Rethinking Calling
YouthDownSouth interviews
Captain Marion Platt, commanding officer
of the Atlanta Kroc Center.
YDS:
Please tell
us a little bit about yourself – in
particular please tell us your
testimony.
CP:
I was born in Charleston, SC, and
raised there by my grandparents, Marion
and Mildred Platt. After high-school, I
joined the US Army, and was stationed at
Fort Drum, NY (10th Mountain
Division) for over 5 years. There, I
began to abuse alcohol and lost many
relationships because of it. Near the
end of my enlistment in the military, I
began to attend a church near the army
post, and gave my life to Christ.
Having developed a close relationship
with the pastor there, I became active
in youth ministry and the worship team.
In December of 2000, I went on a
short-term mission trip to
Port-au-Prince, Haiti with my pastor; it
was there that I began to sense a call
to full-time ministry. Soon after, I
was honorably discharged from the US
Army, and returned to my hometown to
finish up my education. After looking
for a “church home” for several weeks, I
felt directed to attend The Salvation
Army Charleston Corps with my
grandmother.
YDS:
Why are you a member of The
Salvation Army?
CP:
Honestly, I can’t say that I
found everything I was looking for in
The Salvation Army, initially. It was
after I began to carefully review the
doctrines and history of The Salvation
Army, that I sensed a call to
soldiership; I fell in love with the
mission. The opportunities for ministry
were attractive to me; I had been to
other churches where one had to have
several years tenure to become active in
ministry, but at the Army, the
invitation came quickly. Before I even
had a uniform, I was visiting nursing
homes, testifying in mid-week meetings,
singing on Sundays, street-witnessing in
downtown Charleston, helping to organize
small group meetings, occasionally
leading Sunday School, and visiting
maximum-security prisons with the corps
officer (Wow!). I found a ministry
among the young adults there, and spent
time speaking with officers about their
ministries. I was amazed, and started
to detect another call in my heart.
YDS:
How did you first come into contact with
the SA?
CP:
My very first visit was as a
kindergarten student; I was invited to
Vacation Bible School by a classmate. A
few years later, I learned that my
grandparents had attended there before,
and had sent their children there, too
(I’ve seen pictures of my mom at 6 years
old, in Sunbeam uniform!) When I was
about 12 years old, I started to attend
regularly and developed a close
relationship with my Corps Officer, then
Captain James Worthy. He spent a
lot of time with me, and I looked up to
him. But by 14 years old, I was
spending less time at the Corps, and
more time in the streets.
YDS:
What do you believe it means to “be
called”?
CP:
I believe it’s easy to narrow
what it means to “be called”, to
mean only “an urge toward officership”.
Universally, the Lord calls
every human being to Salvation (I
Peter 2:9), and to follow Him
(Luke 9:23). Moreover, He calls
all of us to make disciples (Matthew
28:19).
As mature Christians, the Spirit teaches
us to listen, and wisely interpret his
individual callings on our
lives. The Apostle Paul knew that he
was personally “called to be an
apostle and set apart for the gospel of
God”, and to write a letter to those in
Rome “who are loved by God and called
to be saints” (Romans 1:1 & 7).
Therefore, everyone who has heard the
gospel of Jesus proclaimed, has been
called to salvation, called to
follow, and called to make
disciples.
More specifically, I believe that
soldiership is a calling---in the
days of “Come Join Our Army” we should
be careful about sticking a uniform on
just about anybody (and before I get any
hate mail---I love the campaign; I’m
just sayin’
J).
Furthermore, as a leader and Corps
Officer, I’d rather have a corps
congregation of “Gideon’s 3” than a
laissez-faire group of doctrine-quoting,
Sunday-morning church-goers in sharp
uniforms.
Moreover, I believe that “local
leadership” is a calling. For example:
Please do not try to teach a Teenage
Sunday School Class, if you are not
called, equipped, and committed.
Finally (and I’m sure this is what you
really wanted to know), I believe that
God is currently calling men and women
to Salvation Army officership. I
believe that He looks for men and women
who, among other things:
-
are saved and filled
with the Spirit of God
-
are willing to
preach, teach, sweep, mop, or plunge
a toilet
-
are good soldiers
(see Articles of War)
-
care deeply for
others, and are brave enough to
place themselves very last
-
are passionate about
the mission of the Army and its
doctrines
-
are committed to the
process of discipleship, personally
and by commission
-
are open to
receiving “fresh callings” every
day.
YDS:
Do you believe that you are called?
CP:
As a Salvation Army officer? Yes.
YDS:
What are your top 5 favorite
Salvationists of all time?
CP:
Commissioner Israel Gaither – Our
National Commander, for many reasons;
but to hear him speak about the mission
of the Army will make one’s heart burn.
To hear him speak about the Holy Spirit
will make one want to be filled again
and again. I’ve had two opportunities
to spend a private moment with him and
Commissioner Eva, and can say that our
National Commanders are the real deal.
Everyday Soldiers – you know the type.
He or she who has a vibrant relationship
with Christ, and puts their witness on
display at school, home, or work. Those
who faithfully serve, preach, perform,
pray, and play. The ones who challenge
others (verbally --- and by example) to
be authentic in their faith, and who
make mission happen in their
communities. I could name a hundred, but
I’ll just call them “everyday soldiers”.
Majors
Bill & Debra Mockabee – They are my
Divisional leaders, yes, and if I were
you, I would give me a very hard time
for this one (really…it does seem
very, very cheesy). Yet, these two
lovingly pastor my wife and me. They
love our kids, and our kids know it. As
leaders they fiercely challenge us to
grow in our own leadership of others and
in the development of ourselves, while
empowering us to make mission happen in
our community. They are tough leaders,
but fair.
Commissioner Samuel Logan Brengle – a
“preacher of holiness”; his writings
about entire sanctification are
timeless. His constant written reminders
that ‘things change’ once a believer is
wholly sanctified, should be carved into
marble.
Nashan Garabed (Joe the
Turk) – a “disturber of the peace”; I
love reading about the way he protected
his comrades from mobs in the early
days. Admittedly he was very weird, and
used his peculiarities to bring
attention to the mission, and lead souls
to repentance.
YDS:
If you were to give words of advice to a
young adult who is trying to figure out
what God wants him/her to do in life,
what would you say?
CP:
Evaluate your own interests and desires,
and ask “How can I serve the Lord with
this?” Remember that He created you,
and that your gifts, talents, and
interests probably aren’t there by
mistake.
Investigate the lives of
people you admire. Figure out exactly
what you admire about them, and “imitate
those who through faith and patience
inherit what has been promised”.
(Hebrews 6:12)
YDS: What
ultimately led you to the profession you
are in today?
CP: An
overwhelming hunger, an all-encompassing
desire to preach the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, to meet human needs in His name,
and to lead others to do the same.
YDS: What is
your take on ministry as it relates to
your career?
CP: As an officer,
I wear many “hats”. I’m a servant, a
soldier, a preacher, a pastor, a
community leader, a public figure, a
supervisor, a mentor, a teacher, a
student, etc. At home, I’m a husband,
father, friend, neighbor, etc. Yet
before all of that, down to my bones,
I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ; that
fact alone guides the way I “wear
my hats” publicly, professionally, and
privately.
I believe that it is my
duty to serve my community to the best
of my ability, sharing the message of
Christ and meeting human needs in His
name… but I could have remained a
soldier and done that at my home corps.
It just so happens that I accepted a
“call to officership”.
And as an officer in
this “Kingdom building” organization, I
don’t think I’ve been called to be
Rambo; I can’t accomplish
much without other people. Moreover, in
any military organization, the officer
oversees the mission in his or her
assigned sector. Officers evaluate the
battlefield (or community), train
and equip soldiers (or congregation),
and strategically deploy those forces to
engage the enemy (or Satan, injustice,
poverty, etc.), and is ultimately
responsible for the accomplishment or
failure of the mission (mission
meaning: the transformation of lives;
men, women, and children becoming
disciples). When I stand before
Jesus, I believe that a “well-done” will
be in order only if lives have been
transformed under my watch.
YDS: What is
your favorite Scripture verse?
CP: The Spirit of
the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the
LORD has anointed me to preach good news
to the poor. He has sent me to bind up
the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom
for the captives and release from
darkness for the prisoners… (Isaiah
61:1)
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Captain
Marion Platt is the commanding
officer of the
Atlanta Kroc Center.
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