The Salvation Army. Women’s Empowerment Day has become a recurring event.

“Supercuts brings their stylists, along with manicurists, free hair products, and coupons for future visits,” says Moore. “They’ve been superstars at this event since the beginning.”

In addition to offering gifts and meals, vendors come to talk about the social services available to women. The Women’s Auxiliary donates clothing and even gets sizes ahead of time, so that every attendee can receive something to wear. The women are given a bag with a Bible, feminine hygiene products, and gifts from the vendors. Some of those representatives had themselves benefited from a past Women’s Empowerment Day; now on the other side of the table, they can say to the women, “I was once where you are, so I can tell you that there’s hope.”

In 2023, Charity Guild of Northern Kentucky donated money to buy bras for all the women. After receiving the gift of new undergarments, one woman gathered her belongings and ran out before lunch. Captain Moore thought that someone had said something to offend her, but later, the woman came back, excited to share news.

“She said the gifts had given her the confidence and motivation to apply for a job at Wendy’s. She had put it off for a long time, but when she finally went, she was hired on the spot,” says Moore. “That was when we knew Women’s Empowerment Day was working as we had intended it.”

Even small gifts can make a big difference. When the women also received free Starbucks Frappuccino drinks, the gesture gave them a sense of self-worth that many people take for granted.

“Living in shelters and under such circumstances doesn’t allow you little treats like that. When you only have $5 in your pocket, you’re not spending four of

them on coffee,” says Moore.

by HUGO BRAVO

But Women’s Empowerment Day is about more than a free iced coffee or new clothing. It’s about creating an environment of compassion where women who go through traumatic situations can share their stories without feeling shame or receiving judgment.

“No one who comes to Women’s Empower ment Day should ever feel like the odd woman out,” Moore says. “I want them to know that, at The Salvation Army, there’s a community that has their back and wants to help them feel empowered.”

How to help someone with trauma:

Get informed. Trauma can be the traumatic event itself, or the stress in response to it. Some people can recover quickly from their experience; others endure long-lasting hardships. Common responses to trauma are nightmares, feelings of anxiousness, disassociation, and sudden triggers.

Practice active listening. Focus more on hearing what the person is saying rather than responding to it. People who have experienced trauma will always benefit from being heard without feeling judged or pressured.

Assist with routine tasks. Post-traumatic stress can make it difficult to concentrate on doing daily tasks. Offer to help prepare meals, go food shopping, or clean the house.

Know what to say. Some comments can hurt more than help, even if said with good intentions. Make sure that what you say assures trust and an openness to help. (“I’m here for you.” ”Thank you for trusting me.”) Avoid comments that make assumptions or can sound dismissive. (“I know how you feel.” “Can’t you move on?”)

Take time for self-care. Secondary trauma causes distress from witnessing or having knowledge of a loved one’s traumatic event. Remember to make time and look after yourself while caring for others.

Creating Ripples

Interview by HUGO BRAVO

Sebastian Galvez, president of The Salvation Army’s Echelon Chapter in Morristown, N.J., talks about his gap year after high school, a pet contest on social media that introduced people to the Army’s work, and the power of an act of kindness.

When someone is young and ambitious, they might want to do something that will change the world or help millions of people all at once. But I’ve come to realize that my own world was changed through a single act of kindness, a college scholarship from the United Way. That opened a door to me working at Johnson & Johnson, establishing my career, and eventually connecting to The Salva tion Army. We don’t always need to look at the good we do from a large scale. Instead, ask what each of us can do for our co-worker, our neighbor, or even a stranger from our community. Mother Teresa once said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” The Salvation Army understands this; it’s full of people who create ripples in the water every day.

Echelon held a fundraiser where people submitted photos of their pets and paid a contest entry fee. It was a successful fundraiser because people love their pets and showing them off. The whole contest was done through Instagram and helped us increase our presence on social media. Everyone learned about The Salvation Army and where their entry fee went. The first year we did it, the money helped pay for children to attend the corps’ summer camp. The second year, it funded our back-toschool backpack drive. Young people like connecting with nonprofits through social media, and our Instagram is constantly updating them.

After high school, my parents couldn’t afford college for me, so I took a gap year. I was angry at the world. I thought I had gotten the short end of the stick and what I truly wanted didn’t matter. But I see now that everything happens for a reason. I wasn’t traveling or backpacking like some of my friends, but instead, I worked long hours in cafeterias and at other small jobs to save for school. It was one of the toughest times in my life, but it gave me an incredible perspective on how hard my parents worked when they left a comfortable life in El Salvador to start over in the United States. What I did for a year, they did for over a decade.

Philippians chapter 2, verse 3, says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.” As I grow in my career and in my own blessings, I know that I’m no better than anyone else, and that others have faced many more difficulties than me. How can I be the best representation of Jesus’ love and grace to those people? By using the resources and opportunities that I’ve been blessed with to make the lives of others easier.

Belonging to the Morristown Echelon Chapter is one of my favorite experiences in The Salvation Army. I was already one of the youngest members of the Morristown Corps advisory board when I offered to start the Echelon Chapter of Morristown. I had worked with other young professionals at Johnson & Johnson, and I knew there was a lot of interest in getting a chapter started. Morristown became New Jersey’s first Echelon chapter, with Trenton soon following. I believe the best way to get people passionate about The Salvation Army is to get them in the building. It’s easy to get hooked on the Army’s mission when you see work getting done in the community, or children playing at day care.

Making Waves Sebastian Galvez helped start New Jersey’s first Echelon Chapter for young professionals.

Leading Ladies

Women have played a vital role in ministry for The Salvation Army since its beginnings

by ROB JEFFERY

To say that women have played a vital role in the history of the Church is the understatement of the millennia. But in the Western evangelical tradition of which The Salvation Army is part, women in many denominations are seemingly relegated to the sidelines of ministry. They are welcomed to serve, they are welcomed to teach children, they are welcomed to feed others—yet they are sadly unwelcomed in the pulpit. Thankfully in The Salvation Army this is not the case. Because of the influence of our Army Mother, Catherine Booth, we were among the first Christian denominations to commission and ordain women as ministers of the Gospel.

William Booth in 1908 wrote, “First and foremost I insist on woman’s equality. Every officer and soldier should hold to it that woman is as important, as valuable, as capable, and as necessary to the progress and happiness of the world as man.” Booth even goes so far as to say that any views contrary to that of full equality for women should be dismissed as “hideous and heathen notions.”

“To begin with,” he resumes, “the Army has maintained that the sexes are equal alike in birth; alike equal in the value of the soul and the capacity for joy and sorrow; alike equal before God and in the love of the Heavenly Father; alike equal in the responsibility for spreading salvation and extending the Kingdom of God.” For a man born

in the early 19 th century, who lived in an age when women had many doors closed to them, how wonderfully ahead of his times was William Booth?

With the doors wide open to them, women flooded the ranks of the early Salvation Army. Society took notice as these “Hallelujah Lassies” took up more space in the public sphere. One can imagine that they were vilified, objectified, and idealized all at once. But women found a place in The Salvation Army, taking on significant leadership roles. Author Diane Winston calls The Salvation Army “the first Christian group in modern times to treat women as men’s equals.”

With that proud legacy in mind, why does it sometimes seem that we don’t celebrate this as much as we should? Why does

women’s ministry conjure up quaint notions of craft-making, or placing doilies on a table, rather than bold and fearless evangelism or a teaching ministry? Women’s ministry can certainly include traditional activities to draw people in, but let’s not be content to stop there. Women’s ministry can be advocating for the poor and marginalized in the community. It can mean working intensely to make conditions better for people whom the world often forgets. We thank God this is already happening in women-led ministries like PEARL Essence (Greater New York Division), which supports women caught up in human trafficking. What a difference they are making on the streets of New York!

Anglican scholar N.T. Wright frequently likes to use the metaphor of cathedral

Major Norma T. Roberts leads a congregation in worship, circa 1950s.

Major Norma T. Roberts, Order of the Founder (b. 1922)

Norma Roberts felt the call of God on her life to become a Salvation Army officer in 1944. She applied to The Salvation Army Training School in the South but was denied entry because of government-sanctioned segregation policies. Undaunted, she applied at what was then the School for Officer Training in the Bronx, N.Y., and was accepted. “I decided to give lifetime service to The Salvation Army,” she said, “because, through the Army, I can be of greater service to humanity.” After her commissioning in 1947, she served for two years in the Eastern Territory but felt called to return to her home in the South, which was still in the throes of racial segregation.

In 1949, she was appointed to run a small, dilapidated Salvation Army center in the East End of Little Rock, Ark. Not a single church in the community offered any social services to the neighborhood’s more than 6,000 Black residents. With next to nothing in terms of resources, Roberts got to work holding open-air meetings in front of liquor stores and making connections with the East End inhabitants. When a reporter from the Arkansas Gazette did a story on Roberts’ ministry, people in segregated Little Rock were shocked to see the conditions that the largely Black community were living under. Plans for a new center got underway as resources began to pour into the East End neighborhood.

Speaking of her desire to serve her fellow African Americans, Roberts said, “The Salvation Army strives to promote the spiritual and material welfare of people all over the world—regardless of race and color. In that spirit, it seeks to bring its service to my people in the Southland.”

She was awarded the Order of the Founder in 2021 by General Brian Peddle and, at age 101, is still going strong in the faith. In an interview conducted this past July from her assisted living home in Fairfax, Va., Roberts said, “I didn’t think about accomplishing anything, I just did the work of God. I just wanted to do right.”

building in the medieval period to describe an individual Christian’s contribution to the Kingdom of God. In his description, the master stonemasons would be contracted to carve out the stones and build up the cathedral walls. Once the work was done, they would look up to see their stones in the walls of the church and take satisfaction in their contribution to it. Here are profiles of two Salvation Army women who spent their lifetime building up the Kingdom of God through their service to The Salvation Army. May we marvel at the contribution they made as we are inspired to go and do likewise.

Brigadier Mary Nisiewicz, O.F. (1916–2003)

Born into a Polish immigrant family in Rome, N.Y., Mary Nisiewicz came to The Salvation Army at an open-air meeting and accepted an invitation to attend Sunday school. She was commissioned in 1936 and served in various appointments across the Eastern Territory. Her appointment in 1964, however, would be life changing.

As commanding officer of the Manhattan Citadel Corps in East Harlem, Mary found herself tasked with running a traditional corps in the middle of the drug crisis gripping the inner city. In 1968 she opened the Corps Outreach Program inside a Harlem storefront and offered counseling referrals and support programs for people addicted to drugs.

Presenting as a tough, no-nonsense lady, Brigadier Nisiewicz became a mother figure for many suffering from addictions in the East Harlem community. A humble hero of the faith, she was awarded the Order of the Founder in 1979 by General Arnold Brown.

Rob Jeffery is director of The Salvation Army Heritage Museum in the USA Eastern Territory.

Brigadier Mary Nisiewicz receives the Order of the Founder from General Arnold Brown in 1979.

COURTESY OF NATIONAL ARCHIVES AT THE SALVATION ARMY NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS

Hope on Main

by ROBERT MITCHELL

The Salvation Army is meeting a major housing need in Buffalo, while creating opportunities to share God’s love

Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

—LUKE 9:58

Almost 30% of people live below the poverty line in Buffalo, N.Y., where the city’s housing crisis is so dire that The Salvation Army is embarking on a $100 million project called “Hope on Main” to help address the issue.

“In some of our neighborhoods, especially on the East Side, one in four households are experiencing a housing crisis,” says Major Annette Lock, executive director of The Salvation Army’s Buffalo Area Services. “So, at any given time, there are people falling into eviction and trying to find shelter placements and apartments. The availability of livable, safe, decent, dignified housing is just very short. Our statistics tell us we have the oldest housing stock in the nation.”

Lock says Salvation Army case managers work every day with clients to try to find housing, but a study by the city showed Buffalo’s housing stock is short about 24,000 units. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has said housing will be a major focus of his administration.

“One of the greatest barriers is just finding available housing to put families into,” Lock says. “We see it daily, and the statistics are showing that it’s just a critical situation. I know we’re seeing this across the nation and New York state, but we’re facing it hard here in Buffalo.”

Laura Genco, the campaign coordinator for Hope on Main, says the holds placed on evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic are expiring and leaving people in dire straits. Hundreds of homeless people are being housed in hotels.

“Everyone is finding themselves in trouble, and we’ve got a really large homeless population right now,” Genco says. “The sooner we can get some affordable housing in this city, the better.”

Buffalo Area Services spent several years working through strategic planning, and a 2019 program study identified a need for housing, according to Lock.

“We were aware at that time how bad the crisis was, and of course, it’s been only widening since the pandemic,” Lock says.

“We started looking for ways that we could have a response to the housing crisis. We determined we wanted to be able to build affordable housing.”

A phased approach

Planners also factored in The Salvation Army’s aging infrastructure and the kinds of programs it wants to provide. Buffalo Area Services has been offering emergency housing for 60 years, but the shelter facility has “aged out of its usefulness,” Lock says, and needs to be replaced. The Salvation Army’s Kensington Corps building is also aged.

The Salvation Army has embarked on a three-phase plan:

Phase 1: Rebuild the existing family shelter to help provide residents with a sense of hope and dignity. “We knew that would be the first pillar of our long-term plan,” Lock says. “We’ve gotten to the point where a Band-Aid will no longer suffice.”

Phase 2: After moving families into the new facility, Buffalo Area Services will demolish the existing shelter and two other buildings to make room for an apartment complex with 144 units ranging from studios to two-bedrooms. Along the back of the property will be 17 three-bedroom affordable townhouses.

Phase 3: The Salvation Army will rebuild the Kensington Corps in the eastern part of Buffalo and turn it into a church and community center for youth programming. The current corps, built in 1933, doesn’t have enough room for what The Salvation Army wants to offer.

“The poverty rate in that part of the community is high, and the need there is dire,” Lock says. “We know our response needs to be large. We have some great programs and we’re doing some great work over there right now, but the facility is not useful for what we need it to be.

“This project would have an enormous impact on the housing crisis in the community, as well as meeting other needs for education, employment, and all the other services that are already

Artist rendering of The Salvation Army’s Hope on Main Street family shelter and apartment building project, phases 1 and 2, in Buffalo, N.Y.

COURTESY OF THE SALVATION ARMY BUFFALO AREA SERVICES

provided by Buffalo Area Services.”

In 2022, a mass shooting at a Tops supermarket in East Buffalo put a spotlight on the area, Genco says. “Everyone is realizing the inequities faced by the people on the East Side.”

The Salvation Army hopes to break ground on Phase 1 this spring. Lock says fundraising is 70% to 75% complete for that $16 million portion of the project, which involves a complicated brownfield remediation. She expects Phase 1 to take about 18 months to complete.

While Phase 1 is being built, Lock says, the planning will move into high gear for Phase 2, which is expected to cost around $70 million. The new apartments and townhouses will include supportive housing through a partnership with the state, allowing The Salvation Army to provide services to people with special needs, substance abuse and mental health problems, and youth aging out of foster care.

“There will be funding to provide daily care and assistance and advocacy to individuals facing those challenges,” Lock says. “We’re looking forward to being able to really enhance the kinds of services we’re offering. It’s not only getting people housed, which is critical, but providing the services that help them to maintain stability and function well in the community.”

Housing and help

The funding for the first two phases will come from a mix of state and federal grants, but Phase 3 will cost $14 million and the funding will come mostly from private donors and the equity in the project. Genco says the overall funding for Hope on Main will include 85% government funding, with the balance coming from private donors and foundations.

If everything stays on track with no delays, Lock expects the project to be completed sometime in 2027. The Salvation Army would continue to raise money for an endowment to help with maintenance.

Lock says Buffalo Area Services consulted with The Salvation Army’s senior Booth Residence in Cincinnati, Ohio, on many issues, including financing. The Booth Residence is attached to The Salvation

Army’s Center Hill Corps; The Salvation Army’s Buffalo Citadel will sit on the same complex as the new housing.

Lieutenant Arren Boyd, the pastor of the Kensington Corps, says the current building has no gym and is not accessible to people with disabilities. He is excited to have a larger building for a food pantry, hot meals, coat distribution, and youth programming.

“The project is going to greatly expand the amount of people we can reach through our programs because our current corps building is very small,” he says. “We can only take in so much. We’ll be able to start new programs and have space for our music program and

The solution to homelessness is a home.

welcome more children for all we do.

“We have hopes of our corps congregation growing because in our community we have a big population of senior citizens who used to attend the corps but don’t anymore because we don’t have the handicapped accessibility.”

Boyd envisions an after-school program operating out of the community center to provide a safe location for at-risk children in the area to come and learn music and learn about Christ.

The Kensington Corps also sees the results of the housing crisis firsthand, Boyd says. The corps serves food out of its canteen and hosts a hot sit-down dinner twice a week.

“We get a lot of people who are unhoused to that program,” Boyd says. “They can’t take canned goods because they don’t have a place to live or store canned goods or a place to cook. That’s why they come for our hot meals. They can sit down and have a meal that they can eat here.”

The Empire State Division and Eastern Territorial Headquarters have been “enormously supportive.” Colonel Ivan K. Rock, who is now at THQ, was the former divisional commander covering Buffalo and instructed Buffalo Area Services to get the plan moving in the direction God wanted for Buffalo.

“A shortage of appropriate housing is an issue throughout the territory,” Rock says. “We’re so proud of the visionary Salvation Army leaders in Buffalo who have persisted in finding a solution to this problem. Soon, individuals and families in critical need will not only find safe and adequate housing. They will have a place to call home.”

God in the details

“Once the vision began to really take shape,” Lock says, “and we were all starting to understand what God was laying on our hearts, and really the direction God wants us to go with this, we have been finding support across the board. We’re seeing a lot of hopefulness about this project coming to fruition.”

While a housing project might not seem spiritual at first blush, “it’s all spiritual,” Lock says—and a great example of what The Salvation Army does.

“I think from the very beginning, our part of the project has been the praying over it and really waiting for God to identify what He wants from us and how He wants us to move,” she says. “It’s trusting Him. This is way bigger than we are, and we absolutely know day to day that we can’t do this without Him. The whole thing in that respect is completely trusting and depending in faith that God is going to bring this about.”

Lock and others at Buffalo Area Services are excited, she says, because the project “enhances our opportunities to introduce people to Jesus” and the gospel. About 260 people will be living in the complex at any given time, and Salvation Army officers will provide pastoral care.

Residents will also have three spots to worship around the new complex, including a chapel.

“It opens up more opportunities for the things we as The Salvation Army exist for and the things we’re doing day to day,” Lock says.

Will YOUR CHILDREN HAVE A BETTER fUTURE?

Pathway of Hope uses a client-centered case management approach to empower families and address barriers preventing them from becoming more self-sufficient. By breaking the cycle of crisis with our community partners, it offers a hand up instead of a handout, enabling a path out of poverty.

PLANTING

PLANTING

A single intervention will not change the world, but people must work together, over time, to protect God’s creation and regenerate the earth— for our children and grandchildren and the vulnerable among us

by WARREN L. MAYE

was deeply moved recently when I heard Don Cheadle say, “Climate change is about the air we breathe, the water we drink, whether our children have access to parks, green spaces, and whether we feel safe and healthy in our own homes.” That night, the award-winning screen actor received theGrio Award for his environmental activism.

Cheadle said the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was a typical example of the catastrophic health, social, and financial problems that climate change inflicts on communities. “Black people are the most impacted in this country and the most at risk. Sixty-eight percent of us live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, leading to disproportionate rates of cancer and asthma,” he said.

As Cheadle spoke, my mind went back to when, as a kid, I lived near a rocky brook in Ohio. Over time, I saw the clear, clean water turn gray and odorous. One day in my teens, determined to understand why, I ventured through the woods and followed the sound of the water until I arrived at the source of the problem. I was astonished to learn that the foul smell and muddy liquid flowed from a corrugated pipe that emptied into the brook.

When I got to the top of a nearby hill, I saw in the distance where the pipe came from—a massive power plant. I realized the pipe’s poison would destroy the lush landscape. But my heart sank. I felt helpless to do anything about it.

The memory faded as I heard Cheadle conclude his remarks. “It’s time to get behind ground-up solutions,” he said. “Organizations [working to fight climate change] need us, connected, behind them, supporting them.”

The Salvation Army is participating in efforts to address climate change in ways both big and small. For example, Captains Bradley and Rachel Moore of the Batavia, N.Y., Salvation Army Corps started a garden in 2022 in response to needs expressed by members of the community. Little did the corps officers—pastors—realize that their seemingly small but generous contribution to the neighborhood would become a catalyst for community development in ways they couldn’t have imagined.

“I think there’s something tangible about watching, you know, a seed come to life. That fits right in with the whole message that we have about faith,” said Captain Bradley Moore. “Just a little faith can move mountains. It’s cool to see what’s happening in our community.”

A garden grows

On a sunny September day, the Moores partnered with volunteers from National Grid, an energy company, which endeavors to assist the communities it serves by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Paul Gister, a jurisdiction manager for National Grid, described the project to a reporter from the Batavia Daily News. “Today we’re building gardens for The Salvation Army. This is what we call Project C. This is what we are doing in communities in our territory and across New York state.”

The Salvation Army project was just one of many scheduled that day. “We have 15 volunteers working at this site, but overall, we have 2,000 volunteers from Long Island to western New York working today. The reason we chose this garden is because three years ago The Salvation Army had this goal to grow fresh vegetables for their clients and to offer people from the community a chance to participate in the garden. It was the Army’s goal to build this garden, but they didn’t have the resources to do it. So, that’s why we’re here.”

That six-hour project has since attracted people to the corps who enjoy tilling the soil. “The Salvation Army is improving community interaction and engagement,” said Gister.

National Grid volunteers wore colorful T-shirts and caps that bore the slogan “Our communities, our commitment.” Strong men wielded rakes, shovels, and digging machines and hefted bags of soil and mulch. Their smiles revealed the satisfaction such a project can birth in one’s spirit.

“They prepped the ground and got us up and running,” Captain Bradley said.

“So, if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the L ord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul—then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.”

DEUTERONOMY

“This happened during the offseason, so we went back again the next year and had members from the community help plant things. We also partnered with the Cornell Cooperative Extension, who offered their expertise. But ultimately, we’re growing what it will become.”

Captain Rachel said children from the community also helped. “We have about 18 kids working on the garden right now. They come in the afternoon after school or whenever they show up. We planted watermelon, tomatoes, corn, peppers, cucumbers, cantaloupe, and squash.”

“We have a pretty substantial food pantry here, so now we’re able to provide some of the fresh produce for it,” Captain Bradley said. “We also offer a weekly senior lun cheon, and we’ve used some of the harvests for that and for other meals.

“Several people in the community come regularly to cultivate the garden. Sometimes they’ve asked if they can take items. I say, ‘Absolutely. That’s what it’s here for.’

“It’s still new. It’s kind of coming together, and it’s been kind of cool. It’s not right on the street, but you can see it from the main street as you walk by, and that’s how several people have come to help daily with the garden. They help tend things and offer to water the garden throughout the season. It’s been taking on a life of its own. We didn’t fully know what it would look like, but we know that we certainly have opportunities to use the produce. So yes, it’s been great.”

Building blocks

On a larger scale, The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Philadelphia partnered with Andropogon—a firm whose founders believe even polluted industrial sites can be transformed into vibrant green spaces that foster community and help heal the earth—to turn a blighted plot into a beautiful and functional stretch of property. In urban environments, well-engineered landscaping can be a beacon for hope, providing neighborhoods with facilities that promote individual health and ecological sustainability.

The Landscape Architecture Foundation did a case study for its Landscape Per formance Series of the Philadelphia Kroc Center development and found that it successfully reduced the rate of stormwater runoff, capturing the first inch in a series of rain gardens. The design also included a small farm for growing produce, and more than 500 trees and shrubs were planted, which should absorb over 15,000 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

These features increased the ecological quality of the area by “34 times that of the former site, as measured by the Plant Stewardship Index, an assessment of native biodiversity,” according to the case study.

The landscaping strategy also saved the Kroc Center $575,000 in fees that would have been paid to remove 17,500 tons of material from the site, which would have entered landfills. Instead, 100% of existing pavement was crushed and carefully reused on-site.

The Philadelphia Kroc Center isn’t alone in its focus on sustainability and community. The Kroc Center in Camden, N.J., works in partnership with the Camden County Family Support Organization. This collaboration has produced hundreds of pounds of vegetables to support the Kroc Marketplace, which serves over 10,000 area residents through the Kroc Center’s Melvin Williams Memorial Garden.

“For many years, Melvin Williams was the custodial supervisor here,” Benjamin Ovadia, community resource and development director at the Kroc Center, told SA connects. “Sadly, he passed away, but he was the hardest worker, the first person in, the last out. We wanted to dedicate the garden in memory of his welcoming spirit.”

Partners at the Division of Disability Services, New Jersey Department of Human Services, Backyard Gardens, and Rowan University provided funding and construction of the inclusive garden. It offers features such as wheelchair-accessible pathways and garden beds, accessible parking, and bilingual signage.

Regeneration

The beloved 2018 documentary The Biggest Little Farm—beautifully and empathetically filmed in the hills of Apricot Lane Farms in Southern California—also shows how even barren ground can be regenerated into healthy, biodiverse land that can nurture our bodies and souls. Changing the earth and improving the environment starts with appreciating its smallest organisms and how they

serve as the building blocks for our world.

With guidance from an expert mentor, and the help of many volunteers connected through the group Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, John and Molly Chester slowly, over the course of seven years, transformed 234 acres of exhausted soil into a thriving organic farm.

A runner-up for the Sundance Festival Favorite Award in 2019, The Biggest Little Farm illustrates how life can be wonderfully birthed through the generosity of God who created the heavens and the earth. The movie has had a profound impact on the way its viewers value the planet (a 30-minute special, The Biggest Little Farm: The Return, premiered on Earth Day 2022 and is available to stream on Disney+).

To this day, visitors come to the farm from all over the world to see the progress and results for themselves.

The climate crisis

In a typical community garden, wooden dividers separate rows of tomatoes, beets, and squash. These carefully nurtured spaces represent small steps toward improving local environments. But what about sustainability on a global scale?

F. Stuart “Terry” Chapin III, an ecologist and leading advocate of earth stewardship,

is concerned that the earth is on a dangerous trajectory, a collision course with society that will result in irreversible losses of flora and fauna if nothing changes.

Rather than focusing on “the global problem,” Chapin believes that greater success will come from creating leverage and collaboration at the grassroots. “If we can have this dialogue about potential solutions rather than just about the problems, people will feel more interested and empowered to seek those solutions and move toward sustainability. That would be my hope,” he said at a European Ecological Federation meeting in Avila, Spain, in 2011. “We need you to get involved in these issues.”

At the Stockholm Resilience Center in Sweden, Chapin described how his grandfather grew up in New York City but took his kids camping, on picnics, and fishing. Chapin’s father also took him outdoors to develop a connection to nature, which he’s passing down through the generations in his family. This graduate of Swarthmore College, known as the “Garden of Ideas” and nestled in the Scott Arboretum in Pennsylvania, now lives in Alaska and works with Indigenous people there to discover new ways to reduce unnecessary consumption of resources and support local agricultural businesses.

In “Earth Stewardship: Shaping a

Sus tain able Future Through Interacting Policy and Norm Shifts” ( Ambio, 2022), Chapin and his co-authors point to a 2021 survey of citizens conducted by Global Commons Alliance, which showed that at least 58% of them are seriously worried about the state of the planet, and 73% believe that “we are close to dangerous tipping points in our biosphere because of human actions.”

But Chapin says that changes in our behavior, especially ones that are visible to others and easy to adopt—such as less frequent driving and air travel, more walking and bicycling; less use of disposable plastic, more recycling; less food waste, more eating of plant-based diets— can help shift social norms. And instead of measuring happiness by the things we own (impressive but fuel-guzzling cars, hard-toheat multibedroom homes, flashy clothes), we can choose to focus on noncommercial things like time spent with family and friends. If we don’t take individual as well as collective actions to take care of the earth, Chapin told the audience in Stockholm, “it’s increasingly clear that our children and their children are going to face an extremely inhospitable environment.”

In your own backyard

So, the question becomes: How can something as small as a community garden, such as the ones that have taken root in Batavia, N.Y., and Camden, N.J., or even the elaborate and functional landscaping efforts at the Philadelphia Kroc Center make any difference for a global problem?

Chapin doesn’t believe that any one intervention can cause the transformation that’s necessary. But he does believe that collectively these projects, initiatives, and individual actions serve as “leverage points.” These levers can help overturn policies and break new ground, even in one’s own backyard. In a 2016 commencement speech at Swarthmore, he told the crowd, “Make it your responsibility to shape the future of our planet. Each of us must play an active role in seeking solutions, no matter how big or small, rather than assuming that someone else will fix the problems.”

The Salvation Army’s international

COURTESY OF THE SALVATION ARMY RAY & JOAN KROC CORPS COMMUNITY CENTER IN CAMDEN, N.J.

Children at the Kroc Center garden in Camden, N.J.

position statement on the environment says:

“The Salvation Army believes people are made in the image of God. He has entrusted us to reflect his personality by caring for the Earth and everything in it. The Salvation Army recognizes environmental degradation as one of the most pressing issues facing the world today, affecting us all. Its effects fall disproportionately on the most vulnerable, particularly in terms of health, livelihood, shelter, and the opportunity to make choices. The very survival of humanity depends on the health of the whole ecosystem.

“In addition to being compelled by lived experience, The Salvation Army also accepts the scientific evidence that demands action on all levels to lessen the effects of environmental damage. It is committed to sustainable environmental practices which are required to safeguard the integrity of creation.”

The power to act

Katharine Hayhoe is the author of a New York Times op-ed titled “I’m a Climate Scientist Who Believes in God. Hear Me Out.” In it, she calls caring about climate change “a profoundly Christian value.”

“Climate change will strike hard against the very people we’re told to care for and love, amplifying hunger and poverty, and increasing risks of resource scarcity that can exacerbate political instability, and even create or worsen refugee crises,” Hayhoe writes. “Real people are being affected today; and we believe that God’s love has been poured in our hearts to share with our brothers and sisters here and around the world who are suffering.”

She writes that God has given us “a spirit of power, to act rather than to remain paralyzed in anxiety, fear, or guilt; a spirit of love, to have compassion for others, particularly those less fortunate than us (the very people most affected by a changing climate); and a sound mind, to use the information we have to make good decisions.”

I pray you will be inspired to make changes in your daily life—and to encourage others to do the same. And hopefully, more community gardens will spring up in 2024 and beyond. If the Moores and their many

enthusiastic neighbors in Batavia have anything to do with it, such change could be inevitable.

“We have one member that has been a longtime volunteer and attending the congregation for about maybe the last year,” said Captain Bradley Moore. “Gardening is her passion, and she comes regularly to help.

“She also has a good friend who does not attend church anywhere. But gardening has been an awesome kind of bridge to get her connected and involved. Just being able to witness to her, minister to her, and ask her questions, and her being willing to know us even more, is good. One day, she drove her tractor up here. She’s funny in a lot of ways, a real go-getter. She’ll be like, ‘I don’t really like it when people beat my head with the Bible.’ And I’ll say, ‘That’s not what we’re going to do.’”

Farmers of the future

The Moores’ three children also take part with enthusiasm. Their 7-year-old son is already contemplating a future in farming. “I thought it was maybe a fleeting thing since he was in kindergarten,” said Captain Rachel. “But he’s now in second grade and every time I ask him, even to this day, he says, ‘I want to be a farmer,’ and he is always wanting to just dig and play with the worms.”

Her son is one of many children setting out on the path of caring for the earth. “We have a program dubbed ‘The Journey,’ which meets every Friday night,” she said. “It was birthed out of COVID when we realized that people were not only looking for community, but they were looking for their entire families to have a place to belong, with everything shut down. We do a combined time together where kids can do their homework or play in the gym. During the warm months, they come out and start weeding the garden and doing those fun things.”

Captain Rachel believes community gardens help provide a sense of security from the ground up. “I think people would feel less insecure about food or where the next meal is going to come from when we have that sense of ownership. You know, God gave Adam and Eve that charge to take care of the garden and everything in it. People still carry that same responsibility to take care of God’s creation but also to enjoy it.

“I think that people should really have the essence of ‘owning’ the land but also owning their own circumstance: ‘I wouldn’t be so concerned where my food is coming from because I know how to grow it myself.’”

Next year, the program promises to move to another level. “We’re hoping to incorporate with the kids a small business practice component where they will be able to take their vegetables to the farmers market and sell them. They’ll have to figure out how much food $15 will buy, so we can buy more seeds to grow again next year.”

With projects like this, The Salvation Army is planting seeds of hope for the future.

A blueprint for change

People once believed that the transatlantic slave trade could not be stopped. In the book Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves, author Adam Hochschild writes about what he calls “the most brilliantly organized social justice campaign in history.” He points to the multiple leverage points that resulted in a successful shift in thinking, behavior, and ultimately legislation.

Leaders of the movement to abolish the slave trade, including Thomas Clarkson and Lord William Wilberforce, were deeply motivated by their evangelical faith. They formed societies, held rallies, gave speeches, and collected evidence of the evils of slavery. Gradually, over decades of advocacy, they built a political case that led to legislation prohibiting the trading of enslaved people within the British Empire.

Study of that history inspires social movements today. “They see an analogy to these abolitionists of 225 years ago who put an issue on the table in the late 18th century,” said Hochschild in an interview with The Bridgehead. Activists are trying to use similar tactics to achieve their goals, including in the fight against climate change.

the Birdman Rikers Island

of

by ROBERT MITCHELL photographs by L U LU RIVERA

Darnell Nixon received grace from both a judge and Christ on his way to being the man of God he is today

When Darnell Nixon looked out the window of his jail cell on Rikers Island in 2009, he knew he had hit rock bottom. He grew up nearby in Hollis, Queens, in New York City and had been friends with the hip-hop group Run-DMC before his life spiraled out of control.

On Darnell’s mind that day was how he faced possible life in prison—under New York’s “three strikes” law—because of two prior felonies. But during that split second, he became “fixated” on a bird in the prison yard. He continued to watch as it flew over the wall to freedom. That image profoundly changed Darnell’s life.

“I just started crying,” Darnell recalls. “I remembered reading something in the Bible talking about God taking care of the birds and everything and that just came to me right there in that jail cell. The bird went over that fence, and he was free, and I was like, ‘I want to be like the birds and the Bible says God takes care of the birds.’ Nobody feeds the majority of birds, but they eat. Who feeds them? That all comes to mind. I think when I really, really got it was that incident with the bird.

“I always go back to that moment because after that, my whole life changed.

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

—MATTHEW

6:26

It’s like I was still in jail, but I wasn’t really in jail. I was free. That’s what it felt like.”

Even Darnell’s fellow inmates noticed a change when he didn’t show up to play cards and checkers.

“I grabbed a Bible and I just started reading it front to back. I took my time. I wouldn’t even go to recreation or to watch movies with the other guys. I couldn’t wait to get back to my cell to read my Bible. I was just in my cell reading the Bible all the time.

“I got down on my knees at one point and I said, ‘God, I’ll dedicate my life to you if you get me out.’ That was my awakening. I studied the Bible and prayed every night.”

A miracle release

Darnell had been going back and forth to court for eight months on his latest charge of shoplifting from a department store in 2008. The judge initially proposed a sentence of eight years in prison for a plea deal, but every time he went to court, the offer increased by two years.

“I thought I was just finished,” Darnell recalls.

Then, the last time he went to court, the unthinkable happened. The judge offered to let Darnell go that very day if he agreed to probation and to attend an in-patient program.

“I was always searching for something and when I let Christ in, He filled me. I felt whole.”

“I walked out the door a free man,” he says. “I couldn’t believe it. It was like a miracle or something. I had made foxhole prayers before many times, and the Lord saw fit to get me out and I would just go right back. This was different. This time I knew it would be different because I had God.”

Darnell had no worldly possessions when he walked out of the courthouse. His family offered to help, but he wanted to turn things around on his own and he went to a homeless shelter instead. While on probation, Darnell soon learned about The Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC) program in Manhattan and decided to give it a try.

“God knew what I needed,” he says. “He knew the ARC was for me. It was a little different for me; I didn’t have a drug or alcohol problem. I knew I already had an awaken ing. I was diligent about finishing the program and doing the right thing.”

During his six-month stay, Darnell developed a work ethic and drew closer to God through chapel services, classes, and Bible studies.

He also met Ramesh Sukhdeo, who was going through the program too. The two formed a bond. Today, Sukhdeo is an envoy leading The Salvation Army’s New York Temple, but at the time he was attending the Manhattan Citadel. He introduced Darnell to that corps, where he found a home.

“I would pray with him and encourage him,” Sukhdeo recalls. “When I left the ARC, I moved to Harlem, and he lived in the shelter next door. We went to Manhattan Citadel together.”

Music for the Lord

Darnell, 61, now plays drums in the praise band, helps with the feeding program, and serves on the church council, but what really brings him joy is being a founder of and an active leader in the basketball program at the Manhattan Citadel, where gang members from the nearby projects gather for hoops.

“They come together to quash their beefs on the basketball floor,” Darnell says. “To this day in that neighborhood, I walk down the street, and everyone knows me.”

Darnell sometimes delivers the devotional before games and invites players, coaches, and others to church. He offers biblical encouragement to the families, especially the single mothers of some of the players.

“I always talk about the kids and wanting the best for them and that opens people up,” he says. “They may be Muslim or Jewish or Christian, but I talk about the Lord and His grace and how we need to mentor the kids, and you should see how they open up when I mention that because a lot of them have kids.”

Darnell often uses illustrations from his own childhood when he shares his life’s mistakes before coming to Christ. He grew up in an intact family and had three sisters,

Darnell Nixon spent his time in prison finding God. Now 61, he is the founder and leader of the basketball program at the Manhattan Citadel, a Salvation Army corps in Harlem, N.Y.

all of whom went to church with their mother, Clara Nixon. Darnell got an early grounding in the gospel from his mother, attending church and singing in the choir at a Baptist congregation.

“She instilled godliness,” Darnell says of his mother. “That was a good thing because I believe now that if it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have anything to do with the Church. Even though I was young and didn’t appreciate it back then, she implanted those values in us.”

Darnell didn’t really pick up the drums until he was around 15. That’s when he became friends with Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels, and Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell—the guys who’d go on to form Run-DMC, often described as the most influential hip-hop group of the 1980s.

“That’s when I got in the music aspect of things and it became a part of me,” he says. “We were all from the same neighborhood.”

From regrets to redemption

Darnell gravitated to other musicians in the neighborhood as well and found he was a “natural” percussionist, but he also began hanging out with bad influences.

“I just started hanging out in the streets and getting arrested here and there,” he says. “I was hanging out with the wrong crowd and wrong kind of people with guns and everything. I did what they did.”

His first felony arrest and five-year prison sentence came from robbing a gas station in the 1980s. He was caught selling drugs to notch his second felony and did time behind bars.

“I regret that time in my life,” Darnell says. “I feel like I wasted so much time that I could have used for God. He came into my life and filled me up. He saved my soul. I guess I could say I was empty. I was always searching for something and when I let Christ in, He filled me. I felt whole. I

felt like there’s somebody I could give my burdens up to. Someone I could always talk to, who would be there looking out for me regardless of what situation I’m in.”

While he would rather forget that time in his life, today Darnell enjoys working for The Salvation Army’s International Social Justice Commission in Manhattan. He periodically runs into the remaining members of Run-DMC, but he is fully committed to Christ these days.

“Christ is my rock,” he says. “He’s my foundation. Life is like a spinning top, but He keeps me grounded. He doesn’t let me fall.”

Darnell says that comes from the daily disciplines of prayer, meditation, and fellowship.

“I pray a lot,” he says. “Sometimes, I just go to be alone and pray during the day and stay in constant contact with God.”

Sukhdeo is proud to see the man of God Darnell has become.

“It brings tears of joy to my heart,” Sukhdeo says. “He’s a great guy. In this spiritual walk, he has grown so much in the Lord. He’s very faithful. He loves music and he loves the Lord. We are from different mothers, but we are brothers.”

A testimony to share

His love of music has heavily influenced his spiritual life, says Darnell. Over the years, he has been a part of several “top-notch” bands. He’s played rock, jazz, reggae, and the blues, but gospel music touches his soul unlike any other genre.

“The more I played it, the more my soul felt healed,” Darnell says.

For a few years before the COVID -19 pandemic, he felt a special connection while performing with the praise band at the Elmendorf Reformed Church, which dates back to 1660 and is the oldest church in Harlem.

Darnell says that his unselfish service today is all due to promising God he would devote his life to Him.

“God gave me a second chance,” Darnell says. “I’ve truly believed that from the time I saw that bird. Sometimes they say it only takes one second or so to change a person’s life. That was that second for me.”

Darnell walks the streets of Harlem a free man. “God gave me a second chance,” he says.

by HUGO BRAVO

Spring is in the air at the Salvation Army thrift stores

Every purchase you make at a Salvation Army thrift store helps fund local Adult Rehabilitation Centers, where people who are struggling from a variety of social and spiritual problems can find help and hope. Visit SArehab.org to learn more.

HOME DECOR

Decorating for the season doesn’t have to be expensive. Pick a theme or color, and with a little searching, you can give any room in your house a new spring look.

CERAMIC PITCHER 

This handpainted pitcher makes a perfect vase for real or artificial flowers. Here, the pitcher is decorated with flowers from the wreath (right).

PLACE SETTINGS 

Your Easter brunch or spring dinner table will stand out with this set of matching place settings.

 CERAMIC CANISTERS

Store cooking ingredients like sugar, rice, or flour in this set of three. Or remove the lids, and use them as flower pots for your garden.

Go to sastores.org to find a Salvation Army family thrift store near you.

The Menu

A taste of spiritual formation practices

by MAJOR LAUREN HODGSON

The reservations are made, the time has arrived, and you are escorted to your seat and handed a menu. As you peruse the different dishes offered, you ask yourself, “What am I craving?” Appetite is motivated by desire or hunger, and that appetite is gratified by what we consume.

This article is a menu; you are among everyone who is invited to “come and dine.” It is an incredible invitation given to you by the Lord Almighty. He has done everything possible for your longing to be met. It is yours for the asking. Not sure what your deep desire might be? What should you ask for? There are simple practices that can help you understand your hunger and hear from God.

The following menu lists a few resources the Spiritual Life Development Department offers to guide you in deepening your relationship with God, the One who will satisfy your every longing. All these resources and many more are available at sld.saconnects.org

“ You’re blessed when you’ve worked He’s food and drink in the best

— PRAYER

—

A Guide to the Prayer of Examen

“When did I sense the Lord’s leading today, and when did I respond or resist?” This practice can help you become more sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Centering Prayer

Reduce the inner noise and simply be with God. Centering prayer is an exercise of intention, developing a habit of surrendering to God’s increasing presence and action.

A Method for Creating Your Own Breath Prayer

Develop a straightforward sentence: God leads you to create a phrase to help you center your heart, mind, and soul on Him.

Praying in Color

This is an active, meditative, creative prayer practice and may be helpful if you are a visual learner or easily distracted.

Listening Prayer

God is always speaking to us. We must learn to refine our spiritual ears to hear His voice in myriad ways: a song, a bird chirping, a word from a friend, a breeze off the ocean.

up a good appetite for God. meal you’ll ever eat.”

—MATTHEW 5:6 ( MSG )

— ENGAGING IN SCRIPTURE —

Lectio Divina (Sacred Reading)

Engage in scripture that is more than informational but transformational. Slow down, be more reflective of God’s Word, and understand how it relates to you personally.

Find Yourself in the Story

Imagine yourself as a disciple, a member of the multitude, a leper, a righteous Pharisee. This form of engagement in scripture urges you to pay close attention to the struggle, the emotions, the surroundings, the sights, and the smells—all leading you to a personal encounter with God.

Journaling

Purposefully put God’s whispers to pen and paper to aid in encountering God. It is a tool for self-discovery, helping you concentrate, and a private space of quiet and solitude to express the uniqueness of your spiritual journey to God.

No Bible, No Breakfast! No Bible, No Bed!

A tool to help you incorporate scripture at the start and end of your day. The rhythm of daily scripture reading will deepen your soul health and equip you to meet every situation in the name of the Lord.

— SPIRITUAL PRACTICES —

Silence and Solitude

This discipline allows us to leave behind the competing demands of our outer world for time alone with Jesus. It offers a way of paying attention to the Spirit of God and what He brings to the surface of our souls.

Poised to Hear (Praying and Fasting for Discernment)

A guide to sacrificing something that is a regular part of life as a reminder of Jesus’ sacrifice, freeing us to spend more time in Christ’s presence. People often fast so they can begin to discern God’s will.

Visio Divina (Sacred/Divine Seeing)

Use art to intentionally seek God for your spiritual focus and transformation.

DIY Spiritual Retreat

Where do you begin when you can remove yourself from the daily grind to spend time with God? Find practical advice on how to experience a sacred getaway.

My Story — A Life Mapping Exercise

Create a timeline that captures moments in your life to identify and interpret God’s activity in them. With reflection, you can see God’s hand in every aspect of life.

Community: A Spiritual Rhythm

We are wired for community. We are born into a family; attend classes, play, and work in teams; and worship in congregations. Yet, community can be messy. Here are some practices that can help maintain health and wholeness in any community.

Go Take a Hike!

Being out in nature lends itself to being in Christ’s presence. This resource guides you in taking a walk with God.

Going Deeper

Scripture speaks of our “inmost being.”

How do we tap into this God-created part of our true self? The practice of benevolent detachment can help us focus on having the deepest needs of our souls supplied.

PORNOGRAPHY

and the ‘Wholeness’ of Holiness

by DR. BILL URY

To overcome the dire consequences of porn, we need radical honesty, accountability, and the purifying grace of Jesus

We all know that pornography is sinful and destructive. Only the willfully blind would argue otherwise. Any research into the devastation porn produces reveals the tentacles of sin— grasping one of God’s gifts out of His time and place for that gift to be used (Genesis 3:6). Sex, with all its beauty and self-giving purpose, is also at the very center of our greatest weakness. Temptation calls us to play with something that produces death when removed from God’s perfect purposes. There are no strong people when it comes to sex—only wise and unwise.

Thinking that you can view porn without consequences is like trying to tame a vicious beast. Porn eviscerates people’s lives and social interactions. The havoc that ensues threatens to overwhelm everyone.

I find it interesting that the root words for holiness connect to our terms for health and wholeness. Holy comes from the Old English halig, “wholeness,” which is related to hal, meaning both physical health and happiness. Holiness is God’s desire to share His very nature with us. The Holy One desires to be in us and welcomes us to abide in Him. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, the entirety of the human person, “your whole spirit, soul and body” is to “be kept blameless.” Jesus became a human being just like each

of us to offer us healthfulness in every area of life. He offers wholeness and holiness.

Pornography causes brokenness, but the rich intimacy Jesus provides promises to touch and heal every aspect of our lives, including our sexual lives.

A devastating problem

The statistics are undeniable (see opposite page). Porn use damages men and women, adults and children, secular folks and church people, pastors and lay persons. No one is immune. Viewing porn has horrific effects on our spirits, emotions, brains, and relationships. And if a person can look beyond their own damage and shame to see the cancer the porn world unleashes on those caught in its web, it would bring a pause before that next click. Pornography falsely promises momentary victory, but it produces only victims.

I am in daily contact with a Christian brother, whom I love with all my heart, who is a sex addict. I have never known a more honest Christian man. He asked me to keep him accountable by reviewing through a Christian pornography filter everything he has viewed online every day. He has challenged me to be vigilant and is refreshingly blunt in his assessment of how porn can get its claws into anyone.

Letting go

I was surprised to learn from my friend that anger and resentment are common factors in turning to porn. Jay Stringer writes about this in Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing. Inner rage often fuels a desire to escape. When a person does not receive acknowledgement of harm or offer forgiveness for painful experiences, they may open the door to the most immediate, anonymous form of self-soothing available: porn.

Notice that it is exactly when we turn inward (You hurt me and I will not forgive, or I can handle this, so I don’t need your help) that our demise begins. Christians have not handled sexual sins well. We tend to treat such transgressions as the worst kind, but we don’t really deal with their origins, or the elements of healing required in both body and spirit. Until the Church offers radical commitment to the wholeness of every person, we will never be free of our addiction to porn. The Holy One, the One who made us, knows best how we can handle our sexuality.

Watching my brother be delivered from the grip of pornography, I have seen that radical—if needed, hourly—accountability is the only way to sustained victory. Without Jesus, we are all addicted to something. Only a Savior can set us free (Galatians 5:1). But

He has created us as social creatures, and porn addicts need constant, loving, honest communication to recover.

God’s solution

I’ve read so many books on sexuality that reiterate the call to be holy—but then do not ever show a person how that can happen in daily experience. I believe the major way by which a person can be free from pornographic temptation is entire sanctification.

For the Christian, the moment a person ceases to attempt to save, or fix, themselves and puts their full trust in Jesus, He begins the process of full restoration in their lives. Entire sanctification comes to the believer by grace. If I find myself unable to be free of lust, or porn, or any other sexual sin, I must be willing to “die” once again.

Holy love frees us from all forms of sinful self-will. But victory can never be divorced from the reality of patterns that have caused incredible damage to us and the people we love. We can be free, but we must never be stupid or arrogant. All of us need to be surrounded by the bold, unrelenting encouragement of the Body of Christ. Healthy relationships are the means to sustaining holy living. Together, we need to push through shame, embarrassment, dishonesty, and excuse-making. No one is meant to be holy alone, just as none of us is ever healthy alone.

I know a group of godly men who’ve met for 20 years, and the first question as they began a new season of fellowship had to do with adultery and pornography. If we really want to be healthy and holy, what should the first question be in our small group meetings?

We must be honest with one another. Holiness is both personal and social. The Holy Spirit can sanctify my sexual passions, but only as I remain open to looking into the eyes of another person who truly loves me enough to ask whether resentment or lust are resident in my heart and in my search history.

Too often Christians lose sight of what Jesus came to offer us—a comprehensive salvation—that is the answer to the most devastating area of sin in the world. Salvationists often quote Founder William Booth’s words about fighting for the weakest,

94%

of children will see porn by age 14.*

Women are much more likely than men to consider porn bad for society (62% vs. 39%).††

68%

21% of Christian men of all ages think they are, or might be, addicted to porn.†

fighting “to the very end!” Do we really know what it would take to fight against the porn industry’s ravenous claws? The enemy knows if he can keep us weakened by chains of sinful sexual self-fulfillment, we will never be able to truly offer redemption. You can’t give what you don’t have.

Holiness means the death to my way of fulfilling my life. Even if we know this, areas like our sexuality can be so powerful that we lose hope. Death to our ways of attempting to fulfill ourselves is the avenue through which grace flows. Paul, speaking to a church that knew the delivering power of Jesus, commands, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). The same must occur if a person truly wants to be free of pornography.

Jesus took on flesh to show us that He would never “grasp” for Himself. A truly holy, healthy salvation is the loving acceptance of the provision through the heart of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to pervade all that I know and don’t know of my inner life. He wants to forgive us and to create in us a pure heart that does not seek its own fulfillment. As anyone who is winning the battle against sins like pornography will tell you, we must totally submit the fulfillment of our needs to our Maker. He knows what we need, and He can supply us completely. His means of sustaining purity of heart, mind, and body is always by His grace and through His Church.

Dr. Bill Ury has a Ph.D. in theological and religious studies and is National Ambassador of Holiness for The Salvation Army in the United States.

51% of all Americans seek out porn at least occasionally.††

56%

of American divorces involve a partner having an obsessive interest in pornographic websites.**

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

by HUGO BRAVO

Paul Witkowski arrived at The Salvation Army Emergency Shelter in Elizabeth, N.J., after a two-week stay at a hospital for a heart condition. His marriage of 26 years had recently ended in divorce, leaving him depressed, without a home, and unsure of his future as he tried to recover.

“Going back to work was not something I wanted to do; I was ready to retire. The Salvation Army showed me how to get that process going as I stayed with them. They treated me very well,” says Paul. He also began therapy to help him with his depression.

When Brian, the shelter’s chef, needed a new assistant, Paul approached him to offer his help. Years ago, Paul had worked in restaurants and delis. He had also been a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician and knew how important it was to be in service to others.

“Brian said that he trusted me and liked that he didn’t have to explain anything in the kitchen to me,” Paul remembers. “Cooking was fun and easy for me, plus I always had something to eat. The kitchen became another form of therapy.”

The Salvation Army connected Paul with Bridgeway Services, an organization that helped him find a place to live. With his roommate Michael, another resident from the shelter, they were able to afford an apartment in Elizabeth.

“When we left, Mike and I were given groceries, vouchers for the Salvation Army store to buy things for our apartment, help with our first month’s rent, and even a ride to our new home,” says Paul. He still comes back to the shelter to volunteer several days of the week.

Now taking over cooking duties when Brian is off, Paul loves coming up with different, creative meals for the residents.

“You don’t get to do that in many homeless shelters,” he says, “but I like trying something

“Many people don’t realize how The Salvation Army can help the homeless—from picking them off the streets and feeding them to getting them into a shelter like this one, and then into an actual home,” says Paul Witkowski. “The social services organizations know, but the public usually doesn’t.”

new to make someone a little happier.”

Paul has also assisted at the Elizabeth Corps’ soup kitchen and prepared breakfast and lunch for the children at the corps’ summer day camp.

“I’m always happy to help Captain Walter Droz at the corps because, if the shelter ever needs anything, he’s happy to help us too,” says Paul.

Paul has become a beloved presence at the shelter, as well as proof that The Salvation Army will do everything it can to turn a life around for the better. He is always happy to show residents how to navigate the system and make sure that important paperwork doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. If they’re patient, he knows they can have their own home again.

“A lot of people come here angry and frustrated—they’re so used to being on the streets, making their own rules. I remind them that they’re playing in the system’s rules now, and they’ll be surprised by

how much help there is for them if they follow those rules. But they must do the legwork. If you see a ‘for rent’ sign somewhere you’d like to live, you need to meet with the superintendent of the building. If you see a job opening, you need to go and introduce yourself. Nothing is going to fall in your lap, but from my own experience, The Salvation Army will be there to help you every step of the way.”

Paul is part of that help. Even with his health issues, he still loves being in the building and with the staff that gave him a place to stay. Now, it’s where his mind can also stay at peace.

“Depression can always return. For me, if I start to sit around too long without anything to do, my brain feels like it’s spinning. But if I’m cooking meals, helping with deliveries, meeting new people, and showing them ways to get out of their situation, there’s no time for me to feel depressed and in my own head. There’s still so much I can do here.”

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