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These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. Hey, and welcome back to Words of Life. Today is our final episode in a series we've been doing focused on writers. In this final episode, we're going to discuss how the Salvation Army encourages Christian authors and the lengths that we go to ensure that every publication we release is biblically sound.
Joining me again will be Kristen Mudge, and we'll be joined by Major Jamie Satterly and Jeremy Rowland. To find books published by the Salvation Army, you can visit mytrade south.com or check out the show notes where we'll have more links and information. I want to welcome again, you heard her voice last week, Kristen Mudge. I'm Kristen. I am the Southern Territorial Publications Editor, so I'm in charge of the Southern Spirit, and I'm also part of the process for any other written resources, like specifically books and things like that.
And we have Jeremy Rowland. What is your current role with the Southern Army? Yeah, so I am the Territorial Director for Supplies and Purchasing for the Southern Territory.
So we actually provide all the resources to the territory.
So not only all the uniforms and branded items out there, but also all the book publications. We help through the publication process and also help with the marketing and promotion of those. I'm Jamie. I'm one of the territorial youth secretaries here in the Southern Territory. I love this topic.
I love the topic that we're talking about today because it's the Salvation Army writing. People outside the Saavish Army writing have had a great influence on my faith and development.
So it's good to talk about it. Uh So today we're really highlighting just the commitment and investment that the Salvation Army has put into written resources like books and other publications. But something really interesting that shows you how deep that goes, at least within the U.S., pretty much every territory has some type of regular publication like a magazine or a newspaper. Kristen is through her role in charge of the Southern Spirit. But then, Jamie, your previous role was heavily involved in this area.
Can you talk about that? Sure, yes. Prior to coming back to the South in the youth department, we were at national headquarters and I was in the publications department there for three years.
So the first year I was the editor of Peer Magazine, and then for years two and three, I was the director of publications.
So I oversaw all of the national Salvation Army for the United States publications, which includes Peer Magazine, The War Cry, Word Indeed, which is a theological journal, and then Crest Books, which is our book publishing. Wing nationally.
So you're right, all four territories do some type of publication, and then nationally, there are a number of publications that come out as well. Hey, you're listening to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. We're gonna take a quick ad break and we'll be right back. Americans have a big healthcare problem. Over 100 million U.S.
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I didn't have to trust what that bishop or whoever over there was saying. I didn't have to move at the pace that he wanted to move at. I didn't have to rely on his interpretation of the Bible. I could read it all for myself. And I think that's still true today.
But I think it's also important today. You know, we had these discussions a lot when I was at National. Should we continue to publish books? Should they only be online? Should it only be on an e-reader?
Those kinds of things. As crazy as it might seem to us today, not everybody has accessibility to digital material. And so having that printed word available for them is another way, another avenue to get the gospel out, right? And that's, for me, that's what it's all about. Is this a way to get people to know Jesus, to be in a deeper relationship, to be discipled, to be able to able to be holy and let's do it.
Mm-hmm. I think right now, especially nowadays, there's questions about what is truth. And what do you trust? What don't you trust? And to be able to have resources from trusted authors that have been vetted through a spiritual biblical lens is extremely important.
And God's still using his people. I mean, in some ways as prophets, right, to different perspectives, different lenses, different stories. That's why I think the written words, it's important people keep writing.
So, we want to talk about how the Salvation Army supports writers, how the Salvation Army vets resources. There's probably even a lot of salvationists that are unaware to the extent that the Salvation Army has invested in making sure that the resources that are put out are ones that you can trust. I want to hear about how this works.
Now, I know, Jeremy and Kristen, you were on the Literary Council. What is that? Literary Council, we have several representatives from different departments and from Executive Council. We gather occasionally on an as-needed basis to discuss possible manuscripts that we're looking at to possibly publish in the future. Really sit with the material.
We take our time to go over it. We assign people to actually vet the doctrinal foundations of what's being written. We have editors that look through the actual written words and work with the authors to make sure that we're getting the very best possible product. And making sure that it's something that's really going to speak to the Southern Territory specifically. If it's not going to be something for our particular audience, we'll often encourage them to look to national headquarters to possibly publish through national or.
Sometimes we even encourage them to self-publish as this is something for a wider audience, not necessarily specifically Salvation Army. I love this aspect of the Salvation Army in that, again, it is really just about getting the Word of God into the hands of people. And so, all throughout our history, you can look, and it's done in beautiful ways through band music and people who are writing hymns or who are writing books or writing articles, or you know, Joe the Turk, who's out on the street corner doing all kinds of nonsense, just to get the word of God into the hands of people. And that's what the Salvation Army is like, you know what? You have a gift in this, let's invest.
Whatever is going to get the gospel to the people, we're happy to do it. And the publications, I think, it's just one of many ways, but it has a way of getting into places that people can't go. I don't know how many people are aware of this, but the war cry goes into prisons all over the United States, into areas where they people can't go into. I would get letters or testimonies all the time of people who are like, I was literally in hell. And God came to me through the war cry.
And a lie, it was like this was the only piece of hope I had was when the war cry would make it into my cell. And so I just think, like, I love that about the Salvation Army that we're like, we'll do whatever crazy business we have to do, so that people who are lost. And in like the darkest places, have some shred of hope. Uh So, when something is released, published by the Salvation Army, it's gone through so much vetting. Why is that important as a Christian to not just pick up any Christian book just because it's on the quote Christian New York Times bestseller?
It could be kind of trash as far as its theology goes. Why is it important to know that what we are reading is biblically sound?
Some of them may be Christians. Which is why they're being publicized as Christian authors, but some of them are not necessarily. Like grown up into the church, some of them could be baby Christians, newborn Christians, who don't have that solid theological foundation and don't truly have the background to understand where they're writing from. And they may have great ideas, but they may not understand the full picture of what they're trying to say. One of the cool things is today, really, anybody can publish through Amazon, or there's all these kind of ways where you can just self-publish a book and get it out there pretty quickly.
And so we say this to young people all the time is just because somebody looks like they know what they're talking about doesn't mean they know what they're talking about. And just because somebody calls themselves a believer on TikTok doesn't mean that the things that they're saying actually line up with the Word of God. When the Salvation Army publishes or when you go through certain other avenues, you kind of know that they've been vetted, right? Like we've talked about. They've been through a process with theologians or historians.
So I would say it's a little bit on the part of the reader to have to do some homework and figure out, okay, is this just like some rando who you know, had a couple of dollars and was able to publish a book. But have they put in the time and effort in their own spiritual walk to be grounded in the faith, to be able to say, you know, this is what the Lord is saying to me, or you know, I believe this is how it lines up With the word of God.
So, you do have to be careful. And I know we've talked about this recently, but going back to what, like, one of the biggest gray areas right now in our culture is what is truth. It's just people don't know. You could grow up in the church and they still don't know. I mean, between somebody who calls themselves a Christian and how they're living don't match up, or interpretations of scripture, or taking things out of context, or those types of things.
So, to be able to vet through a resource, through a biblical lens, through an academic historical lens, it's an extremely important process. We pray that you're enjoying and being blessed by this conversation. We're going to take one more ad break and we'll be right back. Americans have a big healthcare problem. Over 100 million U.S.
citizens carry medical debt, but that's not the whole story. With health insurance, your out-of-pocket and monthly costs are way too high. You get surprise bills, denied claims, and poor customer service. That's a serious burden. As Christians, we don't have to pay for a broken system.
Christian Healthcare Ministries is an alternative to health insurance at half the cost. You can enroll at any time and join a proven faith-based solution that's both reliable and affordable. CHM isn't just help, it's financial and spiritual support when you need it most. Families across the country count on CHM to step in during their hardest moments, and it works. Stand up to health insurance with a low-cost, biblical solution.
Join CHM today by visiting chministries.org/slash wellness. Ministries.org slash wellness. When I was at National, we were still working our way through Commissioner Needham's books that were kind of devotionals that took us through the church calendar. And one of the things I really enjoyed about those is as I was reading. And editing, it was also like the Holy Spirit speaking into me, right?
It was almost my own devotional. There were times where I had to go back and be like, Jamie, you're not reading this for your own devotional development. You have to be paying attention so that you can, you know, use a different lens, right? For the editor side. I really appreciated that, my own spiritual formation happening through this editing process.
Another book that it actually came out after I left National, but we started the process when I was there, is Major Sandra Pawar's More Than Just a Refugee, which came out, it was either earlier this year or last year. And she talks about her experience working with refugees. We hear a lot about immigration in these places through the news, through all kinds of voices, but this is a person who is a minister of the gospel who has experience in this area and is sharing her experience. Through the lens of what God has called us to and mission. I think it's an important book.
We have. Things like the Southern Spirit, where it's not just news stories, but that's great. You can see what's happening around the territory, but we also publish people's stories and devotional thoughts and things that you could do in your own core. And it's just smaller snippets if you're not looking for a whole book to get into. Or if you're a writer, you're not looking to do a whole book.
If you're looking to just write the one thought that you have, and maybe it's just 600 words, we have the Southern Spirit every month where there's a place for people to read that and to still accept the truth through that written resource. God has created us. With gifts, right? For some, it's writing, for some, it's your like vocal voice, for some, it's, Sculpture or painting or you know, gardening, bringing God's creation into you know, thriving and into life. And I think when we use the gifts that God has created us to convey the message of God, something magical is not the right word, but something inspired happens.
And if people can, you know, learn from that or grow from that. What a blessed gift. 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.
You can subscribe to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit SalvationArmysoundcast.org. Join us next time for the Salvation Army's Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. Thanks so much for listening to Words of Life.
We want to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the show. Visit lifeaudio.com, where you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They have shows about prayer, Bible studying, parenting, and more. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
I'm best-selling author John Seidel, and I'm the Christian who became an alcoholic, not the other way around. Through the power of Jesus, I got sober, and now I'm sharing both my story and the stories of others just like me. along with helpful interviews from trauma, faith, and addiction recovery experts. If you're a fan of messy sanctification and powerful stories, join me on the Confessions of a Christian Alcoholic podcast on Life Audio or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Let's get radically vulnerable.
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