Members of the SASF Brass Band and Vocal Ensemble are generally soldiers (laymen) in The Salvation Army who are pursuing various undergraduate and graduate academic degree programs at Asbury University and Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. These groups are volunteer, extracurricular activities. As is the policy in The Salvation Army, no one in the musical groups, leadership included, receives any payment for their service. These musical groups participate in on-campus worship services, local out-reach programs by The Salvation Army, community concerts, and take an extended musical ministry trip several times a year.
Majors Doug and Debbie Burr direct the overall Salvation Army Student Fellowship on campus. They are appointed by The Salvation Army’s National Headquarters as liaison officers in charge of the Salvation Army Student Fellowship and the Salvation Army’s Moulton Memorial Student Center, which is located directly next to the campus. Nearly 100 students, spouses, faculty, and friends are members of the fellowship.
Asbury University is a non-denominational, Christian, liberal-arts institution of higher learning of approximately 1450 students. Founded in 1890, the university is unusually cosmopolitan, with students from nearly every state within the U.S. and from many foreign countries. This diversity offers a rich variety to campus friendships. Because of the historic ties between Asbury University and The Salvation Army, which date back to at least 1931, more Salvationists attend Asbury University than any other college or university in the United States. Literally hundreds of Salvation Army leaders, officers (clergy), and lay employees are graduates of the college.