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by John Brackenbury, Major –
After welcoming 43 cadets into the College for Officer Training, the wall outside my office is now bare.
You see, as you enter the Personnel Department at THQ, a wall of picture frames greets you. Fifty to be exact, and up to a week ago they displayed all of the 43 accepted candidates from across the Western Territory—photos of men and women who have answered God’s specific call to become officers in The Salvation Army. Every day as I walked into the office and saw those pictures, I recalled God’s continual blessing upon this Army: to call men and women to service.
And now that wall is bare once again.
Where do we go from here? What must we do as a territory to keep that wall filled with pictures of accepted candidates? While I hold the appointment of territorial candidate and recruitment secretary, I believe we all have a part to play in recruiting and developing future officers. The future of The Salvation Army depends on it; God’s kingdom depends on it! Each of us can assist in filling that wall with pictures of men and women who are called by God to serve as Salvation Army officers.
We can make identifying candidates a priority in our corps, emphasizing the need for men and women to answer God’s call and promoting officership as the sacred position it is, that of becoming a minister of God’s word. God uses these anointed ones to preach His gospel of hope to a hurting and dying world. We need to pray for the Holy Spirit’s moving in and through our people to hear and answer His call.
We can consciously seek those people within our sphere of influence who have the potential to become Salvation Army officers. I am sure if we think about it, all of us could come up with at least one or two people God has placed on our hearts for officership. Once identified, we need to encourage, nurture and develop these individuals for effective ministry. This is a job that requires the participation of all our officers and soldiers.
Just after the Cadets were publicly welcomed at Tustin Ranch, a friend said to me, “You did a great job, now get to work.” We laughed, but he was right—I need to get to work. In fact, we all need to get to work because our job will never be finished as long as God continually calls men and women to service. I—we—all need to get started filling up that wall!
