Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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June 29, 2008

New Salvation Army captains ready to help meet region’s needs

By GREG JORDAN

PRINCETON — Hearing a call to full-time ministry leads a person to many places. For two captains in the Salvation Army, the road of ministry has lead to West Virginia. During this ministry journey, one captain got a taste of being the Man of Steel.

Capts. Aaron and Kelly Goldfarb recently left their former post in Baltimore, Md. to become the officers and pastors for Princeton, West Virginia. When the couple arrived, they immediately noted the differences between Mercer County and the sprawl of Baltimore.

“People here are entirely friendly,” Kelly said as she took a brief break from unpacking and organizing in their new offices.

In Baltimore, the Salvation Army is lost in the busy environment; in fact, many people don’t know about the Salvation Army or its mission. In Mercer County, it’s different, Aaron said.

“In Princeton the Salvation Army is respected, so we have a lot to live up to,” he said.

“The Salvation Army’s profile is so much higher here,” Kelly added.

Individually, the Goldfarbs’ roads to ministry started in different parts of the world. Kelly’s started in the Yorkshire region of England, where the Salvation Army was her home church. She later came to the United States and settled in Kentucky to work for a Salvation Army summer camp.

“That’s where I felt the call to ministry with the Salvation Army,” she recalled.

In contrast, Aaron came into the Salvation Army in 1990 through its band program.

“And in 2003 I felt God’s call to ministry and have been in the Salvation Army ever since. That’s full-time ministry. A Christian is always called to ministry,” he said.

The Goldfarbs will have help as they manage Princeton’s Salvation Army. A newly appointed officer, Lt. Jessica Tosh, will be assisting them. Placing new officers to work at Salvation Army units is a new procedure, Kelly said.

“This means we can better serve the community,” she said.

Among the items that had been unpacked was a Superman lunch box on a shelf above Aaron’s desk. It was given to him as a mark a gratitude after an unusual incident June 8. He was traveling outside Atlanta, Ga. with two Salvation Army buses when a nearby recreational vehicle started smoking.

The RV pulled over and Aaron’s bus stopped near it. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and hurried to help the driver put out the fire; meanwhile, the driver’s daughter ran to the bus. It later turned out that the RV’s muffler had caught fire.

When Aaron ran to help his fellow travelers, he happened to be wearing a color scheme often associated with a man who leaps over buildings in a single bound.

“He had a big blue shirt with a red and yellow S on the front,” Kelly said.

Only in this case, the S was for Salvation.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com



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