After a lifetime of moving, new Salvation Army officer lands in Kalispell

For as long as he can remember, Salvation Army Lt. Sean Pease has been on the move.  

When people ask him where he grew up, the answer can get lengthy. From Hawaii to New Jersey, he never lived anywhere longer than four years. 

“I am actually from all over,” Pease said. 

Sitting underneath the high chapel arches of the Salvation Army Kalispell Community Center and Church where he recently took over as the organization’s corps officer, Pease said it was difficult moving around so often.   

“I’ve moved around my whole life. And, you know, continue to do it,” he said. 

Born in Hawaii, he enjoyed the fresh ocean air until he turned a year old, when he and his parents moved to Bozeman, where they remained for four years. 

“You have to make new friends, and you have to say goodbye to your old friends,” Pease said. 

Raised by two traveling Salvation Army pastors, Pease always believed in God, but struggled understanding what to do with it.  

“My entire life I had grown up with, ‘This is what I believe,’ but I never really knew why I believed it. I think that’s a lot of Christian kids who grow up in the faith,” Pease said.   

“And so, for me, I had to look at my faith, really understand what my faith was. And since then, it’s only gotten stronger and stronger,” he said. 

After 20 years of ping-ponging around the country, he landed in Denver, where he attended Colorado Christian College.  

“That’s kind of where I formulated my adult identity, that was kind of where my biggest friend group is,” he said. "[Those were] really the most formative years of my adult life. That’s where I felt the call on my life to go into Salvation Army officership.” 

While you could say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, his inspiration to pursue officership didn’t come from his friends, or even parents, but rather his relationship with God.  

Pursuing a business degree, Pease saw many potential paths ahead.  

“The options were there, but I really just didn’t see any fulfillment. I didn’t see any satisfaction coming from doing those jobs,” he recalled.  

One of his professors told him to find out what God wanted him to do, so he prayed and found that pursuing officership was the right path. 

Pease kept the news of his decision secret.  

“I didn’t want to mix up what God was telling me to do with what everyone else was telling me I’d be good at,” Pease said.  

Within a year of graduating, he was on the path to officer training and eventually went to the Salvation Army seminary in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. His 22-month training consisted of taking classes and interning at different corps across the country.  

EVEN AFTER arriving in Kalispell as a lieutenant corps officer, Pease remains on the move. He works up to 80 hours a week.  

That work includes janitorial services. Because the church currently lacks a custodian, he fills in.  

“It kind of just all falls to me,” Pease said.  

“I run the finances; I run the youth programming; I run the social services; I run the kitchen,” he said. “It’s my job to be a good steward of the Salvation Army in Kalispell and figure out how it can better serve the community and better serve the kingdom of God for however long I’m here.”  

Pease hopes to hire more staff so that he can focus on introducing youth programs to the church, hoping to run an after-school kids’ club and host community teen or family nights.  

He also wants to maintain the social services that he said his predecessors, Majs. Larry and Julie Feist, did a great job implementing. The church holds weekly meals and provides community laundry and showers.  

Events that Pease said to look out for include the “Back-to-School" shopping spree with Old Navy on Wednesday, Aug. 21. Children in financially vulnerable families will be led by volunteers through the store to browse for school supplies.  

“They get to have a good time and feel like they're shopping without their parents,” Pease said.  

Volunteers are needed, he said, and donations would allow for more children to sign up.  

“I would hate to have a waiting list of children, who we can’t help, because we don’t have the money,” he said. 

Sept. 15 is national “Back-to-Church Sunday" and the Salvation Army will have a free barbeque after Sunday service to provide a more comfortable transition for those who may not have visited church in a long time.  

Despite the rush of responsibility and events, Pease said he is refreshed by the calm, friendly feeling of the community. 

“I’ve had so many people reach out to me and I've met so many amazing people and it's just an awesome place to live,” he said.  

Reporter Jack Underhill may be reached at 758-4407 or junderhill@dailyinterlake.com.