Keepers of the Covenant – Commissioning Testimony

From: Coffs Harbour Corps (NSW)

Appointment: Corps Officer/Team Member at Westside Salvos (Vic.)

Silver Star recipients: Norma Porcia and Major Jeanette van Gaalen

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I remember the day clear as glass.

Nearly 10 years ago, a Parramatta Drug Court judge sent me to Adele House, a drug and alcohol rehab in Coffs Harbour. I was fresh out of prison with only the greens on my back, a black garbage bag of donated clothes, and a Virgin Airlines ticket north.

At Sydney airport, I stood among travellers with bright luggage and fixed destinations. And there I was, clutching a garbage bag tied in a knot. My life reduced to someone else’s clothes, 20 cents in my pocket and rope holding up pants two sizes too big.

That moment stripped me bare.

God’s light didn't shine through stained-glass windows that day – it shone through the faces of strangers with Samsonite bags and second glances. 

I broke my phone in the airport bathroom and chose not to return to the old life. That was my first surrender. The garbage bag taught me something that would guide me long before I knew what it meant: travel light. I didn’t yet know where I was headed, only that freedom began with letting go.

Today, I recognise that same lesson in ministry – to live unencumbered, ready to move when God leads. 

Before that awakening, my story was addiction, prison and shame. I had burned every bridge that love once built, and I begged by the Parramatta River just to stay alive. Yet even there, grace found me. 

At the rehab, two Salvation Army officers (now retired) – Majors Russell and June Grice – led a Bible study that carried light into my darkness. There I met Jesus in a way that left no doubt. He called me out of despair and into a new life. The same hands, stretched wide on the cross, reached into my mess and lifted me up. My ‘yes’ changed everything. 

When Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people,” those words echoed through my story. He didn’t say, “Follow me, and I’ll use you immediately.” He said, “I will make you.” These past 10 years – especially the last two in officer formation – have been his making of me. 

At Eva Burrows College, I learned to cross liminal spaces where fear meets faith, and God waits on the other side. Discipline, reflection, devotion and service became sacred rhythms. Crossing those thresholds cost me more than I was prepared to give up, but God gave back more than I ever dreamed. 

Why The Salvation Army? It holds together the two truths that saved my life: holiness and social justice. I know what it is to be set free by sanctifying grace – and to need help when you have nothing left. The Army preaches salvation and serves suffering humanity. 

To wear this uniform is to give back what was freely given. I’m now part of the Westside Melbourne Salvos Team, where theology meets the rough edges of life. I’ve served meals, prayed with strangers and sat beside those wrestling with grief, addiction and homelessness.

Ministry, I’ve learned, is often more about presence than preaching – though I can do that too. 

Our session is called Keepers of the Covenant. It sounds heroic, like something from an Indiana Jones film. But I’ve learned we don’t keep the covenant – Christ keeps it. On Calvary, he sealed the promise in his blood. My calling is not to be the main character but to witness his grace. 

The words of Isaiah 43 still anchor me: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” 

I was once lost, but now I am found – redeemed, called and sent. 

Today I carry more than a garbage bag. 

I carry the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Once I held the weight of shame in my hands. 

Now I hold grace – and it is light. 

To him be the glory. 

Bible verse: “But as for you, man of God ... pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:11-12 NRSVUE).