Mike’s spiritual awakening leads him to the Salvos

Dec 6, 20243 min read

Newly enrolled soldier Mike Salomo says he wants others to know the boundless love of Jesus.

BY MIKE SALOMO (as told to Lauren Martin)

I had a serious accident in the middle of the COVID lockdown in 2020. You know, when everyone dusted off their mountain bikes because all the gyms were closed?

Anyway, I hadn’t ridden in so long, and I was riding one Sunday afternoon, and I ended up with a dislocated ankle, my foot almost completely came off. I had multiple open compound fractures on my fibula and ankle. I had two emergency surgeries, and I was off work for two months. And then rehab for two years.

So, at that time, it gave me time to really think.

The accident slowed me down, but at the same time I felt that it was speeding me up towards what I really wanted to do with my life. It was time for a change ... and a change into something more meaningful. So that’s how I ended up at The Salvation Army.

I was looking for a career change. I was looking for an organisation that was big on values – and treating other humans kindly. And I saw The Salvation Army position [for a facilities manager with the property department] being advertised – and I went for it.

At around the same time, I had started working on some childhood trauma stuff as well. I started seeing a therapist and did a few other things as well. Yoga, EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing therapy) and all the somatic stuff. Part of that healing journey reconnected me with my spiritual background.

Mike (left) with fellow Salvationist Doug, helping to create a community garden at Narwee Salvos in Sydney’s south.

Christian upbringing I was born into a Christian family. We read our Bible together every night after dinner. The Salomo kids were famous in Sunday school for winning all the prizes, all the Bible reading competitions and everything else!

But, because I also had such a difficult childhood, I think by the time I was 13 or 14, I just stopped going to church. I stopped speaking to God. I was very angry. I was a very angry child and teenager, and I blamed God.

So, that meant that for the next 30 years, I was just searching. Searching and searching – trying to fill up something that I felt was really empty inside.

So, as part of that few years of healing, it just opened up a spiritual awakening.

In hindsight, I sort of felt, ‘I may have left God, but God never left me.’ I could see points and twists and turns in my life where he was with me. It is so subtle; there was never this voice that I heard or anything like that. It was just so subtle; I was being guided and guided. That was God speaking to me.

Surrendering to God Starting work at The Salvation Army, I ran into David Delany [Corps Officer, Team Member, Hurstville Corps] at Fairfield Corps [in Sydney].

Captain David Delany, Hurstville Corps Officer - Team Member.

This was around the same time I was checking out churches to go to. I met David, and I fell in love with his story ... he is just such a beautiful, selfless man. This is actually a guy who really lives the teachings – to love God and to love others. When I heard he was coming to Hurstville [as a corps officer] I said, “I want to hear you preach!” So, I started going to Hurstville Corps. That was three years ago.

There was a point in my journey where I just felt within me that I needed to surrender to God, and I needed to surrender fully. The doctrines [of The Salvation Army’s soldiership covenant] were something I became familiar with through going to the corps, and I thought I could do this; I could actually become a Salvation Army soldier.

[Being a soldier means to me] that I feel closer to God.

Now, I want to continue to help others when they want to be helped. I want to continue to be able to show people the love of God, the boundless, limitless love and compassion of Jesus. That’s the basis of everything.

*Mike Salomo is Area Facilities Manager - Greater Sydney | Property Facilities Management NSW/ACT