Lift the Cross on High

Dear Cadets,

Welcome to the Evangeline Booth College School for Officer Training. We welcome you and your children. You have been chosen by God to follow Him as Salvation Army Officers and you have responded to the call. We thank God for you. We look forward to working with you and getting to know you.

You will find that in our staff we have a beautiful group of officers who love the Lord, who understand the mission of the Army and who will work with you in helping you develop skills and gain much needed knowledge to serve as officers of the Salvation Army. They are also here to love on you, to admonish, to correct, to council; but above all, to help you become fruitful servants for the Kingdom. We are also blessed with excellent employees. Together with you we form the EBC family.

You have been given a beautiful and powerful Sessional Name: “Disciples of the Cross.” In Mark’s Gospel 8:34 we read: “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’”

When the apostle Mark wrote his account of the crucifixion he wrote it during a period of fierce persecution. He wanted Christians to understand that it is costly to be a believer. What Jesus said must be taken seriously. “If any man will be My Disciple, he must take up his cross.” There will be a price in your life that has to be paid. To walk with Christ is to walk the way of rejection and shame and derision and scorn and ridicule.

Yours is a call to Spiritual Warfare. Yours is a call to lift the Cross of Jesus on high so that all men and women may come to Him and be saved. Yours is a call to uphold Kingdom values. Yours is a call to live a life that is counter-cultural. Yours is a call to love the unlovable. Yours is a call to fight for justice. Yours is a call to Holiness.
I have now been serving the Lord as an officer for over twenty-six years. The cost of discipleship is nothing compared to the joy and fulfillment and the glory of obeying the call. There is so much joy and excitement in following Jesus.

We are also delighted to welcome back the “Proclaimers of the Resurrection.” They are a wonderful Session and you will find them very helpful as you navigate through all the intricacies of the training process.

May the Lord richly and abundantly bless your time here at the EBC. Please be teachable and allow the Holy Spirit to work freely in you.

We look forward to two wonderful school years with you and watching the Lord do some amazing things in your life and through you for His glory.

Allan Richard Hofer – Major
Principal