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PINE BLUFF SALVATION ARMY WELCOMES NEW LEADERS

By Wes Clement/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Friday, July 10, 2009 11:29 PM CDT

The Salvation Army downtown has a new set of eager captains ready to work for the community.

Captains David and Joanna Robinson stand in front of the Salvation Army building downtown. Pine Bluff Commercial/Wes Clement

Captains David and Joanna Robinson arrived at Pine Bluff June 22 from Conroe, Texas.

“During the next couple of months we will start gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Capt. David Robinson said. “Being our first year, we’ll have to start early and get all our ducks in a row.”

The Robinsons have been Salvation Army officers for 10 years as of June, spending most of the time in Texas. The couple most recently served five years at Conroe, a Houston suburb, preceded by four years at Port Arthur, Texas. Pine Bluff is the couple’s fourth assignment.

They experienced three major hurricanes while living in Conroe, Capt. Joanna Robinson said.

The Robinsons joined the Salvation Army in 1996 and the couple attended seminary.

Capt. Joanna Robinson is originally from Ponca City, Okla., and her husband is from Davenport, Okla. The couple has two children, ages 23 and 19.

“We’re asking not to go anywhere for at least four years,” Capt. David Robinson said, “and according to what we’ve been told, we will be able to stay at least that long.”

Salvation Army officers are subject to re-assignment at about this time each year. The program’s past two sets of administrators have stayed one year each.

A few weeks ago, the community said good-bye to the previous commanders, Sergeants Tyrone and Marver Pinder. Following a Sunday worship, the couple headed toward Washington, D.C., where they planned to head up a facility near the White House.

The Robinsons are working on plans for their mission in Pine Bluff.

Capt. David Robinson said he looks forward to being at the center every day to help those who come to the facility. He said the Salvation Army had a “good group of people” on a recent Sunday and that he looks forward to building upon the number of attendees.

Capt. Joanna Robinson said she is looking forward to becoming involved in a women’s Bible study she was invited to by members of the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary and Advisory Board.

“I’m really looking forward to the women’s Bible study to get out and fellowship with other Christian women,” she said.

They said they have been learning their way around Pine Bluff and are adjusting to the city’s less congested traffic.

“We love the small community,” Capt. Joanna Robinson said. “Being in Conroe, it was like being in the Houston rat race.”

The couple said they have observed the Pine Bluff community is strongly supportive of the facility and its programs such as the Angel Tree and the Red Kettle Program.

The center usually feeds about 40 people per night and Capt. David Robinson said he would like to see the feeding program grow to serve a larger number of those in need.

“I’ve learned that if we do what we say we’re going to do, the community will be behind us,” he said.

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