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Subscribe now wherever you get your podcast. Life audio. Yeah. Hi from the Salvation Army, you're listening to Words of Life. Yeah.
Yeah. 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, today we are starting a new series focused on our neighbors. We want this series to not only be helpful to church leaders looking to better engage with their communities, but also this series will be an encouragement on how we as Christians should be the best neighbors.
After we hear from Bernie Dake and Major Sandra Pawar, we'll hear an interview from local Salvation Army pastors on how they're making an impact in Daytona, Florida. What? Tell us about you. Where did you come from? What is this role that you're in?
All this stuff. Yeah, so I'm originally from Australia. I've lived in New Zealand and the UK and then back in the US. And I have two beautiful girls, amazing husbands. And yeah, my new role since last June is Mission Evangelism and Cultural Ministries Secretary.
And I love it. I love all those words and what they mean. And yeah, I feel like God has put me in a place where I'm able to flourish in the the passions that I have.
Well, we're glad that you're here. And I know that our listeners will be encouraged by what you share with us today, which was sort of born out of a Bible study that you created. Is that true?
Well, I was reading a book, The Out of Neighboring, and I just thought everybody needs to read this book along with me. I just loved the concepts in this book and just how easy it is to be a good neighbor and how biblical it is and how easy it is to engage with people around us. And that sometimes we make it harder than we need to.
So I just felt like this book was a great way to talk about evangelism and community engagement.
So I created these Bible studies so that if people wanted to kind of read along with me, they could then do these Bible studies as well.
So yeah. We're talking about who is our neighbor. And in the series, we're focused on how the church as a whole can be and should be the best neighbors.
So, by your definition, Who is our neighbor? I think our neighbor is everyone and anyone.
So it's the people that literally live next door to us or on the same street or in the same community. It is our shopkeepers, it's our library. Assistance, it's the people that we work with. Our neighbour is anyone that we meet and come across. That's who I believe our neighbor is.
Yeah. And every day we pass people who are our neighbors, but we might not ever have any contact with. Right. What do you believe God might be doing in your community? Yeah, such a good question.
So, actually, just two days ago, I joined the events planning committee for our little cul-de-sac. Yeah. And my husband's like, Why did you do that? You have enough on your plate already. And I was like, Yes, I do.
But I feel like God is. encouraging our family, not just me, but even my girls and my husband, to become more involved in our community and to get to know our neighbors.
So I feel like God is opening those doors where I will have space to have greater conversation with people and to maybe even have a greater influence. But I just feel like God is just saying, this world is so crazy right now. People are in so much pain. There's so much happening. And I want.
You to be A light in that neighborhood. I want you to be a source of comfort for people in that place. I want you to learn from the people around you and to embrace the people around you. I don't think anything huge is happening that God is doing in my community. Like, I'm not.
I don't think God has this great big plane and You know, all these people are going to be saved or something in my community. But I do believe that God is opening doors for a relationship and for us to find community within each other. And I'm really excited about that. Yeah. And I mean, Why not?
If you're there, you have influence, an opportunity to let people see something that's different in you. And if that leads to a conversation, then that influence, you know, could lead to salvation. What a great thing that would be. Yeah, amazing. Like, that is obviously what I would love.
And that's my heart: people would find Jesus. But I also don't make that my mission. Like, I leave that to the Lord to do. And then I just kind of. Let him open the doors and open the conversations.
Hey, you're listening to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. We're going to take a quick ad break, and we'll be right back. I'm Christy Graham, host of the show On the Ground with Samaritan's Purse, and I recently talked to a pastor on the front lines in Ukraine. He shared what it's been like helping his people both physically and spiritually. We all the time preach the gospel.
We say it's not about just food, it's about the voice of God who said, I am with you in your circumstances. I know this pastor's stories will encourage you in your faith like it did mine. Listen to On the Ground with Samaritan's Purse, wherever you get your podcasts. Tell me what the scripture is sort of centered on. What scripture are you using to create some of these first studies?
Yeah, so it's from Matthew chapter 22, verse 37. I'll just read this for our listeners. Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.
All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. Man. What would our communities look like if we actually lived this out? Um I think that's such a beautiful question. And I think when I think of that question and the answer to that, I think of what would heaven look like when we get there?
And I know that probably seems very large to say that, but I think of a place that is full of peace. A place that has all the different cultures and all the different languages. I think of a place that is full of joy and generosity. And I just think that if we were loving our neighbors the way that we should, Our communities would be peacemaking. And peaceful communities.
I feel that they would be places of encouragement and joy. I feel like there would be more laughter than there is. And there would be open doors and people sitting around tables, just enjoying each other and listening to each other and sharing stories. Yeah, it would just be a place of hope, really. Yeah.
Anybody that's listened to this podcast has heard me say things like my life versus. Proverbs 27, 17, but they also hear me say things like This quote from St. Francis of Assisi to Uh preach the gospel. But use words when necessary. And that's probably a paraphrase on my part.
But I love that idea of just being present. For you, being present in a community, in your neighborhood. And just being approachable, available, and vulnerable to the opportunities that the Lord might give us to be a witness to our neighbors. Yeah, you know, I have a story. I think I've told it before, maybe even on another podcast here.
But there's an officer from Eritrea who came with me to Cloxton community in Atlanta, and we met a beautiful family from Afghanistan. my friend, she wasn't really sure why we were in that community, but I said, no, we really need to go, we just need to meet people. And so we went and she doesn't speak the same language as them, but she was able to communicate 'cause they have some of the same words and things like that. I share the story because this is what I feel like being a good neighbor is and what it means to love people is that we went to visit this family, we met them, and then a week later they invited us back into their house and we sat down on the floor and they had made homemade bread for us and they served us tea and we just got talking and then the husband came in and somebody had stolen the money that they were given for food from his bank account. And so my friend was able to help him figure out how to get some of that money back.
She was on the phone with different agencies and then this relationship just continued for her and this family. And so it became that every night she was reading to the daughter on the phone of her FaceTime, helping her with her English. And then she was taking Angel tree gifts to them at Christmas time. Then her family, she has four boys, they came and they just all continued to eat meals with this family. And then the family moved to Minnesota and then they continued to keep in contact and she continued to do reading over the phone with them.
That is what being a good neighbor is. And that is what. Being loving is right. This family was Muslim. My friend is Christian.
And not once. Was that a barrier or anything? There was no agenda. It was literally was just we want to build relationship with you. And I think that that's what it looks like.
Yeah. We pray that you're enjoying and being blessed by this conversation. Uh We're going to take one more ad break and we'll be right back. I'm Christy Graham, host of the show On the Ground with Samaritan's Purse, and I recently talked to a pastor on the front lines in Ukraine. He shared what it's been like helping his people both physically and spiritually.
We all the time preach the gospel. We say it's not about just food, it's about the voice of God who said, I am with you in your circumstances. I know this pastor's stories will encourage you in your faith like it did mine. Listen to On the Ground with Samaritan's Purse, wherever you get your podcasts. I think back to the quote by William Booth.
Where he says, is there one lost soul I'll fight? If he says that there's men that are going in and out and in and out of prison, I'll fight. And so that statement is the way that we fight here. and we used that to fight against darkness. To foster and create, nurture hope in the lives of those who are hopeless.
And hopefully that'll break the chains. Of those who are in the bondage of poverty, addiction, hopelessness, loneliness. Um spiritual death. And so we hope that this can change up all of that and change a community, transform a community, and just all the good things that God has for this community.
So during bike week, we have 500,000 people come to this community. And one of our staff members is a biker. And she said, you know, we should really do something. And so this year, DHQ brought down the bunk houses so that we could have bikers, Christian bikers staying right on this property so they could go out and minister during the week. They went out to Daytona Gardens and let all of our kids sit on motorcycles.
And it was just the coolest thing to have bikers ministering to the community and their hub was right here. because of those bunk houses DHQ provided us. Oh. Yeah. When we first got here on our way to work, we drive past this community.
It's called Daytona Gardens. And so, for whatever reason, every day that we drove by there, we were just like, I think those are our people. And so, we stopped in there and we started this beautiful ministry in. What we've come to find out is a super impoverished and sometimes violent community where there is no hope at all.
Now, when we come or the Salvation Army van comes, I mean, the kids are running to us. They know that we're bringing joy and hope. Hope is really on the way. When that canteen pulls in, they know they're going to get some popsicles. One time we brought snow out there.
So they're just super excited. It also looks like we took a single mom and her children. We had just helped them with rapid rehousing get into a new apartment. They started attending the core here and we took them on a camping trip. and just being around the campfire with them and Knowing their situation of being unhoused to being housed and then spending that time with them, it was beautiful.
Yeah. We can get caught up in doing a lot of programs. I'm a program person. I love to plan a good party. I can plan a program like nobody's business.
But if the programs that we're doing aren't pointing people towards Jesus, then we're Just event planners. People aren't just calling this a fun place to be, but they're calling it a place where they actually come and receive the hope of Christ, the hope of eternity with Him. Then we take it personal. I mean, we take it personal because we've been in those same places before. And so we know what the hurt feels like, we know what the pain feels like, and we know what it feels like when there's someone that comes with the gospel of Jesus, with the hope of Jesus, with that love into a place of darkness.
We know what that feels like, and we want others to experience it because it is good. It is good. And so we can't help but be that way to somebody else because it was done to us before. 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. Hi friend, are you stressed? Maybe even worried about so many needs around you that you've forgotten you are worth taking care of too?
Well, I'm Bonnie Gray, the host of Breathe, the Stress Less podcast. I want to invite you to join me as I share practical tips based on science, inspired by God's word, to help you spark joy and restore God's peace and love to your soul. Subscribe now and go to lifeaudio.com. 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.
