Part One
This year, four men and one woman who affirmed the call to be full time Servants of God in the Salvation Army have chosen to leave their previous professions to study at the officers' school to become Salvation Army officers. Waiting for the five new cadets are two years of intensive study at the School for Officer Training, which include distance learning at home, regular ‘on-campus seminars’ and field training at a corps or department.
“For me, humor is a language to reach people”
Marcus Andersson, 36, was one of the young people who planted a new SA corps in Vårby, a suburb south of Stockholm, 1994-1995.“Yes, we were five pioneers”, Marcus says, and shares that one of the four was a SA officer, and who is the Training school's current headmaster, Mattias Nordenberg. The other were Veronica Wahlstrom and Johan Grahn both currently officers and serve in the officers' school, and Anna Byberg.
Marcus is married to Rosmarie, working as a instructor/ leader of a Swedish Lutheran Church congregation and they have two boys who are 5 and 1 year. The family lives in Malmo, in the southern part of Sweden with Copenhagen, Denmark as their nearest large city neighbour just 35 minutes across the waters on one of Europe’s longest spanning bridges. Following his employment at Telia (Swedish Telephone Company) Marcus worked as a successful stand-up comedian and has studied theology in Malmö / Copenhagen and the nearby university town of Lund.
“There are too few humorists who engage in theology and also too few theologians who engage in humor”, says Macus with a laugh.
“For me, humor is a language to reach people, and when I complete my training to be a SA officer, I can return to the pub, an environment in which salvation officers were often active during the pioneering days, a tradition that I now want to continue”.
Words spoken and sung are my passion
Daniel Viklund, a renowned singer who last Christmas released his latest CD, was born in 1969 in Vansbro (in Sweden’s fabled Dalarna Province), where the Salvation Army at one time had one of their strongholds.
The SA’s ministry and mission are not new to Daniel, “I actually have links to the Salvation Army in the past”, says Daniel, adding that; my father's cousin Sven-Erik Power, was a SA officer and evangelist”.
Daniel recalls growing up in the Vanbro corps and even as a teenager wanted be a officer and belonged to the group; SAY (SA Youth) which spoke of ministry calling issues. Almost thirty years later Daniel affirms the calling of the officers' commission and becomes a cadet in the Salvation Army.
His musical education brought Daniel to southern Sweden, to the Malmö Academy of Music and the Opera School in Copenhagen. While studying inMalmo Daniel served as Bandmaster of the Malmo SA Corps. After a year as a musician Daniel knew that God called him, and which led him to serve for nine years as Pastor of a free church near his home in western Dalarna.
He had previously been a salvation soldier, but parted from TSA in 1994, sensing that God called him to work within the free churchs’ movement. However, since 2009 he again wears a SA soldier's uniform, and now with a cadet’s distinctive trim.
“When I realized that God wanted me to become part of the Salvation Army again, he opened new doors”, says Daniel, who lives in Västerås and does his field work experience in the Corps.
“I love the Salvation Army's history”, continues Daniel and uses the expression "the redhot idealism" of the Salvation Army's involvement. It suits an artist's soul like me, who requires a passionate commitment, according to Daniel and says there is room for that in the Salvation Army.
Daniel is reticent when speaking of the future, but suggests that he would be very willing to work as an evangelist.
“Words, sung and spoken are my passion”, he concludes.
(from TSA Sweden Website: translation- Sven Ljungholm)
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