Recently appointed as new Cadence missionaries, Duncan and Suzanne have a wonderful story of God using Cadence in Duncan’s life as a young man serving in the Army. Cadence missionaries, Brad and Debbie Ellgen, were there for Duncan at a key moment in his life. Here is his story:

“In January of 1985 after graduating boot camp, I was sent to Schweinfurt, West Germany to my first duty station. I was young, just 18, traveling by myself for the first time to a foreign country. I didn’t speak the language. I had no idea what to expect. I was scared, nervous, and a bit overwhelmed. I felt adrift in a big ocean. I was a Christian, having chosen to follow Christ about two years earlier in high school. Already life in the Army had been a difficult path for me. In just the first few months, I had witnessed an abundance of depravity the like of which I hadn’t seen before in my short life.

Upon reaching my unit and getting settled in, I met another young soldier who had just arrived there the week before. He invited me to join him at this place he just discovered called a Hospitality House. It was run by an American couple. So I went, and then kept going back every chance I could.

Brad and Debbie were a home away from home. They were a shelter in the storm. They were a beacon of light in the darkness. They did way more than simply provide me with a warm home-cooked meal or a Bible study. They showed me through their lives what it meant to love God and others. Brad, with his quick and inquiring mind, asked me questions and taught me to think and helped me to discover how to read Scripture and find answers. Debbie, with her kindness and willingness to serve, taught me about grace, mercy, and self-sacrifice.

And the men and women I spent time with there became true friends, honestly sharing their struggles and joys as we grew in faith together.”

Duncan’s story is a beautiful and familiar one to Cadence. We seek to be a “shelter in the storm” for young, impressionable, and searching young people. We provide a safe community where they can “grow in faith together.”

The impact is unquestionably powerful. Thank you for partnering with Cadence in this ministry!

David Schroeder
President

Joyce and I began our Cadence International careers as young adults serving in the mission’s Student Ministry division (known then as Malachi Ministries). We enjoyed over ten years of fruitful ministry to military students and their parents stationed at various Army installations in Germany.

Since then, we have served Cadence at our Headquarters here in Englewood, Colorado. We always love hearing stories from the field of transformed military lives, and it’s especially encouraging to hear of military students still being influenced for Jesus through Cadence Student Ministries.

Here is a testimony of one of those students who is now serving as a Cadence Intern at The Hangar, a thriving ministry in Spangdahlem, Germany.

While in middle school, my family was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, where I attended the Cadence youth group. Cadence’s Student Ministry had a significant impact on my life. I see how the Lord used it as a gift to enjoy during my time there and to deepen my understanding of His love for me. While in college, Cadence had a booth set up during our Missions Week, through which I connected with the organization again. Recently, the opportunity arose to serve for a year in Germany. The door opened at the perfect time, and the Lord’s provision was abundant! It was very exciting to see it all come together.

Growing up as a Navy brat, I felt I had a fairly good understanding of the military culture and lifestyle. Both of my parents are followers of Christ, so their priorities (such as family, church, marriage, etc.) were very different from many of my father’s coworkers.

Although I knew the military lifestyle was difficult, my understanding of that has deepened exponentially through this internship.

~Laura Sparks, Intern serving at Spangdahlem Air Base

Over the years God has led some Alumni (those who were involved in a Cadence ministry) to return to Cadence to minister to the military as Staff or Interns. This is always exciting and rewarding!

Thank you for being a part of the many stories like Laura’s and for faithfully partnering with Cadence through your financial and prayer support.

God bless you!
David Schroeder
President

Each Sunday at our local church, the cross is brought from the platform back down the aisle to the middle of the sanctuary for the reading of the gospel. Behind the cross, a pastor walks holding the Bible high as on each side the people turn to face the cross. Then it is said, “We bring the cross into the center of the people as an outward sign that Christ is with us and among us. May His Word be always on our minds, upon our lips, and deep within our hearts.”

In a recent class I took at Denver Seminary the professors taught a framework for theological reflection. The second step of this model is to “bring the gospel to the center” of whatever problem, issue, or decision one is facing.

We bring the cross to the center. We bring the gospel to the center.

The gospel assures us that Christ our Savior lived, died, rose, ascended, and now intercedes for us. The gospel releases the Spirit moving within and between us, breathing life, wisdom, and all those wonderful fruits of the Spirit. The gospel confirms the Father continues His everlasting lovingkindness in His every thought and action toward us.

What could this mean for each of us today?

Perhaps it means that we think about how God’s grace relates to a decision. Or what it might look like if we prayed and took a step of reconciliation in a difficult relationship. At the foot of the cross, where the ground is level and comparisons are irrelevant, the gospel calls us to move toward each other in humble strength.

The gospel in the center, the cross in the center—of our days, our problems, and our decisions—also call us to suffer well, to not let shame paralyze us, to look at our futures in light of the Kingdom of God, and so much more.

Thank you for investing in military people through Cadence staff as we share the gospel and our lives.

Joyce Schroeder
Cadence First Lady

I attended two memorial services recently—one in Missouri and one in Michigan.

The service in Missouri was to grieve the sudden loss of a young man tragically killed in a car accident on his way home from work. He had been married for only two months to the daughter of one of our Cadence couples.

The chapel was filled with young people seeking to somehow trust God and celebrate Caleb’s life while also wrestling with the fragility of life here in this broken world under the curse.

It was very difficult.

The service in Michigan was to celebrate the life of a former Cadence missionary who had lived a long and fruitful life for the Lord. He suffered for about 24 years with the slow digression of the central nervous system caused by Parkinson’s Disease.

This chapel was filled by mostly older people celebrating Steve’s well-lived life and the joyful hope of heaven.

Two lives. Two deaths. Two services. One hope.

“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling.” 2 Corinthians 5:1-2

As I write these words to you now, I’m processing additional difficult news of a different kind of loss. I’m groaning today, longing for the day when death, sorrow, and tears will be no more.

Friends, each moment on this earth is truly a gift from God. I pray that you will find your strength in the One who not only gave us this life but made our eternal life and destiny possible. As we sang in church this past Sunday:

Man of Sorrows what a name for the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim! Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Yes, today I again choose to sing Hallelujah!

David Schroeder
President

We Stay.

Thank you for your prayers for our recently completed Cadence worldwide staff conference in Green Lake, Wisconsin. Our theme, Unhindered, the last word Luke penned in the book of Acts guided our time together. We celebrated and took courage in the truth that the gospel will not be stopped, thwarted, or hindered in its advancement around the globe.

Just as this word describes Paul’s two-year ministry in Rome, it also was a capstone and exclamation point to the entire book of Acts and the impact of the Holy Spirit and growth of the early church.

In addition to powerful messages from our guest speakers, I spoke on the four verbs in our theme verses that conclude Luke’s account in Acts 28:30- 31. He describes Paul’s ministry like this: “And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.”

In my opening message, “We Stay,” I reminded our team of the vital ministry they have in staying strong in a military community that is in a perpetual state of transition and change. Every year on average, our staff farewell a third of their military people and their families as they PCS (Permanent Change of Station) to another location and duty assignment. Because of this constant rotation and change, our staff provide a place of stability, security, and strength to that military community.

This staying power comes with a cost, though. My four key points to this talk were that staying requires Grit (perseverance that takes the long view), Gathering (community that grows them and us), Going (love that always moves towards people), and Grieving (tenderness that mourns perpetual loss).

Our staff know the cost of giving their hearts to their people and being willing to hurt and grieve as they move away. Each of them understands well the experience of “farewell fatigue” as we often call it.

You know this reality as well. The word “transition” describes so much of life for all of us. Defined as “changing from one state or condition to another,” it seems like this is a constant reality. In our transitions there is often growth, excitement, and adventure, but there is also frequent loss, grief, and suffering.

Friends, even as I ask you to pray that our Cadence staff stay resilient amidst the ever-present transitions in their lives, so I pray for you that God would give you a spirit of perseverance as you trust Him with the change and loss in your lives as well.

Stay Strong.

David Schroeder
President

 

We gather.

Joyce and I recently gathered with the family and friends of Wilma Porter for her memorial service. She and her husband Ralph, who went to heaven in 2018, served military people through Cadence for over 50 years. We were honored to speak at her service, be with the family, and celebrate her life.

We gather. Important moments require people come together. Whether it be funerals, weddings, birthdays, graduations, or other celebrations, being together with family and friends is the essential element of these experiences.

Gatherings are at the heart of all our Cadence ministries as well. We bring military people and their families together in our homes, youth groups, retreats, coffee houses, Bible studies, small groups, and excursions.

Why? We were made by God for relationships and connection, and biblical community is the primary space and environment where the Spirit does His transformative work. Yes, we all need time alone with God, but raw and real change has its genesis in our relating to each other. The fruit of the Spirit is significantly activated as we connect with people.

As the church was being formed soon after Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, gatherings were at the center of New Testament life. “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” “All who believed were together and had all things in common.” (Acts 2:1, 44) Gathering descriptions are often recorded throughout the story of the Bible.

At the end of this month, Cadence has a very important gathering, and we would so appreciate being covered by your prayers. From June 25 – July 1, 2022, about 350 of our Cadence staff and family members will come to Green Lake, Wisconsin for our once-every-five year worldwide staff conference. Having been delayed from gathering the past two years because of the pandemic, there is a great deal of excitement and anticipation for this conference.

Our theme is Unhindered. It’s the very last word Luke penned in finishing the book of Acts, referring to Paul’s two year stay under house arrest in Rome and to the general advancement of the gospel, not only in that place, but around the world.

We intend to celebrate this unhindered gospel!

Would you pray our staff and families richly experience God and each other, be deeply encouraged in their hearts, and be better equipped to go back to their military ministries. Everything at our conference is designed around these three foundational goals.

Your prayers and financial support make this vital gathering possible—thank you! And may God richly bless you and accomplish His work in you and through you in all your gatherings this month as well.

David Schroeder
President