Women’s Ministry/CHERYL SALEM

FORGED THROUGH LOSS

Growing up in rural Mississippi, the milkman, Mr. Horton, would repeatedly tell 5 year-old Cheryl: “One day, little girl, you’re going to be Miss America.” And she believed him. But at age 11, a devastating car crash that crushed her left leg and broke her back seemed to say that would never happen. Doctors said she’d never walk again— until a cocoon of bone miraculously formed around the 32 crushed bones. Though her left leg remained two inches shorter, while everyone thought this 11-year-old was delusional, she held onto Mr. Horton’s words like a promise from God. Turns out, it was.

At seventeen, Cheryl stepped forward for healing at a Kenneth Hagin meeting, and God grew her leg out two inches right there. And five years later, the word from God through the milk man was fulfilled: Cheryl walked the Miss America runway with two perfect legs and took the crown—a walking miracle declaring to the world: nothing is impossible with God.

GOING INTO ALL THE WORLD

The crown gave Cheryl a global platform, and she used every moment of it to share Jesus. When her reign ended in the fall of 1980, she launched into full-time evangelistic ministry—and hasn’t stopped since. For over four decades, her mission has remained: bring people to Jesus and equip believers to know Him intimately.

WHEN LOSS DEEPENED THE CALL

Cheryl married Harry Salem, the love of her life, in 1985. By 1993, they were ministering together as Salem Family Ministries. But in 1999, their six-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, went to heaven from an inoperable brain tumor. Rather than let grief silence them, they turned their loss into Kingdom gain—Gabrielle’s life became a seed that would produce a harvest the enemy could never stop. With fierce passion, they continue to bring souls to Jesus, going two by two to reach souls one by one.

RAISING UP AN ARMY

To Cheryl, worship isn’t optional—it’s oxygen. Through her worship and healing training schools and 5-book & workbook curriculum, she equips believers to become worshipers who walk in intimacy with the Father and minister healing to others.

Cheryl knows the power of a praying woman. As founder of Women of The Nation, she mobilizes thousands of women from coast to coast in unified intercession for America, stewarding the spiritual authority God entrusted to her as Miss America—standing in the gap for this nation in this critical hour.

WORSHIP AND THE WRITTEN WORD

Cheryl’s prophetic worship—captured in live events and studio recordings—flows from The Secret Place where she’s spent countless hours with the Father.

That same intimacy has birthed over forty books in English and Spanish—written both with Harry and individually—words born from fire, equipping others to stand, fight, and believe.

Cheryl holds an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Heritage University and Seminary, was named Mississippi State University Alumnus of the Year, and became the first MSU Music Department Hall of Fame inductee.

FAMILY AT THE HEART

God’s restoration is most visible in Cheryl and Harry’s family: sons Harry III and Roman, their daughter-in-love Stephanie, and grandchildren Mia Gabrielle and Roman Harry. They’re living proof that God restores what the enemy meant to destroy. Cheryl’s message carries holy fire: Jesus is coming soon. Be ready!