Gentlemen,

We have received very enthusiastic and positive comments regarding the new Novice Handbook 2nd Edition.  Thank you for your encouragement to the staff that put it all together.

One ALERT Cadet young man and his father have, of their own initiative, put together a completion schedule for the Novice Handbook 2nd Edition to assist you in doing each phase manual in six weeks, and the entire handbook, all six phases, in under a year.  These “Handbook Helps” are available here.

If you are continuing to work in the 1st Edition of the Novice Handbook, you will also find a handbook help on the website to keep you on track to complete the phase booklets in a timely manner.

Expect to see further “helps” developed over the next few months as an encouragement to all to continue to make steady progress in the ALERT Cadet handbooks.

If you are just starting with ALERT Cadets and the Novice Handbook, you will want to look at the Scope and Sequence chart to see what is ahead and the skills you will be learning!  Download it here.

We encourage you to make the completion of the ALERT Cadet Handbooks a family project.

• Fathers, encourage your young men to work steadily through the materials.  You may even want to include them as a part of their normal school homework.
• Sons, encourage your father by offering to memorize the Scriptures with him, or making a game out of completing the physical training requirements.
• Moms and daughters, encourage your men by congratulating them and rewarding them for diligence in completing even small sections of each phase manual.  Ice cream works well for this purpose!

May God receive the praise and glory for the things He accomplishes in the lives of fathers and sons through the ALERT Cadet program.

In Christ,

Roger D. Farr
ALERT Cadet Commanding Officer

Greetings,

We at ALERT Cadet Headquarters love to hear stories about how God has used the ALERT Cadet handbooks (The Basic Training Manual, Novice, Pilgrim, and Craftsman) as tools to assist you, as a father, to win and keep the heart of your son(s).

We desire these tools to be as effective as possible. To that end, several of our staff members have been diligently working to update the Novice Handbook, and we are thrilled to announce that it is printed and ready for distribution!

The Novice Handbook 2^nd Edition is a new curriculum, and it contains completely different content than the current Novice Handbook. The young men and fathers who work through Novice Handbook 2nd Edition will memorize Psalm 139, Psalm 92, and Proverbs 3; learn basic camping skills including selecting camping equipment; and organize a group hike and campout. We think you will enjoy the updated format and the new look of the Novice Handbook 2nd Edition!

For those of you who have started in the Novice Handbook and have not yet completed Phase 2, we recommend that you start over with the new Novice Handbook 2^nd Edition. For those of you in Phase 3 or beyond, we suggest that you finish the current edition of the handbook. The two editions are so different that it makes no sense to change editions halfway through.

Our plan to distribute the Novice Handbook 2nd Edition is as follows:

· Those of you who received your Novice Handbooks on or after January 1, 2009, may upgrade to the new Novice Handbook 2^nd Edition for $5.00 (the cost of postage) until June 30, 2009. We will send only the six Phase Booklets to you and not the binder.

· All ALERT Cadet fathers and sons (regardless of your progress in current ALERT Cadet handbooks) may purchase the Novice Handbook 2^nd Edition for $15 ($10 for the booklets and $5 for postage) until June 30, 2009. We will send only the six Phase Booklets to you and not the binder.

· After July 1, 2009, the normal price of $35 per handbook (six Phase Booklets and binder) plus postage, will apply.

· Note that we will retain copies of the Novice Handbook 1^st Edition for sale only until December 31, 2009, should you wish to purchase one. They are $35 per handbook (six Phase Booklets and binder) plus postage.

To order your new Novice Handbook 2nd Edition, please call ALERT Cadet Headquarters at 903-636-9228 and speak with Miss Autumn Gordon, or email her at agordon@alertacademy.com.

We look forward to hearing about what God does in your life as you utilize this “newly designed” tool!

The ALERT Cadet Headquarters staff

Needs, Wants, and Resources – Monthly Message from the ALERT Cadet Major

April 2009

Gentlemen,

As the leader of an international ministry to fathers and sons, I am often asked what our needs are. My reply is usually that all of our needs are met by God, and we satisfy our wants and desires as God provides the resources. While this may sound like a trite answer, it is also a guiding principle by which we run this ministry. We’ve taught the same principle to our children and perhaps you will find this useful in your family as well.

Let me start by defining a “need” as the Scriptures do. As I understand God’s Word, the only things really necessary in life are food, drink, and clothing or shelter. God has promised to provide these “needs” in the often quoted verses in Matthew 6:25-33.

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Thus, everything that I perceive as a “need,” if it is not one of the three items listed above is really a want or a desire. This clearly delineates between what God has promised - to meet my needs - and what He actually provides. We then can conclude that everything God provides over and above what is necessary to sustain life is given for the work of His ministry. From this we derive one of our ALERT Cadet guiding principles, “We will run, or make progress, at the rate which God provides resources (people, time, money).”

To properly lead ALERT Cadet we make plans for 3-5 years ahead and as James 4 reminds us, we then say, “God willing,” we will accomplish them. We recognize God’s leading to complete those plans based on the resources He provides. What I think should get done in 2009 may not agree with God’s desires as determined by the resources He provides. On the other hand, He may desire us to complete items sooner than we had originally planned by providing resources more abundantly!

You may be thinking, “That is great for running a ministry, but what does it look like in a family?” Actually, it is very similar. Once my children understood that all Mom and Dad were required to provide for them, as God’s representatives, were their needs, it changed their way of thinking. They really did not “need” nearly so much as they thought they did. We were then, as a family, better able to prioritize the family resources when we all realized that the items requested were really wants or desires and not actual needs.

In discipline situations with our children, we simply removed some of their desires or wants and reduced our support to just their basic needs. If a child was ungrateful for the food prepared, or did not eat what was offered, his menu became very simple to meet his basic needs, while the rest of the family continued to eat normally, including tasty desserts! If beds were not made, children lost the privilege of sleeping in them and instead were in sleeping bags on the floor. If clothing was not picked up and put away, it was removed to a storage area where it could later be redeemed or if not redeemed, given away until the child’s wardrobe became very simple and met their needs. The fact that clothing was not taken care of properly signaled to us either a training issue or that they did not appreciate what they had. The former resulted in further training and laundry duty for the entire family, while the latter resulted in giving their clothing to others in God’s family who could better use them.

God is teaching me to be grateful for the resources He provides.  I am learning how to receive those resources from others so that God’s work may go forward at the pace He provides for our desires.  This year we desire to do the following:

• strengthen the existing units in the US, Malaysia, and Singapore,
• expand further into Mexico, and
• introduce ALERT Cadet into Christian schools in Indonesia.

We will do so at the pace God provides the resources to do so. May God be praised for the works He has done through His servants.

Thanks for listening and thanks for allowing me to share with you each month. I receive many comments and encouragements as these letters go out. Please feel free to comment or write me at cadets@alertacademy.com.

Stay in the battle!

Roger D. Farr

ALERT Cadet Commanding Officer