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BAND MEMBERS SHARED the gospel after an outdoor concert in downtown Nassau |
The warmth of the Bahamian sun was matched only by the warmth of the welcome of Bahamian Salvationists as the Intermountain Division’s Front Range Band (Lt. Colonel Harold Brodin, divisional commander; Colonel George Church, executive officer; and Stan Kelley, bandmaster) from Denver, Colo., recently completed a campaign to Nassau.
Bahamas Divisional Commander Major Raphael Mason and Divisional Secretary Major Lester Ferguson planned the trip to coincide with Salvation Army Week activities in Nassau and established a vigorous schedule.
The band’s special guests were USA Southern Territory Salvationists Stephen and Randi Bulla. Stephen Bulla is in his third decade as staff arranger for the “President’s Own” United States Marine Corps Band and the White House Orchestra in Washington, D.C.
During its four-day stay, the band played in a wide variety of venues including open air meetings in Nassau’s slums, the Nassau Advisory Board annual meeting for the city’s social and business elite, an outdoor concert in downtown Nassau, a band clinic for beginner students, a clinic for the Nassau Citadel Band (B/M Everette Sands), as duty band for the combined Nassau area Holiness meeting, and poolside at the Atlantis Resort playing a scintillating 4th of July concert for thousands.
The Front Range Band was also featured at The Salvation Army Music and Gospel Arts Concert in the Rainforest Theatre of the Wyndham Nassau Resort with the Nassau area timbrels, the Nassau Citadel Silent Witness dance troupe, and the Citadel Band. Over 450 were in attendance. One of the many highlights of that evening was the playing of four “soloists” who were beginner students at the band clinic conducted by the Front Range Band.
The band played for such luminaries as Her Excellency Dame Dr. Ivy Dumont, O.B.E., the Governor General for the Bahamas, and Mr. Dumont, the Right Honorable Perry G. Christie, Prime Minister for the Bahamas, and Mrs. Bernadette Christie, as well as the Minister for Youth and Culture and others. The band enjoyed the special privilege of having Superintendent Sylvester George, administrative and musical director for the world famous Royal Bahamas Police Force Band, perform a trombone solo accompanied by Bulla on piano at the Rainforest Theatre Concert.
The witness of the band was clear and direct at all performances with one listener at the downtown Nassau concert accepting Jesus Christ as Savior on a park bench guided by a member of the band.