“I don’t think there’s any other organization that does it better than The Salvation Army,” declares Captain Dwayne Barnes, corps officer at North Street Citadel in Hamilton, Bermuda. “We focus on the spiritual lives of people, but we also focus on their physical needs as well. I wouldn’t find myself serving in any other organization than The Salvation Army just because of what we stand for and what we do on a daily basis.”

“They Need You”

Born in the South American country of Guyana, Captain Barnes was raised in a Salvation Army family. When they immigrated to the United States, he transferred his soldiership and remained a Salvationist.

“At a very young age, I was actively involved in church and became a junior soldier,” Captain Barnes says. He knew he was called to be an officer one weekend when he was 16, when he attended youth councils. That weekend, Captain Barnes was also asked to share a five-minute testimony on his life and what God was doing with it.

“I was responding to the Holy Spirit, from the very onset of the keynote meetings that Friday right up to the holiness meeting on Sunday,” he says. “I felt a need to dive closer to God, and God was already speaking to me. It was pretty powerful.”

Captain Barnes remembers vividly the youth chorus singing a popular song by Generals John Gowans and John Larsson: They Need Christ. It contained the following lyrics: “There are people living in the world out there. They need you, they need me, they need Christ.”

That shook the young man to his core. “I wanted to make a difference in the world,” he recalls. “And I knew then that it was through the ministry of The Salvation Army that I would be able to make this difference.

“I knew from that very moment that God had a calling on my life to be a Salvation Army officer.”

“No Need to Delay”

While Captain Barnes felt called, he did not go to training college until he was 26. In between, he attended college in California but then moved back to the state of New York, where he returned to his old corps, Jamaica Citadel in Queens, New York City.

“There was a sense of renewal in my calling and commitment,” he says.

In 2006, Captain Barnes was a soldier working with young people at his corps. There was a flood in Manhattan, and he found himself working alongside Lt-Colonel Guy Klemanski, general secretary of the Army’s Greater New York divisional headquarters. During breaks, they would chat about what Captain Barnes saw himself doing for The Salvation Army. When he told Lt-Colonel Klemanski that he wanted to become an officer, the officer told him, “It is time, no need to delay.”

“After the day was over, we took a photo together, which I still have with me to this day,” Captain Barnes says. “I went home more excited than ever to be part of The Salvation Army.”

After he prayed about it, God confirmed to him it was time, and in August 2006, he entered the College for Officer Training in Suffern, New York.

“It’s What I Live and Breathe”

Sixteen years later, Captain Barnes is a corps officer in Bermuda, alongside his wife, Captain Kendacy, and daughter, Celine.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my years of officership, and I am looking forward to the lifetime of ministry God has in store for my family and me,” he says.

“The Salvation Army is part of my DNA. It’s in my blood, and I can’t get it out of my blood. It’s who I am. It’s what I live and breathe,” Captain Barnes continues.

“Even when I’m not in my work environment, I’m breathing Salvation Army air. At the end of the day, I could be working somewhere else, but what I see is people’s lives being transformed through The Salvation Army. I couldn’t think of anything else that I would want to do with any other organization that would bring so much joy, excitement and pleasure.” 

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