"Going to the Army!" - Marc Harry's Podcast

Had things gone to plan: then today – Tuesday 15th April 2025 I would have been preparing myself for one of my favourite events of the year.   Each Holy Week for quite some years now the Band and Songster Brigade from Lincoln Salvation Army here in the UK have presented an evening of reflective music for Easter.  The music chosen has usually been interspersed with bible readings and poetry written for and about the events of Holy Week leading up to, and including Good Friday.  Some years we have had a featured soloist as well to add to the evening. Over the past few weeks, however, my health has not been too good.  The stresses of life, despite my general happiness in life, have exacerbated some health conditions that changed my life a great deal some 20 years ago – conditions that, as these recent days have proven, are still capable of coming back and haunting me from time to time.    So, despite the preparations that we had made and the posters and leaflets produced to invite people to the event it has not been possible to go ahead THIS YEAR – let’s hope things can return to normal in plenty of time for 2026.   In the meantime, however, I thought - why not use the music chosen for this year, some used in previous years and some other items  from our wonderful Salvation Army heritage to produce a Holy Week programme of reflective music that can be enjoyed by many, many more listeners than our SA hall could hold – and, what’s more enjoyed and blessed by time and time again!

To mark the TENTH anniversary of the very first GttA podcast in July 2013 this is the first of a very special 4-part series of podcasts featuring music from each decade of the Army's existence right up to the present day. The Salvation Army began - as The Christian MIssion - in 1865 when William Booth preached outside The Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel, East London.  Spreading throughout the whole of England, Wales and Scotland in its first decade it became The Salvation Army in 1878, Booth taking on the mantle of the General of his army. Within 25 years, as we hear in this episode, 60,000 Salvationists could gather together at the Crystal Palace for a Silver Jubilee and today, 158 years after those humble beginnings the Army is at work in over 130 countries, right round the world. This episode uses music with its origins in the earliest 40 years of the movement's history 1865-1905, a surprising amount of which is still known and occasionally used in the present day.  We hear music from writers such as Richard Slater, George Scott Railton, Kate and Herbert Booth (two of the Founder's children) and William Pearson as well as, of course, popular tunes of the day 'adopted and adapted' for the Army's mission a-plenty. Some of the music has been adapted by well-known composers like Ray Steadman-Allen, Norman Bearcroft and Leslie Condon and sections featured include the ISB and ISS, Hendon, Portsmouth, Stockholm and Boscombe Bands, songster brigades from Birmingham and Moonee Ponds, Sydney Australia and a stellar collection of soloists including Susan Turner, Fred Crowhurst, Kaytie Harding and Ian Johnston - not to mention Commissioner John Lawley himself! Enjoy this opportunity to transport yourself back in time to hear music and words with a relevance to the present age. God bless you all. Marc 

'The Salvation Meeting' makes its return this Sunday after my summer break. It returns with something, by necessity, a little different from a 'normal' meeting.The 90 minute 'special' has been specially written and recorded to be broadcast the evening before the funeral of our late Queen Elizabeth II and takes the form of a 'Heavenward-looking Vigil' Specially selected Salvation Army music and songs are interspersed with thoughts reflecting Her Majesty's life and service, particularly her strong and vibrant Christian faith - and many of her own quotes have been recorded by Jeannine Ridha for the broadcast. The meeting will be broadcast, as usual, on Fortress Radio at 6pm on Sunday 18th September and then available on the "Going to the Army!" site as well as the Fortress Radio Podcast service. Please join me for this special meeting.Marc

For the last meeting prepared before I take my summer break (I'll be back in September!) I found my inspiration after seeing a question asked in a Salvation Army forum online:  What is a Salvation Meeting? In these days when most corps only have one service on a Sunday it seems strange to some to imagine we once had at least 3 indoor meetings, Sunday Schools, Open-Air meetings and more EVERY Sunday! Each meeting had its own focus - Praise, personal Holiness - and Salvation - the meeting to which we were encouraged to bring friends, neighbours etc. in the hope and belief that they would find salvation for themselves. So...I try to answer the question - and make an impassioned plea for a response in this meeting. As always there is some wonderful music - Dean Goffin's timeless classic 'The Light of the World', Ivor Bosanko's beautiful setting of Herbert Booth's 'I Bring them to Jesus' - some great songs and choruses and a singing company item with a guest General participating for good measure! Join me for an hour's worship and challenge - and God bless you all. Marc

"Send the Fire!" What must it have been like to have been in that room...that day...on that occasion when the sound of a mighty wind brought tongues of flame to settle on each person's head? And then to have gone out into the streets with the followers of Jesus as each man heard the message in his own language - as the sheer POWER of the Holy Spirit on that first Day of Pentecost saw many thousands of people saved! Well...all the best times have NOT already happened!  Did YOU know that you can have a similar effect on the people around you?  Do you even WANT that to happen? Join me to explore what God wants and expects from us, His followers today, in taking Christ to a world in such desperate need! "All around us seemingly, darkness holds its sway."  What could the FIRE of the Holy Spirit do to alleviate that darkness? So why don't we? Great songs, wonderful band, songster and singing company music and a plea from us all:  "Holy Spirit - Promised Presence - FALL ON ME."

"I've had enough!!" "Stop the world, I wanna get off!" Heard these expressions?  Maybe you've said them? Life can sometimes seem like a trial - one thing after another, problems piling up... Peter gives us reassurance in his first epistle: "So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here." Of course, nothing we endure could ever get anywhere near the trials faced by Job - yet Job managed to remain faithful (even if he DID have a good old moan!) Tonight's meeting looks to encourage us at these times of trial.  Of course, praising God will always make us feel better - so we have some praise!  Remembering to rely on Him and letting Him no how much we appreciate His presence is also important, of course, and it's lovely to hear Alistair Taylor's wonderful setting of 'I Need Thee'  to help us. Add some more beautiful songs and a timeless selection by Major Leslie Condon - and you have a taste of what to expect in another hour of that unique Salvation Army fellowship!

Never has there been a more maligned animal than the poor old donkey!  Forever seen as slow, grumpy and - in the words of GK Chesterton  "The devil's walking parody of all four-footed things." But, as the general once wrote "In the service of Jesus there's a place for all" and oh yes, our donkey had his day! There's a lot more to the story than you may know, though...so come and join me for a great time of Salvation Army fellowship, worship and music in this week's Salvation Meeting. Music comes from Norwich Citadel Band, the International Staff Band and the Melbourne Staff Band (with Sylvie Paladino), as well as the Sunbury Junior songsters and the cast of 'Blood of the Lamb'....plus a few more too! Come and wave your palm branches and welcome Jesus as we mark His entry into Jerusalem!

While in every way this is a 'traditional' Salvation Meeting in every other way I decided to use exclusively the music of General John Larsson, recently Promoted to Glory. While choosing the music for meeting - songs, choruses, band piece, songster and singing company songs - I tried to keep away from the many songs the General wrote for the many musicals he co-wrote with General John Gowans.  I hope to feature each musical in a stand-alone episode of its own in my other podcast series "Going to the Army!" in future days. The bible message is delivered by the General himself - recorded at a Congress meeting in Australia some years ago. Marc 

The meeting is titled "A Prayer for Peace" and we will be lifting up the situation in Ukraine to God in the very best Salvation Army way. Music from the International Staff Band and Songsters, Sunbury Junior Singers, Canadian Staff Band, Portsmouth Citadel Songsters and much more... Music from composers including Eric Ball, Ray Steadman-Allen, Kenneth Downie, 'Gowans & Larsson' and Howard Davies are blended with prayers from Salvationists worldwide...asking God to intervene in the current turmoils and warfare.

There can be no doubt about it! God HAS blessed The Salvation Army over the 157 years of its existence.  He still blesses our ministry today - in well over 130 countries all around the world.  Hallelujah! But, there can be no denying it, the membership/soldiery of the Army has declined to numbers well below those we remember in years gone by.  Should we shake our heads and wonder what has happened, while we fade away even further?  Or do we take our inspiration from parts of the world where The Salvation Army is STILL GROWING - and growing fast? It's time to shake ourselves into action and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!   I'm going to anyway - that's why, tonight, I am 'raising my Ebenezer' and looking to the Lord to lead the way towards turning that corner! Some great songs tonight and music from some of the Army's greatest writers including Arthur Gullidge, William Pearson, John Larsson, Len Ballantine, Chris Mallett and there's also Ballington Booth to top it all off! Ensembles featured include Norfolk Fellowship Brass, International Staff Band and Songsters, Chelmsford Singing Company, Portsmouth Citadel Songsters and Jonny Searle.