General Brian and Commissioner Rosalie Peddle will be featured tonight on Late Night Live with Major Marion Platt at 9 p.m. EDT on YouTube.

By: Brad Rowland

For myriad reasons, TYMI is different in 2020 when compared to previous iterations. Due to COVID-19 concerns, the USA Southern Territory’s youth and music institute moved to virtual delivery this year, with young people across the Southeast taking part in group sessions, breakouts, masterclasses, private lessons and much more. Along the way, featured speakers Steve Carter and Megan Fate Marshman spoke truth into the lives of delegates and, in the evenings, attendees enjoyed the opportunity to hear from Salvation Army leadership in a special way.

“One of the underlying purposes of both the Territorial Youth and Music Institutes has always been to identify and prepare Christian leaders,” said Major Tim Gilliam, territorial youth secretary. “During this year’s combined virtual TYMI, our delegates have had the privilege of hearing interviews with our anointed morning manna speakers as well as several Salvation Army leaders during a virtual talk show we’ve called ‘Late Night Live’ with Major Marion Platt.”

In what Major Gilliam referred to as “quite a lineup,” Commissioner Israel Gaither joined the show on Tuesday evening, Commissioners Willis and Barbara Howell, Southern territorial leaders, appeared on Wednesday evening, and the national leaders, Commissioners Ken and Jolene Hodder, lent their voices to intriguing discussion on Thursday.

“I believe hearing from these leaders is both important and empowering,” Major Gilliam said. “Our youth and young adults need to know that their leaders see and hear them and that they love them.”

Commissioners Howell also took part in an extended Q&A during the institute’s Thursday night program, receiving valuable feedback from attendees and shedding light on various topics.

“I would love to see a territory full of holy, passionate zealots, who are absolutely on fire,” said Commissioner Willis Howell. “Tell me why we can’t do that. I don’t want to see a territory that just does church as usual … I want to see us going where others don’t go. Saying what others don’t say. Engaging with people that nobody else wants to be with. It’s our heritage. I want to see us be Salvationists in a true sense.

“If you’re a Salvationist and you want to know what it looks like, it looks like your covenant. I want to see an Army that resembles and that lives out, that speaks out, that is a walking visualization of the covenant that we have signed as Salvationists. Living out kingdom values. Making those the values of my life. I would love to see a territory that is the absolute gold standard in soul-winning, discipling and equipping people to go out and continue this.”

On the evening of Friday, July 31, TYMI delegates, and outside observers, will be treated to a special visit from General Brian and Commissioner Rosalie Peddle, who will speak with Major Platt in the final meeting of the institute.

When announcing the planned conversation, Major Platt shared a glowing review. “The more I interact with General Peddle, and the more I listen to his devotions and read his messages, the more I am convinced that he is exactly who God wanted to have leading The Salvation Army in a year like 2020,” he said.

While within the framework of TYMI, the messages of these leaders are freely applicable to all ages. Segments from ‘Late Night Live’ are available to stream via YouTube, with the Commissioners’ Q&A streaming via Facebook.

“I’m not sure we could have provided this type of interaction with our leaders if we had met in person and in separate institutes,” said Major Gilliam. “COVID-19 forced us ‘out of the box’ and, as a result, we had some surprising blessings.”