A few senior leaders like Commissioner T. Henry Howard, General Evangeline Booth and Commissioner Catherine Bramwell-Booth have been picked out but, much more commonly, faithful and devoted service by less well known personalities has been acknowledged.
Some of the early awards went to people in the United Kingdom, Australia, Indonesia, Russia, France and the United States, but very quickly recipients from Japan, Guyana, Switzerland, Denmark, The Netherlands, China and Norway were picked out.
New Zealand has probably had a higher than average recognition for the size of its population, but other territories such as Korea, South America West and Zimbabwe have also been featured.
The honour is rarely given because every nomination is carefully and painstakingly scrutinised by a panel of senior leaders at IHQ.
Salvationists have every reason to be proud of those who have been awarded this outstanding recognition for meritorious Christian example, witness and service.