At the Frontier

Have you ever dreaded a conversation?

Maybe you hit a difficult topic or needed to address a sticky issue, but you knew it would be a tough one.

Chances are it'll happen again, so go ahead and bookmark this episode now.

Kathy Lovin is the Public Affairs and Communications Manager for The Salvation Army in the western U.S. She's spent more than two decades coaching people on how to address difficult topics with the media, employees, boards, and even family members.

Tough Talk, as she calls it, is a discipline we all need and one we can all grow in.

She's on the show to share what she's learned over the years and to offer six tips for being a more effective, purposeful communicator.

As she says, it all comes down to caring for people.

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If you've ever donated gently-used items to The Salvation Army or shopped in one of our thrift stores, then you've directly supported addiction rehabilitation in your community.

Across the U.S., The Salvation Army has more than 130 residential treatment facilities which equip more than 150,000 people a year to combat addiction, build work and social skills and restore families. Each of these facilities sift and sort the public's donations that are then sold in more than 1,200 thrift stores nationwide.

And those sales fund the cost-free, biblically based six-month program helping so many people find not only sobriety, but recovery.

Cheryl Tuck-Smith is the mom of one of those program graduates. She's experienced the transformation that results, and for the past 20 years, has stayed involved in the effort in Chico, California.

Now in retirement after a career as an attorney, Cheryl has taken on a new role overseeing what she calls, Grandma's Jewelry Box.

As an advisory council member for The Salvation Army Chico Adult Rehabilitation Program, Cheryl offered to help sift and sort donations of jewelry, looking for items to be sold in the area's seven thrift stores.

When she discovered the warehouse had more jewelry than she could get to, she recruited help. The group of volunteers now meets weekly and have turned it into a ministry.

Cheryl is on the show today to share more about the effort, what they look for and the result—a remarkable average monthly income from the majority $4 to $10 pieces of jewelry for sale.

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"The sound of gentle silence."

That's how 1 Kings 19 describes the voice of God.

Which might explain why hearing him speak can be really hard.

But Pete Greig is out with a new book to help us do just that. It's called "How to Hear God: A Simple Guide for Normal People."

You may remember Pete from Episode 71 of this podcast, when we talked with him about a simple guide for how to pray.

Pete is a writer and pastor who co-founded and leads the 24-7 Prayer movement around the world.

In his latest book, he offers insight and tools to help turn your ordinary, everyday prayers into a real, conversational relationship with the God who is speaking, more than you know.

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According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, there have been 700,000 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. since 2000.

Sharira Thomas was nearly one of them.

For 30 years, she lived a life of addiction that landed her in prison.

And three separate times, she returned to The Salvation Army for help.

For more than 100 years, The Salvation Army's Adult Rehabilitation Centers and Harbor Light Programs have offered cost-free residential rehabilitation programs to treat the symptoms, and ultimately the root causes, of prolonged alcohol and drug dependence.

And it's not limited to a certain "type" of person. Addiction can affect anyone.

That's why The Salvation Army equips more than 150,000 people every single year to combat addiction, regain health and stability, build work and social skills and restore families.

Today, Sharira is the Intake Coordinator of The Salvation Army Las Vegas Adult Rehabilitation Center, which means she's one of the first points of contact for those coming into the program. She gets to tell them there is hope.

And she knows firsthand.

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In our last episode, you heard from each of the seven Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers across the western U.S., from San Diego to Salem, Oregon, to Kapolei, Hawaii.

It was 20 years ago that the first Kroc Center opened in San Diego, California. The 12-acre, 132,000 square-foot facility was a realization of Joan Kroc's dream for all people to have recreational, educational and cultural arts opportunities.

And just under a year before it opened, Tim and Cindy Foley were appointed its administrators, just as the foundation was being poured.

Today, Lt. Colonel Cindy Foley is Divisional Commander of The Salvation Army in the Northwest Division and Lt. Colonel Tim Foley is the Divisional Leader for Officer Development.

Back then, they were given the job to create the program and business structure—really, the template for what the Kroc Centers would become across the nation.

The Foleys are on the show today to give us a window into that year. To share the stories of working things out, what it was like to know Joan Kroc and how it felt to open the center on that day in June 2002.

Plus how the experience changed them and their ministry.

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Twenty years ago, the first Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center opened in San Diego, California. It was a realization of Joan Kroc's dream for all people to have recreational, educational and cultural arts opportunities.

During her final visit to the center before her death, Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, said "The reality of what the Kroc Center has become to San Diego is beyond my imagination."

In October 2003, she left a $1.5 billion bequest to The Salvation Army to build similar community centers around the country.

The result is twenty-six Kroc Centers—a network of state-of-the-art community centers that provide children and families with opportunities to both discover and develop their passions and talents within their own neighborhood, just as Joan Kroc dreamed.

To help us celebrate this 20th anniversary of the first Kroc Center in San Diego, I'm joined in this episode by a local representative of each of the seven Kroc Centers in the western U.S. They will introduce themselves and share an inside look at the unique offerings at their Kroc Center.

So, allow me to introduce to you today the Kroc Centers in San Diego; San Francisco; Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; Salem, Oregon; Phoenix; Kapolei, Hawaii; and Suisun City, California.

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Could you use a good word from the Good Word?

Today, Captain Caroline Rowe is bringing it to us.

She is a Salvation Army officer, or pastor, currently serving at the Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Phoenix—one of the organization's 26 state-of-the-art facilities across the U.S. built thanks to a bequest from Joan Kroc. (And spoiler alert: you're going to hear more about these incredible centers in the coming episodes so stay tuned.)

Captain Caroline preached here at a gathering of Salvation Army youth leaders from all across the western U.S.

We know we are created in the image of God: flesh, soul, and spirit.

But what do we know about how to receive the Holy Spirit?

Here's a good word from the Good Word with Captain Caroline Rowe.

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FIGHT FOR GOOD. Give to The Salvation Army.

Did you know The Salvation Army is a church?

That's right. Every program of The Salvation Army is rooted in a passion to serve God by serving the hurting, the helpless and the hopeless.

It's biblical: We love because God first loved us.

It all began in London in 1865. The co-founders, a Methodist minister and his wife, William and Catherine Booth, walked the streets preaching to the homeless and hungry. Their efforts became The Salvation Army, which set out to offer compassionate, tangible service to people in need following a quasi-military structure with William Booth as its first General.

Today, across the U.S., some 1,200 Salvation Army corps—or church—locations offer worship services every Sunday morning and programs throughout the week, from youth nights to music groups and opportunities for service.

And the work is carried out across the country by some 63,000 employees, 3 million volunteers and roughly 3,500 officers, who complete a two-year training program to become ministers of The Salvation Army.

Cadets Ismael and Verenice Gutierrez are about to be among their ranks.

They're just days away from completing their training at the College for Officer Training at Crestmont in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. They will be commissioned as officers in The Salvation Army, as pastors, and appointed to serve in a community here in the western U.S., location to be determined.

So allow me to introduce to you today, to share what it means to be a Salvation Army officer and why they each decided to become one, Cadets Ismael and Verenice Gutierrez.

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All across the country, The Salvation Army is gearing up to open the gates to that well-loved place where kids can be kids—summer camp.

Every year, thousands of kids of all ages get a fresh perspective on life as they meet new friends, discover new activities, and get a taste of nature at one of The Salvation Army's 43 camps. As campers learn to swim, play sports, create music, make art, and more, their trained counselors help them navigate the complicated emotions and struggles sometimes associated with their lives back home.

For many, it's their first time truly experiencing the great outdoors. It's also often where they meet and come to know the love of Jesus.

And at High Peak Camp in Estes Park, Colorado, they do so surrounded by the Rocky Mountains.

Led by Camp Director James Johnson and Assistant Camp Director Mitchell McWilliams, High Peak is preparing to welcome some 100 kids a week this summer—and for the first time, is offering an adaptive camp for young adults with disabilities.

The mentality, they said, is why say no? Camp is a safe space for all people.

EPISODE SHOWNOTES: Read more.

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FIGHT FOR GOOD. Give to The Salvation Army.

Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-control.

Of course, you know this list—the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23.

Much has been written about this list and how we can better find and embrace these traits in our lives, as evidence of being a Jesus follower. The marks of our godly character.

But author Jessica Thompson asks: Has it ever occurred to you that the fruit of the Spirit are also the characteristics of God? Can it be that God loves us with the fruit of the Spirit? And only when we are secure in that love can we display it to others?

Jessica's new book, "How God Loves Us: 40 Days to Discovering his Character in the Fruit of the Spirit," is 40 readings designed to take you deeper into the love God has for you.

She's the author of several books, a frequent speaker, part of the podcast Front Porch with the Fitzes and is the director of church life at RISEN Church in San Diego, California.

And Jessica is on the show today to share more about her book and the love God has for you.

EPISODE SHOWNOTES: Read more.

WHAT'S YOUR CAUSE? Take our quiz.

STUDY SCRIPTURE. Get inside the collection.

GATHER WITH CARING MOMS. Join the group.

BE INSPIRED. Follow us on Instagram.

FIGHT FOR GOOD. Give to The Salvation Army.