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Salvation Factory. Photos courtesy Salvation Factory
Two envoys aim to lighten officers’ loads.
When Envoys Steven and Sharon Bussey felt inspired to assist corps officers in the Eastern Territory with their ministry, they were unsure of specifically how this calling would materialize.
They certainly didn’t anticipate then that bobbleheads would be part of the solution.
Last September, the husband-and-wife team launched Salvation Factory, an “imaginarium” focused on generating evangelistic, digitally accessible resources for corps officers, particularly in soldier training. According to Steven Bussey, they want to utilize new media in ways that amplify the mission and message of The Salvation Army.
“Corps officers are some of the busiest people in the world,” Steven Bussey said. “Not only are we generating ideas to lighten their loads, we have the combination of people tools, time and space to do it.”
Based out of the School for Officer Training in Suffern, N.Y., Salvation Factory is now six members strong and the team is currently working to launch an official website to showcase the content. Since the program’s inception, they have generated numerous projects, including Genesis of Salvationism, in which they revive historic speeches and writings by influential Salvation Army leaders and present them in digital format through social media.
“We’re combing through that material to try to get a sense of, ‘What is the DNA of Salvationism?’” Bussey said. “Nothing gets us more forward-oriented than going back to our past.”
They also developed a series of short videos, including mini-biographies on Evangeline Booth and George Railton. Through a partnership with the East’s trade department, they created a line of apparel and merchandise complete with nearly a dozen different Salvation Army bobbleheads—the basis for a series of 3D animated videos they are creating. Though seemingly frivolous, Bussey said the bobbleheads are intended to be a means of evangelism.
“I know it sounds ridiculous, but imagine the heroes that kids look up to,” Bussey said. “As opposed to Phineas and Ferb, why not aspire to be like Joe the Turk or Evangeline Booth?”
What began strictly as a service to the Eastern Territory soon became internationally accessible once they realized social media’s capacity of connectivity.
“There are so many territories around the world that don’t have the finances to develop the resources that we can,” Sharon Bussey said. “To just do it for the Eastern Territory seemed a little selfish. Anyone with wi-fi has access to these resources.”
They are also translating much of their content into other languages—including Spanish, Swedish and Greek—with hopes of expanding the gospel to unreached areas.
“If a person gets saved and becomes a Salvationist [in New York], you helped shaped that value system,” Steven Bussey said. “Then, they’ll go back to the Middle East or a place where the gospel is closed, and spread the gospel and that culture of Salvationism to places we never even imagined.”
—Jared McKiernan
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