Salvos men’s conference sees generations arise and unite
BY LAUREN MARTIN
The Salvation Army ARISE Men’s Conference in Sydney brought together more than 100 men from across the NSW/ACT Division to delve into prayer, prophecy, worship and evangelism.
Territorial Men’s Ministry Coordinator Lieutenant Keven Williams said the Holy Spirit’s presence was significant, particularly during the Sunday morning ministry time, and the men left with burning hearts to fan the flames of revival in their local area.
“The young adults who came were extremely hungry for the Spirit, and on the Sunday, they led some of the prayer time and ministry time,” Keven said. “They prayed over the older generation, and the prayer was for them to come alongside the younger generation … to mentor, to guide, to be like spiritual fathers. It was just amazing to see that.”
Tyrus van Gaalen, a young adult from Coffs Harbour Corps on the NSW Mid-north Coast, travelled to ARISE with a group of young men from his corps and Taree and Newcastle to the south.
He shared a prophecy with the men at the conference that God has been showing him this past year: “The generation that is alive today will see sparks sparking, but the next generation is going to see fire come into flame, and see revival happen.
“We need men to pull up their socks and get to work, because it’s time. We want to grab hold of this, I believe, especially that Australia is going to see a revival and if we don’t have that mentor-mentee relationship going [between the generations], it’s going to be non-sustainable.”
Chief Secretary Colonel John Chamness was the keynote speaker, sharing his personal journey of how Jesus shaped him and calling on the men of The Salvation Army to allow Jesus to continue shaping their stories today.
During the elective sessions, Major Darren Kingston ran a workshop on Supernatural Evangelism, sharing stories from his ministry in south-west Sydney and encouraging those gathered to pray for God to reveal a specific person for them to meet as they dispersed and walked through the Northern Beaches suburb of Collaroy, where the conference was being held.
“One man got a picture of a horse while he was praying and found that horse in front of a house and knocked on the door and prayed salvation over the guy who answered the door,” said Darren. Others prayed for healing as they walked through the suburb, giving out bottles of water.
Another elective was Men’s Health and Wellbeing with Ministry Leader Jonathon Browning.
“It was great to see more than 30 people in the room for that,” said Keven. “A lot of people want to understand mental health and what they can do to better support their friends or their family.”
Other men attended a prayer and prophetic ministry elective with Major Russell Brown and Ministry Leader Joel Spicer, as well as Keven’s elective on how to start a men’s ministry.
As the group of young men from the Mid-North Coast started their journey home on Sunday, they spoke about their heart for men to stand up and be strong leaders in their churches, their communities, and amongst their peers.
“I’m excited to see the new things that God is doing,” Tyrus said. “Especially in The Salvation Army.”
For more information on men’s ministry in the NSW/ACT Division, go to their Facebook page here.
