Officer Spotlight - Lieutenant Aubrey DeBaar
My name is Lieutenant Aubrey DeBaar. My husband Shawn and I serve as the corps officers of the Elkhart, IN corps. This is my fourth appointment. We have been stationed here since June ’17 and have two children and one dog. I grew up attending The Salvation Army’s Sunday services and participating in our character building youth programs. There were even a couple of years when my family was struggling financially, that I was a recipient of Angel Tree gifts. My life has been blessed by God through The Salvation Army as a child, a teenager, and now as an adult.
Though I had other post high school graduation plans of pursuing a degree in Criminal Justice, God spoke to my heart very clearly that I was to pursue Salvation Army officership, bringing people to His feet daily to know and love Him. I was commissioned in June 2009 with the Witnesses for Christ session as a lieutenant. I later met my husband and we married six days after he was commissioned in 2013.
I love officership because it is never boring! I am blessed to be able serve my King in a million different ways. Some days this looks like visiting our community neighbors in a nursing home with a hug, a gift, and a song. Other days it might be serving breakfast to our hungry brothers and sisters in need of a hot meal. Sometimes it’s sitting on the floor of our fellowship hall with our area youth teaching them a hand clapping game. There have also been times when being an officer led me to hospital rooms of a loved one about to go home to the Lord, bringing a heartbroken and hopeless individual to a safe-place, serving coffee and donuts to firemen fighting a raging fire, or praying and comforting a family who just lost their home. It means my husband and I have the opportunity to share the privilege of ministering to our congregation and preaching on Sunday mornings. It also means we are able to be present in the unifying experiences of life: dedicating a baby to the Lord, participating in weddings, and officiating funerals. Some of my happiest, hardest, and funniest days have been in my role as a Salvation Army officer.
I am amazed when I think of all of the ways the Lord gives me to fulfill His mission in The Salvation Army to “preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ” and meet human needs in His name without discrimination. When I think about officership, I’m reminded of Christ’s words in Matthew 25:37-40 – “37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” My prayer is to remain faithful and grateful to Christ for the pleasure of serving Him as an officer.