On Sunday, September 15, the Canada and Bermuda Territory will officially welcome 27 cadets to the College for Officer Training in Winnipeg. Watch the Welcome Meeting live at 4 p.m. CDT on our livestream channel.

In these brief testimonies, the Messengers of Grace (2019-2021) reflect on their calling to officership.


Glenda Barrow
Pathway Community Church, Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador Division

I understand officership to be a unique calling. It is diverse and hard to define. While a pastoral calling, it is first a complete submission to Christ and a willingness to serve wherever and however needed.

Roger Barrow
Pathway Community Church, Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador Division

I believe the College for Officer Training will help me fulfil my calling by giving me a strong foundation on which to build my personal ministry. It will not only give me time to go deeper into God’s Word, but also teach me the fundamentals required for leading a congregation.


April Barthau
North York Temple, Toronto, Ontario Central-East Division

Since childhood I knew I would become a nurse and then a Salvation Army officer. I have believed this for as long as I can remember, and all because of the overseas appointments my parents had as Salvation Army officers. I wanted to help them in their ministry of helping people. I graduated as a registered nurse in 2012, and married Marco that same year. We discussed officership, but felt called first to serve as medical missionaries with The Salvation Army. Working for The Salvation Army in Papua New Guinea has affirmed our calling.

Marco Herrera Lopizic
North York Temple, Toronto, Ontario Central-East Division

At the age of six, I gave my heart to God and received the first call to be an officer. Back then, it was just a dream of childhood, but growing up, this call became stronger. When I was a child, I spent many days in the hospital and I could see how important it is to have good health. I became a doctor to physically help others. The three years I have served in Papua New Guinea have helped me see that people also need spiritual health. I know this is the time to answer God’s call.


Janice Brinson
Brantford Community Church, Ontario Great Lakes Division

Being an officer will provide a foundation from which I can use the gifts God has given me to carry out the Great Commission to a hurting world. I look forward to journeying with others, bringing the message of salvation and helping to create disciples for the kingdom.

Jason Brinson
Brantford Community Church, Ontario Great Lakes Division

My call to officership was not a loud voice but a gradual experience where God used the circumstances and people around me to prepare me and affirm the call. Encouraging words, wise counsel and continued support made God’s path for my life clear.


Kelsie Burford
Chatham-Kent Ministries, Ontario Great Lakes Division

My parents were officers and I can remember as kids we often played “church,” when we imitated and re-enacted what we thought they did. I believe that was God’s way of speaking to me about becoming an officer even before I could really understand what that meant. I look forward to my time at the College for Officer Training because it will help me fulfil God’s call, not just through academic and intellectual training, but through relationships and personal spiritual growth.

Mark Burford
Chatham-Kent Ministries, Ontario Great Lakes Division

I received my call to full-time ministry during music camp at Jackson’s Point Camp at the age of 13. Thinking I knew everything—even more than God—and being a little afraid of living life as an officer and not understanding how he could use me in that way, I said no. I finally accepted God’s call during a Take Time to be Holy event in St. Thomas, Ont., and since then I have received numerous affirmations, especially when I was engaged in full-time ministry in Elliot Lake, Ont., with my wife, Kelsie.


Beverly Burton
Kentville Community Church, N.S., Maritime Division

Officership is an opportunity for me to be involved in full-time ministry. It is an awesome responsibility that can only be accomplished if I am in close communion with God. I must rely on him for the strength I need to go forward and the wisdom to act and as speak as he would have me do.

John Burton
Kentville Community Church, N.S., Maritime Division

Many people have helped me discover my calling from God to be an officer, especially my wife, Beverly, who has encouraged me to listen to God and find fulfilment in his promises. She led me back to God and toward this glorious calling of servitude in the kingdom of God.


Anjie DaSilva
Kamloops Community Church, British Columbia Division

The Lord led me to The Salvation Army as an employee of community and family services in Kamloops. I started regularly attending worship services at the corps with my husband, Tony, and we became soldiers. While I had already sensed a call from the Lord to full-time ministry, Tony became aware of his call during the Officership Information Weekend last year. I am excited to attend the College for Officer Training and look forward to the field training opportunities.

Tony DaSilva
Kamloops Community Church, British Columbia Division

Before joining The Salvation Army, my previous pastors talked to me about God’s call on my life to be a shepherd, and this was confirmed for me through the encouragement of our corps officers. I see the College for Officer Training helping me to fulfil this call by training me to deliver the gospel in a loving way to bring hope and salvation to all.


Dion Durdle
Westville, N.S., Maritime Division

God’s call on my life has been affirmed through the love I have received from the family of God in The Salvation Army. Growing up as an officers’ child, I experienced life and relationships in many corps where I was encouraged in my faith and was able to grow spiritually through ministry opportunities that were presented. Officership presents a new opportunity for me to witness and serve for the glory of God.

Jenelle Durdle
Westville, N.S., Maritime Division

I was very young when I first sensed God’s call on my life to minister with compassion and love. In 2004, I was enrolled as a senior soldier and it was during that time when God began speaking to me about committing my life to full-time service as an officer. He has brought many inspiring women into my life who have spoken his love and confidence over me, and it is these relationships that have affirmed my call.


Jory Hewson
Oshawa Temple, Ontario Central-East Division

I believe my time at the College for Officer Training will provide practical skills related to officership and deepen my theological understandings. I look forward to working shoulder to shoulder and fellowshipping with our session-mates who share the same calling. God has called my family, by his grace, to live our lives in devotion and service to him.

Rebecca Hewson
Oshawa Temple, Ontario Central-East Division

The call to officership is very humbling. It is the opportunity to serve the Lord full time with my husband and our children, which is something that cannot be done in my own strength. He gives me the courage to say yes to his leading. The College for Officer Training will enhance my commitment to God’s call as I learn to channel my strengths and build on my weaknesses. I am grateful to have the opportunity to train in this way.


David Hipperson
North York Temple, Toronto, Ontario Central-East Division

I recognized God’s call while helping at senior music camp at Jackson’s Point Camp. After a morning Bible meeting, I sensed the Lord telling me that officership was something I could do. A subsequent conversation with then-Captain Mark Hall, the divisional youth secretary at that time, about officership confirmed that the Lord was guiding me to fulfil this calling.


Amy Patrick
Glenmore Temple, Calgary, Alberta and Northern Territories Division

My grandparents, Majors Glenn and Jacqueline Patrick, helped me understand God’s call on my life. After graduating with a degree in social work, I wanted to see the world and have a career in social work. Knowing this, my grandparents helped me to organize a trip to Sri Lanka, where they had spent many years as officers. When I saw the work of the Army and the love the Sri Lankan people have for Christ, my call to service as an officer was realized.


Patrick Penton
Bishop’s Falls Corps, Newfoundland and Labrador Division, and Korea International Corps, Ansan City, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

When I came in contact with the Army, I wanted to be a part of it. After understanding the need for salvation, even as a child, I was saved. I continually shared the gospel with those around me, and it wasn’t uncommon to find me passing out gospel tracts from the corps, “preaching” outside or asking folks if they knew Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Through this I believe God was preparing me. In later years, I continued to recognize that desire to share the transforming news of the gospel and serve others.


John Thomas
Meadowlands, Hamilton, Ontario Great Lakes Division

My wife, Aimee, invited me to The Salvation Army before we were married. I had not grown up in the Army, and the love and acceptance I felt from the people at the church were amazing. After we married and started a family, we felt called to be enrolled as senior soldiers at Meadowlands. The preparation classes helped me see the importance of worshipping God, and as we became more involved at the corps, I discovered opportunities to reach out to the community and to help people discover faith. This opened my heart, eyes and soul to officership.

Aimee Thomas
Meadowlands, Hamilton, Ontario Great Lakes Division

I discovered God’s call after a difficult time in my life. Our house had been flooded and our only vehicle had to be replaced. Hardest of all was our middle child having surgery to remove a benign tumour from his neck. It felt as if I was caught in an ocean, where waves knocked me down and I came back up, gasping for air. With every event, however, I noticed a change in myself and a love for Jesus Christ awoke in me. He showed me how to be compassionate and thankful, and I have confidence in God’s plan.


Amanda Thompson
Vernon Community Church, British Columbia Division

My husband, Jeremy, and I attended the Officership Information Weekend at the College for Officer Training in 2018. God spoke to both of us that weekend and we have experienced incredible peace and joy since taking steps in obedience to his call. I know this is where God wants me to be and that he will equip me for officership.

Jeremy Thompson
Vernon Community Church, British Columbia Division

As I was completing Bible college, I was encouraged to be a servant leader, which has stuck with me. There have been many officers, lay leaders and family members who have encouraged me and shown me the daily sacrifices, challenges and joys of officership. I went to the Officership Information Weekend last year with an open mind and heart, and rediscovered the heart of the Army, which prompted me to accept God’s call.


Almeta Ward
Conception Bay South Corps, Newfoundland and Labrador Division

I sensed God’s call to full-time ministry when I was a teenager, in particular while attending a youth councils event. I expressed my feelings to cadets and officers, and it was their words of affirmation that made me fully aware of where my journey needed to be heading. While attending a congress event in Newfoundland, I totally surrendered my life to God’s will and I am confident that he will continue to direct my path.

Lester Ward
Conception Bay South Corps, Newfoundland and Labrador Division

Officership is a calling I feel blessed to have received. I believe in being open to God so that he can use me wherever I am needed. I look forward to attending the College for Officer Training so that he can prepare me for different avenues of ministry, by studying his Word and fellowshipping with others who will journey with me.


Amber Wareham
Glace Bay, N.S., Maritime Division

I first felt God calling me through the words of I Surrender by All Sons and Daughters to leave everything behind and follow him. Months later, I attended a women’s conference that concluded with a video entitled Wake Up. I did just that. I watched that video with tears in my eyes, finally seeing God’s plan for me, to lead his people out of the bondage of their sin and sorrow.

Brent Wareham
Glace Bay, N.S., Maritime Division

Since my youth, God has called me to be a shepherd of his flock. Throughout the trials and tribulations of my life, he has stood beside me, watching, waiting and always calling. Although I never felt worthy, he still called, and when he finally revealed that he was calling my wife, as well, I answered with a resounding “Yes!”