Singing for God’s Glory

I give myself away
I give myself away
So You can use me

His name was Chuck Martin and the congregation at the Harlem, N.Y., Temple Corps called him “The Voice.”
Today, Martin’s talent lives on in Cynthia Martin, his daughter, and a first–year cadet. She “wowed” the crowd at this year’s Candidates Seminar with a soulful rendition of William McDowell’s “I Give Myself Away.”

Martin said she was aware that many people in the audience were deciding whether they should become Salvation Army officers.

“When I sing, I’m singing for the glory of God,” Martin says. “I hope the anointing comes down and people will decide that they want to turn their lives over to Him and to do His work.

“That’s my focus. Whenever I sing, I do it in the hope that somebody will be blessed.”

Martin, a fourth–generation Salvationist, grew up attending the Harlem Temple Corps and listening to her father, who was promoted to Glory in 2011.

“When he sang in church, I paid attention,” she says with a laugh.

Martin, who attended the Newburgh, N.Y., Corps before becoming a cadet, said she remembers the Candidates Seminar that she had attended.

“You can never shortchange the moving of the Spirit on your heart,” she says. “You’ve got to pay attention to that.”
Martin, who also worked in law enforcement, said her decision to become a Salvation Army officer “had been a long time coming” and one she initially avoided.

“Coming here [to the College for Officer Training] confirmed something I have always known,” she says. “It’s something that you know on the inside. The Lord can call anyone and at any time.”