FROM the lows of loss and tragedy to the highs of helping by helicopter, Joanne and Mark Bulow turned faith into action.

They are Salvation Army officers who don’t use roads to minister to people.

The Mount Walker couple are part of the Salvation Army’s Flying Padre unit and pilot their Cessna 182 to reach people who live in remote localities.

The couple were originally members of the Lutheran Church.

“We became frustrated with some of the things that were happening within [organised religion],” Joanne said.

“Mark researched and explored the theology behind other denominations.

“A friend said she was going to [join] the Salvation Army and when I said we were looking for a new church, she suggested checking out the Salvos.”

The couple didn’t know the Salvation Army was a church and when Mark’s spiritual mentor said he was moving to the Salvos as well, they took that as confirmation the decision was sound.

“When we walked in [to the Salvation Army], it felt like we were at home, that was in November 1998 and we’ve made it home ever since,” Joanne said.

“In September 1999, we were in a car accident and lost our first baby.

“I nearly died and the support from our pastors and our church family was nothing like we had ever experienced before.”

In January 2001, their son Jake was born.

“We packed up our nine-week-old baby, headed to Sydney and entered the Salvation Army Training College for officers,” Jo explained.

“It was a good teaching ground for us and at the end of the three years we moved to Toowoomba and became church leaders.”

They ministered in Toowoomba for six years and were there when the 2011 floods hit.

On January 10, 2011 the city of Toowoomba was hit by flash flooding after more than 160mm (6.3in) of rain fell in 36 hours onto country already awash from earlier falls.

Four people died within a matter of hours and almost three-quarters of Queensland were declared disaster areas.

“It was the day my grandad was buried and his grave was collapsing in because it was so wet,” Joanne said.

“The funeral directors said ‘I don’t want to rush you along but we really need to get this coffin into the ground.

“We just made it home before the ‘tsunami’ hit Toowoomba.”

A councillor from Millmerran who worked with the Toowoomba City Council told the couple he wanted to partner with them to help them visit some of the more remote areas like Cecil Plains.

“Mark spent a couple of days on the road visiting farmers and people living in those areas and one afternoon he said, ‘you know what Jo? I reckon we should apply to the [Salvation] army and see if they will allow us to start a flying service in South Queensland,” she said.

“We are good friends with previous flying padres and at one point the Salvation Army put out a form that said if you know anyone that would be really suited to a certain ministry, put their names forward.

“They put our names forward to take over the flying service at some point.

“Mark was already learning how to fly and because North Queensland had a chopper he learned how to fly that as well.”

The Flying Padre Service has been active in Queensland since 1965 and celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.

It was formed at the beginning of World War II by Victor Pedersen who was a Captain in the Salvation Army.

He was a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force and for a time, an unofficial Chaplain.

While flying he was struck by how vast the Australian landscape was and the isolation of rural living.

He was part of a purchase of an ex-RAAF Tiger Moth and it was flown from Melbourne to Darwin, then on to Truscott to make pastoral visits to staff at radar stations in the region.

At the end of the war, his work shifted from providing Red Shield service for servicemen in isolated areas to inaugurating a new kind of Salvation Army that worked with outback cattle stations and settlements.

“We put in a proposal for a flying service in South Queensland and a lot of people said ‘that’s not going to happen’,” Joanne said.

“A donation came in and we inherited the helicopter used by the Mount Isa crew who bought a bigger one.

“We felt it was quite sufficient for us, that was in November 2011 and in January 2012 the South Queensland Flying Service was born.

“Mark and I moved to Dalby and became the Flying Padre, and I became the core officer or church pastor of Dalby Salvation Army.”

Their territory went as far west as Surat and Mitchell, in the Maranoa region.

“We were able to catch up with people who were isolated and to offer support,” she said.

“One of the farmers lost her husband to a heart attack and was at his funeral when floods hit the area in 2012.

“She returned to a farm that was decimated.

“She was a broken woman but picked herself up and was able to get the farm up and running again.

“We offered spiritual support and had a full time counsellor with us.”

They took rose bushes with them to plant in her garden.

“We also had the privilege of [officiating at] her daughter’s wedding and sadly, 18 months ago we buried their son who was killed in a truck accident.”

The officers spent seven years flying the helicopter before deciding an aeroplane would better suit their needs.

“We bought an aeroplane in 2018 and felt God was closing the chapter in Dalby,” she explained.

“There were a lot of things happening within our family and for family reasons we moved back to the farm [in Mount Walker] and continued from here.”

Last year, the Bulow’s became team leaders of rural and remote chaplaincy within Queensland and manage and run three centres.

“We’ve just returned from a 10 day trip where we called in at Longreach, Mount Isa and we also take care of Dalby and Roma,” she explained.

“If someone was to ring us to say people need us at Sarat for example, we can get there within two to three hours.

“In March this year we flew to Thargomindah and were able to get there fairly quickly to assess where people were at due to the flooding.

“When flying, there’s a weight limit but we can take small amounts of food like Tim Tams and insect repellent because the midges and mozzies were horrendous.

“We offer spiritual support without pushing religion, but because we are the Salvation Army people often start that conversation themselves. “