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.
Hey, and welcome back to Words of Life. In today's episode, we're continuing with part two of a four-part conversation with some members of the Salvation Army's Southern Staff Band. In October of last year, they had an opportunity to spend 10 days in South Africa, leading and taking part in various worship services. What began as a routine trip for this group of experienced musicians quickly became a life-changing, powerful experience for the team. To learn more about the Salvation Army's music ministries, visit usmusicandarts.org.
So we land in South Africa, and when I say we, I mean you all. And what happens next? We stayed in a hotel and it felt very Western. You know, the highways are similar to what we're used to here, and there were billboards and ads and businesses all along the way. And so we're in this charter bus because there's 36 of us or so driving in with all of our equipment.
And it just feels kind of like home. You know, you're going, you're going, going. And then they take this turn, and all of a sudden, things start looking very different. The houses are smaller and smaller and smaller, and there's gates and glass stuck to the top of all of the gates. And you can just tell that you're suddenly moving into this community that is.
That is struggling in a lot of ways where there's not as much money, where there's more crime, there's safety issues, and you can just see it and how the infrastructure is built. But when we pull up to the core, which is right in the heart of this community, There's I mean Hundreds of people, I think, at that point, and we were early. And there's already hundreds of people there, and they're all wearing their Salvation Army uniforms with these huge smiles on their faces. Anything from teeny, tiny little kids with their cute little junior soldier ties. All the way up to some of the older people with walkers and canes, and they're just smiling and joyful and like waving at the bus in the middle.
Like, cause I don't know about you, but I was feeling okay, da-da-da-da-da. But as soon as we turned into those neighborhoods, my heart kind of sank a little to see the reality of where we were. To then pull up on this joy-filled space was such a powerful moment for me. And to know that I was stepping into something that was so. Beautiful.
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They were building and now have moved into a new. Core church building there. It sounds better coming from people that live there, but it's the Piert Memorial Core we were at in. Johannesburg. It was also the seventy fifth anniversary celebration of the Corps itself.
And I think that probably helped us. It definitely helped me. We were outside. It was a nice day. The energy level was immediate.
This will be a theme, I'm sure. They were singing from the first moment we were there. Wait, you mean people were singing? People were singing. We pulled up And got off the bus and people were already singing with no accompaniment.
Like they literally were singing while we were setting up things. People were singing outside. It was like a small group of kids I remember singing or rehearsing or something. Brad, when I heard you talk about it, it was instantaneous. It is very often.
I would say most of the time spontaneous. And there are clearly choruses that are ingrained. And we were ex it was explained to us a few times what some of the words were, and it's not it's not in English when they're singing the vast majority of the time. But Bethany just mentioned it, like the atmosphere, I I've gone back and forth on the on the word to describe the vibe overall, but even that first like This cell, it was kind of a celebration. That was the whole theme of that first weekend at the core.
Was that, I believe, the weekend actual theme was a celebration of God's faithfulness. It was festive. Vibrant, like it really was. A party, and I mean that in the best possible way. But it was a party focused on the right things, celebrating what God has done and what He's going to do.
Yeah. Maybe the number one takeaway for me the entire time we were there is just the joy that comes from the way that they approach worship and just their. every day it's not even just in worship, it's outside of worship. It's when Eating lunch, and they might start singing. Like, there's not, there are no barriers to it whatsoever.
And I think that's beautiful. It's not always the same as what we do here. But it is, it's moving and it snapped us all, I think, into place that first day. Like, oh, this is going to be how this is going to be. And it was powerful to be there, like be transported there and kind of help forget all the things we talked about before, about like any reservations about being there.
what we might be missing, it's stash shooting in place right away. 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. It started with a knock at the door of a small clinic. A grandmother stood there holding her grandson.
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because this moment matters. In breaking the barriers of like of worship for us yeah western wise like it's like being in a The coolest Baptist church you've ever been to, where, like, they literally are going from song to song with somebody playing a bass drum randomly, not necessarily in time, uh, but very strongly, but very strongly, but also just like just freedom of worship, like which we have here in the States. But, like, the way that they worshiped it was just something to behold. Like, it literally was like, all right, if this is how heaven is supposed to be, yeah, I'm with it. Like, that's.
Like, it was amazing. And in those moments, you just felt like. What have I been doing with my worship my whole life? At least that's how I felt. Like, have I been that free?
Have I been that open? Have I. giving back to God with everything that I am in that way. Hospitality was also mentionable, I think, because from the minute we stepped off the bus. They're like, we have tea, we have cakes, we have, you know, all these things they wanted to just pour into us and share with us, which was something that continued throughout the entire week.
And the reason we were at that core, as Brad mentioned, was because this was the celebration. And I believe that the Southern Territory was a significant donor into the building of this new chapel. And they used the old chapel. As a space now for refreshments and for meals. And I mean, it was what, a quarter of the size of the new space?
But the new space is already filled.
So I can't imagine how the weeks prior. They did not build it big enough. I can tell you that right now. It was nuts. Can you imagine what it looked like just two months ago or before all of the construction was done?
And all those people crammed into that tiny building. But I feel like the joy was always gonna be there. It was always there, right? It was just beautiful to see them so proud of this new space. and excited to be there.
The reason we were playing outside to begin with. was because they were doing a ribbon cutting. And the first people that they let into that space as a part of the ceremony was their junior soldiers, the youngest members of their church. As a way of saying, this is your future, right? Like, you're going to be the ones in this space the longest, and we want you to step foot into it first.
They were just so proud and so thankful for what had happened in that space and for what God gave them, and we were just so glad to be a part of that celebration. The world is the same. 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.
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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.
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I'm John Stongi, and each week I host the Dwell on These Things podcast, where we take a deep look at the Word of God and learn what it means to apply it to our lives. We don't skip difficult passages and we don't gloss over the truth. If you're looking for a show that will put your mind in a better place and help you understand God's Word with more clarity, you can listen to the Dwell on These Things podcast at lifeaudio.com or on your favorite podcasting app. I'm Mark Vinette, host of the Historical Jesus Podcast, which presents the new series, Miracles, focusing on biblical miracles from the Old and New Testament. Join me on the Historical Jesus podcast as I explore the interesting, compelling, intriguing, and wonderful miracle stories of the Bible and the many great miraculous events inspired by the words and deeds of Jesus Christ.
