Caring Vol. 17 No. 3 (Fall 2011)

CONTENTS

THE ARMY AND MEDIA • FALL 2011 • VOL. 17 NO. 3

03 04 05 06

12 18 24 26 30 33 34 36 38 40 42 44

MY CORNER INTERACT PERSPECTIVE NEWS BITES_ WORLD CULTURE FAITH WORK IDEAS_ INSPIRATION INITIATIVE FIRST PERSON IMPACT OF NEWS ON RELIGIOUS IDENTITY FUTURE OF PHILANTHROPY NATIONAL MEDIA STRATEGY ALLEVIATING FOOD INSECURITY SAVN.TV FRETEX FASHION PROMISE AND PERSONALITY TO BUILD AND TRAIN IS THIS YOUR PHOTO? REVIEW RESOURCES

Interview:

Mark Horvath

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THE HOLISTIC MINISTRY OF THE SALVATION ARMY Fall 2011, vol. 17 no. 03 Caring is published quarterly by The Salvation Army and seeks to: RECLAIM ‘ACTS OF MERCY’ as imperatives to holiness.

BRING THE ARMY’S MINISTRIES of evangelistic and social outreach into one holistic ministry.

DESCRIBE EXEMPLARY PROGRAMS seeking to integrate the goals of the Army’s holistic ministries.

FOSTER INNOVATION and the development of creative approaches to ministry.

EDIFY, ENLIGHTEN, ENRICH AND STIMULATE DISCUSSION among Salvationists involved in caring ministries.

PROVIDE A FORUM FOR EXAMINATION of critical social issues within the Army.

REPORT ON IMPORTANT AND RELEVANT RESEARCH in areas of holistic ministry.

REVIEW CRITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF SCHOLARS AND WRITERS within relevant fields of ministry.

EXAMINE THE SALVATION ARMY AS AN ORGANIZATION in respect to its history, purpose, mission and future.

STAFF

Editor in Chief/Robert Docter, Ph.D. bob.docter@usw.salvationarmy.org Managing Editor/Christin Davis christin.davis@usw.salvationarmy.org Assistant Editor/Erica Andrews erica.andrews@usw.salvationarmy.org Contributing Editor/Karen Gleason karen.gleason@usw.salvationarmy.org Associate Editor/Buffy Lincoln buffy.lincoln@usw.salvationarmy.org

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Major Betty Israel/USA National Headquarters Major Geoffrey Allan/USA Central Territory Major Florence Townsend/USA Eastern Territory Kevin Tomson-Hooper/USA Southern Territory Major Lawrence Shiroma/USA Western Territory

LAYOUT & DESIGN

Art Director/Kevin Dobruck kevin.dobruck@usw.salvationarmy.org Graphic Designer/Adriana Rivera adriana.rivera@usw.salvationarmy.org

ADVERTISING

Inquire to 562/491-8334 or caring@usw.salvationarmy.org.

CIRCULATION

Arlene DeJesus 562/491-8343 • arlene.dejesus@usw.salvationarmy.org Send address changes to Caring, P.O. Box 22646, Long Beach, CA 90802 or caring@usw.salvationarmy.org.

SALVATION ARMY USA WESTERN TERRITORIAL HEADQUARTERS Territorial Commander/Commissioner James Knaggs Chief Secretary/Colonel Dave Hudson P.O. Box 22646 180 East Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90802 562/491-8723 • Fax 562/491-8791 e-mail: caring@usw.salvationarmy.org Facebook: CaringMagazine Twitter: @CaringMagazine Unless otherwise indicated, all contents copyright© 2011 by New Frontier Publications, The Salvation Army, USA Western Territory, 180 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90802 USA. If requested, permission to reproduce is usually freely granted.

Please contact the publisher before reproducing.

Broadcasting and narrowcasting

By Robert Docter

WE ARE ALL INQUISITIVE animals. We always want to know what’s going on. What’s the action? And then, in response, we report our perceptions—accurate or not—and we feel informed.

We want this information fast, instantaneous would be most desirable, the quicker the better. The more sophisticated and less understood means of presentation of the information, the more credibility we attach to it. Strange!

In a few centuries we’ve moved from word-of-mouth and town criers, to scribes, to the printing press with movable type, to literacy for some—men only (even today, among the 1 billion illiterates on earth, twothirds are women).

While newspapers, pamphlets, fliers and more books dominated the 18th century, all “important” documents were written by hand.

Newsprint dominated the transmission of information for over a century and still carries considerable weight. It initiated “mass” media.

The speed of information transmission really increased in the mid 19th century. Samuel Morse built the telegraph around 1835, and sent a message (“What has God wrought?”) from Baltimore to Washington

Vague, random and gray are not pleasant places to be. People are searching among the noise and clutter of life for stability. If we care about others, we must do a much better job in helping them find it—even if it’s in the new media space. in 1844. The first news dispatch occurred that same year. By 1861, we had a transcontinental telegraph line and put pony express riders out of work.

Alexander Graham Bell developed the telephone in 1877, and the range of word-ofmouth developed by leaps and bounds. Today, it is more than likely wireless and hand held.

Toward the end of the 19th century, radio began sending its messages—first from ship to shore, which was called “narrowcasting” because it was one-to-one. Then, radio stations began “broadcasting” in the early 20th century, and by the 1920’s they covered the entire country and the world.

As radio developed, it facilitated the growth of the recording industry as we resonated to different melodies and rhythms.

The first regularly scheduled television station came along in 1928. It needed considerable work, but by 1939 it demonstrated its great potential. Color television was finally developed and a unified approach was decided in 1966.

Over the years it has become Bob Docter, a necessary staple in home enPh. D., is the tertainment, news reporting, editor in chief of New Frontier Publications.

and sports and commercial advertising. It shapes the American ethic and ethos.

Motion pictures arrived and began to entertain us in story form. The complexity of production escalates annually.

Then, along came the Internet. It is fairly recent among us; some are still in the process of discovery. The Web is wide open to anything and everything and carries immediate messages around the world. We no longer require bulky computers on desks, but can carry the world in the palm of our hand. It is a unique power that seems both to mirror our fortes and our flaws as well as stimulate our growth.

We are inundated with information. Culture shifts as norms push us in different directions.

Polarities pull us across a wide expanse of value choices. Unless we have a firm foundation, we find ourselves drowning in vague, buried in random, lost in gray.

Vague, random and gray are not pleasant places to be. People are searching among the noise and clutter of life for stability. If we care about others, we must do a much better job in helping them find it—even if it’s in the new media space.

Here are some ideas that work. Read on.

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YOUR WORDS

How much would a

”O God, help me to believe the truth about myself no matter how beautiful it is!” – Macrina Wiederkehr. A powerful reminder of our place as God’s children via Caring summer 2011, pg. 10.

invites people to free

Rob Birks / San Francisco, CA

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Guide to QR codes:

1

DOWNLOAD APP: A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode that can be read by smart phone cameras. Search “QR code” to find a free downloadable app for your phone.

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SCAN CODE: Hold your phone over a box. The app will use your camera to read the code.

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EXPLORE: The code will direct your phone to a website, video, photo or something else to explore.

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salvation?

Christopher McGown / Louisville, KY

Will we be reading a review of [Major Danielle Strickland’s new book, “The Liberating Truth: How Jesus Empowers Women”] in an upcoming issue of Caring?

Waiting for my preordered copy.

Connect with us for daily doses of Caring: Facebook.com/CaringMagazine Twitter.com@CaringMagazine

quick little ad cost that

Matthew Jensen Santa Maria, CA

[Write us: caring@usw.salvationarmy.org or facebook.com/CaringMagazine]

YOUR LIKES The Salvation Army in San Francisco hosted a young professional mixer.

An infographic on the current state of social networks (socialmediatoday.com).

“The Gathering” promo video.

“ISB 120” march up the London mall video.

Teens at TSA Boys and Girls Club in Lowell, NC, surprise prom for program assistant Flo Hardin, who—as the only black senior in her class—was not allowed to participate in her senior prom 44 years ago due to segregation.

In June, the International Social Justice Commission asked the Army world to pray for MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women.

Did you know July 2 is Founders’ Day? It’s the international day to celebrate William and Catherine Booth’s first tent meeting on Mile End Waste in London—a meeting that led to The Salvation Army movement.

Pope Benedict XVI became the first pontiff in history to tweet.

In the wake of the Casey Anthony trial, a change.org campaign is calling for a federal law, “Caylee’s Law,” that would make the failure of a parent to notify law enforcement of a child’s disappearance a felony.

YOUR RETWEETS @ SalArmyTX: A hobby with a purpose: http://t.co/HjVMOLl @TSAHarfordCty: Can’t wait for Ty’s DVD [“The Real Housewives of the Bible”]! Awesome. http://fb.me/18HGcY5wX @ salmich: Celebrate Christmas in July w/ the Detroit Tigers & The Salvation Army on July 20 @ Comerica Park. http://t.co/GerwJt0

A voice in any medium In print, broadcast, online and social media, the Army is engaged.

By Christin Davis

AS

I sat on a tattered sofa—one of the only pieces of furniture in the shabby living room besides a primary-colored play kitchen—I knew this story would be different than most. The woman I was about to interview was fidgety and noticeably anxious. Making small talk as I readied my Steno pad, Jill plunged into her story. She told me of times when she had nowhere to feel safe and no one to rely on. The moment her life seemed to collapse, she said, was the day a doctor diagnosed her with HIV/AIDS, only days after telling her she was six months pregnant. The baby she didn’t even know she had carried inside her would be born infected.

I listened to this woman share her life with me, tears often glistening the side of her face, and every divulged detail confirmed within me the desire to be a journalist. I loved that with the words I typed, Jill had a voice.

In studying journalism, I’ve learned quite a few memorable phrases, including: If your mother says she loves you, check it out.

Show, don’t tell.

Everything is in for a reason, otherwise it’s out.

If it bleeds, it leads.

Make every word count.

Be reader friendly.

In reporting, apply the laws of dating.

It is not shameful to be ignorant, only to remain so.

Save the most offensive question for last.

And, poignantly: the one-trick pony is over.

It’s true, journalists are no longer the sole creators of content—no longer the only way to have a voice in the public space. In this age of infinite choice, we are living through a revolution of information where anyone who wants to can publish whatever they want (for better and worse).

Today’s media still informs, but now also facilitates, provokes and curates conversation. In relationship with the audience, it creates communities where interaction is key. And it’s clear the public wants to be involved— Christin according to Nielsen, the average person spends seven Davis is the managing hours a month on Facebook (largely creating content). editor of This year, 70 percent of the digital universe will be creNew Frontier ated by users (not professionals).

Publications.

Media is not a new phenomenon for this organization. Dr. Diane Winston examines how the newsmedia has long impacted the religious identity of The Salvation Army on p.

18. “News reports on the lassies’ work was central to the Army’s transformation from evangelical outcast to humanitarian icon,” she writes.

Beyond news and information, media and technology are now an integral and necessary part of Salvation Army ministry. As Captain Douglas McClure writes on p. 16, “the church must engage if it wants to remain a driving force…avoidance of these virtual relationships is impossible.”

In this issue, “The Army and Media,” you’ll see that Generation Z is full of philanthropists who use the Web to do good, the Army in America has an ever-expanding media strategy to keep the public connected, the Western Territory is about to host an open air online, and the Army in the Midwest is helping reunite people with their lost photographs following the areas’ powerful tornadoes this spring.

In reading these stories, you may notice that our pages look a bit different. We’ve updated our design and reorganized our content with new regular sections—Interact, News Bites, Interview, Ideas, and Resources.

We want to interact with you, and we’ve dedicated space for your words—comments about printed stories and ideas for new ones, or simply your thoughts on an issue of social or theological concern. Send us an email (caring@usw.salvationarmy.org) or find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Both Caring and The Salvation Army as a whole will continue to give people a voice in any medium we can. w

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Access to answers Not everyone has the resources to Google their questions, but Rose Shuman of the nonprofit Open Mind is making it possible in the most remote parts of the world.

Question Box is like dialing 411, except instead of asking for a phone number or address, you can ask anything of an operator over the intercom-like set-up.

“We learned there were a lot of advantages to [the box on a wall],” Shuman told

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GOOD. “But if you move to places where there isn’t a lot of electricity” then the box “didn’t make that much sense.”

So Shuman developed Open Question, a kit of software and training tools that rural villages can use in their own call centers.

The Ugandan pilot project trained 40 agents to travel around rural areas, offering answers to questions (See Shuman talk more about this at Activate NY: http://gu.com/p/2pcjt).

Quick access to information could mean life or death, such as how to treat an infant with diarrhea.

In July, Shuman started beta testing the Open Question tools in Haiti, India, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya and Sierra Leone.

Global vision for vision Oxford Physics Professor Josh Silver, who now directs the Centre for Vision in the Developing World (CVDW), invented the a reading chart, the user pumps in more or less world’s first adjustable silicon to reach clarity, then cuts off the syringes spectacles, which can and tubing and has a normal pair of glasses. be set to fit an individSilver, a finalist for the European Inventor ual’s prescription by the Award 2011 in the research category, said 40,000 wearer. pairs of these eyewear are in use globally. He Over 1.3 billion peo- hopes, in partnership with the World Bank and ple, according to the Dow Chemical, to distribute 1 billion pairs for a World Health Organiza- cost significantly lower than the current $25 per tion, would benefit from pair price tag by 2020. glasses and CVDW’s soCVDW and Dow Corning, a global leader in lution is the Adspecs— silicon-based technology, recently partnered in glasses with two lenses Child ViSion—an initiative to design, manufacand a silicon gel in be- ture and distribute a child-specific version of the tween. While looking at Adspecs.

See where the Adspecs are in use: vdwoxford.org/map

Watch this video documenting the impact Twitter had on Japan’s culture after the Tohoku earthquake: http://youtu.be/bNkWgbSVmfs.

A diverse look at global health issues: globalpost.com/globalpost-blogs/ global-pulse

Liveandtell.com is a user-generated content site for documenting and learning rare languages.

Web right The United Nations recently declared Internet access a basic human right. Frank La Rue, special rapporteur to the UN and report author, said the Internet is “an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and human progress.”

Read the report: documents.latimes.com/un-report-internet-rights/

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Iceland is crowd sourcing its new constitution. The 25-member constitutional council posts draft clauses on its website and invites the public to comment there or on Facebook (facebook.com/ stjornlagard).

The council is incorporating comments into the document and is streaming all of its meetings live on YouTube.

Android

26 %

Apple iOS

23 %

Blackberry

15 %

Other

Saytunes.com Share and listen to original music and lyrics by Salvationists around the world.

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Tweet this @11ysses celebrated Bloomsday, June 16, with a crowd-interpreted version of Ulysses (Sylvia Beach, 1922), ranked first on the Modern Library’s list of the 100 best Englishlanguage novels of the 20th century. Volunteers broadcast 96 parts of the 265,000-word novel in four to six tweets each.

Similarly, @biblesummary chronologically distills one Bible chapter a day in 140-characters or less. Chris Juby, an Englishman, started in August 2010 and will reach Revelation 22 on Nov. 8, 2013.

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Rewriting Beethoven David Lang, 54, who reconceived Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” for his Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning 2008 opera, “The Little Match Girl Passion,” is now rewriting the entire libretto of Beethoven’s 1805 opera, “Fidelio.” Lang said music gives the opportunity to look around and try to make a difference; much of his work relates to issues of action and social justice.

In the first quarter of 2011, Android smartphone owners consumed an average of 582 MB of data each month in the U.S. according to Nielsen.

2B: Where the World Health Organization now ranks cell phones, meaning they are possibly carcinogenic to humans.

My Plate The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) replaced the decades-old food pyramid with “My Plate”—a graphic to represent what the nation’s nutrition experts believe is the perfect geometry of what we should eat.

Namesake A new social media service, Namesake.com, focuses on conversation—a back-and-forth, real-time forum for discussion.

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‘Geek night’ mentoring

By Paul Covington

For the last 15 years, our basement computer workshop on Friday evenings—“Geek Night”—has focused on mentoring and training young men from the Fountain Valley Corps (Colo.) as they worked on building, repairing or learning about computers.

We teach honesty by not allowing software pirating—often explained as, “You wouldn’t want someone to steal your work would you? So why do you

want to steal someone else’s work?” We teach patience by having to wait for a hard drive to format in preparation for reinstalling Windows or searching for software drivers on the Internet. We teach generosity by example, through a “parts box” that allows kids to find that gem that would make their computer run or sound better.

We took interest in our boys’ goals and dreams, and encouraged them to strive for excellence.

This summer, one young man who was failing after two years of high school, will graduate from Stanford. He paid his way through college using the skills he gained in our workshop.

My other “geeks” work in a wide range of jobs including, engineers, naval intelligence, a head clerk, and a top computer programmer for the U.S. Air Force.

Is it church? No, but when you seek to honor Jesus Christ in the spirit that he taught—serve those around you—God blesses you and those you serve.

Religious freedom has a new leader

Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook is the new ambassador at-large for international religious freedom, sworn in by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in June. Cook, a Baptist minister from New York, is the founder and president of the Wisdom Women Worldwide Center.

She was a New York City Police De-

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partment chaplain for 21 years (the only woman to serve in that role), a professor at New York Theological Seminary from 1988-1996 and, most recently, the senior pastor and CEO of the Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church from 19962010.

In this role, she serves as principal advisor on religious freedom to President Barack Obama and Clinton, and heads the Office of International Religious Freedom in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

In its 2010 annual report of international religious freedom, the office reported on 198 countries. It listed Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan as countries of particular concern, having “engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom” during the reporting period.

Connect with her twitter.com@IRFAmbassador facebook.com/RFAmbassador.

Building an ark Construction company owner Johan Huibers built a pine ark, identical in size to Noah’s. He modeled it after the book of Genesis: 300 cubits (450 feet) long, 30 cubits (three stories) high, and 50 cubits (75 feet) wide, according to The New York Times.

Huibers plans to use the ark, which includes live animals, to teach the Bible.

“A lot of things in the boat lead you to think. We make people curious,” Huibers told the See a slideTimes. show of an View a slideshow of the ark idenark: nytimes.com/slideticle in size show/ 2011/05/27/world/ to Noah’s europe/20110527ARK. html?ref=europe.

(2011)

$2,119 (1980) $7,605 (2009)

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Annual price of 4-year college

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Percentag e of students tak ing out loans

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Students and salaries The average salary offered to new grads in 2011 has fallen nearly 2 percent since last year, according to Newsweek, making a diploma worth less in light of climbing debt. For students graduating in a recession, it can take 17 years to reach the salary level of older peers. Simultaneously, the average annual price of a 4-year college has more than quadrupled since 1982—twice the rate of inflation.

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The Talk-oMeter iPhone app measures the balance of conversation between two people, recognizing the voices and keeping track of how much time each person spends talking.

Summer media camp

music, including guitar and stomp; and a Bible study.

At summer’s end, students are encouraged to bring their A music and media summer parents to a recital that showcamp for 11- to 15-year-olds at cases the artwork, photography, the Tustin Ranch Corps (Calif.), films, music videos and musiconsists of two days of instruccal skills they worked on in the tion and three days of outings camp. to amusement parks and museA number of these campums each week. ers now attend the The classes are For more informacorps and are active taught by Salvation tion regarding the in its programs. One Army professionals, camp, contact Teen student went on to and include film; Ministries Director teach the camp’s guiBramwell Freeman: photography; art, inbramwell.freeman@ tar class. cluding graffiti art;

By Sarah Lamkin

usw.salvationarmy. org.

Keeping families together The Salvation Army’s Alegria in Los Angeles provides health, housing and child development services to homeless families affected

by HIV/AIDS. It celebrates 10 years of healing and hope in its Silverlake location this September.

salvationarmyalegria.org

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MARK HORVATH

seemed to have it all: he lived in sunny Los Angeles, had a great job in television syndication, and earned a six-figure income— that is until he lost his job and became homeless.

Now, he runs invisiblepeople.tv, which is helping to reshape the way people think about homeless indi-viduals.

His videos have already garnered more than 2 million views, which Horvath believes is due to their raw quality–giving you a candid look into the daily struggles of homelessness.

Caring talked to Horvath to find out what inspires him, his views on social media and what he hopes to accomplish on his third tour to promote the end of homelessness.

What inspired you to help people who are homeless in such a profound way?

I had been laid off and after 19 months of on and off unemployment, homelessness was slapping me in the face. As I’m driving down Sunset Boulevard I’m seeing their pain, but I’m turning away—that made me hurt even more. I decided to just grab the camera and put this online and I thought nobody would watch it.

You used a quote on your site, “Awareness is not enough.” What do you do different?

That quote came from Scott Harrison of charity: water. I was educating the public, making them aware of stuff, but lets be real, people are aware of cancer and nobody wants it. So when Scott said awareness is not enough I thought, “What can I do to take action? What can I do to really effect change?” It was an “aha” moment.

Out of all the homeless people you have interviewed, whose story has affected you the most?

It was Angela under a bridge in Atlanta. When I met her, I was with a church

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Erica Andrews is the assistant editor for Caring.

A man on a mission to make the

INVISIBLE VISIBLE

By Erica Andrews

Mark Horvath (right) interviews a homeless man living beneath an overpass.

group. I asked them, “What are you doing for her? She’s dying underneath that bridge.” And they said, “We’re bringing her sandwiches.”

It was at that point that I realized sandwiches are not enough. It’s okay to feed people in a park, as long as you’re helping them to get out of the park. That’s the big change we have to make.

What effect do you think online social media has had on homelessness?

This is why I did wearevisible. com. Yesterday I watched a soon to be homeless man calling different shelters to see where to turn. He was having trouble finding where there was

an opening, so we turned to Twitter. I was able to, with the help of a couple of other people on Twitter, connect him to services.

So, in this third tour, are you hoping to provoke change?

Well I’m not hoping, hoping is thinking maybe it won’t happen. I know it will happen, you know what I mean? This is a catalyst for change and I’m totally honored the Canadian government and Canadian people have invited me to do this and what it is, is going to be a conversation…to unify the country on the conversation of homelessness. I mean it’s already started.

For those interested in working or helping in this spectrum, what resources do you recommend?

First, I recommend fighting homelessness at the local level, so find something that you can do in your community. Second, do a little research and three, experiment. For the research, find out who’s actually solving homelessness, not just maintaining it.

It has to be a win-win and it is there, and it’s gorgeous—once you find that non-profit where you feel like you fit—magic happens. w Connect with Mark

twitter @hardlynormal facebook.com/markhorvath website: invisiblepeople.tv

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Carlos @jessie550 CAN ONE MONTH really make a difference?

As interns at NYC advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), Willy Wang, Robert Weeks and I were challenged to “do good famously” with a budget of $1,000. We decided “famous” was just another way of saying, “make people listen, make real change.”

With that in mind, we created Underheard in New York—a 30-day initiative to give a voice to the ones who we thought needed it the most: the homeless.

We met Carlos, Albert, Danny and Derrick at the NYC Rescue Mission—an organization on Lafayette Street that feeds an average of 500 people and provides beds for 100 individuals each night—and gave each man a prepaid cell phone with one month of unlimited texting linked to newly created, individual Twitter accounts. By texting a message to 40404, that message would post as an update to Twitter. Every time someone replied or mentioned their usernames, the message was sent to their phones as an incoming text message.

I saw how deeply people care when you give them the means to make a connection and the ease of storytelling offered by new media. We were facilitators, not only in conversation, but also in aid as people helped solve each man’s problems.

One man in Australia paid for Albert’s Rosemary Melchior co-created Underheard in New York as an advertising intern.

See more at underheardinnewyork. com.

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The four men told us that they felt a renewed faith in human kindness...they had hope again and a sense of self-confidence.

Derrick @awitness2011

Underheard in New York

Fighting homelessness 140 characters at a time

By Rosemary Melchior

(@albert814) outstanding $200 transit tickets—a gesture that goes beyond money and toward removing a stumbling block from Albert’s future. His followers offered encouragement to Albert the day before he took his cooking exam. When he wrote that he wanted to work in a kitchen, followers put him in touch with a restaurant owner.

Derrick (@awitness2011) wrote that he was a fan of the New York Giants and followers gave him a ticket to attend a game this season.

Giants player Steve Smith called

Derrick, later raising money for the NYC Rescue Mission in his name.

Derrick was also offered a job interview, one that inspired him to enroll in college to finish his degree. Classes started in May and he will complete his coursework on a laptop that a follower purchased for him.

Danny (@putodanny) always wanted to tell his life story, but never thought anyone would want to listen. He found out he was wrong when a follower from Wisconsin offered to help him write it down. Danny had also been

Albert @albert814

Danny @putodanny searching for his daughter for the past 11 years. They were separated when she moved back to the United States from Puerto Rico. He posted her name and a photo taken over a decade before; a Twitter user found her the next day and they were reunited in Bryant Park.

Carlos (@jessie550) created “angels” out of his followers. Struggling to start his own business, a follower sent him a $30 Metro card so he didn’t have to spend two and a half hours walking to and from the library each day.

Another follower, here in New York City, offered Carlos office space. Carlos and the other men also received solar power cell phone chargers so they would never be without a connection.

Joining a community

These four men’s combined Twitter accounts gathered more than 18,000 followers within the month, generating replies and retweets. Twitter users wished them all luck when they entered the lottery to get beds at the NYC Rescue Mission, said good morning when they woke up and prayed for them when they had job interviews.

Originally part of a population that is typically isolated, they became part of a new community. We know it’s nice to be cared about; it’s necessary to be listened to.

Albert tweeted about riding the free bus to Atlantic City just so he could be indoors on a cold day. Danny looked forward to sending his tweets, two in the morning (one in Spanish and one in English) and two in the afternoon.

Derrick was touched when, after not tweeting for a few days, his followers were worried about where he was and how he was doing.

The four men told us that they felt a renewed faith in human kindness, as they previously didn’t think people would care. They had hope again and a sense of selfconfidence. Carlos said it was like carrying “a friend around in his pocket.” Albert told us he never smiled before this project but managed “a little smile” these days.

People outside the project wrote to us to say how their opinion on homelessness had changed: they said they would donate to a local rescue mission, smile the next time they saw a homeless person or no longer believe the common stereotypes. They began to realize how hard these men struggled and how unfortunate the situations were that got them there, altering negative perceptions on the homelessness issue.

Underheard in New York began with a deadline: 30 days of unlimited texting. When it was finished, we used our remaining money to purchase another 30 days. The following month donations for texting cards came in from around the world. Danny, Carlos, Derrick and Albert continue to use social media to connect with a caring community.

Although the exact future of Underheard in New York remains undefined, we hope to expand; we’d love to inspire. w

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The Daily Cup Mobile app exposes mission, promotes volunteerism

By William Hale

THE DAILY CUP APP, which works on all smart and

feature phones, provides users with information regarding hunger, homelessness, human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, disaster services and The Salvation Army’s life-changing ministries around the world.

Released by the USA Southern Territorial Headquarters (THQ) in December 2010, the app has featured outreach to homeless youth in Melbourne, Australia, to adult substance abuse counseling in Memphis, Tenn. It helps educate, inspire and engage those interested in social justice through true stories of changed lives. Furthermore, users have the opportunity to volunteer, donate to the local Salvation Army, or share the app with friends and family.

Since its release, The Daily Cup has been downloaded more than 215,000 times across the planet. In fact, a considerable number of downloads have come from predominantly non-Christian nations such as India and Pakistan. The app has also reached users in Egypt and Vietnam, countries where The Salvation Army lacks a physical presence. It is exciting to think that as a result of this app, people who might not otherwise hear of The Salvation Army are being exposed to its mission and message of hope. Moreover, of the 215,000 users, approximately 10 percent have clicked to volunteer or donate.

William Hale is the media relations News of the app’s release and immediate coordinator for The success was featured on USA Today, CNBC, Salvation Army USA Yahoo!, Finance Canada, Forbes, and numerous Southern Territorial Headquarters. mobile and tech industry news and information

Since its release, The Daily Cup has been downloaded more than 215,000 times across the planet.

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websites. The app has also been utilized to engage technologically savvy audiences at territorial youth conferences and national Salvation Army week festivities.

In addition to spreading the word and engaging supporters, The Daily Cup has bolstered other Salvation Army Internet and social media efforts in the South. As content is posted within The Daily Cup, it is automatically shared on the Southern Territory’s general website (uss.salvationarmy.org) and on Southern Spirit’s—the territory’s newspaper— website and Twitter account (southernspiritonline.org

and @Southern_Spirit). In effect, this app helped initiate content creation and distribution across multiple channels in an efficient and effective manner.

The Southern THQ worked with Didmo and Getjar to develop, launch and promote the app: Didmo (didmo.com), the designers of the Magmito software powering the app, provided free app setup and technical support services. Getjar (getjar.com), the world’s largest open app store, hosts and advertises the app on its website free of charge. w

Download The Daily Cup at getjar.com/salvation-army.

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POWERFUL INTERACTION Best practices for a church’s social media

By Douglas McClure

I THINK WE IGNORE social media at our own risk.

The Nielsen Company reported in a January 2010 study that the average person spends approximately seven hours a month on Facebook.

According to Mashable, the average teen sends 3,339 text messages per month and the average 18- to 24-year-old sends 1,630 texts.

A January 2011 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project found 75 percent of adults participate in social and voluntary groups and organizations, and of those adults most are Internet users. The study also found 82 percent of social media users and 85 percent of Twitter users participate in a group or organization.

Based on these reports alone, the church must engage if it wants to remain a driving force. Church leaders can no longer afford to ignore

social media. Avoidance of these virtual relationships is impossible.

Joel Diaz, youth minister in Albany, Ga., said social media is important in keeping in contact with his student members.

“And, you can quote me on that,” he said.

Bryan Haynes, associate pastor of student ministries at Gillionville Baptist Church in Albany, said, “Social media is the most efficient and expedient means of external communication with our students.”

And I got both of these comments through Twitter.

In order to best incorporate the power of social media into a church’s interactions, consider the following five steps: 1. Training: You need to know what is going on. You need to know the difference between “CC” and “BCC,” “post” and “tweet,” RSS subscriptions and email subscriptions, viral and virus. A good place to start is Internet dictionaries like Tech Terms (techterms.com) and NetLingo (netlingo.com).

2. Truth: Just because someone types it, it doesn’t make it true. Cross-reference information found online in other studies and to reputable sources.

3. Trust: Know that if it is online, someone will find it. There is no such thing as completely deletable. Code blocking, IP-masking, private browsers and DNS-redirects will provide security against most users but a good hacker can work through all of that. A Google search can bring many things

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to light. If you do not want everyone on the Internet to see something, do not put it on the Internet. Also, make sure you are trustworthy when it comes to the information, images and thoughts of others. Just because you know a bit of information doesn’t mean everyone else should, too.

4. Transparency: Internet users need a huge dose of WWJP (What Would Jesus Post). Does it matter who sees what you are posting? Is this picture or comment something I would be comfortable with my members, parents, guardians, my supervisor, my family or the media seeing? Is it true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable (Phil.

4:8 NLT)?

5. Triumph: The world needs “tweeters” for Jesus. We need Facebook to love someone across the country that has lost a family member. We need Scripture posted from here to eternity on every social media available not in condemnation, but in encouragement. Share your struggles, not your criticisms.

Once you have established a social media practice for your organization, it’s important to consider your online relationships and where to draw the line. Darryl Dash, pastor at Richview Baptist church in Toronto, wrote about the use of social media by pastors on his blog, dashhouse.com. He advises: • When interacting with members electronically, am I using electronic communication and social media to enhance their life or to satisfy a personal need?

75% of adults participate in a group or organization

82% of social media users participate in a group or organization

85% percent of Twitter users

participate in a group or organization

• What are my reasons for sharing this information with a congregant—are they professional or are they personal?

• Is this picture or comment something I would be comfortable with my members, their parents/guardians, my supervisor, my family or the media seeing?

• Would my peers or supervisors consider what I have posted as reasonable and professional?

• Would I communicate this way in my community?

• Are the photos, videos or audio recordings I am posting susceptible to misrepresentation or manipulation?

• Am I keeping current in my awareness and knowledge of social media technology developments to protect myself from misuse? w

Captain Douglas McClure is the corps officer in Albany, Ga., with his wife, Storm.

Connect with him twitter.com@DouglasMcClure facebook.com/douglasemcclure

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The impact of news on religious identity and philanthropy The media has long played a central role in getting information about the Army’s mission and identity before the American people.

By Diane Winston

F

rom 1880 to World War I, the vast majority of Americans, those who did not come into contact with its street evangelism or were not direct beneficiaries of its services, knew about The Salvation Army through newspapers and magazines. Much of what they read was negative. The Army was portrayed as a movement of over-enthusiastic rabble-rousers who confused sensationalism with evangelism. Was the Army allied with virtue or vice, an 1885 New York Times editorial asked and then answered, “The Salvation Army appears to be organized for the purpose of applying the methods of the variety show to Christianity. It undertakes to minister to the same craving for vulgar modes of excitement.”

Newspapers disparaged Army parades, decried its female preachers and derided its use of popular culture. Even when positive stories on slum ministries appeared in the 1890s, reporters mocked its fervent followers. When a Chicago Tribune reporter went undercover to write about the Army, she admitted at the outset that her subjects seemed “a class of fanatics, bizarre and picturesque, and exciting only wonder and ridicule.”

She signed up with a small corps in a working-class Chicago suburb and, to her surprise, was inspired by the commanding officer’s beauty, compassion and grace. But when she was transferred to another corps, she found coarse recruits yearning for worldly pleasures and an unattractive captain who falsified her financial records.

Critics frequently questioned the Army’s finances, demanding to know where its money went and whether its account ledgers could be trusted. They accused Army officers of investing in a mining company (which some did) and charged Salvationist leaders with using funds collected for social work to support its soul-saving crusades (which appears to be untrue). By the turn of the century, the Army found support among advocates of social Christianity, a movement to apply religious principles to social problems. But secular philanthropists, committed

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to scientific methods of charity, castigated Salvationist philosophy and programs as sentimental and unempirical.

These and other critics were silenced by the Army’s outreach during the 1900 hurricane in Galveston Texas and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Galveston was the first occasion for extensive Army emergency relief, and its subsequent work in San Francisco garnered further positive attention. Although California Salvationists had not been prepared for widespread property damage and consequent human need, they had jumped into action with a zeal and determination that impressed the local citizenry and was widely and favorably reported.

Evangeline Booth may have had in mind the Army’s past success at largescale relief work when she decided, a decade later, to send her soldiers to serve in World War I. Despite the modest scale of their efforts, Salvationists reaped a public relations bonanza that culminated in an unprecedented ability to raise money and command media attention. Widely popular, The Salvation Army was praised in poetry and song, newspaper reports and letters from the front. A good deal of that attention was directed at Army lassies [Army members who made and served donuts to World War I soldiers], the once reviled now revered symbol of the organization.

The media depicted lassies as vibrant and appealing, but their religion was less so, inverting the emphasis that the Army would have preferred. News reports on the lassies’ work—whether frying donuts on the front lines or tending slum children at home—was central to the Army’s transformation from evangelical outcast to humanitarian icon. Following the familiar Mary/ Martha trope that valued women who were silent servants above those who were loquacious leaders, Army lassies embodied a deed-over-creed faith that was old-fashioned in its practice but modern in its pluralist and activist orientation. It fit the postwar era and reflected journalism’s own notions about what religion should be.

Throughout the 19th century, newspapers had reflected a positive view of religion, albeit as an element of a universe circumscribed by evangelical Protestantism. Tall steeple ministers were frequent editorial commentators, particularly when their perspectives on social issues coincided with those of publishers. Within that context, reporters unmasked religious scamps and scalawags but deviance, like The Salvation Army’s “sensationalism,” underscored a normative view of Christianity as a civilizing and stabilizing influence on society.

After the Civil War, however, innovations in science, advances in scholarship and changes in society began to loosen religion’s grip on the public imagination. A secularist tide took hold of the professions

and its influence was felt both in news coverage and in the journalism profession more generally.

THE ARMY THROUGH THE DECADES For many journalists, the postWorld War I Salvation Army exemplified religion’s role in the new

era insofar as it could be portrayed as a nonsectarian, activist faith, the Army represented the kind of Christianity that newspapers liked.

Gone were references to raucous revivals and street corner services, replaced by stories of slum nurseries and soup kitchens. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, reporters referred to the Army as a “charitable organization,” a “social organization,” a “benevolent and charitable

corporation,” and a “social service institution.” Articles described its shelters, salvage work, summer camps and Christmas dinners—interspersed with profiles of leaders and lassies. A 1920 New York Times editorial, supporting a fundraising drive, made only a fleeting reference to the Army’s religious work.

Even when the group’s religiosity was noted, it was linked to service provision: “Its militant evangelism has been a central part of its character since its beginnings in this country in 1880. So has the intensely practical aid which it brings to every type of misery with which it comes into contact.” A 1934 Washington Post profile of Evangeline Booth, the Founders’ daughter, celebrated her promotion from head of the American Army to commander of the worldwide Army. The story notes her fundraising and organizational skills; her physical attributes and daily activities; her acting and hymn-writing abilities but says nothing about her personal beliefs or the religious mission of the global denomination that she would soon lead.

The close fit between the activist faith and the spirit of the times was evidenced in reporting on the Great Depression. The Army’s brand of humanitarian activism resonated with national calls for service. In 1933, when George H. Dern, the U.S. Secretary of War, announced the fight against the “second great war of the 20th century,” Evangeline Booth was by his side. Addressing an Army fundrais-

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ing rally at the Seventh Regiment Armory in New York City, Dern called for defensive lines against “hunger, misery, nakedness and privation,” noting, “of those defensive lines, moreover, none is of greater importance than those which are manned by the troops of The Salvation Army.”

By mid-century, staid men had replaced winsome lassies as the Army public image. The apotheosis of the change was Time magazine’s 1949 Christmas cover, picturing Army Commissioner Ernest Pugmire, grey-haired and bespectacled, enwreathed by brass bells.

The accompanying story explicitly detailed the movement’s evangelical origins with a historical sketch of the Booths. Unlike most newspaper stories, the newsmagazine described the rationale for the Army’s “religion in action,” noting, “It proceeds on the down-to-earth theory that Christ gave clear instructions on what to do about the degraded, the abandoned and the poor…Booth was after men’s souls and his principal weapon was evangelism. The modern army still fights that war, but now its principal weapon is charity.”

According to Time, the Army sacrificed its old-timey enthusiasms for public support and respectability and “the kind of social welfare program over which Ernest Pugmire presides is a sounder attack against the enemy than all the processions General Booth might lead…and sounder than street-corner revivals.”

The press paid increasing attention to Salvationists’ faith during the 1970s. Religion coverage had experienced a renaissance: the 1976 election of Jimmy Carter brought evangelicals into the American political arena, and the 1978 Iranian Revolution and

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News reports on the lassies’ work was central to the Army’s transformation from evangelical outcast to humanitarian icon. subsequent 444-day-long American hostage crisis, did the same for Muslims. But unlike religious movements that engaged in affairs of the state, the Army was depicted as apolitical and charmingly picturesque.

Reporting on the Army became an integral part of the news media’s rediscovery of religion. Stories still covered the nuts and bolts of fundraising appeals, Christmas kettles and leadership changes, but also included an ethnographic dimension that explored the intersection of belief and behavior. Unlike the 19th century press, which portrayed a sensational ministry motivated by a scandalous sensibility.

Twentieth century reporters depicted a quaint relic from a bygone era.

When women’s equality and the fight for the Equal Rights Amend-

ment loomed large in the news, both the Post and the Times asked how the Army, the first Protestant denomination to give equality to women in mission and ministry, treated its distaff members today.

According to the Times, “husband and wife are really equal,” yet the movement’s strict rules (couples must receive permission to marry and wed in uniform; women took their husband’s rank never vice versa; women worked mainly in women’s ministries) mitigated against a progressive interpretation of the faith.

TAKING HITS Increased media attention to the interplay between religion and politics led to new types of stories about the Army. Standard holiday pieces on bell-ringers still

appeared, but so did news on contested social issues. Even when the Army won the day, coverage drew attention to its conservative social and political positions. The Army’s evangelicalism, or to some its fundamentalism, became relevant because of public as well as governmental support for its programs.

Avoiding controversy was often impossible as in 1998 when the Army turned down a contract with the city of San Francisco because it would have required providing benefits to domestic partners (including unmarried and homosexual) of its employees.

The decision forced cutbacks in services to seniors, drug addicts and the homeless—as well as the loss of 60 staff positions. Three years later, the Army’s Western Territory switched its position, agreeing to provide access to benefits to anyone as selected by the employee. But a loud and very public outcry from rightwing evangelical groups and pressure from the Army’s National Headquarters induced the Western Territory to reverse its reversal. According to local coverage, the rescission had ramifications far beyond the Army’s position on gays. A local official

told the San Francisco Chronicle, it was a “mean-spirited move” aimed at pleasing the religious right, “ ‘not just domestic partners, but grandparents, adult children, and others who are living with Salvation Army employees may remain without health coverage.’ ” The Army also took a hit when newspapers reported it paid workers at its facilities below the minimum wage. Although the Army countered that the workers were “clients” who worked as part of their treatment program, the U.S. Labor Department ordered it to obey the law. “Department of Labor officials see this as a question of equity and fairness,” reported the Times. “They say that The Salvation Army’s practice of providing only a small reimbursement for work and no overtime, combined with poor record keeping, amount to a kind of exploitation of workers.”

The Army mounted a behindthe-scenes campaign and within days, the government changed its policy, allowing the substandard pay scale to stand. The Army likewise scored a mixed win when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development permitted a

The Salvation Army’s presence in the U.S. media

1885 New York Times editorial asks if The Salvation Army is allied with virtue or vice.

Red Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army (Harvard, 1999)

Faith in the Market: Religion and Urban Commercial Culture (Rutgers, 2003)

Small Screen, Big P ic ture : Lived Religion and Television (Baylor, 2009)

Emergency response following San Francisco earthquake garners further positive media attention for the Army.

Chicago Tribune reporter goes undercover to write about the Army.

1890s

Read more by Diane Winston

1920

1906

1900 Media covers the Army’s extensive emergency relief work following the hurricane in Galveston, Texas.

New York Times editorial supports Army fundraising drive, but makes only a fleeting reference to religious work.

1917 Evangeline Booth, then the Army’s U.S. national commander, sends her soldiers to serve in World War I, resulting in a “public relations bonanza.”

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picture of Jesus to hang in a Connecticut shelter, despite a ban on religious decorations in federally financed projects.

NEW MEDIA, NEW MILLENNIUM Perhaps mitigating against mainstream news’ negative coverage of the Army was its front and center role in providing disaster relief. Less than two months after the Post revealed the secret deal between the Army and the White House, terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 reframed news stories on religion and politics.

The destruction wrought by al-Qaeda pushed aside domestic quarrels over the role of the religious right, at least for a while. The immediate needs at Ground Zero, the former site of the World Trade Center, focused both the religious and the relief communities on finding the dead, helping the living and supporting those who were tasked with an enormous clean-up effort.

Within minutes of the first plane crash, The Salvation Army had workers at the site. Salvationists provided meals for the clean-up crews and offered emotional and spiritual counseling for survivors.

As in the past, news stories glossed

over the organization’s evangelical beliefs, focusing instead on their actions. In addition to downplaying religion, coverage was generally positive. Reporting on Army efforts in post-Katrina New Orleans and in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake similarly emphasized service delivery rather than religious mission.

But the movement’s faith-based outreach also remained in the headlines. In 2004, Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, left $1.5 billion to the group in her will. It was the largest gift of its kind: according to news reports no individual ever gave as large a donation to a single charity.

Associates said Mrs. Kroc appreciated the Army’s ability to provide services even though she did not share its religious views. As the Times explained, the Army was “run by ordained ministers and has a quiet but strong evangelizing component to its activities, which has often placed it at the center of controversies about public financing.”

Subsequent coverage reported on the Army’s difficulties raising funds to match the Kroc bequest, which was targeted at creating state-of-the-art community cen-

As a Salvationist might say, those with ears to hear and eyes to see will understand their mission, notwithstanding the twists and turns of a secular news media. ters, a goal that some Army leaders deemed tangential to their core mission.

Given newspapers’ shrinking news hole—as well as cultural changes about the role of religion in public life—contemporary coverage of the Army has focused less on the merit of its funding appeals and service provision and more on its incursions into matters of church-state separation.

Thus in the 21st century, a religion that had hid its identity in plain sight was outed by a news media formerly colluded in the cover-up. News consumers now had ample opportunities to learn not only about The Salvation Army’s evangelical beliefs but also of their implications for the hiring,

George H. Dern, then U.S. Secretary of War, announces the fight against the “second great war of the 20th century” with Evangeline Booth by his side.

Time’s Christmas cover pictures Commissioner Ernest Pugmire enwreathed by brass bells. The accompanying story details the Army’s evangelical origins and describes the rationale for the Army’s “religion in action.”

1933

1949

1920s-1930s

1934

1972

Reporters refer to the Army as: a “charitable organization,” a “social organization,” a “benevolent and charitable corporation,” and a “social service institution.”

Washington Post profiles Evangeline Booth, the Founder’s daughter, celebrat ing her promotion from national commander to General.

As the Equal Rights Amendment looms large in the news, both the Post and the Times asks how the Army, the first Protestant denomination to give equality to women in mission and ministry, treats its distaff members.

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firing, benefits and salaries of nonArmy employees engaged in its government-funded social service provision. News outlets also reported on the Army’s outreach, emergency relief and Christmas kettles (features tracked giving patterns as well as idiosyncratic gifts such as gold coins or very large bills), but the bulk of pieces were “gotcha” stories that caught the Army in churchstate conflicts. Nevertheless, in 2009 the Army was, as it had been for most of the decade, the nation’s second largest charitable fundraiser, after the United Way. Its status is not unique. Three of the top five charities in 2009 were religious, and public support for their work may well reflect the sensibility of a population that claims to be almost 80 percent Christian.

The news media’s coverage of the Army as an evangelical mission may have strengthened its attractiveness at a time of increased religious awareness. According to several Army officers, the movement’s evangelical foundation appeals even to those who don’t share it. “Many

1998

of our donors appreciate we do this ty or creedal commitment. In search with a spiritual motivation,” said of a religion befitting a pluralistic, Commissioner Carol Seiler, who action-oriented society as well as oversees Army work in 11 Midwest- one that would not challenge their ern states. “Joan Kroc didn’t give us own authority, they advanced the $1.5 billion because she was aligned Army. The Army’s need to promote with our faith. She did it because a non-sectarian image—its very surshe thought we were trustworthy.” vival depended on public support, The Army’s example illuminates made for a symbiotic match. the challenges faced by religious The Army may have allowed its groups that take government funds identity to be hidden in plain sight, to provide social services. Religious but its members never deviated entities must not only negotiate from their fundamental mission. In between secular regulations and 2011, as it was in 1880, The Salvareligious doctrine, but they do so, tion Army is “an evangelical organiat least in the 21st century, in full zation dedicated to bringing people public view. The news media is the into a meaningful relationship with channel through which the public- God through Jesus Christ.” Or, as at-large learns about the world and a Salvationist might say, those with until very recently, its grip on infor- ears to hear and eyes to see will mation was total. understand their misIn the early 20th sion, notwithstanding Dr. Diane Winston century, news managthe twists and turns of is the Knight Chair in ers, emboldened by a a secular news media. w Media and Religion sense of mission and at the University of An extended version of Southern California empowered by their this article was first preAnnenberg School for hegemonic position, sented at a public sympoCommunication and promoted an idea of resium sponsored by the IUPUI Journalism. ligion that was devoid Arts and Humanities Internal Grant Program. of theological specifici-

Army turns down contract with the city of San Francisco that would have required providing benefits to domestic partners of its employees.

Three years later, the Western Territory reverses its position, agreeing to provide access to benefits to anyone as selected by the employee. Following public outcry from rightwing evangelical groups and pressure from National Headquarters, the West then reversed its reversal.

2001 Within minutes of the first Sept. 11 terrorist attack, The Salvation Army has workers at the site. News stories focus on their actions.

Joan Kroc, widow of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, left $1.5 billion to The Salvation Army in her will. According to news reports, no individual ever gave as large a donation to a single charity.

2004

The Salvation Army is the nation’s second largest charitable fundraiser, after the United Way. Three of the top five charities in 2009 are religious.

2009

2005

2010 Reports of Army service in post-Katrina New Orleans are positive.

Coverage emphasizes Army’s service follow ing major earthquakes in Haiti and Japan.

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The future of philanthropy Generation Z takes social media above and beyond.

By Lee Fox

160 minutes of TV time per day.

Despite reasonable parental concerns, it’s important for adults to recognize that kids aren’t just using social technologies for entertainment—they’re also using these virtual worlds to perform virtuous deeds.

Thanks to the Web, kids in elementary and middle school now have the same tools as adults to become agents of positive social change.

Looking back on my own childhood, I have memories of Beyond ‘school and scouts’ playing cards, climbing trees and The reach of social media enables kids of all ages with the capacity watching coveted episodes of to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars and move tens of thousands “Happy Days” on television. But of people into a deeper position of awareness. my own kids are living an entirely Case in point: 11-year-old Olivia Bouler used her artwork to help different life. Plugged in and online, they prefer electronic game play to outdoor play, they see YouTube as an equal rival to TV and, without a doubt, texting is preferred to handwriting a thank-you note.

We see ourselves as the sum of our past experiences, so it’s impossible for parents like me to value a digital native’s online experience—especially when today’s Generation Z (kids born 19942004) are consuming so much more media than we think they should. According to a recent Childwise study, children ages 5-16 are spending an average of 110 minutes online in addition to the

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Lee Fox founded KooDooZ.com, a site certified by the White House to track the hours youth dedicate to serving a nonprofit or cause.

The simple truth is, in reaction to what they perceive is wrong in the world, many kids will turn idealism into activism.

save birds that were affected by the devastating BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In just a few months, her efforts raised more than $200,000 and she came just shy of 30,000 Facebook “likes,” an enviable number for any corporation. The simple truth is, in reaction to what they perceive is wrong in the world, many kids will turn idealism into activism.

The press secretary at the Corporation for National and Community Service recently remarked of Generation Z: “They’ve been through Sept.11 and [Hurricane] Katrina and an economic recession and all of this has forced young people to look around them and reassess their place in the world.”

Today, 73 percent of kids ages 12-17 volunteer, which translates to 18.8 million youth donating over 2 billion hours of service per year. Many too young to volunteer within traditional channels have created their own avenues to philanthropy: •Brother-and-sister team, Carter, 10, and Olivia, 8, founded One More Generation (OMG) in Georgia. OMG is a nonprofit dedicated to helping all endangered and threatened species survive at least “one more generation.”

•In March 2006, at ages 11 and 12, three elementary school friends from Seattle founded the Pink Polka Dots Guild after losing a close friend to brain cancer. Over the past four years, they raised $250,000 and recruited more than 40 other children to this kid-run cause.

•At ages 10 and 12, sisters Carly and Molly created the social enterprise Hives For Lives to help raise funds for cancer research. Since the business inception in 2005, they have raised more than $170,000 through the sale of honey.

Generation Z is the most disruptive generation in modern history. Instead of waiting for ideas to filter through the generations that came before them, this young group of people uses its online channels to explore how to have impact.

After all, from the time they got on Club Penguin, these kids have been taught that they can collaborate online with people they’ve never even met.

Studies show that 79 percent of youth are interested in volunteering in their community for causes that they care about on an emotional level. For this reason the intersection between youth, activism and new media technologies will continue to grab the attention of brands, educators and policy-makers with growing interest.

It should be our personal mission to harness kid power by engaging youth to articulate how they would mash-up their own version of philanthropy to impact change. w Lee Fox is a youth culture expert focused on helping organizations understand and motivate Generation Z. Connect with her twitter @KooDooZ.com facebook.com/cause4KDZ.

Photos by: Steven Beauregard

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The Army’s national media strategy

By Jaime Joswick and Laura Mszar Walker

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Posting direct, immediate and unaltered messages to the public.

The Salvation Army National Headquarters (NHQ), we spend a lot of time checking Facebook. You’ll also catch us tweeting, uploading photos and watching videos.

It used to be that social media was skeptically viewed as a time-waster and productivity-killer, especially in the workplace. But now businesses and organizations are realizing that when used appropriately, this form of online presence may be one of the most effective, cost-efficient communications and marketing tools available. And we agree.

Within the past year and a half, our communications strategy at NHQ has evolved and grown dramatically since “going social.” While we use these sites because they’re beneficial to our media efforts, they’re also necessary to keep pace with social trends and expectations. Think about these statistics: • A Pew Internet study found 75 percent of people who find news online get it either forwarded through email or posts on social networking sites, and 52 percent of them forward the news through those means.

• 37 percent of news consumers today contribute to news creation, comment on news or share it via social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter, reports top tech site Mashable.

• According to the Oriella PR Network’s fourth annual Digital Journalism Study, a significant amount of journalists cite Facebook (35 percent), Twitter (47 percent) and blogs (up to 42 percent) as sources for their stories.

As the world continues to embrace and engage in social media, so do we. Online engagement is an integral part of our daily media strategy but the benefits and lessons offered by sites like Facebook, Twitter and our blog shine the brightest during times of disaster, when news is lightning fast and every moment counts.

Imagine how the news operated before we and other organizations took the leap into social media. When Hurricanes Ike and Gustav struck the Gulf Coast in September 2008, we communicated The Salvation Army’s efforts through traditional news releases, which were distributed to the media once per day or every few days. After pitching releases and accommodating interviews, we depended on the press to shape our message for us, hoping at

At

Online engagement is an integral part of our daily media strategy.

The benefits...shine the brightest during times of disaster, when news is lightning fast and every moment counts. least a fraction of the extensive Salvation Army efforts underway were shared with the public. Otherwise, our supporters had to come to us for all the details by seeking out our website.

It was a one-way, passive cycle in which the media did the news reporting, the public digested it and there remained a middleman between Army communications and our supporters.

Fast forward to January 2010. When a massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, it was the first disaster that NHQ significantly incorporated social networks as part of our media strategy.

While still working closely with traditional media, we flooded the Army’s national blog with our own stories, posting as often as four or five times per day during the disaster’s peak. We blasted real time updates, photos and videos to thousands of our Facebook fans and Twitter followers, taking the news to our audi-

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ence instead of making them come to us.

That formula set the template for our response to most national and international disasters, including the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, tornadoes in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and storms in Joplin, Mo. In all of these disaster situations, a sort of chain reaction exploded: Followers reposted and forwarded our news to their friends, who continued to do the same. Fans overwhelmingly responded to each post with dozens of comments, questions and offers of support.

We were suddenly engaged in a thriving online dialogue whether it was personally thanking an individual or corporation for their support, or answering questions about donations and volunteer opportunities. This lasted for days, weeks and months.

recent tornadoes in the southern and central United States.

Even the press now turns to our social media sites for stories. Material from our blog and Facebook page have inspired or contributed to reports appearing on national outlets including CNN and The Christian Post.

While these results are great, we realize social media strengthens The Salvation Army in other ways that may be less quantifiable but are no less valuable:

Material from our blog

and Facebook page have

inspired or contributed to

reports appearing on national outlets including CNN and

Dynamic message We finally have the ability to take the news directly, immediately and unaltered to the public. The news cycle is no longer one-way and passive. It’s dynamic, engaging and timely, and we can control our own message. Immediately following the earthquake in Haiti, we received more than 4,300 click-throughs to our blog posts and picked up more than 3,000 fans to our Facebook page (a 40 percent increase). After the earthquake in Japan, many of our blog posts were shared up to 1,000 times on Facebook.

We also received hundreds of comments on each of our social networks in response to the

The Christian Post.

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Jaime Joswick is the public relations coordinator and Laura Mszar Walker is the online fundraising manager at National Headquarters.

• Increases transparency: Today’s donors want to know how their gifts are being used and that they yield results. When they ask, “How will The Salvation Army use my donation?” the photos, videos, and stories we share are the best answer.

• Creates an accessible image: By facilitating

Using our voice Online tools help us do the job better.

By Kathy Lovin

discussion with fans and followers, the Army is able to engage like an individual with its own personality.

• Raises awareness about the Army’s

work: Social media lets us promote the breadth and depth of our services and provides another avenue for news that may not “fit” on our website. It also turns news into bite-size portions that are more readily consumed by our audiences.

• Promotes corporate and community partner support: The efforts of our amazing community partners are regularly featured on our sites.

Social media is an incredibly valuable tool for the Army to communicate and engage with the public. It’s also an ever-changing beast that is a constant learning process—one that requires continued dialogue and review on how to best leverage the opportunities it presents. w

The Salvation Army is an important voice in every community in America. Since Facebook now has more than 600 million members and Twitter well over 200 million, we’ve got to be there, too.

The vast majority of social media sites fit neatly into the following categories: communication (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn), multimedia (YouTube, Flickr, Ustream), location-based (Foursquare, Facebook Places, Whirrl) and collaboration or recommendation (Wikipedia, Yelp, StumbleUpon).

Many of these tools are helping us do our jobs better: Online standouts: • Youth leaders are connecting, orBlogs ganizing and encouraging Army kids blog.salvationarmyusa.org with Facebook group pages. tcspeak.com/blog • Knoxville, Tenn., encourages event sayconnect.com/sayconnect2 volunteers to tag themselves in photos see more: salvationarmyexon its Facebook fan page, which shares pectchange.org/websites/readabout-us-on-our-blogs/ and promotes the volunteer’s involvement with his/her circle of friends.

Facebook • Salvation Army stores in Missisfacebook.com/SalvationArmyChisippi are using the location-based site cago Foursquare to offer special discounts facebook.com/salarmynashville see more: salvationarmyexto those who check in on their smart pectchange.org/websites/find-usphones while they’re shopping. on-facebook/ • Indiana’s public relations and development team has a well-stocked Flickr Twitter page, which they provide links and an @SalvationArmyUS @SalArmyEDS invitation for the media to use the pho@BertDecker tos when they send out news releases. @sawso77 • Following the Haiti earthquake, see more: salvationarmyexmuch of the information we used here pectchange.org/websites/follow-usin the U.S. to tell the Army’s response on-twitter/ story came from Facebook pages and images posted to Flickr by our staff on the ground there.

• During the tornado storms in Alabama, residents were asked to add #ALneeds or #ALhaves to their tweets, depending on whether they needed assistance or were able provide it.

Even the casual social media user can “push out” great Salvation Army content so it can reach a wider audience, which is built Kathy Lovin is the manager of public through a solid Salvation Army affairs and communications for the USA network of users, neighbors, RoWestern Territory. tary connections, old schoolmates, Connect with her family members, you name it. Get twitter.com@lovinkat online, and remember to represent facebook.com/lovinkat the Army well. w website: salvationarmyexpectchange.org

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LA Central Corps distributes groceries to seniors each Friday.

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Alleviating food insecurity

By Alessandra Perez-Silva

To a census taker, Betty Rowe might be catalogued as poor, African American and elderly. But to The Salvation Army’s LA Central Corps, she is a client and a friend who comes to the corps on Fridays to say hello and visit with her fellow seniors.

For most people, Friday signals the end of another workweek and the countdown to enjoying the weekend. Yet, for the 23,539 homeless people in the city of Los Angeles and the more than 20 percent of the urban population that lives at or below the poverty line, Friday is just another day of debating if the fixed income will go to rent or food. At The Salvation Army’s LA Central Corps, the Friday food distribution provides bags of food to more than 200 homeless and low-income seniors in the downtown area.

At 5 a.m., Corps Officer Captain Lex Giron and his staff meet at the downtown location of the LA Food Bank to gather supplies. Many of the clients who visit the LA Central Corps are not traditionally homeless, but these seniors all come from low-income situations and the food they receive from this distribution makes a big difference in their lives. “[The distribution] brings joy to the seniors and provides companionship as many live alone and are often lonely,” said Alexandra Delgado, corps assistant. “But it also takes the burden of buying food off their shoulders, as most are retired with little to no money.”

Rowe was born, raised and married in the South, but entered a battered women’s shelter after realizing that she was in an abusive marriage. She spent the next few years in homeless shelters, trying to regain independence.

With this first-hand experience of homelessness, Rowe dediOpposite: cated her life to inspiring women to be strong and to let God Betty Rowe with take control. Her faith is unwavering, and although she is able Captain Patricia Giron. to live on her own, Rowe still experiences food insecurity.

“Receiving the food means that I will no longer have to worPhoto by: ry about how I will pay for a week’s worth of groceries,” Rowe Alexandra

said at a recent distribution. “It reminds me that God will provide for me, no matter the circumstances.”

She uses this message of hope, encouraging others to pray for God’s help, and reassuring them that the distribution is a display of God’s love.

The area around the LA Central Corps is one of the most culturally diverse communities in the city, and the senior food distribution reflects it.

On Friday mornings, Rowe and her friends mingle with other African Americans, Latinos, Europeans and Asians. A group of Korean ladies meets every Friday morning to catch up on the events of the past week. Others have started a carpool and take turns driving to save money on gas.

In an economy that is far from recovered, the number of homeless people and low-income seniors is increasing. In response to this reality, Giron hopes to expand this food distribution program to serve even more seniors. By the end of the year, his goal is to offer activities durAlessandra ing the day, includPerez-Silva ing a nutrition prois a communications gram and exercise associate in routines. w

For more than 20 p e rc e nt of t he urban population that lives at or below the poverty line, Friday is just another day of debating if the fixed income will go to rent or food.

Delgado

the Southern California Division.

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Salvation Army Vision Network

Left: On set, Dave Lewis (left) and Jordan Allen (right) in a savn. tv promo.

An open air in cyberspace

Below: Guy Noland directs the first promo at studio savn.tv.

By Guy Noland

The 19th century Salvation Army found its unique niche in the evangelical open-air marketplace. Today, the Army must find its place in the evangelical cyberspace—a 21st century version of “The Cathedral of the Open Air.” In the USA Western Territory, this wave of future entertainment and communication is taking shape as an Army distinctive Internet TV mission station. savn.tv (Salvation Army Vision Network) is a pioneering combination of experimental entrepreneurial visual and performing arts endeavors.

A mission station is “not a building, or a chapel, or a hall; it is not even a society, but a band of people united together to mission, to attack, to Christianize an entire town or neighborhood,” William Booth, co-founder of The Salvation Army said circa 1876.

In 2011, Commissioner Jim Knaggs, territorial commander, is Spirit-led to expand Booth’s vision, culturally, geographically and digitally.

“It presents a pace-setting opportunity for this territory to be on the evangelical cutting edge,” Knaggs said. “The mission of savn.tv is all about kingdom growth and its vision is captured in this clear, distinctive Scriptural command: Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation (Mark 16:15).

Now based in the Moody Film Studio, purchased by the Army in the late 1980’s and appropriately central to Hollywood and the entertainment industry, the network Photos will launch in three phases (volleys), by culminating with a Grand Premiere Richard Brown Gala in 2012 (date and location yet to be determined). The first “introduc-

tory volley” will be fired in September, in conjunction with the Welcome of Cadets, when promos and introductory content will air selectively on savn.tv.

Innovation always emerges out of chaos, and we see this mission as structured chaos, a flexible and adaptive work in progress. As Elizabeth O’Connor writes in Call to Commitment: “We never have expected to hit upon that final stable structure.

This is important for a church to understand, for when it starts to be the church it will constantly be adventuring out into places where there are no tried and tested ways. If the church in our day has few prophetic voices above the noise of the street, perhaps in large part it is because the pioneering spirit has become foreign to it. It shows little willingness to explore new ways. Where it does it has often been called an experiment. We would say the church of Christ is never an experiment, but where that church is true to its mission it will be experimenting, pioneering, blazing new paths, seeking how to speak the reconciling Guy Noland words of God to its own age. It cannot do this if it is the is held captive by the structures of another day.” executive director of Aggressive, adaptive evangelism is at the core the Vision of this mission station. w Savn.tv is looking for content providers and social networking evangelists. Contact guynoland@ savn.tv.

Network.

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Fretex fashion

popularity, trendiness and even tex staff handed the models a environmental benefits of sec- thank-you note reminding them ondhand and vintage clothes. that Fretex would like to receive In its 43 secondhand shops all their clothes for the next Fretex

By Trine Gjermundbo over Norway, Fretex made ap- collection. proximately $28 million in rev“The thinking behind the enue in 2010. idea is very simple,” said Rune Complete with an Roalsvig, account director at Fretex—a secondhand Salvation Army clothing audience from the fash- Kitchen Leo Burnett. “Our company in Norway that functions like family stores ion industry and a DJ, coming collection is actually in America—received a Silver Lion award this sumunsuspecting commut- the clothes people in the high mer at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creers exiting the station streets are wearing as of today. ativity, the world’s biggest celebration of creativity in suddenly beWhat you and I are communications. came models wearing is what is The award, for ambient outdoor stunts and live Watch the surprise in a fashion being recycled and advertising, was given for a surprise catwalk outside catwalk video: show. At the is on sale in a Fretex a subway station during Oslo Fashion Week 2010. http://youtu. end of the Thrift Store tomorIn partnership with advertising agency Kitchen Leo be/Z_2giwpyEro catwalk, Frerow.”

Burnett, Fretex wanted to capitalize on the growing

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The event created a lot of publicity in the media. One of the largest newspapers in Norway, VG, posted a video about the event on its website the same day. It also made a three-minute documentary and used it as the top TVstory that day, later moving it to the editorial fashion content. The video got more than 300,000 hits the first week.

“It is important that The Salvation Army is present in the media, and the development in the media the past years has led to new opportunities,” said Colonel Jan Peder Fosen, chief secretary of the Norway, Iceland and Faeroes Territory and chairman of the Fretex board. “We should always have a high standard and quality when The Salvation Army is taking this kind of initiative. I think the Fretex Surprise CatPhotos courtesy of walk met these requirements.”

Kitchen Leo Several other media outlets covered the Burnett event and footage spread rapidly in social media across the world. After the event, Facebook fans of Fretex Fashion immedi-

“We have to be relevant and always give people reasons to believe in the future.” ately increased from 6,000 to more than 8,000. Currently, more than 12,600 people are fans of the page.

“If we are not present, someone else will be,” Peder Fosen said. “We have to be relevant and always give people reasons to believe in the future.”

In addition to clothing stores, Fretex offers vocational training (to 1,700 people in 2010), Trine Gjermundbo is the and is a marketing communications manager for Fretex. partner, demolition company, art Connect with Fretex gallery, and textile facebook.com/fretex-fashion. and paper recywebsite: fretex.no cling company. w

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A

brand is a promise, and brand personality—the emotional expression of the brand promise—drives the tone and look of the advertising.

The Richards Group believes this philosophy and incorporates it into the national Salvation Army advertising campaign.

When The Salvation Army defined its brand personality, the process yielded five distinct traits: passionate, compassionate, brave, uplifting and trustworthy. The branding process affects The Salvation Army’s national communications in numerous ways, including the following elements, which can be found in nearly every national marketing touch point and are valuable tools to help local market efforts stay consistent with the brand: Jon Lee is a brand Photography and video The goal of imagery is to evoke an emo-

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management team leader at The Richards Group, the national advertising agency for The Salvation Army since 2005.

Promise and personality The Salvation Army as a national brand

By Jon Lee

tional response from the viewer. In many cases, the most compelling image is a photo that captures actual people and situations that The Salvation Army serves every day. The national campaign uses a mix of stock photography from sources such as the Associated Press and images of actual Army programs to create everything from print to mail to online ads. The campaign never uses staged scenes of desperation or any imagery that isn’t authentic. Imagery of real people communicates trustworthiness and passion more effectively than actors.

Give solutions and give credit The national print and TV ads show donors they can become part of the mission, not just support it. Donors want to change the world with their good will. The Salvation Army is the humble executor of that good will.

The writing and wording of a campaign spends less time talking about the hurt in the world and more time describing how donors can make a difference when they support The Salvation Army. It is important to give real, concrete examples of how money is used. For example: “Thanks to your gift, we can heal this hurt. We can save this life,” or “When you support The Salvation Army you are doing the most good.”

Have a place to get involved The call to action is always clear and concise. For example: “Give today at salvationarmyusa.org.” The imagery and message alone are compelling; the call to action should give audiences a simple way to respond.

Reflect faith For the vast majority of donors, the faith-based as-

pects of The Salvation Army will only reinforce their support. There’s no need to hide the fact that The Salvation Army is doing God’s work. Asserting faith helps add an inspiring and brave message to even the most desperate needs. A good example of this principle can be found in the disaster print: “We combat natural disasters with acts of God.” Guilt does not appeal Advertising must be uplifting to represent The Salvation Army. It can be urgent, it can be emotional, but it must also be uplifting. Marketing efforts don’t need to make it seem like there’s a crisis every month. And we would never assume that a Salvation Army donor even has the capacity to forget about helping those in need.

Any advertising concept should begin with the assumption that The Salvation Army’s donors are the best people in the world. They want to help. The ad should show the need in the world, educate on the power they have to meet that need and portray a faithful partner to distribute their kindness to others. The Salvation Army ranks among the very highest in terms of trustworthiness. It’s a critically important brand attribute that must be protected with a truthful portrayal of the need and the work.

Let them tell the story There’s no better way to describe The Salvation Army’s brand than through testimonies from the front lines.

Beneficiaries, officers, and staff are the most passionate points of contact the Army has—their true stories are more compelling than anything an advertising group could write.

Brand vision The brand is strengthened when its brand promise— in this case, “doing the most good”—is communicated consistently and often. But that doesn’t mean we can’t say other things too (such as “God bless you” on a kettle sign). w

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Republic of the Marshall Islands project constructs homes and skills

To build and train

By Jill Steiner

Johniton and Joyce Elas—with children Joanna, Justin and Christy—began attending the Laura Corps in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) in 2003 following an invitation from a neighbor.

“I wanted to see if it was true; that if you come, you will feel Jesus,” Joyce Elas said. She accepted Christ that night, and right away the family became involved in the corps. Joyce helped with youth programs and Johniton donated fish he caught for meal programs. The Elases became soldiers in 2007 and are faithful

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Captain Jill Steiner directs the Leadership Training Center in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Opposite: Captain Bob Steiner and building crew lay foundation for the house.

Right: The building crew learns how to use various tools.

Below: The Elas family stands outside of their new house.

Photos by Jill Steiner

attendees and volunteers to this day.

The family’s commitment was never hampered by their meager living conditions— an 8’ by 8’ shelter with no electricity, running water, bathroom or kitchen. Their daily necessities came from the land and sea, including whatever rainwater they could catch in a steel barrel.

Corps Officers A/Captains Mioshi and Virginia Anwot told the Elases to pray that God would provide a home for them someday.

RMI Coordinator Captain Bob Steiner devised a plan for The Salvation Army to provide a modest home and better quality of life for the Elases. Within a year, the family’s prayer became a reality. They now enjoy a house with solar powered electricity and a 300-gallon water catchment with faucets that provide running water, and have plans to build an adjacent cookhouse and bathhouse. The children said the new home is “beautiful” and they can now do their homework at night because they have lights.

Project emerges The Elas’ house was constructed through private do-

The Elases now enjoy a house with solar powered electricity and a 300-gallon water catchment with faucets that provide running water. nations, but developed into an ongoing way to build homes—the RMI Housing Project.

Now with initial funding from a TL Williams Grant, the project plans to build four homes a year for a cost of $3,500 each on family owned land. The corps officers select families based on income, family size, extended family’s ability to help, health conditions, work ethic, and employment history. Construction on the next two homes began in June, and the family members and volunteers from the local corps are helping to build them.

The project also provides vocational

training in basic construction, which can be used to gain employment, assist in the community with home repairs or in building their own home.

The construction students assist in the home building—carpentry, plumbing and electrical as well as the basics in planning, drawing and budgeting.

The Elases refused to begin living in their new home until they rededicated everything to the Lord.

“Before anything else, we have to give all the thanks to God because he gave us a new house, and a marriage and family that work with him now,” Johniton Elas said. “God is faithful!” w

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Is this your photo?

By Will Becker

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gion—even 70 miles away. Jim and Jackie Farrell found an old 8” x 10” photo of a 2-year-old boy on their 60-acre farm in Willard, Mo., 70 miles from Joplin. On the back is written: “Skyler Lynn Michael Hardin, 3-11-00, 2 years old.”

They believe the photo, mostly in good shape with just a few small holes, was blown from Joplin to their farm in the tornado.

For the first six weeks in the badly battered community, The Salvation Army worked daily to provide aid of all kinds, including a lost and found under two large tents where a thrift store once stood. Items quickly filled the tables, and before long there were several hundred old photos.

“We are hoping that these photos and other items will one day find their way to those who lost them,” said Captain Jason Poff, Joplin corps officer. “As our town continues to rebuild, these photos provide a look back at a much happier time and might provide hope for a brighter future ahead.”

When the Farrell’s cousin, Larry, read about the lost and found, he knew the boy’s photo needed to be there.

“I was coming through the area and felt this was something I had to do. To locate this kid,” said Larry Farrell. “It looked like a photo that had been given to a grandmother or family member and I thought they might want it back.

I did a little research, but couldn’t find anything.” So, he brought it to the Army.

Though The Salvation Army shifted into long-term recovery in the Joplin area this July, the lost and found continues, as do caseworker and supply assistance at 402 East 7th Street. w

But God will never

forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish (Ps. 9:18 NIV).

The Salvation Army hopes to reunite families with their past at the Joplin lost and found.

Photos hold our treasured moments. Be it a wedding, a family trip to the zoo or a child’s birthday, we save these images for the connection to our past.

For residents of Joplin, Mo., these tangible memories were largely destroyed when an EF-5 tornado ripped through the town on May 22. With estimated winds of Will Becker is the Photos by: communications more than 200 mph, the tornado created a Danni director in the Eickenhorst path nearly a mile wide and six miles long Midland Division. in the middle of town. As you have seen Danni Eickenhorst, on national news, much of the area was decommunications stroyed. specialist, also contributed.

In the aftermath, we found that many items were scattered throughout the re-

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One for All (Frontier Press, 2011),

by Commissioner James Knaggs and Major Stephen Court, contains three separate titles advancing a “collective thought”—one salvation for all the world.

One for All

By Bob Docter

One for All (Frontier Press, 2011), by Commissioner James Knaggs and Major Stephen Court, contains three separate titles advancing a “collective thought”—one salvation for all the world.

The first of the three books, One Day, emerged from a list of hopes, dreams, visions or prayers concerning the future of the Army—that, one day “in its entirety, the Army will be what God wants it to be,” Knaggs said. A different individual writes on each of Knaggs’ 35 prayers for the Army and ends the thought with “brainstorming” questions.

Second, One Thing, “puts the dream into perspective: to win the world for Jesus,” Knaggs said. “It’s not my objective to keep The Salvation Army alive, or simply to maintain a fine One for All is more than a dream and more than a prayer; it’s a organization. My goal is to advance the cause of blueprint for a territorial vision.

Christ.

The vision is from the very heart of God to the hand of man. Not just “God will keep the Army around as long as one man, so that every matter may be established by the testimony he has a purpose for us,” Knaggs said. “In many of two or three witnesses (Matt. 18:16). It serves as a rulebook for places we’ve become institutionalized as a lovely vision casting, and is incredibly inclusive—everyone is called to win outfit. That only leads us to perpetuity. I don’t the world for Jesus. This book is calling for all Salvationists to unleash think that’s where God wants us to be.” the gifts that God has given and to jump on board with what he is doing.

Knaggs said this focus on winning the world It’s a must read. for Jesus means confronting other cultures to the extent that Jesus did. “When I drive by a mosque Captain Robyn Bridgeo is the corps officer of the Tempe, Ariz., I wonder how I’m going to tell them about Jesus,”

READER REVIEW

corps with his wife, Stephanie.

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he said. “Yet remember, Christ didn’t come into the world to condemn it but to save it. My role is to tell about the wonderful love that comes to mankind through Jesus and let people make their own decision. At the same time, Jesus didn’t live a lifestyle of segregating himself from others.”

Third, One Army, Knaggs said grew from his perception that the Army has become fragmented. “Our administrative structure is no longer serving us well. It seems to me, it is due for a major overhaul,” he said.

“We must explore other models that lead us toward creative collaboration.

Instead of commanders, we need architects.”

In the forward to One Army, General Linda Bond writes that Knaggs and Court, “present our

ideal mission focus. They explain integrated mission. They look at Salvationists, as made in the image of God. And they celebrate global connectedness. It’s timely…and for the whole Army.”

Knaggs said he wants the Army to be a movement—alive, vibrant and moving together in the same direction. “Let’s take the streams of our service and make a river; we must be a force together,” he said.

“This is not a classic,” Knaggs said, “but it is a useful tool for today.

It’s not a hammer. It’s not intended to be judgmental of the past, but to look at ways to move forward and demonstrate Christ in a convincing way.”

Purchase One for All (Frontier Press, 2011) on Amazon. w

Knaggs said he wants the Army to be a movement—alive, vibrant and moving together in the same direction.

“Let’s take

the streams of our service and make a river; we must be a force together,” he said.

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ONLINE churchmarketingsucks.com

has a mission to “frustrate, educate and motivate” churches in their communication, to better the way we tell the “greatest story ever told.”

tcspeak.com

daily thoughts, updates and encouragement from Commissioner James Knaggs, territorial commander in the USA West. He also tweets @jimknaggs.

missiolife.com

is digital small group resource with materials to guide children, youth and adults through the story of God—from understanding to participation in the mission of God.

wfp.org/videos

informative videos from the World Food Program on topics like school meals, how to feed 90 million people, and food recovery in Japan.

religion.blogs.cnn.com

news on matters of faith from around the world.

qideas.org

combines old and new ideas to “stimulate imagination” for church and cultural leaders in how to best express the gospel in our cultural context.

We love the church, but it needs some help. Typos, cheesy logos, and bad clip art aren’t helping the cause. But snazzy marketing won’t save this ship, either. It’s not about being perfect, but there’s a better way to communicate. It’s authentic, it’s loving, and it knows how to spell. ­—churchmarketingsucks.com

IN PRINT Meeting Jesus (The Salvation Army, 2010) by Major Howard Webber was named Christianity Magazine’s Book of the Year for 2010, receiving 82 percent of reader’s votes.

“It is a series of stories of evangelism on the hard side of life. It is painfully honest and lists as many failures as successes, as many deaths as new lives… .” writes reviewer Steve Morris. “It is perhaps the most moving set of accounts I’ve ever read and the most hopeful.”

Other finalists included: The Best Idea in the World by Mark Greene (Zondervan) Mere Theology by Alister McGrath (SPCK) Forgotten God by Francis Chan (David C. Cook) Present Perfect by Greg Boyd (Zondervan) Besides the Bible (Biblica, 2010) is a catalog of “100 books that have, should or will create Christian culture.”

Open Our Eyes (CreateSpace, 2010) will help you see the invisible people of homelessness.

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