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Religion

Salvation Army couple take helm in Clearwater

Before their latest assignment, the majors, Dean and Pam Hinson, worked in Texas, Virginia and Lakeland.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published August 20, 2005

CLEARWATER - When Dean and Pam Hinson were notified of their new post at the Salvation Army in Clearwater, they were thrilled.

"It's a great appointment," Dean Hinson said. "It has one of the largest Sunday morning congregations - about 400 people in the winter."

Hinson and his wife, both 47, started their new job as majors at the Clearwater Citadel Corps at the Belcher Road N office, overseeing the Army's large north Pinellas operation, in July.

Maj. Roy Johnson, who ran the local organization since 2001, is now a divisional secretary at divisional headquarters in Jackson, Miss., in charge of property and personnel in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.

Hinson said he was born into a Salvation Army family. His parents, Harold and Betty Hinson, were division commanders in Florida from the late 1980s to early 1990s.

Later, his father was the territorial commander for the central United States.

The couple are now retired and living in Tampa.

Hinson graduated with a bachelor's degree in Bible studies from Asbury College, a Christian liberal arts institution in Wilmore, Ky.

Two days before graduation, he married Pam, a native Kentuckian who also attended Asbury.

They had three sons, Joshua, 20, a student at the University of Georgia; Jesse, 19, a student at Asbury College; and Jeremiah, 14, a freshman at Tarpon Springs High School.

According to information supplied by the Salvation Army, Hinson was part of the committee that established the Holy Land Educational Tour for officers. He and his wife took courses at the Institute for Holy Land Studies and served as instructors for six tours, living in Jerusalem during the summers.

"It was a great experience," he said.

He also led tours to Turkey, Greece and Rome. The couple have served wherever the Army has needed them, including Dallas, Portsmouth and Roanoke, Va., and Lakeland.

Hinson was the divisional youth secretary in Charlotte, N.C., and the assistant principal for continuing education at the College for Officer Training in Atlanta where he taught doctrine, evangelism and church history.

Now that he is in Clearwater, Hinson said he is "trying to find out what the community needs."

The Hinsons are excited about the potential of the new $5.5-million Mallory-Powell Social Services Campus, which opened last month at Druid Road and Highland Avenue.

It offers transitional housing and a center for people who are on probation.

"We look forward to what God wants us to do in the community," Hinson said.

Eileen Schulte can be reached at 727 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 20, 2005, 01:26:05]