Sep 43 min read

It was a whirlwind ... but reporting on the General’s visit was inspiring

Interviewing and reporting on the world leaders’ movements around the territory was a privilege.

Salvos Online journalist Lauren Martin shares about her week travelling around the Australia Territory with the world leaders of The Salvation Army, General Lyndon and Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham, and the Australia Territory leadership team

What a pleasure it was to spend a week with these fabulous people – General Lyndon and Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham, and Territorial Commander Commissioner Miriam Gluyas, who never missed a chance to promote her new book, ‘Our Rallying Cry’.

What a trip! Six states of Australia in seven days.

Our time in each capital city was so short that every time we arrived at an airport, the automated system wanted to check our bags through to our final destination because it looked like we were simply ‘in transit’!

A few days into the trip, General Lyndon started to joke that each of us travelling with him would soon be able to recite his messages by heart – and it’s true that he did share the same themed messages at each Officers Councils and evening rally.

However, the General doesn’t speak from a script, and each time he spoke, it seemed that the Holy Spirit guided him to shift focus or dwell on a particular section. And I felt God revealing different things to me as the days went on.

The General’s final rally message in Melbourne was a powerful personal experience. He delved more intimately into the moment God brought him to his knees when he first grappled with whether Jesus was ‘present’, ‘prominent’ or ‘pre-eminent’ in his life.

This candid sharing of his real-life encounter with the Spirit, a General so vulnerably revealing his humanness, spoke to the humanness in me. How often is Jesus an afterthought in my missional plans? Is the King of Kings really on the throne of my life?

Upwards of 60 people knelt at, or near, the mercy seat that evening in a powerful outpouring of desire for Jesus to be at the forefront of who we are as people and what we do as a movement.

The move of the Holy Spirit was evident throughout the whole tour. I witnessed and experienced a Salvation Army territory hungry for Jesus to lead us into what the General described as the ‘new wave’ of the Spirit.

There was a palpable excitement as Salvationists gathered in each location.

Territorial Commander Commissioner Miriam Gluyas kept referring to this time as a ‘line in the sand’ moment. I got the sense that as a movement, we are cresting the hill, moving away from the dark, hard days of the Australia One amalgamation and COVID-19 setbacks, and looking ahead to new pastures that Jesus is calling us to.

I pray that this is so.

Other highlights for me included:

Chief Secretary Colonel Winsome Merrett’s beautiful benedictions in each location. They instilled a sense of peace and purpose for those gathered as they left to re-enter life, work and mission.
Eleven-year-old Bella Stobie’s prayer with the world leaders in Perth. Speaking to her afterwards was a highlight as I was struck by her deep relationship with God and spiritual maturity. This further resonated with Commissioner Bronwyn’s passionate words throughout the tour about taking the Holy Spirit’s move seriously amongst children and young people and allowing them a place amongst our worship, mission and ministry.
Meeting in person so many officers and Salvos who I’ve ‘known’ for years through social media. There is something beautiful that happens when we gather!
Listening to incidental conversations between our territorial leaders and hearing their passion and heart for our movement to be The Salvation Army we were raised up to be.

Jesus-centred, Spirit-led, hope revealed!