Bundaberg, Australia

Corps officer major Peter Pearson has been wearing his red epaulettes for 27 years. For Peter, never has officership been as exciting as it is now. Four years ago, the Central Queensland corps held a 24-7 prayer initiative. Participants opened their hearts and - without knowing what God had in store - they committed themselves to his plan for Bundaberg. The results, Major Pearson says, have been "mind blowing".

"Since then, we have started a group for people recovering from addictions. ... God suggested we try that. He started it and then one of the leaders in the community, salvationist Tom Quinn, said he'd found a shed."

The shed is now the Tom Quinn Centre. It's the hub of the Salvation Army's mission in Bundaberg. It employs 15 people and operates half a dozen programs, all designed to train, educate and rehabilitate some of the most disadvantaged people in the community.

Late last year, the Salvos Media video production unit travelled to Bundaberg to film this local mission for the fourth and final instalment in the A Cause to Die For dvd series.

"The series is a ministry tool for salvationists, demonstrating what it is to be a modern day warrior in the Salvation Army," says producer Peter Hobbs. "The previous episodes have looked at the mission of the Salvation Army and how soldiers are designed to fulfil that mission. in this final chapter we discover how corps can do mission in their own backyards. Bundaberg is doing that, and doing it extremely well."

Pipeline (Australia) Feb 2006