JACKIE: Lisa Frost - The Salvation Army runs strong in her blood

The Salvation Army is all Lisa Frost has ever known.

From her exposure to it growing up in Illinois, where her parents were Salvation Army officers for 49 years, to her current assignment as a corps officer in Independence, Frost has become a quiet force of charity and change during the past 17 years.

Almost a cyclical life – especially when taking into account how closely her life has mirrored that of her family.

“I can’t remember a time when it wasn’t in my life,” Frost said. “I was called to it.”

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Born and raised in Elmhurst, Ill., Frost, 42, felt early that she would become an elementary school teacher. It seemed like the right thing to do: she loved kids and loved teaching.

And when she graduated from high school in 1987, she prepared for such a career. But the Salvation Army was already there, pulling at her like an ocean tide.

“I’d felt the call when I was 14,” she said from her office on Truman Road in Independence. “But all the demands on my mom and dad – I just didn’t think I wanted to do it. There were a lot of demands, so I just ran to teaching.”

It appeared to be the best route, but the feeling, the urging, toward the Salvation Army kept at her, clawing her heart. It certainly didn’t help that she was still an active member in the organization. Friends and family were forever linked to the Salvation Army. She was building her future without realizing it.

When she was 18, she met her future husband at an officer’s weekend, a special weekend event with the Salvation Army.

She remembers sitting in the hall and looking over and seeing him.

“I said to my friend, there he is, I’ll marry him.”

Seven months later they were married. It was 1988.

Butch, who grew up in Wichita, Kan., also came from a family deeply involved with the Salvation Army.

“I’m fifth generation Salvation Army,” he said from his office, just down the hall from Lisa’s. “My family weren’t officers. I just stepped out of the box and became one.”

Like Lisa’s upbringing, the love and devotion his family had for the organization and God trickled down to him. By the time the two met, they had both heard the call.

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The two married and began their lives of devotion to God and the Salvation Army. Their first stop? Williston, N.D. – 24 hours away from friends and family. Being their first assignment (as corps officers), there were lessons to be learned – and signs of things to come.

“Some of the moments there, when all we had was the family and the people we worked with, were special,” she said. “It was the first time that I started noticing how special it was when something ‘clicked’ in peoples’ heads.”

The “click” Frost refers to is the way in which selfless aims – teaching and providing mental and physical assistance – manifest in the recipient. She began to see how her efforts began to show real results in those people who needed her help.

And like many of their subsequent assignments – in Albert Lea, Minn., Garden City, Kan., Indianapolis, to name a few – Frost began to see a similar cast of characters, most of them women.

“So many times I talk to women and they don’t see their gifts and abilities,” she said. “Some of them need someone to point the way.”

Frost herself was beginning to see more gifts she had as a woman: the birth of her children, Elizabeth Ann in February 1990, and Benjamin Charles Steve in February 1994, marked a turning point in her life. It added depth and insight to a life already defined by selfless acts.

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Assignments for the Frosts followed: in Albert Lea, Minn., as Corps Officers; in Hibbing, Minn., as Corps Officers; in Garden City, Kan., as Corps Officers once again.

An assignment in Kansas City preceded a position as divisional youth secretary and candidates secretary  in both Peoria, Ill. and Indianapolis.

The secretary posts exposed Lisa to the flipside of what was becoming her life’s work. As a secretary, she was responsible for the recruitment of new officers, as well as programming and leadership of youth summer camps and discipleship.

It was in Peoria when Lisa met Lt. Col. Dawn Heatwole, who currently serves as a territorial women’s ministries secretary in the Chicago area. A friendship blossomed while the two worked as divisional youth secretaries.

Heatwole and her husband worked to get the Frosts to seminary college, where the couple were eventually commissioned and ordained at the Salvation Army College For Officers Training in June 1995.

Heatwole has since become a kind of mentor for Lisa.

“She’s the one person who knows me very well,” she said.

And Heatwole knows Lisa pretty well, too.

“She’s very focused and loves people,” Heatwole said. “And she’s a great programmer and does well in getting people to the church and getting them involved. That’s the difference between her and many in the Salvation Army.”

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When the family was as signed to Independence, they were given some surprising news. Unlike all their other posts, this one had a homeless shelter.

“Sixty-five beds,” she said, smiling. “I thought this was crazy. We’d never run a shelter before. We didn’t know what to expect.”

Crazy indeed. From a small facility in North Dakota to the sprawling complex in Independence, the Frosts had their work cut out for them.

As it turns out, the people may change but the stories remain the same.

“I’m seeing the more extreme,” she said about the general welfare of people coming in for aid. “We’re seeing more inner-city residents here. It just breaks your heart seeing so many people going hungry or going without basic things. Growing up, I was never in want of those things.”

Many people who have come to the Independence Salvation Army stand out in her memory. One woman stands out in front of the rest, a local resident who had been released from prison and was expecting a fourth child. She was an addict, the severity of which she had never witnessed at other assignments.

“I was just amazed at this woman,” she said. “All she wanted was to keep clean and keep her kids.”

The woman stayed at the shelter for 180 days. During her stay, she became active in the church and worked to become self- sufficient.

“She was able to move into an apartment and then a house,” Lisa said. “It was a blessed moment.”

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As others have claimed, Lisa has found that programming is one of her best strengths, which is critical for a shelter that currently houses 23 children.

In addition to meals, there are educational programs to run, as well as practical matters associated with making a home. After all, the shelter resembles a bustling home most nights.

The last couple of years have been especially challenging for staff. With the ailing economy, Frost said the organization is struggling to keep up with food demands from the general public. In terms of monetary donations, the organization is down $25,000 from where it was at this time last year.

“I’ve never seen it this bad in any place I’ve been,” she said.

But the staff keeps positive. After the holidays, the organization will continue offering existing programs and new ones, including the Salvation Army Group Life program. It’s held on Wednesday nights from 6:30 - 8 p.m. Courses, which include woodworking, Bible study and some athletic activities, run about six to eight weeks.

Frost, who created the program, said the first session in September was a success.

“You should see the place on those nights,” she said. “People are really starting to see the value in it.”

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Frost hopes to achieve other things in life beyond the Salvation Army.

She hopes to finish her education degree. She’d love to travel overseas, possibly serve a Salvation Army appointment. She’d love to write a book – nonfiction, possibly about her life. There’s ballroom dancing, too.

“I just want to do as many things as I can.”