Worldwide Prayer Meeting

Feb 13, 2024 | by Lt. Colonel Allen Satterlee

Prayer Focus - USA Southern Territory

Let us join King David as he proclaims:

I will exalt You, my God the King;
I will praise Your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will praise You
and extol Your name for ever and ever.

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
His greatness no one can fathom.
One generation commends Your works to another;
they tell of Your mighty acts.

Psalm 145:1-4

Prayer

Dear God, I want to praise You but sometimes I just find my words go around in circles with me saying the same things over and over. I count my blessings and get bogged down in the detail. There are so many, and I find myself going down rabbit trails thinking about this thing and that thing. So, in this moment I want to thank You that I can know who You are, that I know You as my Savior who has washed my sins away and given me a new life in Christ. Thank You for the people in my life, as challenging as some of them are. Thank You for my daily bread. I even want to thank You for the challenges and the problems because in them You have taught me to depend on You. Thank You that You remind me of Your love in the big things and the little things. I praise You, O mighty God. Please hear my tiny voice. See my heart. I love You. Please accept this offering of thanksgiving to You in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Background of the

USA Southern Territory

          The southern United States was originally based on an agrarian economy typified by large estates known as plantations where cotton and tobacco were grown employing slave labor. Tensions between the northern and southern states led to the southern states seceding to form the Confederate States of America. The Civil War ensued at which time the Confederacy was defeated, and the Union was restored. Slavery was abolished and those of African descent who had been enslaved were given the rights of citizenship. True equality for the former slaves was a long and difficult road, especially in the South. And following the war, the South suffered severe economic hardship that lasted generations.

            It wasn’t until after the Second World War that the South began to emerge from its economic difficulties. It coincided with the civil rights movement, most notably led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who advocated a non-violent approach to racial equality. What became known as the New South began to take shape with greater opportunity for all races and with a stronger economy more broadly based on manufacturing, tourism, technology, petroleum production, transportation as well as other industries. At the same time, immigration, particularly from Spanish speaking countries and Asia, further shaped the demographics of the South so that it is far more blended than could have ever been imagined by previous generations.

            The South has traditionally been a stronghold for conservative evangelical Christianity among both blacks and whites. However, with the influx of peoples from other areas there has a noticeable lessening of the evangelical influence, although it remains strong.

The Salvation Army: Because of the economic difficulties at the time, The Salvation Army’s development in the southern United States was the slowest to develop but in 1927 the USA Southern Territory was formed, the last of the four USA territories to be established.

Facts, Stats and Leadership of

the USA Southern Territory

• Total population to fish and disciple: 123,024,989
• 789 officers, 5 auxiliary captains, 21 envoys, 35 cadets, 14,659 employees
• 658 retired officers
• 315 corps, 1 outpost
• 27,105 senior soldiers
• 1,468 adherents
• 5,441 junior soldiers

Leadership

Territorial Commander – Commissioner Kelly Igleheart

Chief Secretary – Colonel Deborah Sedlar

Territorial President of Women’s Ministries – Commissioner Donna Igleheart

Prayer Requests for the

USA Southern Territory

• We ask God’s blessings upon our Territorial Priorities that are divided between three categories: Love, Serve and Disciple. The emphasis is “All for Jesus” as we move through 2024 in all levels of Salvation Army service and ministry.

• We are boldly asking God for 50 candidates for the Keepers of the Covenant Session entering the training college this August. Pray that men and women will heed God’s call to be officers.

• Although we have resumed all our activities, the attendances in our corps are still below what they were before the pandemic. Pray for God’s Spirit to quicken the hearts of those who have become spiritually lazy and that there would be renewal in our ranks.
   
• Pray for our ministry among those suffering most acutely. Opioid and meth addiction is at epidemic levels in areas of our territory. Human trafficking is increasing despite efforts to intercede. The Army is doing meaningful work with wonderful results but so much more needs to be done.
   
• We praise God for our evangelistic outreach through our frontline ministries in the corps and adult rehabilitation centers, our online ministries (Soundcast in English and Spanish), and through social media. We ask for wisdom as we seek the Spirit’s guidance to reach more souls for God’s kingdom.

USA Southern Territory

Prayer Requests

• Colonel Deborah Sedlar, Chief Secretary
• Human Resources Department
• Kaye Keith, Accounting & Payroll Specialist, ARC Command
• Melanie Brackett, In-House Counsel, Legal
• Jeremy Rowland, Director of Supplies & Purchasing, Trade
• Captain Laurie Farraez, Director of Family Life Center, EBC
• Cadet Sadie Glick
• Captain Michael Good, Divisional Candidates’ Secretary, Alabama, Louisiana & Mississippi Division
• Commissioner Jolene Hodder, National Secretary for Program, NHQ
• Majors Algerome & Teresa Newsome, officers, soldiers, employees, and volunteers of the Georgia Division
• Bible studies
• Anonymous request that God would bless all the nations, races and peoples in the world.

Something to Consider

In thinking of the Southern Territory, it is good to remember one of its early heroes: Colonel Dr. William Noble.

            “William Noble was a doctor from Louisville who had graduated from Atlanta’s Emory University and served his medical internship at the Salvation Army’s Booth Memorial Hospital in Covington, Kentucky. Following service in the First World War, he entered the training college in the Eastern Territory. Before he could finish his training or his studies to become an eye specialist, International Headquarters requested that he go to India. He knew he was supposed to obey, so he assented, wondering how he would be able to finish his studies, be commissioned as an officer, and get married to Cadet Edna Dodd – all plans that had been previously approved by the Army. In a one-of-a-kind ceremony on December 21, 1919, the couple were simultaneously commissioned, married, and farewelled to India. During the ceremony, William’s mother spoke about her efforts to raise him in the fear of God. She had read of the need for officers in Korea and India, and she had prayed that God would make her willing to give William up should that be His purpose for her son. At the same time, while William was in college, he had felt God speak to his heart about devoting his life to the service of India.

            “That service would be legendary. In the selfless spirit of Christ, Dr. Noble would labor under primitive circumstances. His first two years in India, he worked in a tiny clinic. Then he took charge of the Catherine Booth Hospital in Nagercoil. With the fees paid to him for operations, he devoted every penny to the extension of the huge complex; in his 40 years of service there, he developed 13 branch hospitals, founded the 200-bed Evangeline Booth Hospital for Lepers, and started a nurses’ training program. He experienced hardship through the years, paying the price of his devotion in the death of his wife and the amputation of his arm due to infection. William Noble’s service earned him The Salvation Army’s highest award – being named a member of the Order of the Founder.”

(From Sweeping Through the Land: the History of The Salvation Army in the Southern United States).

Benediction

May God bless you and keep you in your coming and going. And may you honor and glorify Him in your thoughts and actions. Amen.