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Identifying new approaches to Salvation Army mission
Speakers in all tracks provided a wealth of information relating to Army mission and ministry.
Development speaker Dwight “Butch” Maltby, president of TouchPoint Solutions, identified four steps the Army should take to help build its ministry and mission.
The first, he said, was to “Celebrate and recapture your evangelical heritage. The taproot of The Salvation Army comes out of Holy Scripture. It’s not what you do, it’s why you do it.”
“Reward innovation,” he stated. “ Let people try things outside the box. Historically, the Army is a fountainhead of innovation.” He also noted the Army should become more donor friendly, explaining that donors “aren’t ATM machines. They have needs, lives, cares.”
In conclusion, he suggested the Army invest in “telling your story. People are motivated by a compelling story, not by statistics.
Editor in Chief of New Frontier Publications, Dr. Robert Docter, reported to delegates that New Frontier is now in its 21st year of printing news and information of the Western Territory.
He identified the goals of each of the West’s publications: New Frontier prints timely news stories relating to inspirational and organizational matters, as well as crucial issues that face the Army. “I see the Strategic Priorities as remaking the Army at the most crucial phase of its existence,” he said. “Commissioner Bond is breaking new ground.”
Nuevas Fronteras, a new publication, will bring territorial information and news to Spanish-speaking Salvationists.
Caring, he explained, “is an attempt to reclaim our own identity and bring us full circle to the reality William Booth claimed relating to social and personal redemption, as we link social service and church programs together.”