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Delegates from around the world gather in London.
The current delegates at The Salvation Army’s International College for Officers (ICO) and Center for Spiritual Life Development, London, are celebrating the 200th session to meet since the ICO’s re-establishment by General Albert Orsborn in 1950.
At the welcome dinner, college Principal Lt. Colonel Richard Munn described the start of the session as a “momentous and milepost occasion.” In a written message, General Shaw Clifton, himself a former delegate, told members of the 200th session: “You will undergo positive change…as have all who have gone before you in the previous 199 sessions.” General Eva Burrows (Ret.), a former principal, described the ICO in her letter as “the house on the hill with a world view.” Her prayer for the 200th session was that they would have “a mind-expanding, soul-enriching and life-inspiring experience.”
The idea for a staff college came in 1904 from Commissioner Henry Howard; the International Training Lodge opened in 1905. Since the reopening in 1950 more than 5,000 officers have attended.
After Lt. Colonel William Cochrane (Chief Secretary, UK Territory) welcomed delegates, Commissioner Robert Street (International Secretary to the Chief of the Staff) gave a message based on Psalm 117, which calls on all nations to extol the Lord, noting that the ICO brings together officers from the 117 countries in which the Army works, providing irrefutable testimony of the unity of all nations when God reigns in the hearts of men and women.
The Western Territory’s representative at the 200th session is Major Julio Vasquez, Torrance (Calif.) corps officer.
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