Special Update !

The Salvation Army presents Wonderful Words of Life, a series of transcribed devotional programs with themes taken from the great truths of the Holy Bible and featuring Salvation Army musicians in helpful vocal... Let me say a warm welcome to Cheryl Gillum. Hello, Bernie. How are you? Great. It's good to have you back.

Thank you It's good to be here. Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving? I am very excited. Me too. Turkey and all the trimmings.

Gluttony is off the table as it relates to Thanksgiving holidays, so you can just enjoy it without any fear. It is a special opportunity for us to welcome our producer and recent radio personality Chris Benjamin. Hello, everyone. Good to have you back, Chris.

Thank you. And then a great privilege to have who is actually our boss, the Colonel Eddie Hobgood, our secretary for program here in the Salvation Army. Hello, everybody. Nice to be here. It's good to have you here, Colonel. Are you just checking in on our work?

Never checking on you. I have no worries about you guys. This is a lot of fun and it actually, you know, it doesn't feel like work when we get to just hang around the studio and talk about the work and ministry of the Salvation Army. We just finished our series, The Post-Covid Church, which for me was such an encouragement. We're privileged to have a great group of passionate Salvation Army officers and soldiers from all over the southeastern part of the United States.

And I think some really valuable and challenging conversations took place. If you missed the series, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast store or visit salvationarmysoundcast.org. You know, Bernie, before we jump into our Christmas series next week, we wanted to pause and share with our listeners a little bit more about words of life, but not just words of life, about Soundcast as a whole and talk about where we've been and where we're headed as a ministry. This was just a good opportunity kind of before we jumped into another series before we got into Christmas to just, first of all, you know, consider this our radio Christmas card to all of our listeners and our radio station partners. We're so grateful for your partnership with the Salvation Army. So we wanted to share some things that we maybe don't talk a lot about on the show as far as the global reach of words of life, words of life as well as Palabras Da Vida and some of the other shows and programs that we produce here. The audio piece that you heard at the beginning of the show, that is actually the intro to the very first ever recorded episode of what was then Wonderful Words of Life that aired back in 1955. And we mentioned this last year when we finished this project. But last year, we took all of the old reel-to-reel recordings that we still had here in a warehouse at our headquarters and had them digitized and uploaded them to an archival site on our website, salvationarmysoundcast.org. And now you can go on there.

You can search by year, by topic and hear every show that's ever been recorded from this ministry. And I wasn't here for the beginning of those episodes. But Colonel, do you remember that far back at all? Oh, you're so funny.

Actually, I don't remember that far back. But I have taken the opportunity to go on the website and to listen to quite a few of them. And it's amazing to hear the message of salvation so plainly given throughout the years. And it's such a strong focus of what Words of Life is about even today. Amen. I think the interesting thing is you kind of go back through a lot of those series and the topics that they touched on.

So many of those could have been written today. I mean, you know, not much has changed as far as, you know, the same things that we still struggle with and, you know, stand against. But also, you know, who we stand for. I mean, that never changes. So it's all of those episodes are still very valuable. And I think for people that, you know, within the Salvation Army have friends and family connections to a lot of these voices, being able to preserve and share those voices of people that have that have moved on and are now in glory. It's, I just hope a blessing to them as well.

I think hearing that intro was kind of like watching an older movie on like the Hallmark Channel or something, you know, I can see it being produced in black and white Turner classic movie. Yeah, that's right. Oh, it's great. And now we have some others, right? You put another collage together of some some of those.

Yes. And actually, this this would be a good time for us to hear that. So we're going to play this for you and we'll come back in a second and talk about it. Wow, it's so cool to hear all those different styles of music. And in a strange way, all of us have been involved with some of those arrangers, like Eddie's done a couple of musicals with Steven Bulla, who did some of those themes for us, which is kind of cool.

And I played on one of those themes as a percussionist way back when, so cool. But we want to keep the ministry relevant and attractive to a wide audience, which is kind of why it has changed from more of a traditional sound to now what you hear as a piece of a transmission song backing us up. One thing I wanted to mention that was really interesting as we were doing the archive project, but then also just kind of preparing for today. An interesting fact that I found out, as many of you will know, we recently changed the name of the show and dropped the wonderful part. So now it's just words of life. The and I had no idea about this at the time, but going back through some of the I guess they were letters or telegrams.

I don't know how they did that before email, but going back, we have all of these conversations saved in these folders that were literally dated back to 1954 when they started this ministry. And going through that dialogue, the first name given to the show actually was words of life. The wonderful came later.

So really, all we've done is kind of go back to its original form. Yeah, it's an honor to be sitting here, creating a program that has now been running for over 65 years. And when you hear some of those voices and see these names, Commissioner William Dray was the first one that was kind of helping get this started. And I'm sure at the time, if you could go back and tell him that this ministry that he's pouring his heart and soul into would still be on the air 65 years later, I think is just a testament to just what God can do.

And especially when you said earlier how relevant the topics still are today, 65 years later, it just speaks to the power of God's word and how eternal it is. And I don't know if all of our listeners know this, but it's heard all around the world. Radio stations far and wide pick this up and broadcast it in communities as a way to encourage anybody that might hear the message.

So that's pretty cool, too. Right now, Words of Life within the U.S., we're on 228 radio stations, but then we also have our international network partners like Trans World Radio, Pan American Broadcasting and Reach Beyond, and they then get us into where now all of our shows combined in over 65 countries around the world and many of these parts of the world. It's still dangerous to preach the name of Jesus, and this show may be the only Bible they can get their hands on. All of our network partners, it's just an amazing ministry, the heart that they have to just be able to continue to preach the gospel in places that you never know.

If it wasn't for you, Cheryl, or Bernie, or Colonel Abbot speaking into this microphone, they may never hear the name of Jesus. I've heard some of your stories that you've shared and the courage. Wow. I mean, it's challenged me on a personal level. It's just amazing.

Yeah. We take it for granted. I mean, how many translations of the Bible do you carry around in your pocket and you don't think anything of it? And, you know, there's people that we've read their testimony and about people that, you know, the extent that they went through to have Bible studies at night where they actually use these shows from shortwave radios to circle around, and that is their Bible study.

And, you know, they, in Jesus' name, don't have to have it in fear, but of course, they're cautious. And I just, as an American citizen grew up here, I can't wrap my head around that. It's so good for you to break that down for me personally, but also for those who are listening to hear how far-reaching the gospel is being, you know, out in the airwaves and that it's transforming lives. It's a privilege to be a part of it and an honor to hear that, you know, the history and where we are today, making it relevant for this generation, even though the, maybe the topics and everything are very similar to what they used to be, you're speaking to a whole new generation too.

It's exciting. Some of our listeners and stations may not know that we currently produce seven shows and we're producing content in English and Spanish. And so this past year, we started a new show called The Storyteller Series, and we started a year ago studying the book of Luke. And this show is a longer format program. Every episode, we read a chapter a day and then a group of friends sit around and drink coffee and talk about what that chapter really meant to them.

And it's just a great way, I think, especially right now, you know, during COVID-19, that's a great show to really sit down. And if you're missing community with believers and sitting down and really breaking down what the Bible means to them, that's a great show to really just kind of get that. We also partnered with the Florida Division to create the Holiness Podcast, and that's with Lieutenant Colonel Verne Jewett.

The focus of that show is to just talk about holiness, the gift that God offers every believer. Fun fact, you mentioned Colonel Jewett, and I know this is not the story of Colonel Eddie Hobgood, but Colonel could testify to the faithfulness of God through his people. And Colonel Jewett plays an important part in his salvation story. He absolutely does. He was a college student in the city I grew up in and gave me my first music lessons and was an incredible role model for me.

Growing up, I wanted to be Verne Jewett. This series is so special to us because Colonel Hobgood, who is bilingual, is going to be delivering a Christmas series in English on Words of Life and then doing the same series on Palabras de Vida. And that's a first for us that we've had the same speaker sharing the same message so we get to worship together. That's just I love that that piece of unity. So we wanted to ask you about the series and about some of the topics you're going to go through.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm excited for the opportunity. Tuy muy emocionado de compartir con ustedes en español, and so thank you for that opportunity. And as I was writing these five devotions, I was in the back of my mind, I was thinking not only of American or English-speaking audiences, but Spanish-speaking audiences. I actually have grandchildren that are from Argentina that don't speak English.

So that was a real reason for me learning Spanish, but trying to keep those cultures in the back of my mind. And some of these devotions are very personal about my journey in life as well. So I'm excited to share these stories and Christmas with with our listeners. If you've heard anything today that has been a blessing to you, we want to give God the glory and we want to thank you for being our faithful listeners.

Amen. God bless you. The Salvation Army's mission, Doing the Most Good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support, and we'd love to hear from you. Email us at radio at uss.salvationarmy.org. Call 1-800-229-9965 or write us at P.O.

Box 29972, Atlanta, Georgia, 30359. Tell us how we can help. Share prayer requests or share your testimony. We would love to use your story on the air. You can also subscribe to our show on iTunes or your favorite podcast store and be sure to give us a rating. Just search for the Salvation Army's Words of Life. Follow us on social media for the latest episodes, extended interviews and more. And if you don't have a church home, we invite you to visit your local Salvation Army worship center. They'll be glad to see you. This is Bernie Dake inviting you to join us next time for the Salvation Army's Words of Life.