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Cadets minister primarily in the Southwest Division.
By Keilah Toy, Major
Cadets of the College for Officer Training at Crestmont conducted the annual Fall Blitz Campaign Oct. 12-14 in three regions of the Southwest Division: Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz., and Las Vegas. One group, the Protectors Home Brigade, ministered at the Torrance (Calif.) Corps.
Five brigades ministered to Apache Junction, Glendale, Mesa, Phoenix Central, Maryvale, Tempe, the Phoenix Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC) and South Mountain KROC Center. The 44 cadets and five officers planned and led Fantastic Friday Family Day, Fun in Faith praise meetings, Sidewalk Sunday School and a united meeting.
“One little girl was interested in gymnastics and we spoke about how strength was not just our physical strength, but it also comes from God’s gift of the Holy Spirit,” said Cadet Robbin Swales of a conversation she had during junior church. “We discussed who the Holy Spirit is and how he feels working within us.”
Roughly 100 miles south, in Tucson, four brigades ministered at the South Tucson Corps, Korean Corps, Tucson Amphi Corps, Tucson Temple, the Hospitality House and the ARC. The cadets assisted with youth programs, family nights, Sunday meetings and other activities. The group of 38 cadets and six officers combined to implement two community harvest festival carnivals.
Cadet Troy Cook described one man he met: “Ben has a ‘social filter’ disorder. He would laugh at the wrong times, speak out of turn or off-topic. However, because of the grace of God working through his children, Ben attended and stayed through Sunday school and the worship service. His final destination was the mercy seat, where God does not hold his disability against him. Rather Ben was washed clean by the blood of the lamb and goes now in the name of the Lord.”
Farther north, three brigades traveled to the Las Vegas Citadel, North Las Vegas and Pahrump corps. The 27 cadets and three officers took part in door-to-door witnessing, vacation Bible school and youth and Sunday programs.
Cadet Rebecca Lewis ministered at the Friday night young adult/teen hang out at Las Vegas Citadel. “Although they struggle a lot as young people, there is such potential to raise leaders from that group,” she said.
Cadet Caleb Montes remembered six teenage kids who came on Sunday to the North Las Vegas Corps. “These kids live very close to the church, but only come once in awhile,” he said. “It was a perfect opportunity for us to minister to them and to ask them to recite the sinner’s prayer, as they accepted Christ as their Savior. It was a blessed time.”
While the majority of cadets were busy in Arizona, the 14-cadet Protectors Home Brigade ministered at the Torrance Corps, visiting nursing homes, preparing for the grand opening of the Stillman Sawyer Social Service Center, witnessing at the park and holding an evening campfire fellowship for children.
During this blitz weekend, the cadets conducted 34 meetings with 3,602 people in attendance, and 12 community outreach events with 1,128 visitors. However, the ultimate victory is that 249 adults and 25 young people heard God’s call and sought the Lord.
