For the Kingdom | Nya Speller

Hi, this is Bernie Dake. You're listening to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. Hi, I'm Megan Hoffer, and if you're enjoying Words of Life, I want to invite you to check out another show brought to you by the Salvation Army. Heartbeat is a one-minute show about real life. Heartbeat touches on topics ranging from finances and prayer to dating and mental health.

If you're looking for a short message of hope to challenge you and brighten up your day, subscribe to Heartbeat wherever you get your podcast or visit salvationarmysoundcast.org. Well, welcome back to Words of Life. I'm Bernie Dake. And I'm Cheryl Gillum. Man, Cheryl, it's great to be back with you. Welcome home. Yeah, it's good to be back again.

We really just glossed right over the fact that you've returned. That's okay. That's all right. I'm here now. You've acknowledged it now.

It's all good. We're glad you're here. You know what? And we want to say thank you to all of our listeners who are joining us who might even be keeping up with who's here and who's not here. This week, I got a really neat message from a Salvation Army listener in Japan. Wow.

Please forgive me. I'm going to say your name. I believe it's pronounced Tsutomu Ugajin, and he says that he is a Japanese salvationist and knows our friends, Steve and Wendy Morris, who are the leaders over there right now. And he's been a regular listener of Words of Life since 2019. Thank you for the encouragement you give to us, Tsutomu, and we pray that any of our listeners that are hearing this are coming into an even closer relationship with Jesus Christ because of the opportunities we have to interact with each other. That's amazing. But as we continue this series of interviews that began a couple of weeks ago, today we hear from Naya Speller. She's the college ministry's coordinator for the Greater New York Division of the Salvation Army. Wow.

You and I have a connection to New York, don't we? That's right. So that's wonderful. And in this conversation with our friend, E.B., she shares how God is using her to lead her peers and the next generation. Stay true to the Lord because he is faithful. All he needs is your heart.

And once you give God your heart, I'm telling you, your life will be changed forever. Today I have the privilege of bringing one of my new friends to you all to just hear a little bit about who she is. Now, I can tell you just a little snippet about what I think about her and how amazing and awesome I think she is and what she means to me from afar. But we're going to start off by allowing Miss Naya to share a little bit about who she is. Well, hello.

My name is Naya Speller and I am 22 years old. Currently, I work as the ministry's coordinator in the great New York division within the youth department. A little bit about myself personally, I have an identical twin sister.

Her name is Maya. I have a loving family and amazing friends. And as a hobby, I have a podcast called Bible Tea. And with that being said, I love to spread the word of God and continue impacting people just from sitting and talking with someone else and allowing people to view this on YouTube. All right. We'll definitely get into your podcast a little later. Would you be able to share a little bit of how you came to know the Salvation Army?

Yeah, of course. So I knew the Salvation Army ever since I was about five or six years old. I was mostly involved in the programs like the timbrels dance, singing company. And then I had left for a portion of my life from college and also moving around. And then I felt the Lord calling me back to the army. So I would say that I've been a part of the Salvation Army for a great majority of my life. But the way that God just comes around in full circle and then calls me back to it, I would never have expected for me to be in the position that I am in. But I'm so grateful just to be able to influence and also have my voice heard, especially within the youth department and just to pour into young people and also young adults. Like it's truly a blessing. There we go.

I love that. So when you talk about pouring into young people and pouring into young adults, if somebody were to say, what is your life calling? If you were to try to sum it up in just your short twenty two years of life so far, how would you how would you describe that to that individual?

Yeah, of course. So I would first say if you asked me this a couple of months ago, I would be like, I have no clue what my calling is because I was honestly so confused. But if you were to ask me that question right now, like you just did, I would say that my calling is to be an advocate, a cheerleader and someone who is going to be with the youth and the young adults, because we are a very important age group, especially in this generation right now, because we are the next ones up.

Right. So we need people who are going to put in time and effort in order for us to grow spiritually, because we're going to be the next doctor, preacher, teacher, lawyer, whatever that choice may be. So I'm very passionate about continuing to just put my time and my effort into the youth and also young adults so that we're creating more stronger leaders to then teach the next generation.

Thank you for that. So in a sense, from what I heard is just some individual who is intentional about pouring into others, especially that next generation. And you guys know just from a little bit what she shared, but from my same perspective of somebody who oversees young adult ministry, I tell you guys all the time that I believe that Gen Z is on the cuffs of changing the world for the greater good and impacting the kingdom of God in ways like we've never seen before. Just a lot of what we sometimes see as people who are not engaged or not active in their lives to help them walk through some of those moments when they feel disconnected from community or when we make decisions as either leaders or as people of the faith or people of the flock or people who have more experience, I don't necessarily want to say older people, but people who are more experienced or seasoned in life, and that sometimes rub them the wrong way.

And I don't always think that that's the best way of discipling or being effective with people. Now, today's episode, I want to talk a little bit about your heart for that generation and also for evangelism. I have had the opportunity to listen to your video podcast, The Bible Tea Talk Show, where essentially you just dive deeper into God's word and you dig into God's word and you're talking to people about, hey, this is how God's word can help you through this situation or this season in life. So you have the joy of doing that in a unique way. I want you to know, like, what inspired you to start that?

Yeah, of course. So honestly, it was a vision, I would say, like it was definitely a vision from God. This is a time where I was very deep into my relationship with the Lord and I was hearing God so clearly. And he just gave me the name Bible tea. But at this point, I was very like my confidence wasn't there.

And I was like, God, I can't do this. Like, I'm not a great speaker. I can't speak with someone else about your word. But honestly, when the Lord calls you to something, he also equips you. So I knew that he was going to provide me with the tools and the resources necessary in order to preach his word.

So I didn't know what it was going to be either a podcast or a talk show. I didn't know, but I just wanted to be obedient to the Lord and say, OK, God, I'm going to do this. So it first started off with just being me and my family. And then I extended it to my friends as the as my friend group grew. And then now I have this, you know, on YouTube with a lot more people following and and watching it.

And honestly, the main purpose of it is the impact. For me, it's never about the numbers. Of course, I wanted to grow, but I wanted to grow at God's timing. And I never want God to not be in the middle of this because he's the one that has given me this vision. So I like honestly, I'm so grateful to God for a Bible T and I'm and I'm thankful that I said yes and I obeyed the Lord because if I didn't, then Bible T wouldn't be where it's at today.

So, yeah. As you talk a little bit of essentially just being obedient and listening to God's voice, now we both have the opportunity to pouring into the lives of youth and young adults and sometimes even those who aren't youth and young adults, just people within our church, people within our community, people within our workspace where people look at us and say, man, you really inspire or you motivate or you encourage me. What what would you say to someone maybe who's struggling with a sense of obedience? How would you encourage them on their walk?

Yeah, of course. So if you're struggling with your obedience to the Lord, I think that it simply goes back down to really just hearing God and what he has to say. Because for me, I honestly struggle too. It's like I would hear God, but I would do completely opposite. Like, for example, God would be like, go pray for this person or go seek this person out.

And I'm like, no, God, I'm so scared. So I think it just boils back down to, OK, when you hear the Lord, are you going to say yes or are you going to say no? And also it boils down to the maturity stage that you are in with your relationship with the Lord. And honestly, God tests you like he's going to test you with your obedience. He wants to see, OK, are you really with me?

Like, are you really down for me or are you not? And if you're going to say no to the Lord, then he sees where you really are. So I think it just goes back down to where you're at in your walk with the Lord. And it goes back down to, OK, are you really hearing God? And if you're hearing him, then you should obey him. If you are hearing him, then you should obey him.

Now, how many times do we get into a moment where we tell someone something and they don't, in a sense, obey us or listen to us and how much frustration that riles up in us at times. But when it comes from God, we know it's pure. We know it's good.

We know it always means well. And it will always work together for those of us who love him as we stay, I guess, in obedience to his word and his calling in our lives. Now, we know throughout Genesis to Revelations, this literally just a story of redemption and love and God wanting us to be in a right relationship with him and to join him one day for eternity. I know this might be a hard one because it's just like, oh, it's so many to pull from. But if somebody were to say, hey, Nya, what's like your life verse?

What's what are you holding on to either forever or this season right now? What would be that verse and why? Yeah, so my favorite verse when I saw the question, I'm like, oh, I got this. My favorite verse is Romans a twenty eight. And it says all things work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to his purpose. And it's my favorite verse because, you know, in life there is a lot of chaos that happens. There's a lot of madness, changes of season.

There's mountains, there is a battery. But I can trust and know that God has a plan for me and that all of these things are working for my good. I may not see it at first or I may not feel it. I may think that this is the hardest situation in the world, but I know that I can turn around and be like, you know what, God, you are still good and I know that you are working things out. And I can trust in him knowing that he's in control of the situation and he's in control of everything that is happening around me. So, yeah, Romans eight twenty eight. I love that. Are there any closing thoughts or remarks that you would like to share with the people who will get the opportunity to listen to this podcast?

Absolutely. I would say stay true to the Lord because he is faithful and all he needs is your heart. And once you give God your heart, I'm telling you, your life will be changed forever. But you have to remain grounded in Christ and faithful to his word. All right.

Man, we hope you guys enjoyed this. Let this be an encouragement to you. Also slide over to YouTube and check out the Bible T. Talks show.

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