Elle's funeral

For those Marionites that missed the announcements at worship this morning, we need to let you know that Elle's funeral will be held this Wednesday, March 2, at 11:30 am at Heysen Chapel, Centennial Park. We're sure that Herb and his family would love your support.

Christchurch

First the good news - Betty MacSween is safe and well and back in Australia. She spent a harrowing time at her son's house, and was alone in the house when the earthquake struck. There was also a period of fear while they were looking for her daughter-in-law in the city, but thankfully all are safe and well.

The Salvation Army is releasing constant media releases about what they are doing in Christchurch. If you are interested, look at the New Zealand Salvation Army website or the international website. Our international emergency services team are in attendance also. There are hundreds of meals being provided from our Lynwood and Sydenham Corps buildings, and there are 40 teams that The Salvation Army have put together, each with a Salvationist within them, doing a needs analysis through the suburbs.

For more information you can also look at Major Daryl Crowden's blog, which provides the most up to date and insightful commentary - http://darylbc.blogspot.com/

Thrift Shop

Those that have worshipped at the Seacombe Centre of our Corps for a while know the value of a good thrift shop.

We have been seeking a way of establishing this sort of ministry to assist the finances at our Glenelg Centre. When we first started casting the vision for this part of our Corps, we knew that finances could hinder the new ministries and we thought about a shop up around Novar Gardens.

Just two weeks ago we found a vacant shop in Ascot Park. It has been a second hand clothes shop for the last 15 years, and before that it was a Salvation Army Family Store! The rent is good, it's air conditioned, has a small sorting area, and is on a main road with parking at the rear. We have approval from Salvos Stores to go ahead and are now at the stages of looking into a lease.

This project will obviously require some man power but will provide vital funds for any new ministries that we would like to commence, especially down by the Bay. It will hopefully also sure up our funding for things like our Corps bus.

If you want a drive by look, the address is 685 Marion Road, Ascot Park. You can't miss it. It's a green building on the corner of 6th Avenue.

Christchurch

It's sad that the 300th posting on our blog needs to be about something so tragic.

THE Salvation Army’s earthquake response programme in Canterbury, New Zealand, is under way. Salvation Army officers (ministers) and volunteers are feeding and caring for Canterbury residents displaced by the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that hit the region around Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February.

With large loss of life reported and many people still missing, sorrow continues to engulf the South Pacific nation. Salvation Army teams from its three North Island divisions, along with teams from the South Island corps (churches) of Mosgiel and Queenstown, comprising 50 people, are on the way to Christchurch. Other teams across South Island are on standby.

Last night, the first since the earthquake struck, Salvation Army volunteers served 1,500 meals to those unable to go back to their homes and staff provided support at emergency welfare centres. Damage to The Salvation Army's Southern Divisional Headquarters, as well as to Christchurch City Community Ministries Centre and Christchurch City Corps, means a temporary operations centre to oversee recovery work has been set up at Sydenham Corps. Southern Division and territorial headquarters (THQ) staff are now assessing the situation across the affected area to determine the exact nature of the Army’s response. With mobile communications in the region patchy at present, communications equipment including radios, satellite phones and computers is being transported from THQ to Sydenham.

Linwood Corps and Community Ministries, which has shouldered a large part of The Salvation Army’s recovery work since the larger but less deadly September 2010 earthquake, suffered mainly superficial damage. Its officers, staff and volunteers are preparing for a steep increase in demand. Christchurch City Community Ministries Centre will not reopen in the immediate future due to quake damage and its staff are being redeployed to Linwood.

Major Campbell Roberts, who is coordinating The Salvation Army's emergency response, says the quake is a tragedy beyond description but that the Army’s experience since September and the high morale of officers and volunteers puts it in good stead to respond effectively. Salvation Army teams are at Wellington and Auckland airports to meet hundreds of people who have been evacuated from the quake zone and offer support and light refreshments.

The Salvation Army relaunched its Canterbury Earthquake Appeal yesterday. There has been a strong response from the public and from potential corporate donors. The Salvation Army's USA Western Territory is donating US$200,000 to assist with the Army's earthquake recovery efforts. The Australia Southern Territory is donating Aus$50,000. Large and small-scale fundraising is being organised around New Zealand. An international track meet scheduled for Christchurch this weekend was cancelled after the quake. Athletes now plan to stage a fundraising meet in Wellington to support The Salvation Army’s earthquake appeal.

The Salvation Army's international leader, General Shaw Clifton, was New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga Territorial Commander from 2002 to 2004. He informed current territorial commander Commissioner Don Bell that the prayers of International Headquarters were with the victims of the earthquake. ‘We are shocked, unhappy and downcast to hear overnight of a further quake in lovely Christchurch,' he said. 'We stand with you and your people in what you will do to offer relief.'Commissioner Bell will soon visit the earthquake zone to encourage Salvation Army personnel.

Please pray for Betty MacSween, one of our soldiers currently in Christchurch. Please also pray for Major Daryl Crowden, nephew of Ross & Doris Lewis, who is part of the team responding to the disaster on behalf of The Salvation Army.

Elly Herrmann

Elly was promoted to glory yesterday, February 21. She had been a soldier of our Corps since 1995 but her connections predate that.

We will keep all the Marionites posted about funeral details.

In the meantime, please pray for Herb and their children. Also remember her friends from the Corps and other places that are travelling to be here with the family.

One Mission Conference

To date there are only 40 registrations for this year's One Mission Conference, on April 2 at Seaton.

This is a great opportunity for our Corps to join with other Salvos from across South Australia, hear world class speakers, participate in great worship and grow together.

Please consider registering as soon as possible so that the organisers can confidently plan to proceed.

Christchurch

About three hours another tragic earthquake hit New Zealand (12:51 NZ Time).

This is how the NZ Herald reports it:

There have been "multiple fatalities" after a shallow 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch this afternoon caused buildings to collapse, police have confirmed. Police said fatalities had been reported at several locations and that two buses had been crushed by falling buildings.

Christchurch resident Jane Smith, who works in the central city, told the Herald a work colleague had just returned from helping rescue efforts after a building facade had collapsed on a bus on Colombo St. "There's people dead. He was pulling them out of a bus. Colombo St is completely munted."

TV3 reported that a person had died in the Christchurch suburb of Sumner. Police said there were reports of fires in buildings in the central city and of people being trapped.
Police said all available staff were helping with the rescue operation and the Defence Force had been called in to assist.

Triage centres have been established for the injured at Latimer Square in the central city, Spotlight Mall in Sydenham and Sanitarium in Papanui. A Herald reporter said that emergency services were struggling to enter the central city and were having to manoeuvre slowly around gridlocked traffic.

GNS Science said today's quake was centred at Lyttelton at a depth of 5km at 12.51pm.
GNS said the earthquake would have caused more damage than the original 7.1 earthquake on September 4 because of its shallow depth.

Its data centre manager Kevin Fenaughty said residents said the quake's epicentre was located in the "worst possible location" for the city. "It's a nightmare. A lot of people were just getting back on their feet after the original quake."

Another earthquake of 4.5 struck at 1.21pm (NZ Time), 10 km east of Diamond Harbour.

Please pray for the people of New Zealand.

Junior Soldiers

Wasn't it great yesterday to have two new Junior Soldiers enrolled, Matthew and Shikira. They looked great in their white red shield t-shirts and it is always moving to hear young people read their pledge. Pray for them in the coming days and take an active interest in them. There are more enrollments on the way!

Junior Soldiers is a great program; I insist that it is one of the best discipleship programs for primary aged children offered by any church. It has projects for the kids to work on, weekly lessons, Bible reading tasks and church involvement tasks.

I'm also a bit sentimental about Junior Soldiers. I remember my own enrollment at Bendigo Salvos in 1982 (?I think) quite clearly. I even remember that Captain Collins' after shave was really strong when he pinned my badge on! But most of all, I remember how sincere I was and how determined I was to follow Jesus. I haven't got it right all the time since then, but the stuff you learn as a young person doesn't leave you and I thank God for my Junior Soldier teachers May Price (Bendigo, Vic), Greg Morgan (Darwin, NT) and Shirley Fletcher (Canterbury, Vic) who helped me along the way. Marion Sampson and her helpers here at Marion have an awesome opportunity with our kids to impact them with the gospel!

New clothes for old

The "New Clothes For Old" campaign kicks off this Saturday at Westfield. If any Marionites haven't signed up to help yet, time is running out.

The principle is simple. Westfield are running a marketing campaign and The Salvation Army is the primary beneficiary. We provide volunteers for a day who stand at Westfield and hand out bags that can be returned to the shopping centre filled with clothes for redistribution to those in need or sale in one of our stores. The first 100 bags returned are rewarded with a gift voucher to go shopping in the mall. Everyone goes into the draw to win a styling session and a $250 Westfield voucher.

All of the goods brought in are collected by Greg's team. They are redistributed through our community support services or sold through our store. In Queensland, the charity partner of Westfield collected 698 bags of clothing, mostly top quality. This is a great partnership opportunity that could raise some significant money for The Salvation Army, give us great stock to help people and provide great presence in our community and PR. We thank God for these opportunities.

Prayer ministry

Prayer is vital. We say it often. Today we saw how vital it was in the way that Angela was able to pray with one of our playgroup mums. What a great ministry.

Thelma's care

It is great to be able to share good news stories.

On Friday, a man wandered into the shop. Drenched through from the rain, wearing only a singlet and jeans, he wound up in the shop where Thelma took him under her wing. He was clearly homeless and had nothing else but that which was on his person, and some food that had been given to him at reception. Greg and Thelma were able to completely re-clothe him and help him out. Thelma's perceptive care hasn't gone unnoticed.

Well done Thelma.

Catherine & Our Youth

Many of you would have caught up with the appointment of Catherine Smith-Ellis to our youth pastor position. Catherine has had a long connection with our church and is transferring back into Marion Salvos with her husband Craig and daughter Sarah.

Already, in her first week, Catherine has been catching up with the local school Christian Pastoral Support Workers. She has met many of our young people and is starting to touch base with previous volunteers.

Please pray for Catherine and support her as you can.

One of the CPSW teams that she has spent time with is Jo and Justin at Hamilton Secondary College. They have been boyed by the recent news that the Federal government have extended the school chaplaincy funding through to 2014, which is magnificent news for schools across the country. Justin and Jo are well embraced by the Hamilton community and are able to run a range of programs including a session for kids struggling to stay in the mainstream of the school. Please pray for them also!

Colin

Hi to all those prayer warriors - your prayers are being answered. Colin Wood has woken and is sitting up!! PRAISE GOD. He is still confused and still not speaking, but let's thank God and celebrate this progress with Mavis and the family.

Soldiership

Soldiership is not like membership of any other denomination. It is really an order. It is a group of people that have chosen distinctives in practice and lifestyle as a means of demonstrating their commitment to Christ's cause.

It is exciting when our congregation members start to investigate soldiership for themselves. I was proud as anything on Tuesday as I was overhearing our latest recruit starting her soldiership classes with Judith in the next office.

If joining the 'order' is something that interests you, please get in touch with us and we'll be pleased to start the process of introducing you to this journey of soldiership.

Glenelg Renovations

This week, the latest stage of the renovations at our Glenelg Centre took place. We have remodelled the kitchen this week to make room for the new oven, dishwasher and hotplates that have been donated. This wasn't as simple a task as you would think. After pulling out the old cupboards we found some interesting previous building and plumbing that we had to work around. Our carpenters are good, and once the new gear is installed we are going to have a great little kitchen in our centre by the bay.

In the meantime, the second to last lot of quotes went to the Divisional board on Tuesday. Hopefully we will soon hear a positive outcome to allow us to proceed with the rendering, painting and flooring throughout the centre. We've also this week had two large red shields given to us for the front of the building.

(PS If you know of someone driving over from Melbourne that can pick up and drive over two massive red shields - please let us know!!!)

Eric & Colin

An update for the Marionites:

Eric Williams was promoted to glory yesterday (Wednesday) at 7 am. He served through a number of Corps, including Marion (Seacombe), Fern Tree Gully, Ringwood and Canterbury. He was bandmaster at FTG during the early 1970s. Eric also served the community with distinction in his nursing career. He was the first male midwife in South Australia and also a nursing unit manager in Victoria. We will celebrate his life and say farewell at the Sensible Chapel, South Road, Ridleyton on Tuesday February 15 at 3pm.

Colin Wood is fighting well. After surgery yesterday he is back in ICCU at Flinders Medical Centre. Today, one of his nurses said to me the best we can do for him is pray. She was right. I'm not sure if she was speaking for my benefit, as helpless as you feel by someone's bedside, for Colin's benefit or for her own. She's still right. We can do no better and no less than to keep praying for Colin and Mavis and their family.

Marie Kovacs

Each year cadets from The Salvation Army training college in Melbourne are given an opportunity to work in 'out placements'. These are practical service opportunities where they can safely test their acquired skills and knowledge in a real setting.

Cadet Marie Kovacs has been appointed to come to South Australia for a few months of out training. She will spend time at Bramwell House domestic violence services and then join us at Marion for her Corps placement. You will start to see Marie around the place later this month, and she will join us full time from the start of April through to June 1.

3CO

You'll notice that the blog has taken on a slightly new look. This is so that the three of us (Ange, Kat and myself) can communicate jointly. Each of us will be posting news for people so that everyone can stay up to date with the events and news from around Marion Salvos. We hope that this increases the interaction with everyone and helps with our communication.

Role allocation

Kathleen, Angela and I have been working through the best ways for us to divide the work between us. We have each completed a profile and met together with a consultant from another church who helped us to work out our gifts and strengths. Out of this we are splitting the Corps Officer role so that we are operating in our best areas.

I will be the officer contact for leadership development, youth, seniors, sports, community outreach, CSS, the Thrift Shop and the Red Shield Appeal in Marion. I will also take the lead in any new ventures, including those at Glenelg or Trott Park.

Angela will be the officer contact for Administration, Finance, Children's Ministries, Volunteers and the Shopping Centre activities.

Kathleen will be the officer contact for Women's Ministries, Assimilation and Discipleship, Prayer ministries, Music and Worship, IT, the website, marketing and advertising and the Red Shield Appeal in Holdfast Bay.

We trust that the change to this approach will be one that is smooth and that we are finding ourselves best deployed to lead the mission of our Corps.

Good news

Today was the first day time for 2011 that our Team Leaders were able to meet together. We read from the Bible, we prayed together and we learned some principles about the essential qualities required of spiritual leaders.

I wanted to share with you some of the great things that are happening around our Corps, that were highlighted at the meeting today.

• A boy from last weeks School Holiday Program went home and told his mum about the cross and what it meant that Jesus died for him. This has opened the door for Paul to spend time with his mum and share the gospel.
• Kerryn and Brad were able to assist one of our former volunteers who was in serious need of medical attention and take her to the hospital, ensuring the right care.
• We had a report of 30 children from the Summer Adventure camp accepting Christ into their lives. Of those children 11 have been referred to our church for follow up. Paul has gifts that he is able to deliver to the families.
• Kerryn and Lynette have been this week to do a CSS outreach visit to a lady who is desperate for community and is asking about activities at our church.
• Judith reported 16 visitors in the month of January to our worship service - and more than half of them have made a return visit. We also had a report from Kathleen about the way in which her family were made to feel welcome by our church.
• We heard about a new small group and another small group that is so big it is splitting.
• We were able to talk about the care being offered for a number of our serious ill Salvationists, Ellie, Colin and Eric.
• We heard about some people that Greg had been able to assist in the shop today. He helped a young couple, for example, who are expecting their first child and needed equipment. He also helped a man this morning wandering through our carpark that was desperate for a blanket.

The news keeps coming. We are part of a great church. I am blessed and proud to lead this team.

Eric Williams

For the Marionites... please make sure you are in prayer for Margaret and Eric Williams. Eric has deteriorated over the last few days and is far from well. Margaret is offering paliative care from home.

General-Elect Linda Bond

A friend of mine, Quentin, said this morning "The name is Bond... General Bond".

And so it is.

At 2:45am this morning (CDST) the High Council announced that they had elected Commissioner Linda Bond to be the 19th General of The Salvation Army. She assumes leadership of the movement's work in 123 countries on April 2, 2011.

The General-Elect comes from St James, Winnipeg, Canada, originally. She has worked in many Salvation Army roles including as a Corps Officer in Canada, a Divisional Commander in the UK, a Territorial Commander in the US and Australia and also at International Headquarters. She is soon to be 64 years old, which means she is likely to serve a full five year term before reaching the mandatory retirement age for Generals (70).

Please pray for Commissioner Bond as she prepares to take on this new appontment. Please pray for outgoing General Shaw Clifton and his wife Helen, who is seriously ill at this time. Please also pray for the domino effect this appointment has, as new leadership is sought for the Australia Eastern Territory in succession to the General-elect.