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. In cooperation with community partners, we help break the cycle of crisis by offering a hand up instead of a handout. Doing this provides a pathway out of poverty.
WHO WE ARE
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People Major Valerie Kahn has put her faith in the Lord, and He has always responded.
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Programs
Creative heARTs helps artists with developmental disabilities make their mark.
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History The Salvation Army’s legacy is grounded in more than a century of trust.
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Faith in Action
In Pittsburgh, the LIGHT Project reaches out to survivors of human trafficking.
RECOVERY
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Thrift Store Finds
Brush up on your political knowledge with books from your Army thrift store.
LIVING
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Spiritual Life Development
Quiet your distractions to spend quality time with God.
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Health Learn about the signs and dangers of pornography addiction.
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Inspiration God sees us and can deliver us from despair.
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Volunteer Spotlight
From Germantown, Philadelphia, to the Philly Kroc, Alice Webb welcomes all to The Salvation Army.
Feature
Walter Kehoe is too busy these days at the Portland, Maine, Salvation Army to think about drugs and alcohol.
MUSIC MINISTRY
AT THE SALVATION ARMY
MUSIC.SACONNECTS.ORG
Programs where people of all ages learn to worship through music.
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.
Member since 2015. Award winner 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
SAconnects is
Vol. 10, No. 5, 2024. Printed in USA. Postmaster: Send all address changes to: SAconnects, 440 West Nyack Road, West Nyack, NY 10994–1739. SAconnects accepts advertising. Copyright © 2024 by The Salvation Army, USA Eastern Territory. Articles may be reprinted only with written permission. All scripture references are taken from the New International Version (NIV) unless indicated otherwise.
WARREN L. MAYE Editor in Chief
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
—Romans 12:2
I was born in the heartland of America. During all those years I attended social studies classes, I don’t recall ever specifically discussing immigration. So, it came as a surprise to me when I moved to the East Coast and was exposed to the multinational, multilingual cultures of the port city of New York.
It was thrilling to realize that, rather than travel the world to meet people from other countries, all I had to do was stand in one place long enough: on a subway platform under 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, or under the great arch of Washington Square Park. I visited the five boroughs. Every local community brought glimpses of wonderful diversity. I ate at a variety of restaurants in the East Village, Jackson Heights, Queens, and parts of Brooklyn, enjoying cuisines I hadn’t even imagined.
The other day, I walked with members of my family through Parkchester in the Bronx. People from Bangladesh, the Caribbean, Africa, India, Asia, and Central and South America lived peacefully in the same community, often dressed in ways that hinted at their national identities.
Perhaps if those social studies classes had included in-depth conversations about the topic, I could better grasp how immigration has been such a complex problem. But I’ve learned that communities can become socially parched if not for the rivers of culture flowing through them.
In this issue of SA connects, our cover story will challenge you to take another look at immigration. Although it’s a label that is used politically, see the people represented by it—and gain a love for them. Think of that famous poem on the Statue of Liberty in contrast with a view of the infamous metal fencing that now lines portions of our southern border. Those are antithetical ideas.
www.saconnects.org | @saconnects
But what is to be said of you?
Are you ready to be transformed?
THE SALVATION ARMY’S OTHERS PROGRAM OFFERS PEOPLE IN OTHER COUNTRIES MORE ACCESS TO FLEXIBLE JOBS, FAIR WAGES, AND DECENT EMPLOYMENT. THROUGH YOUR PURCHASES, WE PROVIDE LIFE–CHANGING OPPORTUNITIES TO OVER 1200 ARTISANS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD WHO PRODUCE QUALITY HANDMADE PRODUCTS. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR MISSION, VISIT WWW . TRADEFORHOPE . COM
WHO WE ARE
Did you know?
In the early 20th century,
The Salvation Army ran a very successful emigration program. By 1933, it had helped over 200,000 British citizens emigrate to the colonies and dominions of Great Britain.
Often one of the first organizations to respond to disasters, The Salvation Army provides practical, emotional, and spiritual support to people in need. We are also frequently the last to leave, sometimes after having offered months of professional and volunteer support.
John Ashbery (1927–2017), an influential American poet, once said,
“There is the view that poetry should improve your life. I think people confuse it with The Salvation Army.”
The Salvation Army improves lives by “Doing the Most Good.”
Donor Corner
Evangelize Anywhere
Founder William Booth set up a tent in a Quaker graveyard in London’s East End during the early days of The Salvation Army and held several successful evangelistic meetings there.
Since 2020, high school student Avani Verma (at right) has supported The Salvation Army Kroc Center in Camden, N.J., with donations of gently used sports equipment through her nonprofit organization, The Seva Project.
The Seva Project contends that every child deserves the opportunity to enjoy the benefits and character-building lessons that come with playing sports. Since seventh grade, Avani, a high school athlete herself, has hosted drives to collect new and gently used sports equipment for local organizations. Seva means “selfless service” in Sanskrit.
“We are blessed by The Seva Project’s partnership with The Salvation Army in Camden,” said Major Richard Sanchez, corps officer at the Kroc Center. “This year’s donation of lacrosse equipment will help us establish our lacrosse program after a several-year hiatus, and ensure that our developing athletes have the tools they need to play the sport competitively. We are so thankful to Avani for her support!” Visit www.the-seva-project.org for more information.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
The Boston Celtics were in the middle of what would turn out to be their 18th champion ship season when the organization came together with Dunkin’ to unveil a renovated basketball court at The Salvation Army South End Corps in March. The two Boston-based entities, which have a history of working with The Salvation Army in Massachusetts, collaborated on the project. Renovations included a redone gym floor, new basketball nets, padding on the walls, and a wraparound mural with designs such as the Boston skyline, Celtics logos, and Dunkin’ colors.
At the big unveiling, Celtics forward Xavier Tillman made an appearance and participated in basketball drills, donut coloring, and Celtics-themed contests. Mascots Lucky the Lepre chaun, The Salvation Army’s Shieldy, and Dunkin’s Cuppy also took part in the celebration, posing for photos with happy children and Salvation Army staff members.
When I was 17, I was a timbrelist for our Salvation Army divisional youth band. We took a trip to Jamaica to perform, and of course, as a teenager on a tropical island, I was having the time of my life. But when we arrived at a school for the blind and deaf run by The Salvation Army, the trip became more. I had grown up in the church, but I didn’t know there were schools like this. I wept as I saw the Army’s ministry to these children, who were all just a little younger than I was. It was at this school, which still operates today, that God first spoke to me and said that I would be a teacher. I’ve always welcomed teaching as part of my ministry because of that pivotal moment.
As I was preparing to go to the College for Officer Training, I was chosen to be the session representative who’d address the cadets at our welcome event. As I read the letter informing me about my 15 minutes to speak, I heard God say that my future husband would be there. I’d already decided I did not want to be a single officer, but I tucked away that promise. It wasn’t something that preoccupied me. Eventually, I was introduced to a secondyear cadet named Elijah Kahn, and we began dating. Years later I remembered Elijah shaking my hand and complimenting me after I spoke. In all the excitement that day, I hadn’t really registered our interaction. God’s promise came true—my husband had been there all along, listening to me talk.
Immeasurably More
Interview by HUGO BRAVO
Major Valerie Kahn, program secretary for The Salvation Army Massachusetts Divisional Headquarters, talks about how the Army’s work in Jamaica helped direct her future, being reminded of the first time she met her husband, and following God’s guidance.
Life is full of moments that are so out of your control, you have no choice but to let God handle them. My father, a Salvation Army officer, did not realize his own internal prejudices until I began dating Elijah, who is Black. He did not approve and said I’d be ruining my life by marrying him. The man saying these things was not the man I knew, but this was between God and him. We had people praying for our family, but it was my father who needed to change. Today, my father loves Elijah and our two daughters. He’s grateful we never gave up on him. He asked for and received forgiveness from his son-in-law, who always remained kind and respectful to him. Through God and Elijah’s forgiveness, my father saw what I knew: Getting married wouldn’t ruin my life. It was the best thing to ever happen to me.
When God calls, it feels as real as if He was standing next to me. During another difficult time, He came to me with these words: “I am always aware of you. I know what brings you joy, what breaks your heart, and I am with you all the time. I know where you are, how you are, and what you are struggling with every moment of every day. I love you and care about you.” I immediately went to write it down, and I go back to that quote and that moment in times of worry and discouragement. When I received notice of our new appointment in Massachusetts, it was a bit of a shock. God sent me a similar message as before, but in simpler words: “Look at all the times I’ve given you peace.”
Elijah and I printed Ephesians 3:20–21 on our wedding program. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” God has plans we would never expect. I share my life because I want my life to be a testament to God and the work He can do within us.
A New Peace Major Valerie Kahn in Massachusetts.
by HUGO BRAVO
Gi
Paintingfrom the Heart
ve people a chance to express themselves through the arts, and they can blossom— and even grow into something beyond their imagination. When The Salvation Army in Delaware saw an opportunity to encourage members of its Developmental Disabilities Program (DDP) to explore their talents, a new ministry of art and enterprise emerged.
“Our program for people with developmental disabilities prides itself on being very individualized, whether it’s in finding work or participating in the community. We expand on what we see in our members,” says Christy Cugno, DDP program director. “One lady would come in and draw the images from the church programs she picked up on Sunday. At first we thought she was tracing, but she was re-creating the pictures in black-and-white herself.”
A program staff member who was also an artist saw her talent and the level of interest present in her as well as other DDP participants. Cugno reached out to the Delaware chapter of Very Special Arts, an international art nonprofit for adults and children with disabilities, which said that if at least five people from DDP were interested, they’d help. Fifteen showed up, and the numbers have kept growing.
Creative heARTs, as the program is now called, is free to those who attend DDP’s Community Options program. The artists sell their finished work as cards, prints, and original framed paintings. Local art leagues, moved and inspired by DDP’s work, have helped Creative heARTs host art shows and sales in Pennsylvania and Delaware.
“Our artists are involved in the business side as soon as they put down their paintbrushes,” says Cugno. “We take the paintings to get scanned, decide together what pieces work best for cards, print them, and deliver the orders to clients. I can’t tell you how many times someone has bought a Creative heARTs card with the intention of mailing it, then told us they decided to
frame and display it instead. And once the checks come in, our artists are very happy.”
At the galleries, the artists can talk about their inspiration and become salespeople for their own work. Cugno says doing this is important for folks with developmental disabilities, who may be shy or have difficulty expressing themselves.
“One of our members was very quiet and introverted, but he came alive when he had the opportunity to paint Japanesestyle anime characters. He began to watch online videos on yarn art and created yarn gnomes for every holiday of the year. They sold very well!” says Cugno. “From there, he began to try new styles and even learned to
set up tables and displays for our art shows.
“I’ve seen our members be overcome with emotion and pride when they sell a painting. That’s something I always stress when talking about Creative heARTs. These aren’t drawings that are made and then forgotten about or left on our fridge. This is beautiful, gallery-worthy art that brings in money for the program and its artists. We want to show everybody what our members can do, not what they can’t. We promote our abilities, not our disabilities.”
Cugno loves to watch Creative heARTs artists go from a single mark on paper to a piece that will feature at their next show.
“This is the best example of the Army ‘Doing the Most Good,’” she says. “You never realize what need you can meet for someone until you try, and it becomes something exciting for everyone involved.”
See more from Creative heARTs and support its artists
BEACH AND BLOOMS
From left to right: Beach Paint by Charina Goodman and Flower Bed by Kim Smith.
SUN AND MOON Moonlight by Samantha Roach and Sunflower and Dragonflies by Bill Posey.
Gaining and Keeping Trust
A history of transparency in The Salvation Army
by ROB JEFFERY
One of the main expectations any charitable organization must live up to is transparency—to be an “open book” to the public to ensure that it’s worthy of being trusted. When that organization is also a religious movement modeled after the gospel of Jesus Christ, gaining and keeping the public’s trust becomes even more important.
Long before The Salvation Army came into being, Jesus spoke extensively of the need for His followers to be open and transparent. He wanted His disciples to be trustworthy through their words and deeds when He said, “Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no” (Matthew 5:37, CEB). Jesus spoke of the importance of paying a worker his due and sent His missionary disciples out in twos for mutual support but also accountability (Luke 10:1–12). A model of transparency and openness is still practiced in the Church today. In the history of the Church as recorded in the Book of Acts, we see what happened to the unethical Christian couple, Ananias and Sapphira, when they lied about how much they gave to the Lord’s work. Their deceit grieved the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1–11).
Checks and balances
In founding The Salvation Army, William and Catherine Booth created a movement that ran in very defined ways. William was no doubt in charge, but there were systems of accountability present from the start.
For the 13-year period in which the Christian Mission operated (1865–1878), William Booth was its general superintendent. There were committees with rules and procedures on how the mission was to be governed—similar to the structure of the
Methodist New Connexion, the denomination from which the Booths came. The mission members later voluntarily gave up their autonomy in favor of having Booth take a more direct, top-down role in leadership of the newly styled Salvation Army. General Booth (dropping the superintendent title) would have the final say on every policy and action taken. But committees would be replaced by “war cabinets” that could speak to the General’s command authority, refining ideas to make them more effective and preventing missteps.
In Victorian England, a journalist wrote a tabloidesque story claiming that Booth and his followers were following the mysterious dictates of a “secret red book.” The book in question was none other than The Salvation Army’s Orders and Regulations, available to anyone who wanted to read it. But the finances of the growing movement were the greatest source of contention among the Army’s critics. False charges of financial mismanagement abounded to the point where an awful caricature was printed by a London newspaper, making Booth look like a greedy money grubber. Such a depiction could not have been further from the truth.
Following the financial recordkeeping of the Christian Mission, Booth put in place a rigorous system full of checks and balances. Funds were centrally controlled out of divisional and territorial headquarters, and at the corps level, local officer positions such as corps treasurers were created to be a second set of eyes watching over Salvation Army funds. And Booth paid top dollar to some of England’s top accounting firms to audit every budget line on The Salvation Army’s ledgers. It was vital that as public support of
the Army increased, the same public could trust the Army to use its money wisely.
The Salvation Army officially launched in America in March of 1880. Commissioner George Scott Railton discovered that within a few weeks of their arrival, an imposter calling himself General Haskell was holding camp meetings throughout the Midwest, soliciting funds for The Salvation Army. Railton wrote to the newspapers that this man had no connection with the real Army, but it was difficult to undo the damage. He could, however, ensure that the real Salvation Army was above reproach in its dealings, financial or otherwise—which is why on the first handbill Railton created to advertise a service at Harry Hill’s Variety Theatre on March 21, 1880, he noted at the bottom of the bill, “Admission 25 cents. Not a cent of the money goes to any member of the Army.”
A spirit of openness
As time marched on, The Salvation Army got better at demonstrating its transparency by combining the auditors’ findings
with promotional material that showed the Army’s work in the community. For instance, a pamphlet from 1923 highlights The Salvation Army’s work in the greater New York area. On one page it documents the many services provided by Salvationists in New York City; on the other it shares details of the accounting ledger, including expenses and income and the proposed budget for next year. The auditors’ certificate and signature tell whoever is interested that these facts and figures were verified by the auditing staff of “The Audit Company of New York,” which became part of Price Waterhouse—one of the “big four” accounting firms still around today.
Today, transparency has never been more important. The Salvation Army takes many steps to establish a spirit of openness and visibility in its dealings with the public. Nationally recognized programs such as KeepSAfe make sure that children and youth under the Army’s care remain safe at all times. Meanwhile, sophisticated yet easy to use financial management programs help everyone from corps officers (pastors) to command heads properly account for spending.
The Salvation Army has a rigorous auditing system, so the public can trust their donor dollars are going to the right places and helping people truly in need.
Every division in the USA Eastern Territory publishes an annual report that gives the public a thorough overview of the Army’s work in the division with all the accounting details. Annual reports are also published territorially and nationally.
In 2004, the newly renovated International Headquarters (IHQ) building for the worldwide Salvation Army reopened in London, England. IHQ had occupied that historic site on 101 Queen Victoria Street since 1881. The redesign featured a beautiful glass building with interior glass walls. Even the office of the General, the international leader of The Salvation Army, was open and visible to all—as it still is today— on the public-facing ground floor of IHQ. A spokesperson on behalf of the architectural firm said their goal was to “design a building where transparency is a theme.” Many Salvationists work hard every day to be certain that The Salvation Army will always uphold its reputation as a transparent and trustworthy organization, meeting human need in Jesus’ name.
Rob Jeffery is director of the Heritage Museum in the USA Eastern Territory.
Open Book This 1923 pamphlet highlighted The Salvation Army’s work in the greater New York area and provided financial information to the public.
In the Dark Human trafficking can ensnare people of any background, can sometimes be difficult to identify, and takes place in a wide range of settings.
Shedding LIGHT on Human Trafficking
The Salvation Army’s LIGHT Project reminds people caught up in human trafficking that recovery is not something they have to face alone
by HUGO BRAVO
One of The Salvation Army’s longest-fought battles has been against human trafficking— the buying, selling, and trading of people for labor or sexual exploitation. From efforts to increase the age of consent in England in 1885 to a campaign to free women who worked in early 20th-century Japanese brothels to today, countless Salvation Army officers, volunteers, and allies have taken on this ministry to help bring souls from darkness to light.
But removing men and women from their traffickers is only the first step. To truly bring someone from the darkness of human trafficking to the light of normalcy takes much more. People who have spent months or years being denied basic privileges or any sense of independence cannot be expected to walk into a state of self-sufficiency. Without support, advocacy, and understanding, it’s painfully common to see them return to their trafficker or a similar situation.
The LIGHT Project (Leading Individuals Gracefully out of Human Trafficking), The Salvation Army’s anti–human trafficking ministry based out of Pittsburgh, Pa., is making sure the light never goes out for survivors. Staff members use their connections, resources, and indomitable spirit to meet the needs of survivors of both labor and sexual trafficking.
“Individual case management,” says Tabitha Ceryak, director of the LIGHT Project, “is probably the biggest step toward [establishing] a human trafficking victim’s self-sufficiency. That’s when we can offer assistance and guidance that can impact lives immediately. Housing is important, but with case management, we can pay carpenter union dues for a man who was labor trafficked, so he
can find legitimate work. We partner with local organizations so a family can receive mental health counseling. We find important documents for a sex trafficking survivor, so she can qualify for assistance from the city.”
Speaking up
“Something I’ve learned about labor trafficking is that many of the people are trafficked by others of their own race and background. That’s so sad and unfortunate to me. How can you put someone who’s struggling, just as you are, through something like this?” Ceryak says. Before joining the LIGHT Project, she was aware that sex trafficking happens in a city like Pittsburgh, but she wasn’t as familiar with its labor trafficking numbers.
“I thought it would be more in central Pennsylvania, where the farmlands are. But labor trafficking is found in laundromats, nail salons, and massage parlors, not just in fields,” Ceryak says. “I’ve become a lot more mindful of it myself. When my home needed a new roof, we hired a reputable contractor. But even so, I asked one of the workers if they were being paid properly by their supervisor. Thankfully, they all were.”
Labor trafficking can sometimes be difficult to spot. No customer goes into the kitchen of a favorite restaurant to ask about the staff’s legal status, for example. But there can be signs, especially when a worker has to go somewhere like a hospital.
“When they stay quiet and the ‘boss’ speaks for them, that’s a red flag,” Ceryak says. “Unfortunately, hospitals don’t always have the authority to report incidents like
Learn more about the LIGHT Project and how you can help fight human trafficking in western Pennsylvania.
that, but if someone stays long-term, they can refer them to social services like ours.”
Human trafficking can ensnare people of any background.
“I’m a man. How could this happen to me?” Ceryak hears such words from many men who’ve been trafficked. But trafficking never discriminates, and its survivors can require representation and advocacy, even years later.
“We had a family from Honduras that had been labor trafficked and remained in contact with us,” says Bimala Gurung, a survivor support specialist with the LIGHT Project. “We learned that their child was seriously injured during gym class, and the school refused to pay his medical bills, even though they were liable because it had happened on school grounds. The family was afraid to speak up for themselves because they were in the process of getting their U.S. citizenship.”
Ceryak personally went to the school on the family’s behalf. “I thought about how many other families are in similar situations, without an advocate to support them. It made me so angry,” she says. “A school would never do that to an American family.” Eventually, the school agreed to pay for the child’s medical bills.
Lisa’s story
When she was just 16 years old, Lisa,* from Texas, befriended a man at an underage nightclub. Eventually, they began living together in hotels, where Lisa engaged in sex work under his orders.
“Lisa lost all contact with her parents, except when she became pregnant by her trafficker. He sent their baby to live with them,” says Ceryak, who worked closely with Lisa after the LIGHT Project took on her case. “It happened twice more after that. It was the only way that Lisa’s parents knew their daughter was still alive, when another baby showed up at their doorstep.”
Trying to escape her trafficker, Lisa, pregnant with her fourth child, left Texas and moved to Pittsburgh. The LIGHT Project connected with her while she was at the hospital.
“The trafficker had connections in
Pennsylvania and followed her to Pittsburgh. He beat and assaulted her so badly that she had to be airlifted to get medical help,” says Ceryak. “The hospital kept Lisa from going into labor prematurely and treated her for her drug addiction. They could tell that she was a call girl by the heroin injections on her toes. That’s how sex traffickers force their victims to use needles and not leave marks or scars.”
The LIGHT Project helped Lisa with food and gift cards and found her an apartment close to the hospital, so she could continue treatment. In a matter of days, she shared her life story. Today, Lisa has reconnected with her parents and given birth to her fourth child, the first she’s been able to raise on her own.
“Traffickers know how to find people to go after. They can approach a college student working on her degree as easily as they can approach a parent while food shopping. It’s not very likely that a trafficker is going to throw their adult target in a van outside a store and drive off. Instead, they’ll pay them a compliment, befriend them, and gradually earn their trust,” says Elena Chapin, outreach coordinator for the LIGHT Project. “People mistake human trafficking as something that only happens overseas on vacations. That’s the Hollywood movie version of it. Someone can get quietly trafficked through the social media accounts on their phone, or on a child’s online video game voice chat. We’ve seen both of those things happen.”
A passion project
The LIGHT Project is not based out of a Salvation Army corps, but a holistic approach is available to those who seek it. Valarie Coleman, housing coordinator, says every client who’s come to her office has asked her if she believes in God.
“I tell them that I do, and I’m happy to speak with them about it,” says Coleman.
“Valarie is so good at that,” says Ceryak. “Our clients say that she offers help to them in a motherly way, different than what they’re used to.”
“I’m not a pastor,” says Coleman. “My job is to help people find a roof over their head. So in those discussions, I let them
control that aspect of ministry, and what they want to share with me. But if they choose to walk down that street, I’m walking along with them.”
The LIGHT Project also works with The Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) of Western Pennsylvania. Every week, EDS goes to feed the unhoused community of Pittsburgh, and a project representative accompanies them to share information and meet the people looking for food.
“I remember the first time we went, within the first three minutes of working with EDS, we fed a woman who was being sex trafficked. Now, she’s moved on from that life and is living in an apartment,” says Ceryak. “I know that we were meant to be there that day for her.
“People might say, ‘They’re just prostitutes—they want to do this.’ But the truth is that the people we help didn’t wake up one day and decide they wanted to sell their body, or they wanted to work for someone and get paid next to nothing. Something happened to that person to force them into that line of work. It could be abuse, a way of survival, or something that no one could have ever imagined. Every time I think I’ve heard it all, a completely new experience gets shared with us.”
Working for a community outreach program can be frustrating. Sometimes it requires frequent reminders and calls to gather needed information. But the men and women who are helped by the LIGHT Project stay in touch, provide regular updates, and are open to new forms of assistance. They see a light at the end of the tunnel because they have a support system that walks through the darkness with them.
“None of us have ever worked for an agency like the LIGHT Project or under an organization like The Salvation Army before,” says Ceryak. “Western Pennsyl vania has corps officers, volunteers, and employees who are passionate about what the LIGHT Project does. They know that fighting human trafficking and helping its victims cuts to the very core of The Salvation Army’s mission.”
*Name has been changed to protect her identity.
by HUGO BRAVO
Read up on political icons at your Salvation Army store
This November, millions of Americans will go to their local polling place and cast their ballot in our national elections. And if you’re interested in learning more about past and present political figures from both sides of the aisle, your local Salvation Army store has books on historical events, famous first ladies, and much more.
Go to sastores.org to locate a Salvation Army family thrift store near you.
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.
A IN A STRANGE LAND
HAND
HAND TO STRANGERS
SThe Salvation Army is helping meet the needs of immigrants and their families
by HUGO BRAVO
ometimes when I sit down to write about immigrants and their connection to The Salvation Army, my mind goes back to April 10, 1988. That was the day my mother and I boarded a plane from Lima, Peru, to Newark International Airport. I was 5 years old. My father, who’d arrived in the United States two years prior, had a rented rear-lot house ready for us in Paterson, N.J., a city that, its residents like to say, has more Peruvians than any other place in the world, minus Peru itself.
Four decades and three citizenships later, I can look back at our arrival and be grateful that despite facing hardships, we were among the most fortunate of immigrants. Language barriers eventually broke down with study and practice (for me personally, a healthy diet of American rock music helped). My parents had both majored in psychology at the University
of Lima, so my father found steady work as a family therapist during the day and as a janitor in the evening. My mother did shifts at factories and print shops. Child care was not an issue. I was already of school age, and by the time my sister was born, we had friends and neighbors who were happy to watch us while our parents worked days, nights, and weekends. Perhaps most important of all, our future as residents of the United States of America was never in doubt. We weren’t afraid that government agents might appear at our door to separate us or send us back because of a change in presidential administrations or misfiled paperwork. We were stable and safe here.
The same cannot be said for thousands of families entering this country now from all over the world. None of us can simply ignore the people who have come to our own communities in search of a better life. The Bible stresses the importance of extending “hospitality to strangers” (Romans 12:13) and showing love to the “alien who resides” with us (Leviticus 19:34).
When The Salvation Army arrived on these shores during the late 19th century, it too was a target of society’s anti-foreigner sentiment often aimed at Chinese, Irish, and Italian immigrants. Though small in number in those years, Salvationists, with their distinctive culture and willingness to upend traditions, faced much hostility. But it didn’t deter them from thriving or, throughout the years, helping strangers new to America.
The Salvation Army’s mission, resources, and diversity among its pastors make it uniquely equipped to give immigrants a hand. Its officers and members have shown the heart and dedication to welcome people from many cultures to their churches and communities. In turn, their congregations and ministries have only grown richer by following Proverbs 3:27: “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.”
The Kearny kids are alright Envoy Emily Betts’ first assignment as a Salvation Army pastor was in Kearny, N.J., a city that is 45% Hispanic or Latino, with
immigrants hailing from countries like Ecuador, Peru, and the Dominican Republic.
“When I arrived in 2021, the Kearny Corps’ Sunday congregation was not reflective of the city’s demographics, or even of the Spanish-speaking families that visited our food pantry during the week,” says Betts. “An employee who spoke Spanish was our connection to the community. When she left, I had to step up. Even though I didn’t speak Spanish, I saw it as an opportunity to dramatically change the direction of our corps.”
She decided to start by promoting the children’s programs at the church. Anyone who came in for social services was informed about the ministries available for their kids. Within two weeks, those programs went from 10 children to an average of 30. As the number of kids grew, so did the numbers across other programs.
“More and more adults were aware of what our corps had to offer for them and their families,” says Betts. “Any time our corps kids held a music recital, for example, 100 people would show up to watch, all Spanish-speaking families. We decided to keep our kids’ programs running all summer long, and with expanded hours.”
The church’s most popular programs aren’t the ones driven by social services, but instead, it’s the relational, characterbuilding ministries, like board game nights, English as a second language classes, and Bible study.
“Before this, we weren’t doing Bible study, because as much as we wanted to do both languages, we didn’t have someone who could lead it in Spanish,” says Betts. When they found a Spanish-speaking ministry assistant, they were able to launch Bible study in English and Spanish.
The church also started to hold bilingual Sunday services once a month with the help of a translator from The Salvation Army’s New Jersey Divisional Headquarters. After two months, they expanded to every Sunday and added worship songs in Spanish too. For Betts and the English speakers among the congregation, singing a song in Spanish was easier than trying to speak the language, since it
Come Together Envoy Emily Betts (top, at piano) says the young people of the Kearny Corps have given the church new life through music and sports (above). At the Chelsea Corps (middle), lines for its food pantry often go around the block. Outside the Quincy Corps, Rezarta Prence and Ermal Hysko (right), immigrants from Albania, work for The Salvation Army.
LU LU
RIVERA (2)
THE SALVATION ARMY’S MISSION, RESOURCES, AND DIVERSITY AMONG ITS PASTORS MAKE IT UNIQUELY EQUIPPED TO GIVE IMMIGRANTS A HAND.
“ IMAGINE A FAMILY THAT HAS NO ONE. THEY DON’T KNOW THE LANGUAGE, THE CULTURE, OR THE LEGISLATION THAT WILL DIRECTLY AFFECT THEM … HELPING THOSE FAMILIES IS MORE THAN JUST A JOB FOR US.”
I’ll Stand by You The Chelsea Corps registers people (above) who get help from its food pantry (above right).
Shelter From the Storm Through a variety of programs at The Salvation Army in Quincy, Mass., Rezarta Prence (right) helps families and individuals find homes, resources, and employment.
only required a focus on pronunciation.
“When we truly welcomed Spanish on Sunday, the parents of the children in our programs started coming more,” says Betts. “I was told that the Kearny Corps was once a very ‘traditional’ corps, but we needed to follow up on the tradition of making everyone feel welcome.
“Someday there might be an officer here that speaks perfect Spanish and is directly in charge of the outreach, but as it is now, I’m happy to be in a place where everyone, old and new, embraces the cultures in our congregation. It’s a beautiful new normal and an example of how God can work and transform His church for everyone.”
A fortunate son (and daughter-in-law) In their home country of Albania in southern Europe, Ermal Hysko and his wife, Rezarta Prence, heard the stories that many people hear. America is the perfect place to live, and if you are fortunate enough to come here, anything is possible.
“Of course, it wasn’t quite like that,” says Ermal. His parents had immigrated to Quincy, Mass., three years before their own arrival in 2016. “My parents warned me that living in America would not be easy. But there was opportunity here, and I knew if I worked hard, I would not go unnoticed. That’s much different than in Albania, where due to nepotism, it’s almost impossible to find any type of work, no matter how small.”
Rezarta recalls that when she and Ermal got to Quincy, Ermal’s father told them about the first time he walked into The Salvation Army there. She says, “He beamed about meeting a social worker who gave him gift cards to buy food and furniture for their empty apartment.”
Ermal’s mother suggested that since Rezarta had done social work in Albania, she should look into similar work here.
“But Ermal and I had come to America while I was pregnant with our first child. I wondered, who would ever want to hire me?” says Rezarta.
To her surprise, she got a job as director of the Quincy Corps preschool. She is now the social services manager at The Salvation Army in Quincy, helping families
just like the Army once helped her in-laws.
“God always knows what’s ahead for all of us, which is why the pastoral care that comes with the Army’s assistance is so important,” says Rezarta. “Many people who come to us ask us to pray with them in a private setting. Our officers sit with them and assure them that their prayers are being heard.”
Ermal, who is the regional social ministries manager for The Salvation Army in Greater Boston, says, “Stable, affordable housing is the main need for these immigrant families. We can guide them toward agencies like the Housing Authority that can help them achieve that goal. But there’s still more to do. They need health insurance, so they don’t have to deal with a $5,000 hospital bill if someone gets sick.”
They also need help with finding employment. “Dunkin’ Donuts in Massachusetts will accept employees with just an ITIN,” an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, says Rezarta. “But if you’ve just arrived here from another country, how would you even know that? It’s not just about giving someone food and clothes. It’s helping them get to a better situation in one or two months than they are today.”
One of her cases involved a couple in their late 70s from the Dominican Republic. They had no other family and were living in their car, trying to survive the cold Massachusetts winter with health issues. Rezarta was able to give them a hotel voucher to get them out of the street, then connected them to the Quincy Housing Authority, which managed to find them an apartment.
“You see a lot of grateful, emotional breakdowns when a family like them walks inside a shelter or a home for the first time,” says Rezarta. “The husband said I was their Mother Teresa, who was also Albanian. Hearing that made me cry.”
“I always think about our own immigrant story,” says Ermal. “We came here with green cards and guidance from my parents. We lived with them for a year rentfree. And even with all that help, we still had our own struggles.
“Imagine a family that has no one. They don’t know the language, the culture, or the
legislation that will directly affect them. If there is ever a time that they need all the assistance and guidance they can get, this is it. Helping those families is more than just a job for us.”
Chelsea’s hungry hearts
Chelsea, Mass., is a sanctuary city. That means the local government limits its cooperation with federal agencies and immigration laws. Almost half of its 39,000 residents were born outside of the country. “You can only imagine the food insecurity and need in a city like that,” says Ermal, who gets regular updates and numbers from The Salvation Army Chelsea Corps’ walk-through outdoor food pantry. When it comes to feeding the community, the Chelsea Corps is a rock star, he says.
The comparison is all too apt. Every week a line of people, stretching around the block of the corps, wait for food. It’s reminiscent of the kind of scene at the entrance to a sold-out concert.
“Chelsea serves about 1,200 to 1,500 families weekly,” says Ermal. “That’s 10
times higher than other Salvation Army pantries in Massachusetts. We’ve even had families from Connecticut and Rhode Island drive hours here to get food. It’s why they’ve had to implement registrations and refer out-of-state families to their own local Salvation Army.”
It can be hard to stop and talk to someone with over a hundred people waiting for food behind them. So proper registration also allows Salvation Army caseworkers to follow up with the families who come to the food pantry, seeing what the church can do for them besides food services.
“Chelsea is not a very large or heavily staffed corps, but they have a lot of volunteers who help with their food pantry, and praise God for each of them,” says Ermal. “We get feedback from Chelsea families that say we are the only source of food for them every week. They come back because they know that with us, they are not going to be judged. We help and respond to them with respect and dignity. When you include those qualities in the work you do for others, people take notice.”
Bridge over troubled water in Dover Captains Reginald and Ardrine Montour, Haitian immigrants and corps officers at The Salvation Army in Dover, Del., each studied English in Haiti years before coming to America, where they met. He came in 2008, and she in 2012. Learning a language in a classroom, Captain Reginald says, does not guarantee fluency in a reallife situation.
“To really learn English, one needs to be out there, interacting and listening to the context in which words are being used,” he says. “For me, the meanings of words and phrases sometimes clicked long after a conversation was over.”
Language is just one of the obstacles new immigrants face. Beyond their work as pastors and shepherds to the services offered at the Dover Corps, where they’ve been since August 2020, the Montours have connections to resources across the city.
“Our corps is mostly made up of Haitian immigrants like us. When we meet someone that can benefit from help with their status as new residents or asylum seekers,
Lean on Me The Dover Corps in Delaware is led by Captains Reginald and Ardrine Montour (right, in uniform). Like a majority of their congregation (above and opposite), the captains are from Haiti.
we know where to send them,” says Captain Reginald. “But we are also next to them, every step of the way.”
Since 2021, the captains have worked with a local United Methodist church and JFON (Justice For Our Neighbors). This faith-driven program works with immigrants in Delaware and elsewhere around the nation to provide high-quality legal services, education, and advocacy.
“We call that church ‘the clinic,’ because that is where new immigrants can have an open consultation with a professional about themselves and their situation,” says Captain Reginald.
Lawyers who have been vetted by the Montours then assist the Haitian immigrants with representation in court. If a
family cannot make every immigration court date because of work or child care, a lawyer can attend in their place.
The Montours also have connections to local Jewish community organizations, which send their staff to the Dover Corps to meet with Haitian immigrants and show them how to qualify for food benefits, cash assistance, and low-cost insurance.
“We don’t want anyone new to this country to just trust anybody and risk getting taken advantage of, in court or otherwise,” says Captain Reginald. “So my wife and I help these families with rides to the laundromat, doctor’s appointments, or anything else they need. We hold ‘office hours’ every Sunday after church service, where we help translate and explain
“ WE WANT EVERYONE WHO
COMES TO THE SALVATION ARMY TO FEEL AT HOME.”
important documents or letters from their children’s school.”
“We know a couple who had their first child here,” says Captain Ardrine. “When the mother gave birth, I spent two days in the hospital, in doctor scrubs, by her side. After that, we drove with them to the Department of Motor Vehicles, so they could learn how to properly install and fasten a baby car seat.”
“I like to think of us as a bridge to get these families to where they need to go,” says Captain Reginald. “We share the troubles that we faced as immigrants, with the hope that by accepting our help, they won’t face those same hardships. Sometimes when my wife and I have to be away, we return to a load of work and requests for help. It can be a lot, but we accept that responsibility.”
That responsibility comes to them not just as fellow Haitians, but as God’s arms and legs through The Salvation Army— and the people they help know this. Some of them have worshiped at a Haitian corps in the past; others are more familiar with The Salvation Army’s disaster relief work in Haiti.
“When they see an officer in uniform or a red shield, they say they are reminded of home,” says Captain Ardrine. “And we want everyone who comes to The Salvation Army to feel at home.”
Our immigrant song
Coming to a new home in the United States was a decision made for me by two kind, hardworking people who wanted to give their family a chance at the best future possible. Thousands of families from all over the world do the same every year. Every immigrant has their own song to share—maybe with different lyrics or an unfamiliar melody, but beautiful music just the same.
If my parents had walked a rockier path, I hope a trusting hand would have been offered to help them navigate a strange land. This is what The Salvation Army does every day for families through its programs, ministries, and guidance, with every act done in the name of Christ, for residents and immigrants alike.
RECOVERY
Sobriety Through Service
Walt Kehoe once struggled with drugs and alcohol, but now he keeps himself so busy serving, he doesn’t think about his past
by ROBERT MITCHELL
If it’s happening at The Salvation Army in Portland, Maine, chances are maintenance man Walter “Walt” Kehoe is right in the thick of things.
This church in the heart of downtown Portland is busily committed to The Salvation Army’s mission. In the mornings, Walt and other volunteers serve steaming cups of coffee to the city’s hurting and homeless. When large numbers of asylum seekers arrived in the city last year and the church’s gym floor served as a nightly sanctuary and a place for weary bodies to sleep, Walt was there behind the scenes, helping make it all happen.
Walt is not specifically trained in maintenance but says, “I just know a little bit about a lot of things.” He spent most of his life as an equipment operator before coming to The Salvation Army after graduating from the organization’s Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC) program.
“I’m a jack-of-all-trades type person for the property,” Walt says.
One of the signature ministries at the
Portland Corps is Holy Grounds, the morning coffee outreach to homeless people, shelter residents, and migrants. It’s not uncommon to see a line form outside the coffee window even before it opens at 7:30, but Walt usually arrives around 5 or 5:30 a.m. to start the brew and get everything ready.
Captain Michael Harper, who is the former corps officer in Portland, and Walt used to hit the streets once a week in the church’s canteen serving coffee before starting Holy Grounds. Two years ago, Harper bought a fast food–style window and asked Walt to install it facing the busy street outside the church.
“I put that window in, and we were off to the races,” Walt recalls.
Ministry of presence
Holy Grounds at one point was giving out 400 cups of coffee every morning, but that has slowed down some with the closing of a nearby homeless shelter. Walt and Harper often engage the recipients and pass out Bibles and tracts. Sometimes they just sit
and listen and let those struggling with life share their stories.
“We just go out there and converse and be an example for the people,” Walt says. “I see the struggle. In kind of a weird way, their struggle helps me stay sober. I remember where I came from.”
Walt helps them celebrate their personal victories, such as finding a job, a place to live, or even getting into the ARC with a chance to turn their lives around with Christ’s help.
“Not everybody will listen to these people,” Walt says. “Then you try to give them advice. I give them a hand up, not a handout. A lot of people are stuck, and they can’t find a way out. I’m always recommending the ARC as a better way of life.”
The church also offers English as a second language (ESL) and computer classes to help migrants adjust to life in the United States. Walt, as the maintenance man, led the effort to renovate the space that serves as the classroom.
“I organize things so they can do their classes,” he says. “It’s very rewarding. I don’t have time to think about drinking and other things anymore. They can rely on me, and they know that.”
Last year, Walt was busy making sure the church was ready for migrant families to come each evening for dinner and to sleep on the floor of the church’s gymnasium. The migrants now sleep elsewhere.
“There were almost 80 migrants down there on mats every night,” he said. “They came from several different countries to get here. They were grateful because they weren’t being shot at. Now, they mostly come for ESL and computer classes.”
The go-to guy
The church also depends on Walt for more routine tasks, such as snow removal. He helps transport Christmas gifts during the holiday season and delivered meals after the mass shooting last year in nearby Lewiston, Maine. He also helps with Christmas
“ Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
—1 Corinthians 15:58
OUR DAILY JOE Every day, Walt Kehoe prepares coffee for the corps’ morning ministry of hot cups and sympathetic ears.
“ The Salvation Army has saved my life, there’s no question about it. It got me thinking right. Now I’m working at the church, and we’re about helping people every day. Giving back is keeping me sober.”
kettles, an emergency clothing closet, and anything else that needs to get done.
Walt has overseen several upgrades around the church, including a kitchen renovation, the construction of a fence around the property, a new sound booth in the sanctuary, new railings, and upgraded lighting. The building also houses The Salvation Army’s divisional headquarters.
“Walt has become an indispensable member of our team,” Harper says. “His previous work experience and broad knowledge of service and repair makes him extremely valuable to our facility.”
Walt also attends church at the Portland Corps, which until recently was led by Harper and his wife, Major Armida Harper. It’s a far cry from Walt’s days growing up as a Roman Catholic in Sherburne, N.Y.
“I was just going through the motions back in the day,” Walt says. “I had to go to church because that’s what we did, but I did it just to go. Now I go to learn, and I really believe in God and live that way.”
Harper says he often finds Walt beginning his day reading from a Max Lucado devotional or from scripture. Walt, who considers Harper “my spiritual role model,” also reads a book of meditations at night and prays during the day.
“Walt has told me several times that his recovery is his new full-time job,” Harper says.
Hitting rock bottom
Now 63, Walt was an altar boy growing up as the son of an undertaker in economically depressed upstate New York. He fell in with the wrong crowd.
“It was peer pressure,” he says. “We didn’t have a lot to do in a small community. We ended up drinking and smoking pot. It escalated. It’s been a problem my whole life.”
He joined the Navy and later returned to Sherburne, where his drinking continued. A
series of rehabs and relapses followed as he bounced back and forth between his hometown and Maine, where he had family.
For one nine-week stretch, Walt was homeless on the streets of Old Orchard Beach, Maine, where The Salvation Army holds its annual camp meetings. He made it through because it was summer—not Maine’s brutally cold wintertime.
“You see a lot of people overdosing, and the temptations are all around you,” Walt says of being homeless. “It’s kind of scary. I got through it. I never gave up on myself. I always had hope. I had faith in God—I just wasn’t 100% plugged in all the time.”
Eventually Walt got a job and an apartment in Old Orchard Beach. “But all my downtime was drinking. Then I started doing pills and cocaine. I quit my job so I would run out of money to force myself to get help” and get sober.
“I didn’t know where I was going, I just knew I needed help,” Walt says. “My faith in God and everything else was gone. I was in a spot where it’s very difficult to see yourself stop drinking. It gives you a panic and an uneasy feeling.”
After another failed rehab stint, he walked through the doors of the Portland ARC on Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. This Friday the 13th was not unlucky. It turned out to be the most blessed day of Walt’s life.
“I’ve been sober ever since,” he says.
Power of prayer
Walt said he found his “spiritual side” at the ARC, along with structure and a regular schedule. In the past, all his prayers had been of the desperate, foxhole variety, but that all changed with the spiritual disciplines he learned. His prayer life thrived like never before.
“I was praying to God before, but I wasn’t really living it or believing it and it didn’t
change my life,” Walt remembers. “The ARC got me to live in the present day. When I was using alcohol or drugs, I was either in the future or in the past. I wasn’t in the moment. I wasn’t doing anything to help anybody else or myself. So, the ARC changed my thinking and my spiritual side. It got me believing in God and Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
“The Salvation Army has saved my life, there’s no question about it. It got me thinking right. Now I’m working at the church, and we’re about helping people every day. Giving back is keeping me sober.”
Envoy Stephen Taylor, the former administrator of the Portland ARC, vividly remembers Walt’s resolve.
“When Walt came in the program, he was determined to get his life back,” Taylor says. “He worked hard at the program. He was like a sponge and wanted to absorb everything he could. Here we are two-plus years later and he is still going strong. His relationship with the Lord has evolved and he knows with God at the center of his life, he can’t go wrong.”
Soon after Walt completed the ARC program, a maintenance job opened at the Portland Corps. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Reflecting on his long journey, Walt believes God had a plan for his life, and he is now living that out thanks to The Salvation Army’s showing him a relationship with Christ and a better way to live.
“I don’t know what I envisioned, but I knew I wanted to stay around The Salvation Army because they had something going on that I wanted,” he says. “Through the grace of God, I got my wish. All of a sudden, a maintenance job opened up and I was hired. I mean, that’s God’s work right there.”
Salvation Army ARCs are nonclinical facilities that serve individuals with a variety of problems, including those who have had challenges with alcohol and drugs.
A Prayer for a Noisy World
A Prayer for a Noisy World
by MATT HODGSON
Quiet the distractions to spend quality time with God
The world can be a noisy place. There’s always something going on, making the next sound, grabbing our attention. Street noise. Or the kids are talking, or the TV is on. How about those fancy rectangles in our pockets that help us make phone calls, surf the web, check social media, and play games? Noise happens all the time. Do you sleep at night with the TV on or music playing? We’ve gotten so used to the noise that we can’t even reach a restful state without it.
We can bring this same chaotic environment into our prayer lives. How many times have you started to pray, but your mind wanders? “Do we have any milk?” “I can’t forget to call Jim about that project.” “What time is it? I’ve got to get going.” “My back hurts.” Inner noise can distract us to the point that when we launch into prayer, we talk at God.
Have you ever been in this place? All the while, God desperately wants to spend some time together with you. Our minds are
constantly on the go, and we need to find ways to truly “Be still and know” (Psalm 46:10)—to quiet our inner world enough to hear a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12).
There is a way to practice God’s presence in prayer. In Centering Prayer, a Christian method of meditation, the emphasis is on interior silence. The practice traces to the work of three Trappist monks in Massachusetts in the 1970s, most notably Thomas Keating. The name comes from Thomas Merton’s description
of contemplative prayer that is “centered entirely on the presence of God.”
Merton writes in his book Contemplative Prayer: “Monastic prayer begins not so much with ‘considerations’ as with a ‘return to the heart,’ finding one’s deepest center, awakening the profound depths of our being.”
Intention
In Centering Prayer, we look to get out of the way, reduce the inner noise, and be intentional with God. Keating writes, “Centering Prayer is not a concentrative practice, nor an exercise of attention. It is an exercise of intention. It is our will, our faculty of choice, that we are cultivating. … The will is developing the habit of surrender to God’s increasing presence and action.”
The intention of the practice is always the same: to “consent to the presence and action of God within.”
How To
So how do you get your inner noise out of the way and consent to God’s presence?
During your prayer time, gently let thoughts and sensations go as they arise so you can return to your intention of being with God. Do this by using a word that reminds you that you are practicing being with God. This word can be anything. Some people like traditional religious words—“God” or “Abba” or “Jesus” or a short phrase like “Come Lord.” Others like words of their availability—“open” or “available” or “yes.” There’s nothing special about the word in itself; it is just a placeholder for your intention. Whenever you recognize that you’re having a disrupting thought, you say your word and return to being with God.
Find a quiet spot in your home, at work, or in the park. Set a timer of 10 to 20 minutes, or download the Centering Prayer
“Pray all the time. Ask God for anything in line with the Holy Spirit’s wishes. Plead with him, reminding him of your needs, and keep praying earnestly for all Christians everywhere.”
—Ephesians 6:18 ( TLB )
Praying Together
We know praying for one another is important. We also know praying with each other is important. We plan and prepare prayer rooms in Salvation Army corps buildings, churches, prayer groups, and Adult Rehabilitation Centers, but getting together can seem next to impossible due to scheduling conflicts and responsibilities. When this happens, it is important to think outside the walls of your worship center and remember that there are no walls of separation in the Body of Christ. Unity in prayer can happen despite distances great or small.
The Spiritual Life Development Department has developed a packet called the “Mobile Prayer Room.” This envelope contains cards that you can customize to the specific prayer
app (free from the App Store or Google Play). Sit up with your feet on the ground, and take some big calming breaths. When an inevitable thought, feeling, or sensation comes up, say your word to remind you that this time has been set aside for you and God.
It sounds relatively easy—and it is. But there will be times when 20 minutes feels like five, and others when it feels like an eternity.
Father Keating tells a story about this struggle. He was teaching Centering Prayer to a group of nuns and asked them to take 20 minutes and practice, then return to the class for discussion. One nun returned upset and described how difficult it was for her to quiet the noise. “Father, I’m such a failure,” she said. “In the 20 minutes, I must have said my word 1,000 times.” Keating replied, “Isn’t that beautiful … 1,000 opportunities to return to God.”
Start reducing the inner noise today with this great meditative practice.
needs of your fellowship. You may want to make a set of cards focusing prayer on the different ministries in your fellowship of faith or the needs of your community.
Download the cover sticker for your envelope, customize and print your card for your specific prayer needs, and assemble Mobile Prayer Room packets for anyone in your fellowship.
Plan your corps’ time of concentrated prayer, distribute the envelopes, and let members of your congregation become prayer warriors in one accord. Plan your united season of prayer today.
Overcoming pornography addiction BEYOND the SCREEN
Pornography is all too easy to access. Our cellphones, with apps and web browsers, slip into our pockets or purses, ever at hand, while our internet-connected tablets and personal computers wait for us at home. These devices can retrieve online pornography in seconds, creating powerful temptation and a dangerous outlet. Pornography can be highly addictive and devastating to mental health and self-esteem. If pornography addiction is ignored or left untreated, it can hurt relationships, deplete finances, and make people neglect responsibilities at home, work, or school.
Breaking it down
Some signs of pornography addiction are:
• finding yourself unable to stop watching pornography, despite consequences or guilt.
• watching pornography on your phone or computer at inappropriate times and places, or for long hours.
• feeling unfulfilled or dissatisfied with regular sexual activity.
• losing interest in your hobbies, social encounters, and personal care.
It’s important to remember that pornography is not a realistic depiction of intimacy between loving, consenting adults. Just as no one can learn to drive by watching a car chase in a Hollywood movie, no one can
by HUGO BRAVO
learn about healthy sexual relations from viewing pornography. Pornography can be especially harmful to teens, who are in a developmental phase regarding their own sexuality and may feel vulnerable as they discover their personal identities and values. Some studies suggest porn addiction is not so much an addiction but rather an obsession closely related to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). People who suffer from OCD cannot stop thinking about doing specific things like turning off a light or spacing books on a shelf evenly. These thoughts can cause anxiety until they’re acted upon. Individuals addicted to pornography may find that watching porn is a compulsion to soothe similar anxieties.
Pornography addiction may also trace to the release of dopamine, a chemical messenger in our brains that at high levels causes feelings of pleasure and reward. In turn, it motivates us to repeat the behavior. Dopamine can be released through positive activities like running a marathon or listening to a favorite song. But this rush can also be prompted by taking harmful drugs, using alcohol, or watching pornography. Over time, as people continue to engage with pornography, their brain may associate it with being a source of that rush. This can create the urge to watch pornography over and over, even if they want to stop.
Do you (or does someone you know) have a problem with pornography addiction? The following resources may help:
Porn Addicts Anonymous pornaddictsanonymous.org
Sex Addicts Anonymous saa-recovery.org
SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) samhsa.gov or 800-662-HELP (4357)
Porn by the numbers
■ Online pornography accounts for 98% of all porn use, with 69% viewed on cellphones.
■ There are about 4 million pornographic websites, making up about 12% of all sites.
■ On average, children are first exposed to pornography by age 13.
■ One of the largest porn sites on the web reported 42 billion visits per year globally.
■ Only 7% of U.S. adult porn internet users report having an addiction.
Source: addictionhelp.com/porn/statistics
Finding help
Have a talk. If you don’t feel comfortable talking to family or friends, support groups have members who understand what you are going through. You can also reach out to a trusted leader in your place of worship. Many pastors, especially those who work in marriage counseling as part of their ministry, have experience in treating habits that can disrupt a healthy, fulfilling life. Try therapy. If pornography has become an outlet for underlying issues in your life, a mental health professional can help identify those issues and ways to overcome them. They can put you on track to focus your thoughts and urges on new, positive activities, or return you to ones that you might have stopped because of your addiction. Medications can help. Antidepressants and mood stabilizers are sometimes used to control urges to watch pornography. For more serious cases, naltrexone, a medication that blocks the part of your brain that gets pleasure from addictive behaviors, can be prescribed. Always consult with your doctor before starting such treatment. Block it out. You can install a phone app (like Aura, Bark, or Canopy) and configure your home internet router to block out adult material. Libraries, schools, and other places that offer public internet employ similar methods to keep visitors from accessing pornographic sites.
God sees us even in dark places and can deliver us from despair
by DE QUENCY BOWEN
He Seeks Us J
“This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.”
—Mark 5:3–5
esus travels to villages and towns proclaiming the goodness of the Kingdom. He heals the sick, the maimed, and the blind, and even raises the dead.
In the Gospel of Mark, the Lord encounters a man possessed by a legion of demons. The story left me with mixed emotions. This man’s inability to be free of such spirits filled me with sadness and regret. He suffers a vicious cycle of being chained and breaking those chains, only to be chained again—and in the tombs, a place weighed down by memories of things that once were.
What happened in his life that caused him to exist in a place of memories? I wondered. He must have had friends. Why wouldn’t someone help him stay free? Unfortunately, in our world, we can never really know what a person is going or has gone through. Some people enjoy a beautiful upbringing. Some are born and must cope with whatever hand life has dealt them.
Reading the story, I also felt thankful and blessed that we serve a God who will seek us out even in a place of the unknown. That man possessed by a legion of demons lived in the land of the Gadarenes, gentiles who worshiped many gods, in the region east of the Jordan River. They herded pigs rather than sheep and did not welcome Jesus. Yet He still came to this spot.
When I read about the many instances in which Jesus heals the afflicted, I put myself in their place. It makes me feel good; it makes me feel loved. It makes me feel whole to know that Jesus has delivered me from my sins.
In this Scripture, though, I saw myself as the person placing chains of judgment and condemnation around the man. I grappled with that thought. Why do I sometimes judge others before knowing their backstory?
In
the midnight hour
But Jesus can hear us weeping in the midnight hour. God cares about every detail in our lives and will listen to us and see our tears. He can deliver us from a place of despair. We serve a God who will choose the weakest person, the most vulnerable, to demonstrate to the world that He is in charge and has the power to change any situation we face. He can pour into our spirit and redeem us even when others may see us as irredeemable.
At the sight of Jesus, the demons plead for mercy. They know their days of inhabiting this man are over. The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, has arrived, and their game is up.
Even though a legion of demonic spirits possessed this man’s soul, and despite his repulsive appearance, he had great potential and value. This man could have been a father, a good friend, a hard worker, a loyal husband.
When Jesus casts the demonic spirits from the man into a herd of around 2,000 pigs, they go crazy and jump off a cliff into the Sea of Galilee. Surprisingly, the Gadarene gentiles who witness the event are unmoved. They just ask Jesus to leave.
Be grateful for His grace
After being healed, the man asks to follow Jesus. But Jesus tells the man, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” The man followed the instructions of the Lord to spread the word of his deliverance.
Aren’t you glad you have a God who seeks you out in places where He is not welcomed?
We should be grateful that He will seek us out because of His mercy, grace, compassion, kindness, and love for us. God chooses to love us because we are simply obedient to Him. For that, I am incredibly grateful to know that He seeks me.
De Quency Bowen, executive chef at The Salvation Army USA Eastern Territory Headquarters, has a master’s in business management and leadership.
VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
by HUGO BRAVO
On Sunday mornings, as the corps officers work behind the scenes preparing for the service, the first Salvation Army representative to greet the congregation is often the welcome sergeant. It’s an appointment given to soldiers in corps both large and small. At The Salvation Army Kroc Center of Philadelphia, Alice Webb fills that role.
“It gives me great honor,” says Alice, “that I was commissioned for the role of welcome sergeant, and that I was trusted to do it.”
Trust has been a key factor in Alice’s connection with The Salvation Army. In 1969, she and her family moved to the Philadelphia neighborhood of Germantown. A Salvationist from across the street offered to take Alice’s children to the local Germantown Corps for activities. Alice accepted, and soon her kids were taking senior soldier classes there. “They became soldiers before I did,” she says.
Six years later, after her sister died, Alice took on the role of guardian to her sister’s five children. The Salvation Army’s presence became more important to Alice than ever.
“One Christmas Eve, I came home to see gifts for all the kids in the house from The Salvation Army—a toy and an article of clothing for each of them,” says Alice. “They must’ve checked their sizes beforehand, because it all fit perfectly. That was one of many things the Army was doing for us. Meanwhile, I was volunteering in every kids’ event that I could because my own were learning so much as soldiers.”
Soon she started volunteering in other ministries, such as Christmas toy drives and cooking meals for seniors. Alice had never played an instrument but quickly learned the triangle, so she could chaperone the band on trips. Her devotion to the Germantown Corps made her a natural choice for welcome sergeant.
“The Salvation Army was different than other churches I had attended. There was a level of comfort and honesty there that my family didn’t feel anywhere else. I remember a Sunday when one of my children had to wear old sneakers during service. He had lost his prescription shoes. In some places of worship, you can feel the heads turning toward you if you’re not wearing your best on Sunday. But the Army never judges anyone for what they can’t afford, or what they wear on Sunday. That was very big for my family and me.”
In 2010, the Germantown Corps closed its doors to make way for the new Salvation Army Kroc Center in Philadelphia. Many in Germantown were nervous about attending church in the state-ofthe-art facility. As many of them understood it, it’s the Salvation Army corps officers who get moved to new locations—not the congregation.
“Before we left Germantown,” says Alice, “members of the ministry came to the neighborhood where the Philadelphia Kroc now resides. It was important that we let the new community know that this building was a church where they would all be welcome.”
“It was bittersweet leaving Germantown,” says Alice Webb, standing in front of a stained glass window from the Germantown Corps. “But here at the Kroc Center, we immediately started growing in numbers. It felt amazing.”
At the same time, with the new building located about half an hour away from the old corps, they all knew some members would have trouble getting to church.
“They made sure that everyone who needed a ride to the programs and services always had one. Even today, they still do that,” says Alice. Along with her responsibilities on Sundays, she continues to volunteer in the children’s ministry on Tuesdays. “I only have one granddaughter in the programs now, but all the other kids there call me grandma as well,” says Alice. “Years ago, I trusted The Salvation Army with the kids I was raising. Now, other families trust me with their own children too.”
Alice says members and volunteers at the Kroc are still surprised to see their pastors move away every few years. It’s why being the welcome sergeant means so much to her.
“In other churches, the pastor stays in one place until he passes away. In the Army, church leaders can be called to leave out of nowhere, even if they’re doing a great job and the ministry loves them. I’ve seen quite a few officers come and go from both Germantown and the Kroc, which is why the role of welcome sergeant is important. I’m always here to serve and volunteer, and I’m going to be doing it as long as the Lord blesses me to do it.”
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