Highly creative Brisbane Rally overflows with praise, spiritual energy
BY LAUREN MARTIN
General Lyndon and Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham’s message for Australia – calling on Salvationists to bow the knee and make Jesus pre-eminent in all aspects of their lives and ministry – ignited an overflowing of praise and spiritual encounter at the General’s rally in Brisbane on Thursday night.
The North Brisbane Corps (NBC) auditorum was packed with officers, mission leaders, volunteers and Salvationists from across the vast Queensland Division, full of joy at the opportunity to gather, worship God and celebrate what the Holy Spirit is doing through the movement.
Retired Commissioner Jan Condon, who has met eight other Generals in her lifetime, said it was valuable for the General to worship with locals in each division “to observe and experience first-hand the spiritual energy and culture of the territory”.
And the Queensland Division certainly had energy! The highly creative rally began with a Welcome to Country involving traditional song and dance, followed by an integrated worship experience featuring the Salvos Dance group, congregational singing with the worship team and the brass band. Another highlight was the rich voices of the Cairns African Choir and the Redcliffe Corps Just Brass group.
The evening was fun, funny and often slightly irreverent, with the congregation alive with delight, especially when General Lyndon Buckingham claimed Queensland as his “home state”, revealing that his great-grandfather was a pioneer who started many of Queensland’s first corps, including Gympie and Brisbane 1.
During an interview with the world leaders, conducted by the NextGen Coordinator at Carindale Corps, Luke Terracini, and the Cairns Corps Youth Ministry Coordinator, Tahlia Johnson, General Buckingham shared his personal salvation story, saying that despite going to the mercy seat at the age of six, he can look back and realise that he was a ‘cultural salvationist’, going through the motions of junior soldiership and even senior soldiership up until the age of 17 when he had a powerful Holy Spirit encounter.
“The truth of God’s love for me, in the person of Jesus, burst into my life. I was so excited,” he said, “So I rushed down to the mercy seat, and I grabbed the little form, and I just signed it straight away. And it was the candidate’s form for officership!”
Later, during his message, the General referred to that experience of Jesus simply being ‘present’ or maybe even ‘prominent’ in our lives but said it’s not until the King of Kings gains ‘pre-eminence’ in us that Jesus can fully use us in his grand plan to transform the world.
“The Lord is raising up, around the globe, men and women who will be salt, who will be light, who will be the aroma of Christ. He’s pouring his Spirit out. Who is he pouring his Spirit out on? Not people who are content for him to be present or just people who are content to have him as a prominent person in their life … he is pouring his Spirit out on men and women, regardless of their age, who are prepared to bow the knee, surrender themselves to his Lordship in their life and are willing to make him the pre-eminent focus of their living and being. And I’m asking the question tonight – are you one of them?”
In a time of worship after the message, Salvationists from all generations, including a large group of young people, knelt at the mercy seat.
One of them was Ellen Gittins, who said she had never heard the term ‘pre-eminence’ before, and when the General explained it, she knew God was calling her to respond. “My friend and I were kind of like, ‘Do we go? Do we not go? [to the mercy seat.] And we went down, and it was really cool because there was a group of us on the floor in a little huddle, and then all our mums came, and our pastor came and stood around us and prayed for us. It was a great experience.”
Luke Terracini said afterwards that the world leaders’ messages resonated with what he felt God was already doing across the Queensland Division, bringing new people into encounters with Jesus, particularly amongst young people.
“The Army is going to be built on our emerging generations coming through, so seeing them responding to God tonight, not necessarily to the Army, but to God, is really encouraging.”
Inspiring Officers Councils
Salvation Army officers and mission leaders participated in an Officers Councils before the evening rally. They said the teaching on Psalm 23 on personal holiness and taking time to sit at the Lord’s Table to lead by example was inspiring and refreshing.
“It was probably the most inspiring message I’ve heard for a long time,” said Queensland Area Officer Major Neil Clanfield. “It’s a line-in-the-sand moment, and we need to come together [as a movement] and be inspired.”
Caboolture Corps Officer Captain Danielle Cook agreed, saying, “It’s so on-point for where I think we’ve all been sitting and a perfect word for us for where we are right now.”
Tweed Heads Corps Officers Majors John and Nicole Viles said they were left wanting more at the end of the world leaders’ messages. They said shifting the focus away from The Salvation Army and onto Christ being the real head of our movement was a ‘word-in-season’ for The Salvation Army in Australia.
“While we love The Salvation Army, we are all at the point where – it’s not about The Salvation Army – it’s about Jesus. It’s about the Kingdom of God, and to hear him [General Lyndon Buckingham] focus on that, I think, resonates with people’s hearts,” said Nicole, with John adding: “The General’s not preaching ‘The Salvation Army’; he’s preaching the gospel ... he’s preaching the Kingdom of God, and that’s what we’re about. We’re not about a movement – we’re about the movement!”
Click through the slideshow below for more photos by Jaiden Ivers:
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