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by Amy Jankowski –
Major Cindy Foley leads the General and Commissioner Larsson on a tour of the Kroc Center. |
After reaching more than 5,000 Salvationists on a 10-day tour of the Western Territory, international leaders General John Larsson and Commissioner Freda Larsson visited The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in San Diego for a Holiness meeting Sunday, June 20.
Joined by Lt. Colonels Doug and Diane O’Brien, divisional leaders; Commissioner Linda Bond; Commissioners W. Todd and Carol Bassett; and Lt. Colonels Donald and Debora Bell, they motivated and inspired more than 600 worshippers who filled the Joan B. Kroc Theatre with shouts of joy and songs of holiness and salvation.
Impressed by the warmth of the audience, the General and Commissioner Larsson thanked all the soldiers, officers, employees and volunteers for what happens in every corps and division.
“It’s the people that count and give life to the mission of The Salvation Army,” said Larsson.
He also emphasized the importance of the holistic nature of the Army, combining spiritual and community service, and encouraged the crowd to go into the world and preach the gospel.
“If necessary, use words—but it’s our actions, it’s our lives that present the gospel most proficiently,” he said.
Commissioner Larsson reiterated that message, encouraging those in attendance to “absorb a sample of Christ’s fragrance today,” go out into the world and do their part to share with others. She then read from Mark 9:14, a story about the healing of a boy with an evil spirit.
General Larsson went on to quote the passage, “Everything is possible for him who believes.” He called the message “life changing.“
“We have an inadequate grasp on what faith can do. God is bigger and far more wonderful than we realize,” he said.
Larsson continued, “God wants to do greater things through us than we can even imagine. God wants to do greater things in us than we care to believe. Everything happens when we take a step of faith.”
Dozens of people took that step of faith to either accept Jesus Christ in their lives for the first time or to reaffirm their faith.
With Salvation Army flags waving proudly, Commissioner Carol Bassett declared, “There is victory in the camp today.”
After the meeting, General John Larsson and Commissioner Freda Larsson took a tour of the world famous Kroc Center. The facility and Joan Kroc’s $1.5 billion donation to the Army are proof that “everything is possible for him who believes.”
