Commissioner Barry C. Swanson (born April 4, 1950) is an American

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

Officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

who was commissioned as an

Officer in The Salvation Army An officer in The Salvation Army is a Salvationist who is an ordained minister of the Christian faith, but who fulfills many other roles not usually filled by clergy of other denominations. They do so having been trained, ordained and commissione ...

on June 11, 1978 and who was the 23rd

Chief of the Staff of The Salvation Army The Chief of the Staff of The Salvation Army is a Commissioner appointed by the General of The Salvation Army as the second in command internationally. The Chief of the Staff is stationed at International Headquarters in London. The office of C ...

under Salvation Army Generals

Shaw Clifton Shaw Clifton (born 21 September 1945) is a former General of The Salvation Army. He succeeded John Larsson as the 18th General on 2 April 2006. Career Shaw Clifton was born on 21 September 1945 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Clifton was commis ...

and

Linda Bond Linda Bond (born 22 June 1946) is a former General of the Salvation Army; she was the 19th person to hold the position. She was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. After international service and various promotions, she held the post of ...

. He was succeeded by Andre Cox in February 2013. Swanson was also a candidate for the 20th General of The Salvation Army in August 2013, but he was not elected.

Work in The Salvation Army

Swanson was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

attended Northern Illinois University where he earned a bachelor's degree in marketing. In 1975 he married Sue Miller. Together they entered the Salvation Army College for Officer Training in 1976. They held corps (church) appointments in Michigan & Minnesota. He served as the Divisional Commander of the Heartland division headquartered in Peoria, Illinois. After this appointment he was appointed the Territorial Program Secretary in 1999. His next appointment was as the Chief Secretary for the US Central Territory in 2003 and given the rank of Colonel. Following this appointment he was appointed to National Headquarters as National Chief Secretary. In 2007 Commissioner Swanson came to International Headquarters as International Secretary and Zonal Secretary for the Americas and Caribbean zone, prior to being appointed to be the Territorial Commander in the USA Central Territory. He took the office of

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

on May 1, 2010 following the retirement of Commissioner

Robin Dunster Robin Dunster (January 12, 1944- September 13, 2018) was the chief of staff of the Salvation Army International. The first woman to hold the office, she has been described by then-General John Larsson as a "gifted and widely experienced internati ...

. In February 2011 at the meeting of the High Council of the Salvation Army, Swanson was nominated to be the 19th

General of The Salvation Army General is the title of the international leader and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Salvation Army, a Christian denomination with extensive charitable social services that gives quasi-military rank to its ministers (who are therefore known ...

. He lost that election to

, however. Swanson is now the territorial commander of the Salvation Army's Eastern Territory in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. On 31 July 2013 Swanson was nominated as a candidate for the 20th general of the Salvation Army, but he lost the election to General Andre Cox.

Appointments

USA Central Territory

Corps (June 1977), DHQ (June 1990), Corps (July 1992), DHQ (June 1994) Divisional Commander (August 1995) Territorial Secretary for Programme (July 1999) Chief Secretary (April 2003)

USA National Headquarters

National Chief Secretary (July 2006)

International Headquarters

International Secretary for Americas & Caribbean (July 2007)

USA Central Territory

Territorial Commander (October 2008)

International Headquarters

Chief of the Staff (May 2010)

USA Eastern Territory

Territorial Commander (February 2013)

References

*http://www.salvationist.org/intnews.nsf/vw_web_articles/3DE0F910E6A7E0378025766B004C2A8E?opendocument *http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_sa.nsf/vw-search/8EDAD635A563E7B180257826003A055D?opendocument {{DEFAULTSORT:Swanson, Barry Salvation Army officers American Salvationists Religious leaders from Chicago Living people 1950 births