LETTERS
STONES CREATING MAJOR RIPPLES AS I began reading through Major Robert Stones’ responses to ‘The Salvation Army and me’ questions (Salvationist 23 February), I quickly realised that the men living in our residence needed to hear his story or, more specifically, his testimony. First, I was hooked that he followed the Salvation Army band to the corps and stayed. My great-grandfather did that as well, and seven generations have been impacted. Second, he heard his captain’s message on salvation and wondered whether he was really saved or not. He made it his business to become a real child of God. Third, he and his yet unknown wife were called to officership, a call they answered, and then served faithfully until retirement. They ran the race and were deemed worthy. Finally, he found that new ways are not always necessary, but that sometimes the tried and true ones still work. These four topics have been taught at our centre regularly, which is why his testimony stood out and why I thought it appropriate to remind the men of this. So, for the Sunday morning holiness meeting on 10 March I taught again the necessary truths that the major outlined and has lived his life modelling. But it didn’t stop there. I taught the men his favourite songs, ‘The Golden Stair’ and ‘I’ll Go In The Strength Of The Lord’. They really liked them both. Together we read and pondered his favourite Scripture passage: Psalm 139. We discussed his favourite books, the Left Behind novels, which I have already been encouraging our guys to read. Finally, we discussed the importance of family, which he so thoughtfully included. Major Stones, I just wanted you to know that your interview was our holiness meeting’s order of service that day, and 14 men went to the mercy seat at the conclusion. Chas Engel, Captain, Adult Rehabilitation Center, Trenton, New Jersey
THE JESUS PLAN
AFTER reading Ian Scott’s article (Salvationist 23 March) about each corps needing to develop their mission plan, we would like to share The Jesus Plan, which we are working on here in Birkenhead. In one of our meetings the leader asked us to sit quietly and ask Jesus, what we could do for him. After a few minutes I felt and saw (spiritually) a large shiny apple in my hands, and I said: ‘What now, Lord?’ The apple split in half and lots of seeds fell out. ‘What now, Lord?’ I asked. ‘Plant them,’ was the reply. ‘What then, Lord?’ Jesus said: ‘Watch and pray.’ We knew we had to make a renewed effort to spread the gospel.
We had cards printed and these help us now in our witness; they are among our tools to spread the word of God, and we give all the glory to God. On every fifth Sunday we have a prayer night with prayer stations, and all those who are able to, go out into Birkenhead town centre to prayer walk and make contact with people. A number of people have been spoken to directly, including a gang of young lads on cycles, street drinkers and passers-by in the main shopping street. Some people wanted to speak about faith while others voiced concerns about the needs of the community. Joan Hubber, Birkenhead
THERE’S NOT ENOUGH CASH FOR HERALDS I WONDER if heralds are noticing, as I am, the decline in revenue from their pub or high street goodwill donations because of the increasingly cashless society. As a regular ‘pub-boomer’, I am finding that many people would be willing to give but, for reasons of convenience or personal safety, they do not carry cash and instead make over-the-counter payments by card. Will the time come, I wonder, when heralds will have to consider carrying a method for card transactions as well as the traditional tin? Stuart Gay, Divisional Envoy, Blackpool Richard Smart, Promotions and Marketing Co-ordinator (THQ) responds: First of all thank you, and all the heralds, for the excellent work you do selling the War Cry and Kids Alive! It is really appreciated and newspaper revenues and friendly conversations are holding up well despite the move to a cashless society. There is more need for our ministry on the streets not less! Things can quieten down after Christmas and then cheer up in the summer months – so please persist. With regards to contactless payments, as you may expect we are actively considering a pilot with new mobile technology. There are new ways of combining the traditional tin and contactless/credit card payment – so we are looking to this in the future as a great opportunity. Please watch this space! We are determined to march with the times as the War Cry approaches its 140th anniversary on 27 December 2019. Salvationist 13 April 2019
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