Salvos bring festival swing to Warwick
The Salvation Army once again played a big part in Warwick’s annual Jumpers And Jazz Festival last weekend. Since the Army’s debut at the festival last year, the band has built a growing ministry.
Crowds of jazz music fans roamed the streets of the Darling Downs town on the Saturday of the festival (25 July) and stopped in their tracks to listen to the Army’s musical repertoire in their “Stroll and Swing” program.
Revelation Big Band, led by Sam Creamer and award-winning barbershop vocalists Blindside Quartet, performed in this segment.
Following “Stroll and Swing”, Revelation Big Band and Blindside Quartet played a repertoire of secular and Christian jazz numbers at “Sing and Swing at the Salvos” at Warwick Corps. Lieutenant Steve Spencer, Warwick Corps Officer, said the gold-coin donation concert attracted 220 people, a significant increase from last year’s crowd.
Many who attended the two Army segments at Jumpers and Jazz then came to the corps' Sunday morning meeting (26 July) to hear Revelation Big Band perform again. For Lieut Spencer, this weekend was an opportunity to connect with the community. He hopes for ministry opportunities to arise from this event.
“Traditionally it has been seen that the Army in this area is a church but it’s more seen active in its welfare work, shops and such. It’s able to show the community that there’s more than just that aspect to our ministry,” he said.
The Army’s presence is continually growing in the Warwick community as Revelation Big Band were invited, for the first time, to perform at the festival's markets on the last day of Jumpers and Jazz.
Both Revelation Big Band and Blindside Quartet have also been invited to perform on the main stage during the street performance segment at next year’s festival.
“It [Jumpers and Jazz] is becoming a permanent fixture on the Warwick Corps calendar,” said Lieut Spencer.
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