Salvation Army

Major James Allen Gingrich left the Salvation Army in 2017.

Major James Gingrich
Rank	Major
Birth Date	November 11, 1961
Relations	Major Deborah Gingrich (wife)

While the Salvation Army may be known to most as a social service agency, the new husband-and-wife team heading the local unit of the organization stresses that it is primarily a church.

Capts. Deborah and James Gingrich add that as its pastors their duties center around the church.

They said they joined the team of 26 employees at the Cumberland Avenue facility to fulfill their religious goals and to lend support to the Portland area community.

“We felt this is what the Lord wanted us to do with the rest of our lives,” said James Gingrich.

The Gingrichs first met in 1982 at the Salvation Army School for Officers Training in Suffern, N.Y., after both “growing up in the Salvation Army,” where they attended Sunday school and took part in recreation programs.

James Gingrich went off to serve as assistant officer in Old Orchard Beach after completing his training and Deborah was stationed in Bath.

They both moved to Sanford to serve as corps commanding officers and married six months later. They've been married 3 1/2 years.

James, 27, a former York, Pa., resident and Deborah, 29, a native of Los Angeles, are the only officers at Portland's Salvation Army.

James Gingrich notes that the church they head is an evangelical church and “welcomes all walks of life. The poorest people to the richest people are welcome.”

He adds that he sees it “as part of my job to make sure the people know the Salvation Army is part of the evangelical church.”

The Gingrichs were ordained as officers - the equivalent of ministers - on June 10, 1984, and five years later were sworn in as captains. It will be another 15 years before the next promotion to major.

Some of their responsibilities include Sunday church services, Bible studies and hospital and nursing home visits while planning programs and upgrading services.

James Gingrich says they are looking forward to helping the church grow and will “evaluate and continue to expand community services”.

The Salvation Army serves as a social services mission by providing programs such as Meals on Wheels, senior citizen programs, soup kitchens, travelers' aid, adolescents' shelters and family services, James Gingrich said.

James Gingrich stands behind a podium and speaks [softly] of salvation. As captain in charge of the Salvation Army in Springfield he also serves as preacher during its church services.

But the man in the black uniform who talks about the strength of his faith in God also has a strength of a more earthly kind.

That preacher and community social service leader wears a black belt he earned after studying Tae Kwon Do, the Korean form of martial arts. Gingrich started learning Tae Kwon Do is September 1993, and by last March he had attained black belt level.

“I was very fearful at getting involved in it at first,” the 36-year-old Gingrich said. “I thought I was too old.”

Now Gingrich participates in Tae Kwon Do competitions and plans to attain second-degree black belt level later this year.

The physical strength he exhibits during martial arts competitions is [illegible] by an inner strength that comes from a troubled childhood that often left him in search of a safe haven, a haven he found at the Salvation Army.

Gingrich grew up in York, Pa. an urban area that quickly taught him about street life and the evils of racism.

“We were one of about three white families in that entire area,” he said. “Most families were black or Hispanic.”

That was in 1968 and Gingrich was 7 years old.

“One of my earliest memories was that my brother and I walked down to the park and found out that the white kids didn't go to that park,” he said. “We got thumped royally.”

From then on, he spent a lot of time at the local community center ran by the Salvation Army.

“It was a safe place and a warm place. They gave us opportunities we never would have had,” he said of the trips and activities organized by the community center.

The time spent at the Salvation Army shaped his life by providing father figures lacking in his family life.

“I know what it's like to go to bed night after night hungry and starving and cold,” he said, “I know what it's like to get beat up because of your color.”

One way he learned to cope with the unpleasant situation was by going to church. But that wasn't always easy either.

After visiting one church he was approached after the service and told that if he wanted to return again he would have to dress appropriately.

“I didn't know what 'appropriate' was,” Gingrich said.

His search for a church led him back to the Salvation Army.

“We found out they had a Sunday school program,” Gingrich said. “People don't think of the Salvation Army as a church, which is ironic because that's what the Salvation Army started as, that's our [start].”

When he was 16 Gingrich committed his life to Christ.

When he entered York College he wanted to study finance because he “thought that was where the money was.” But he had a different calling, a religious one.

“It was a compelling sense of 'this is what you have to do',” he said. “I knew I was going to wind up in the Salvation Army ministry. For me, it was a bursting desire that this is what I know I have to do.”

That fact became obvious to him one night when he woke up in a cold sweat after having a dream of seeing himself in a Salvation Army uniform, standing at a podium and preaching.

That realization was difficult for Gingrich to deal with because he associated the Salvation Army with being poor, something he wanted to distance himself from.

“Coming out of high school, nobody in my family had ever graduated from college and I knew I wasn't going to be able to afford it,” he said.

Scholarships helped him pay for college and in 1982, he entered the Salvation Army training school in Suffern, N.Y. It was there that he met his wife, Deborah, also a captain in the Salvation Army. Today, he and Deborah have three daughters, ages 9, 7 and 5.

Gingrich and his wife were first sent to serve in the Salvation in Portland, Maine. After 9 years there they were ordered to Springfield, where they want to stay long enough to make some positive lasting changes.

“We have strongly requested to stay here for a long time,” he said, “We don't feel our mission is accomplished. We have a lot to do here still.”

One goal is to develop the church at the Salvation Army. Another is to keep the social services going strong.

Although Gingrich said the [illegible] of the life he has chosen aren't always easy to cope with. His desire to serve God and help others keeps his faith strong.

“I accepted early on that in the Salvation Army ministry, it's not a job, it's a lifestyle,” Ginrich said. “It's hard to picture doing anything else.”

When James and Debra Gingrich pulled into Sprinfield on Jan. 23, 1993, they didn't know the city would become their home over the next 16 1/2 years.

They arrived here from Maine, each with the rank of captain, meaning they were ordained ministers and had served five years successfully for the Salvation Army. Now both have the rank of major, and July 1, they will leave Springfield behind and move on to East Stroudsburg, Pa., to continue their work. They did not have any input regarding the transfer.

“It's difficult because this is the longest time I've lived in one place,” James Gingrich said. “It has become home to us. This is my children's home, and it's also hard because this community is very supportive of the Salvation Army.”

The mission of the organization is received very well in Clark County, he said. The group seeks to build the kingdom of God and service to the poor in every community where the Salvation Army has operations, he said.

The Salvation Army is the evangelical ministry of the universal Christian Church.

“From a spiritual perspective, (my job's) significance is being able to pray with over 8,000 people,” he said. Those people became Christians after working with or being impacted by the service of the Salvation Army, he added.

“We have been amazingly blessed here. Without that support, we couldn't have made the impact we did,” Gingrich, 48, said. “We really do believe one of the ways to serve God is to serve mankind and the down and out in the community.”

The lessons he learned during his tenure in Springfield will be carried on for the remaining 19 years he can work for the organization, before mandatory retirement.

“We have learned so much here from so many people,” he said. “Now, everywhere we go in the future can benefit from those experiences.”

Alan E. Collins, chair of the Salvation Army Advisory Board, said the transfer of the Gingriches comes as a shock. He said they will leave behind a legacy of service. “A staggering number of children were impacted a week,” he said.

For the past 16 years, James Gingrich managed almost every aspect of the local organization.

During the mornings, he worked as an administrator, managing the Salvation Army's $980,000 budget and filing reports. And in the evening, he taught an after-school “Sonshine Club” class to elementary students, as well as a martial arts class.

He is the direct supervisor for the social workers and youth minister, and on occasion maintains the upkeep of the local headquarters at 15 S. Plum St.

Collins said the Gingrich family will move out the morning of July 1, and their replacements, Majors Steve and Delia Carroll, will move into the same house that afternoon.

There will be a public farewell at 5 p.m. June 28 at the Salvation Army.

Wouldn't we all just be better off today if Adam and Eve had never decided to eat that fruit?! Everything was great. Everything was … perfect. Everything was provided for them. They didn't want for anything. All they had to do was follow the one simple rule: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17 NIV)

It's not like they had to understand the justice system; they didn't even have to worry about the Ten Commandments. One rule. One.

For those who can't understand how it could be possible that these people couldn't follow one simple rule may I speculate … you probably never had kids! You could have a billion things in your house but tell your child NOT to touch one little thing and guess what holds the greatest attraction for that child?

Listen, we all make mistakes. We all make mistakes: From the youngest, cutest child to the youngest, cutest (?) President; we all make mistakes. The point here is not about whether we make mistakes or not, that's going to happen; the point here is what do we do about the mistakes we make.

According to the Genesis account, what was the first thing Adam and Eve did about their mistake? That's right — they tried to cover up their mistake. The word used in Genesis 3: 7 for “covering for themselves” is an interesting one: “chagorah.” The same word is used a few other times in the Old Testament and every other time it describes a mesh (metal) garment a soldier wore around their waist to guard their most sensitive area — it was purely for defense. You didn't beat anyone with your chagorah — you wore it.

Second course of action: Hide. Hod (the Judge?) was coming — quick, hide in the forest. (Genesis 3:8) It's a good thing that we have advanced so much as a civilization that we would never do anything so silly as to hide from accountability.

Well, it didn't work out too good for Adam and Eve either. They were found out and you would think they would just “come clean” and own up to their mistakes. But no-o-o. Why take responsibility when there's another option: Blame it on someone else.

So Adam explains to God, “It's that woman You gave me. She made me do it!” And Eve counters, “It's that serpent You let in here. The devil made me do it!” It's a good thing that we have advanced so much as a civilization that we would never do anything so silly as to avoid taking responsibility for our mistakes and claim a “victim status.”

There are people who have been victimized in our community. It's tragic, but it happens. But not every misfortune or mistake is due to a victimizer. Sometimes people actually make mistakes; they make poor choices … even well-meaning poor choices. So, yes, it is most annoying to healthy, responsible adults when a person is caught “red-handed” robbing a business with a weapon and wants to stand up in a court of law and say they're innocent — they're innocent because they're a “victim of poverty.” It is annoying to many healthy, responsible adults when the person caught shop-lifting claims innocence; they're just “victims of hunger.” When the person arrested for domestic violence for beating their spouse and/or children claims they are innocent, they're merely “victims, they lack anger management skills.”

I happen to believe that not everybody is a victim in our community … but it feels like we live in a society where every mistake is explained away by a “victim status.” Would we be better off as a community if every teen and adult just took responsibility for their mistakes? If we taught our children, especially by example, that the way to deal with our mistakes is not to “cover up” or hide them, not to make excuses for them or try to blame someone else but to simply own up to them. Is it so wrong to say “I made a mistake, I'm sorry. What can I do to fix this?”

We learn from the Bible that God does offer forgiveness. He offers a way to restore our relationship with Him and with those we offend — but it starts with taking responsibility for our mistakes.

And while it may be true that there are those of us who may have been “victims of poverty,” it doesn't give us the right to use that as an excuse to stay in poverty.

Believe it or not, there are people who are okay with “living in poverty” — at least “poverty” as the world defines. They don't need very much to live or to make them happy; they're not driven by a desire to own more “stuff” or have investments. They're content at their station in life … and that should always be okay.

But for those raised in poverty or who find themselves living in poverty now but want to move on to a higher social or income status, there are opportunities. We still live in the greatest country on earth, the “land of opportunity,” where people who are willing to work long and hard (and smart) can be as successful as they decide to be. It may not come easy and it may not come quickly, but success can be achieved — but NOT for those who want to maintain a “victim status” for their whole lives.

Perhaps the day is dawning when we as a society can leave the safety of a “victim status” and move forward to become a people who are not afraid to take responsibility for ourselves … for our mistakes … and for our future.

Major James Gingrich is a minister with the Salvation Army in East Stroudsburg.

Pocono Record (Stroudburg, PA), July 31, 2010

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• Somebody has to take some responsibility