At the Frontier

We're back with more highlights from the 2024 Testify Congress.

Last month, in Pasadena, California, The Salvation Army from around the Western Territory joined for an event focused on teaching, training and motivating Salvationists to tell the story of Jesus more often and to more people.

And The Salvation Army's international leaders, General Lyndon Buckingham and Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham, traveled from London to be part of it all.

You heard from the General a couple episodes ago, and today, we're sharing Commissioner Bronwyn's message from the second main session of the Congress with some 3,000 attendees at the Pasadena Convention Center Civic Auditorium.

Commissioner Bronwyn, a Salvation Army officer since 1990, now serves as World President of Women's Ministries.

Listen in as she celebrates our stories, shares a bit of her own and encourages you in testifying to yours.

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We're back with more highlights from the 2024 Testify Congress.

This month, in Pasadena, California, The Salvation Army from around the Western Territory joined for an event focused on teaching, training and motivating Salvationists to tell the story of Jesus more often and to more people.

And the sessions featured, you guessed it, testimonies from programs and ministries of The Salvation Army across the West.

Today, we're sharing two:

First, you'll hear from Lt. Do-Hyun Kim, who was commissioned over the weekend as a Salvation Army officer or pastor. A cadet in training from the Korea Territory, Lt. Kim completed his second year of training at the College for Officer Training at Crestmont in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, and will now return to the Korea Territory for his first appointment.

Then, Davrah Williams, who met The Salvation Army through the Lambuth Family Center, a short-term emergency shelter that houses up to 20 families at a time in Denver. While keeping families together, the center helps them break the cycle of poverty and homelessness and begin building a sustainable, self-sufficient life.

EPISODE SHOWNOTES: Read more.

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FIGHT FOR GOOD. Give to The Salvation Army.

We're back with more highlights from the 2024 Testify Congress.

This month, in Pasadena, California, The Salvation Army from around the Western Territory joined for an event focused on teaching, training and motivating Salvationists to tell the story of Jesus more often and to more people.

And The Salvation Army's international leaders, General Lyndon Buckingham and Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham, traveled from London to be part of it all.

Today, we're sharing his message from the first main session of the Congress with some 3,000 attendees at the Pasadena Convention Center Civic Auditorium.

Listen in as the General shares a four-part formula for life in Christ: Connect with God and know him, share the good news of Jesus Christ, demonstrate care and concern for those in need, and pursue holiness.

EPISODE SHOWNOTES: Read more.

BE AFFIRMED. Get the Good Words email series.

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STUDY SCRIPTURE. Get inside the collection.

BE INSPIRED. Follow us on Instagram.

FIGHT FOR GOOD. Give to The Salvation Army.

This past weekend, in Pasadena, California, The Salvation Army from around the Western Territory joined for an event focused on teaching, training and motivating Salvationists to tell the story of Jesus more often and to more people—the 2024 Testify Congress.

The annual celebration includes the commencement, commissioning, ordination and appointment of cadets as they've completed two years of training at the College for Officer Training at Crestmont to become Salvation Army officers.

But this year was bigger than ever as The Salvation Army's international leaders, General Lyndon Buckingham and Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham, traveled from London to be part of it all.

Now, we're dedicating our next few episodes to sharing the highlights with you, starting today with the commencement address by Dr. Sharon Docter.

Dr. Docter is a professor of communication at California Lutheran University and a member of the Board of Governance for the College for Officer Training. She's also a lay leader, the Corps Sergeant Major, of the Pasadena Tabernacle Corps.

This session of graduating cadets is named the Defenders of Justice. Listen in as Dr. Docter shares three superpowers cadets need when beginning their life as officers from a soldier's perspective: authenticity, presence and seeing people as they really are.

EPISODE SHOWNOTES: Read more.

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No one expects to evacuate from their home in the middle of the night, wading through chest-deep water to find a way out of an emergency.

We just don't think it'll happen to us.

But for Shamrock Steele and her husband, Dave Lanphear, it did.

Shamrock and Dave survived the Skagit floods in November 2021.

They made it out in the middle of the night, in their pajamas, with their young grandkids and pets.

Their completely remodeled house that they were just about to move into, however, did not.

Then days turned to months as they figured out what to do next and how to rebuild.

And that's when they met The Salvation Army.

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We've said it before: The Salvation Army's disaster relief operation never sleeps. Perhaps that could not be more true than in the case of Envoy Kevin Nagasaki who is in-charge of the Lahaina Lighthouse Corps in Maui, Hawaii.

You'll remember last August, the Lahaina Lighthouse Corps burned along with historic Lahaina town in the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. For Envoy Nagasaki, this disaster was personal: The corps complex contained spaces for worship, social services and a thrift store, along with the home he shared with his wife as ministry leaders in the community for nearly 30 years.

So not only was the community he loves leveled, and he himself directly impacted by the fires, he was on the frontlines of service responding to them too. Less than 24 hours after the fires, he was delivering food across shelter sites and serving first responders as part of The Salvation Army's coordinated effort on the island of Maui that is still ongoing.

In this episode, guest hosted by Managing Editor Hillary Jackson, Envoy Kevin Nagasaki shares a glimpse of what it's like to respond to a disaster when you're truly in it yourself. He shares the hope he has for his community, and how it's finding renewal.

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Building resilience is a lengthy process, but it's an investment that pays off. By focusing on preparedness, mitigation and adaptation, more communities can ensure that they too build and sustain resilience after a natural disaster.

Todd De Voe is a true authority on all things resilience and emergency management.

Todd is the Editor in Chief of The Emergency Management Network newsletter, a published author in the reference book "Campus Crisis Management," and has penned numerous whitepapers and studies. He hosts The EMN Newsletter Podcast and The Leader's Cafe. He even delivered a TED talk on building and sustaining resilience. Todd holds a Masters in Public Administration and another in Emergency Management, and he's a graduate of the National Emergency Management Executive Academy.

Today, we're diving into what resilience truly means in emergency management, the the role of community organizations and programs in building a culture of preparedness, along with strategies communities can use to strengthen their bonds and resources in the face of adversity. Most importantly, Todd will share insights into the common challenges communities face during recovery and how they should be approached.

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Every disaster scenario creates its own unique circumstances and special needs. In each case, The Salvation Army is there with other agencies to offer relief in the form of food services, emergency communications, donations management, social services and more.

Perhaps most uniquely, The Salvation Army deploys specially trained individuals to offer emotional and spiritual care to rescue workers and disaster survivors alike.

That ministry of presence is all we do and say—a collective action of words, touch, listening and presence. Collectively, those actions work together to express the love and compassion of God.

Major Tammy Ray, who currently serves as the corps officer in Redding, California, has a long history of responding to disasters as part of The Salvation Army's disaster relief team. And she helps prepare people to serve in this emotional and spiritual care role—to discern and offer what someone might need, even if they can't state for themselves—to create the "transforming place."

As she says, It's more being than doing.

It's a quiet servanthood, a calm presence.

It's not about fixing but it is a gift of connection with another person at a critical time in their life.

It might be exactly what St. Francis of Assisi meant when he said, "Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words."

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A good start to disaster preparedness is knowing the risks you should be prepared for based on where you live. That's a big part of Jonathan Sury's work.

Jonathan is the Project Director for Communications and Field Operations at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

Jonathan leads a project called the Natural Hazards Index, which maps local vulnerability to various disasters at the sub-county level. Everything including extreme heat, earthquakes, landslides, tornadoes, and floods. The project's interactive map allows users to zoom in and assess climate, weather and geological hazards in their vicinity. That way, people can learn to take proactive measures to safeguard themselves and their families.

Today we're talking with Jonathan about the Natural Hazards Index, the importance of preparedness, how data can help individual households and communities alike, and what we should be paying attention to amid the changing disaster landscape.

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Where would you go if you could live anywhere you wanted?

For a lot of Americans, the answer is Phoenix. In fact, Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes Phoenix, Mesa and Scottsdale, has held the title of "fastest growing county in the U.S. by numeric growth" for much of the past decade.

But, Maricopa isn't just one of the hottest places in terms of popularity. It's also the literal hottest metropolitan area in the U.S.

Summertime, in particular, is dangerously hot in Maricopa County, and getting hotter every passing year. Last year, in 2023, Maricopa County identified a total of 645 heat-related deaths—a 52 percent increase from the previous year and the most heat-related deaths ever recorded.

The Salvation Army runs a network of heat relief stations throughout Maricopa County to help residents stay safe and hydrated, and out of the record-breaking temperatures.

Lt. Colonel Ivan Wild, Divisional Commander of The Salvation Army Southwest Division, is on the show to talk about The Salvation Army's heat-related disaster response efforts and how the organization plans to better serve its communities amid more extreme weather events.

EPISODE SHOWNOTES: Read more.

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