I'm Christy Graham, host of On the Ground with Samaritans Purse, and I recently interviewed one of our pilots whose plane was hijacked in Africa. I encouraged myself with that reality that at some point this is going to end in two hours. It'll end good if I'm on the ground somewhere walking around with the testimony. It'll end great if he pulls the trigger. For me, it will end great.
That day, Jim experienced the power of prayer and witnessed just how mighty the name of Jesus is. If you want to hear this full story, tune in at samaritanspurse.org/slash listen. Life audio. Hi from the Savish Any, you're listening to Words of Life. 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. We pray that you really enjoyed our writers series that just finished last week. If you missed any of those episodes, that series began on February 4th. Before we jump into our next series, now that we're in March, which is Women's History Month, we wanted to once again highlight another podcast produced by the Salvation Army, Open Air.
Open Air is a podcast hosted by Ashley Escobar, and this show features unscripted, authentic conversations with diverse Salvation Army leaders and women in ministry and explores topics of resilience, faith, and hope in action.
So for me, I've got two girls. They are grown now. We raise them to be strong, independent women. And I think it's important for them to see women in leadership roles. They need to understand that their right is just as much as anyone else's to speak up for what they believe.
If you don't see somebody that represents you, there's that in the back of your mind that says that this is not phalomy. Throughout history, women have been told to soften their voice, to stay in the background, to support but not lead. But what happens when God calls us anyway? I attended a conference last year where I had the opportunity to sit down with women officers, sergeants, and auxiliary captains. These are women who preach, who pastor, who mother, who lead corps, and who carry communities on their shoulders.
These weren't theoretical conversations. These were lived ones. And I kept asking myself, why does this still feel radical in some spaces? Why does female leadership in the church still require explanation? God's given us a voice, right?
And even throughout scripture, we read of all of these examples of women who didn't just sit by. Who are we going to affect generations to follow us if we don't speak up? Because God has called us to do that, and He's empowered us to do that, and He's given us that. From the very beginning, the Salvation Army affirmed that women are not auxiliary to the gospel mission, they are entrusted with it. Catherine Booth once wrote that if God has poured out his spirit, who are we to refuse the voice he fills?
God has cried each and every one of us, and he's placed something inside of each and every one of us. And as an officer of 40 years, it took me, oh gosh, 15 or 20 years to recognize that. And now that I know. And now that I feel and express on my own, My voice matters. We have one.
In Acts chapter 2, when the spirit falls, Peter quotes Joel. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. That wasn't poetic language. It was policy. In the kingdom of God, calling is not filtered through gender.
The time is of the essence. Jesus is coming. God said, I need all my warriors. These women are not leading an abstraction. They are wives, mothers, caregivers, pastors, administrators.
Leadership for them isn't theoretical. It's embodied. And still the call remains. There is a new day that has begun in Christ. And in it.
Jews and Greeks, every ethnic group is included, slave and free, every socioeconomic group is included, male and female, all included. Hallelujah. As we recognize and celebrate Women's History Month and International Women's Day, this conversation matters. The question isn't whether women can lead. The question is whether we will fully embrace and be obedient to what God has already released.
If the spirit has been poured out. Who are we to contain it? I'm your host, Ashley Escobar, and this is Open Air Podcast. You're listening to Open Air Podcast. Prince by H.
The Salvation Army shall go forth. Again, and a gang. Welcome back to the Open Air Podcast, everyone. This is a special episode. I'm really excited because today I've got our friends Gloria and Melissa here from the youth department.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. I always love those questions, they're so vague and tell us what you do in the youth department and then maybe a personal thing from yourself.
Okay, my name is Gloria Dia Vangama. I am currently serving as the Territorial Students Ministries Coordinator.
So I Pretty much just um Oversee team programs throughout the territory and help develop them to help the field develop team ministry, discipling their teens, evangelizing their teams, empowering the teens.
So when people ask me what I do, I just tell them, well, I try to help teens get to know Jesus better. Hey, you're listening to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. We're going to take a quick bad break and we'll be right back. I'm Christy Graham, host of On the Ground with Samaritans Purse, and I recently interviewed one of our pilots whose plane was hijacked in Africa. I encouraged myself with that reality that at some point, this is going to end in two hours.
It'll end good if I'm on the ground somewhere walking around with the testimony. It'll end great if he pulls the trigger. For me, it will end great. That day, Jim experienced the power of prayer and witnessed just how mighty the name of Jesus is. If you want to hear this full story, tune in at samaritanspurse.org/slash listen.
Yeah, so my name is Melissa Powell. I'm the territorial children's ministry coordinator. Just one word different from Glorious. But everything that I do is from kids from birth all the way up to the completion of elementary school.
So it's usually fifth grade, depending where you are in the country. But that is really all the ministry that takes place for kids.
So we have a lot of different programs that we have in the Salvation Army for that age group. And so all of that kind of falls under me. But I think one of the things that I get most excited about with children's ministry is that I think the stat says something that's like 70 to 90 percent of adults that know Jesus and have a saving relationship with him now came to know Jesus as a kid before they turned 18.
So I think that emphasizes just how important Gloria's in my job is. Absolutely. I know personally growing up outside of the US what it's like to not have a voice or to be seen as talking too much when you have an opinion. And it's just, I mean, it's really. Options are limited for a lot of girls around the world.
So I think it's important that we have a day just to shed a light on that. I think it's an opportunity for. For girls in this country to first of all realize the power that they have and the potential that they can offer. Because in this country, there is space for them to do that and to be able to use that power, use those options that are there for them to show the rest of the world that, hey, this could be you too. You have a voice too.
And also hang on because it can get better. It can get better. Uh I remember hearing from um From a family member, a cousin of mine, another woman, telling me that you can have all the degrees in the world. You can be extremely smart, but if you're not married, you're nothing. Those were her words.
Those were her words. And that was the that's me. It is the belief still in many areas. I was born and raised in Senegal, but I have, my mom is, my mom's side of family is Swedish. My dad's what family is, Congolese.
Wow.
So that really is the belief that if that's the best thing that could happen to a woman, and a lot of the prayers to two young women and four young women is that they will find a husband, a good husband, because that's what's going to, you know, bring them up in the world, you know, give them some kind of status. And I'm grateful for dad that he studied in Belgium, so he got exposed to a different way of seeing the world. And he always encouraged me and my sister to get an education so that we would not. Have to depend on a man. He wanted us to know that we had potential within ourselves, that we had the possibility to move forward in the world, whether we had a man or not.
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. I'm Christy Graham, host of On the Ground with Samaritans Purse, and I recently interviewed one of our pilots whose plane was hijacked in Africa. I encouraged myself with that reality that at some point this is going to end in two hours. It'll end good if I'm on the ground somewhere walking around with the testimony.
It'll end great if he pulls the trigger. For me, it will end great. That day, Jim experienced the power of prayer and witnessed just how mighty the name of Jesus is. If you want to hear this full story, tune in at samaritanspurse.org/slash listen. I personally think, first of all, that the Salvation Army is doing a remarkable.
job with Making space for young women to develop leadership skills. I mean, from the beginning, I've had, I grew up Baptist, and there's women, you know, after I was joining the Savage Army, there's women that were still that I know from the Baptist Church that have told me they're just love. what Savishami has done for women. They love the fact that Sa that Savishami is making space for women to speak. And I think that's extremely important for our girls to see.
Something I think that we say in the youth department all the time is that we want to give every kid, every girl, we want to give them five leaders. We want to give them their five. That's five caring adults that know their name, that checks in on them every week, that is really kind of walking along this faith journey with them. And I think as we talk about this, like I can remember like my five. I like I can remember them.
I know their names. I know their faces. We're friends on Facebook. Like it's, you know, it's a whole thing. And I don't want to kind of go off book here, but I think there's like a percentage or whatever that if you give every kid five caring adults, there's a higher chance that their faith will stick, that they will have a resilient faith into adulthood.
They won't leave. They won't walk away. Like they are. They're in it, y'all. I think, you know, being able to give those adults to kids to say, like, we are trusted and we actually care about you.
Like, I'm not just here on a Sunday checking your name off the list that I said hello to you. Yeah. It's, I know you, I know your family. I know where you come from. I know what you enjoy.
I know what you hate. Like, yeah. Giving every kid. I think you mentioned something. It was just in passing, but it's so important.
Getting to know their names, I think, matters. Right. Getting, you know, just not just knowing. You know, recognizing them, but taking the time to know their names and call them by their names. Letting them know that as I'm praying for you, I'm calling your name out before the word.
Hmm. When you see the younger generation of women, of girls in the church. What fills you with hope? When you see them. I think that Gen Z specifically, I think, but even like Gen Alpha is coming quick behind you.
But I think, my catcher, Jen Alpha, right?
So I think there's a hunger for Jesus in this next generation. And I think that that, I mean, if that doesn't give you hope, if that doesn't get you excited and get you out of bed in the morning, what are you doing? Yeah. But I think there's such a hunger to know Jesus and who he is.
Now, the organized religion, the church in general, that is a sticky point with them. But I think they're open to that. They're open to faith. They're open to hearing about that and allowing God to transform their lives. And I think that's.
I that's hope for me. the hope that I have right now is is in the fact that there are platforms that have been created for for young women. And like we said earlier in the Salvation Army, I think that we may have ways to go, but we definitely are doing a remarkable job when it comes to making space for women. What I love Dow is that our our girls Have Uh opportunities that we that we Don't have.
So, like, what we what we have in the Salvation Army does not have to stay in our walls.
Now, we have this a way to. Show it to the rest of the world.
So now we have girls that are learning to be leaders, that are learning to grow in Jesus and to walk with Jesus, but they don't have to keep it inside. Like now they have ways to take it out and demonstrate it to the rest of the world and show the rest of the girls around the world that. Hey, look, I'm doing it. Yeah. I'm doing it and you can do it too.
Yeah. To listen to full episodes of Open Air, check out the show notes or subscribe to Open Air on your favorite podcast store. 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.
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