Cadets Find Sacred Purpose at the Kettle
Christmas ministry in The Salvation Army isn’t usually the perfect picture we imagine. It’s often cold and uncomfortable. Repetitive, but beautifully holy. This year, Evangeline Booth College (EBC) cadets were sent into communities across the territory not simply to support Christmas efforts, but to step fully into the lived reality of Salvation Army ministry, where God consistently meets His people in the ordinary. And they discovered that the Lord often chooses the simplest settings to reveal His presence and accomplish His holy purposes.
Each year, first- and second-year cadets from the EBC are deployed into Christmas assignments, either ringing bells at a kettle or sent to serve in kettle campaigns, Angel Tree programs, and corps life. This season is not just a rite of passage in their cadetship — it is an invitation to step directly into the rhythm and realities of Salvation Army officership. For three cadets this year, the hands-on ministry of Christmas played a formative role in their cadet experience, in ways that the classroom alone could not deliver.
For second-year Cadet Corina Stegall (pictured above, on left), assigned to the Oklahoma City Area Command, Christmas ministry unfolded behind the scenes and across the city. From kettles to the Angel Tree warehouse and the Red Shield Youth Center, the experience provided a full view of how ministry works together.
“God was moving before we arrived, and He moved all throughout our six weeks spent there,” Cadet Stegall reflects. What stood out most was not the pace of the season, but the people she shared life with throughout those six weeks. Over the course of her assignment, the gospel message was shared with children, adults in recovery, and nearly forty bell ringers, culminating in 57 individuals who rededicated their lives to follow Christ. “I had a front-row seat to God’s faithfulness and remembered this is why I’m here.”
For first-year Cadet Jessica Tisworth, Christmas ministry happened face-to-face at the kettle, sometimes joyfully and occasionally painfully. Playing her horn became an act of perseverance, especially on days marked by weariness and fatigue. “These certain days were hard for me, and I felt discouraged, but God showed up and humbled my heart,” Cadet Tisworth shares. “He didn’t just see me, but He saw His people who need us to be the hands and feet of Jesus.”
This shift in perspective was echoed by first-year Cadet Sarah Burton, as she reflected on how God converted discomfort and strangeness into sacred moments at the kettle. Through countless encounters with single parents, veterans, disaster survivors, and children offering spare change, Cadet Burton realized, “God was transforming a simple sidewalk into holy ground.” She declares, “What we do may look strange to the world, but we stand in unusual, set-apart moments to do His work.”
In the simplicity of the kettle, these cadets discovered the profound privilege of being entrusted with this work. Through their ministry this Christmas season, they realized they were carrying the mission of The Salvation Army and participating in God’s Kingdom work in visible and meaningful ways. Each interaction reminded them that few are given the opportunity to stand so publicly as witnesses to hope, and what may have felt routine at first was soon revealed as a sacred responsibility.
Our ministry is never just about bells, gifts, or assignments. Instead, it reframes our perspective, reminding us the most ordinary of spaces can be transformed into something sacred in the hands of our sovereign God.