I am a soldier

 Wow, what a day!  Today I am proud as punch to be a soldier in the Salvation Army... seriously proud as punch!

This morning I got to take Russ on his first trip to the country so that I could support so of my awesome Bendigo buddies, Dee and Gus as they were enrolled as soldiers.  Just like when my friend Renee was enrolled, the formalities made me think about the things I have promised to do... and whether or not I am still doing it...  But the crazy thing is at almost the exact same time I as I was witnessing this very cool step by Dee and Gus, Dave was at Box Hill watching Benny get enrolled!

Sometimes I think I forget how much of as step this is, and I am just so proud of these guys as they take the plunge and declare their decision to stand as a soldier in the army of Christ.  

Of course, just because this day can't get salvo enough, this afternoon I am heading into the city to a big salvo service to watch the big band play and to farewell the TCs... should be fun....

Is the door knock dead?

It's red shield weekend... A weekend in May that usually brings out feelings of both frustration and appreciation in salvos, I think all across the world. The thing about red shield is that the idea is great, the cause is great, sometimes the response is great... But when you are out knocking on doors in a freezing cold winters morning, it doesn't feel so great!

This morning I was out collecting for somewhere between an hour and a half and an hour, knocking on door after door in quite an affluent area of Melbourne. The thing is despite the wealth of this area, I am pretty sure my collection bag only totalled about $60... Dismal! Sure there were some people that collected a whole stack more than this, but no where near the amounts in the collection buckets from the intersections...

So today I want to pose a bit of a controversial question... Is the door-knock dead?

Seriously... Think about it? Is there something else we could be doing? More intersections? A radiothon? Maybe even a telethon? What is it that keeps us going back to the door-knock? Is it because of the tradition? Is it for the little old man or women that tells us the have been waiting for us to come all weekend? Is it just so we can all go back to the hall for a pie and our big mac voucher? Or am I just in a bad area?

The thing is, I am all for raising money and don't get me wrong I am a salvo through and through... I am just wondering if we could be doing it better... That's all!

Oh and for all of those that haven't donated yet... Please dig deep and thank God for the salvos!