Report of visit of General John Larsson and Commisisoner Freda Larsson 26-27 April 2008

General finds good Spirit among the Jesus Folk at Hadleigh Temple

‘A rare privilege that will ensure that I will always have warm thoughts of Hadleigh Temple’ is how retired General John Larsson described a festival of his own compositions to celebrate adult & family ministries weekend at the corps, featuring the silver service club, home league and ladies' fellowship.

Tea

The weekend began with a tea at the hall to which the adult & family ministries local offers were invited. A superb buffet meal was laid on by Irene Ivory and Liz Orford, during which the General and Commissioner Freda Larsson took opportunity to chat informally with those present, and then address the group. Drawing on her experience as former World President of Women's Organisations, Commissioner Freda Larsson spoke words of encouragement to the team.

The General then followed in jovial mood, noting that all those present were local officers. After cracking a joke about local officers, he proceeded in more serious vein to underline the importance of the adult & family ministries work and also encouraged those involved in it at Hadleigh Temple.

The visit was organised by Assistant Over-60's Leader Robin Bryant, who included many of the music sections of the corps in the Saturday festival. In addition to the band and songsters, the singing company, home league singers and newly-formed 'Silver Songsters' took part all bringing songs composed by the General. Special applause was offered to the also newly-formed 'Silver Timbrelists'.

The General conducted the band in the only march he had written: 'It's New'.

Musicals

The General described his experiences working with retired General John Gowans in writing 10 Christian stage musicals. He paid tribute to Colonel Hubert Boardman, who was in the congregation. When Colonel Boardman was candidates' secretary, it was at his request that Gowans/Larsson musicals formed part of the annual vocational house party for young people considering their calling. It was for these events that musicals such as Spirit, Jesus Folk, Glory, and Blood of the Lamb came to be written.

The vocational house parties were only one week long, and the two Johns typically were not appointed locally to each other. So the first Saturday morning was taken up with the two Johns gelling with each other's ideas and bringing the songs together. Some songs weren't even finished until later in the week! During the Saturday afternoon the delegates arrived and in the evening each delegate had a one-minute casting interview. The pressure was on for the musical to be to performance standard by the following Saturday as the hall had been booked, the musical marketed and tickets sold – and this long before the performers had even met for the first time. There was the added challenge of only having the mornings to prepare because other things were planned for the afternoons and evenings.

The General said that he and General Gowans had written 250 songs. Most came with words first, but one of their favourites was Someone Cares. This started with the theme: just those two words. General Larsson played some of the melodies he tried for this song on the piano, explaining how he arrived at the one that was finally published, but at the time of writing it, the only words he had were 'Someone Cares'. The rest were 'la, la, la', until John Gowans completed the work.

The two Johns have a high regard for each other's skills. John Larsson was particularly impressed with the words for 'They shall come from the east', used in 'The Blood of the Lamb'. In putting a tune to this set of words, he determined that matching the rhythm of the words first would do it best justice and a melody could be added over that rhythm later. Having got a feel for the rhythm, he sat down at the piano and played a first attempt. In recounting this story, the general played again his first attempt at a rhythmic pattern to congregation at Hadleigh Temple. It was immediately recognised as the very tune that had been published. The General said, 'It needed no additional melody. I didn't change one note of it. The Lord gave me everything in one go.' A couple of years later at a youth congress in the USA he witnessed 5000 young people from the east, west, north and south of the globe enter the arena; each singing the song in their own language. At that point he thanked God for the privilege being a channel of His work.

When the singing company sang ‘Hundreds and Thousands’, the General enthused that this song had been used of God widely as it found its way into a number of school hymn books and has been sung by children at school over the last 40 years.

Radio

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Sunday began with a live early-morning interview on BBC Essex. The General paid tribute to the people of Hadleigh Temple for putting on a programme of his music and described how the previous evening had gone. He was then invited to speak about his musicals, being compared to Andrew Lloyd-Webber. Of local interest to Essex people was his ancestry and he was asked about his great grandmother. Mrs Benwell who, widowed at 29, went to Bethnal Green in a negative state of mind and encountered a Salvation Army meeting under a railway arch, where she found salvation. On returning to her home in Shoeburyness, she started worship meetings in her front room, which was the start of The Salvation Army's presence there. He then described how his grandfather came to leave Shoeburyness to serve The Salvation Army in South America.

Breakfast at the General's hotel with local adult & family ministries leaders followed the interview.

Worship

Sunday morning worship was led by Commissioner Freda and the General spoke on forgetting the things we should forget and remembering the blessings God gives us. Auxiliary-Captain Mrs Vera Oakes led the prayers with Joyce Chaston, Robin Bryant read the Bible and Lieut-Colonel David Phillips led a testimony time featuring Isla Walker.

General John led the evening meeting which was opened in prayer by Ladies Fellowship Treasurer Maureen Maley. The General took his seat at the piano and introduced a couple of songs to different tunes: ‘He giveth more grace’ to The Bells of St. Mary's, and ‘Simply trusting every day’ to Michael Row the Boat Ashore  incorporating a Black and White Minstrels twist. Home League Secretary Major Pam Saunders conducted a testimony interview with a home league member, Doris Auvache. She told how a conversation with a home league member on a train led to her joining the home league and eventually to becoming a soldier. In addition to the music ministry of the band and songsters, the home league singers brought a song from the most recent musical The Meeting, called 'I Want to Say Yes'.

After words of appreciation from Over-60s Leader Lieut-Colonel David Philips, Major Pam Saunders presented the Larssons with a gift of an orchid plant and a copy of the recently-published book about The Salvation Army farm in Hadleigh.

Commissioner Freda Larsson spoke on the passage 'Come unto me all you who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest', which had been read by ladies fellowship member Mrs Marina Collins.

In the course of the weekend, the General pointed out that his music had probably had greater impact for the Kingdom than his positions of leadership. The corps was blessed not only to enjoy a selection of his music but to sample the excellent qualities of spiritual leadership displayed by both the General and the Commissioner on and off the platform.