Vox populi | choose life

who lives? who dies?

I

watched a heart-wrenching documentary about conjoined twins joined at the head.  The technology to separate the twins is available, and the mother had a decision to make; leave them joined and they will live or separate them and run the risk of one of them dying.  In fact, in the case of the girls, one would surely die.  Sometimes I think our leadership in the Army has those same decisions to make.

I believe in kids camps, and I think they are a great way to give kids a respite from difficult family situations, to give kids an opportunity to foster friendships with other campers, and to give young people opportunities to develop leadership skills.  In our territory, decisions for Christ are greatest in our camp programs.

Camp is often the beginning for a child’s faith journey, and many people will tell you the significance their time at camp had in their spiritual formation.  But… our camps are getting sold all over the territory.  They’re too expensive, or not financially viable in most cases.  We just aren’t getting the kids even when the rate to send a kid to camp is $25 with the remaining amount being subsidized through targeted fundraising.  Why?  For one, leaders in ministry units aren’t getting behind the camp program and either aren’t supporting or promoting camp.  I could drive to a local Salvation Army ministry unit in the city, and run over 100 kids enroute if I’m not careful.  They don’t send one kid to camp.  Here’s another thought… our Divisional Youth Secretaries aren’t passionate about the camp program, and probably don’t have a vision for what it can be.  This isn’t the case everywhere, but where camps are dying I’d like to see the three and five year plan for growth and development.

What does this have to do with my opening comment?  It’s this… it always seems that I can solve all of the problems of the Army with four or five friends over a coffee.  We have all the answers.  I have to say I’m a bit stymied on this one though.  Don’t get me wrong because I think I know the perfect people to come and solve all the camp woes.  They’re passionate, love kids, work very hard for kids and have vision for what could be.  The problem is they live elsewhere, and if we pulled them out of that place to plug this hole then I’m afraid it will only be a matter of time when we’ll be pulling someone out of another place to plug the new hole we’ve created.  So, I’d have to choose who lives and who dies.  I think that’s the decision the DCs and Personnel have to make in the face of a declining base of officer personnel in a territory.  Who lives and who dies?

One solution, which is the same for many other problems, is this… at the grass roots we need to promote leadership.  It begins in the corps with discipleship and opportunities to serve, and it translates in the corps cultivating people who will become officers.  I know, you’re asking, “why officers?”  We can tackle that another day, but for today that is who we are and what we do, and it is actually really good.  Hang out with cadets for a few days, and you’ll see hope ahead.  People will say we foster and grow, but the structure needs to change for people to move to the next step.  True, if change comes from the top, but often change is initiated at the grass roots.  It would be great if we didn’t have to play the ‘who lives or dies game’, but rather had an Army passionate about life, abundant life.  It begins with us.

How would you solve it?

Vox populi appears every Friday on theRubicon. Find past Vox populi posts and a bio of Capt. Rick Zelinsky here.

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