Lieutenant Julie Reed  – Central Territory

When I think about the path that the Lord has taken me on, what He has done for me and where He has brought me, I am overwhelmed by His love and kindness.

I grew up in a Christian household. I never doubted the existence of God; however, there were times throughout my life when I turned from God. You see, knowing God is real and choosing to live like He is are two different things. 

The more I have chosen Jesus, the more I have seen Him work in mighty ways in my life. When I felt alone, He was with me. When I was consumed by anxious thoughts, He calmed my mind. When I felt like my life was spinning out of my control, He held me in His hands. When I was suicidal and thought that I couldn’t go on, He brought me a new life. I was lost but now I’m found. I was living in darkness, and His light broke through. 

When I was in high school, I began to feel called to ministry. However, When I expressed this to leaders at the church I was attending at the time, I was told that women could not be pastors or leaders in the church, so I believed that this wasn’t an option for me and instead, pursued my hobby of photography as a career.

Years later, I was in college looking for a church that I could call home, learn and grow in. I met my husband, Trevor, who attended The Salvation Army, and I decided to check it out. When I walked in, I was immediately welcomed by the congregation. It wasn’t long after making The Salvation Army my church home that God reawakened my calling to ministry. The first time I saw a woman preaching and leading from the pulpit, I felt God tell me that He wanted me to do the same. 

However, it was something that I immediately started debating with God about for several reasons, including being completely new to The Salvation Army; I wasn’t even a soldier yet.

Internally I struggled with all these things, but I did not dare express them out loud to Trevor or anyone else. Despite this, God kept speaking to me. 

Then summer came and Trevor and I went to camp for the week. During this time, I was praying and wrestling with God about officership. One day we had a prayer night that wasn’t previously on the schedule. I took the opportunity to pray about officership and lay out all my fears and concerns before the Lord. I talked to Him about how I was scared, how I didn’t want to do this, how I didn’t know enough. I asked Him how everything would work out. What would this mean for my future?

In the middle of my prayer, one of the leaders came up to the microphone and said something to the effect of “Someone here is called by God to do something, and they’re scared to do it, but you just need to let go and do it.” At these words, I felt the Holy Spirit and I knew God was talking to me. At that moment I surrendered to His will.

After I finished praying, I opened my eyes, and next to me was Trevor, reading the officer’s covenant. He had been called that night, too. I liken my calling to that of Moses in Exodus 4—I can come up with all the excuses I want, but it is God who created me and it is God who has called me. God has confirmed this calling to us many times since then; every concern I had has been taken care of. He has equipped me in ways I never thought possible, and after surrendering to Him, He has been faithful.   

Lieutenant Antione D. Terrell – Southern Territory

The saga of how I came to know Jesus as a constant and faithful Savior and eventually submitted to His call to officership is the great epic at the center of my life.

I was born and raised in Atlanta , GA. In one of the poorest and most drug-ridden neighborhoods of Atlanta. The people in my neighborhood were some of the most loving, kind and intelligent people I had ever known, but the ravages of drugs had infected this community in such a way that no household was left unscathed. Unfortunately, my family was no exception, as my mom had also been infected by addiction. I was blessed to have always felt loved, but also cursed to know that addiction had robbed my mother of the fullness of her potential, making wholeness and stability unobtainable for our family. 

I grew up going to a Baptist church with my grandmother every Sunday. It wasn’t until my childhood best friend invited me to Sunday school at The Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club as part of a contest that I found my spiritual footing. I would soon come to discover that church at the Boys and Girls Club was the first of many unconventional aspects of worshiping under the shield. I had found my tribe. I became a junior soldier, senior soldier, corps cadet, bandsman and whatever else I could join to be the best Salvationist possible. The corps and its activities served as a welcome respite from home. Loving and compassionate officers and a structured environment were anointed and timely. 

As soon as I graduated high school, I set off for college to become an officer in the US Navy. The world was calling, and I was ready and willing to answer that call. 

I had mastered how to “church” and was now ready to start my apprenticeship in mastering the “world.” The thing is, I wanted them both. I aimed to fully experience all that the world had to offer while keeping one foot firmly planted in the corps. I was partying and clubbing Friday and Saturday nights, then hurriedly changing into my uniform to teach Sunday school on Sunday mornings. Duplicity was my name, and fence-sitting was my game. I was determined to fully grasp God without letting go of the world. I am grateful that The Salvation Army always served as an anchor that kept me from getting caught in the riptide and being swept completely out to sea. 

Despite life taking a few unexpected turns, I had fun in the world and have the emotional and spiritual scars to prove it. I had good friends and a good life… but I was still unsatisfied. I was looking for the world to fill a hole that only a relationship with the Creator could.  

I think the shortcomings of life often nurtured insecurities in me that manifested as indignation toward God. What I now know is that fairy tales aren’t real, and life gets hard; not because of God, but as a result of sin in this world. What I also know is that God has called me to use the lessons I’ve learned to help others along their journey to discover Him. Those places where I have felt the most vulnerable and imperfect are also the places where God has most demonstrated His graciousness and love.  

It wasn’t until I truly sought to let my whole self be surrendered to Him—the good, the bad, the ugly, the embarrassing and shameful—that I found contentment and peace. I even gave my pained and strained relationship with my mother to God. He blessed that by delivering her from her addiction and she was recently enrolled as a soldier herself. There are certainly still times when the things of the world seek to distract me, or the weight of the world seems to crush me. Those are the days that I am glad I was a young person in The Salvation Army. I can use the Sunday school choruses of yesteryear to drown out the noise of the enemy. When I do, I am reminded that my God is indeed “so big, so strong and so mighty” that there is nothing my God cannot do. And He brings a peace down in my heart that surpasses understanding. They then become more than just choruses from a past era, but the experiences of a man whose soul has been saved by the grace of a loving, redemptive and merciful God.