Gentlemen,

Last week, 14 of ALERT Cadet’s senior leaders and our headquarters staff met together for four days in Big Sandy, Texas, to discuss a variety of issues and to chart the course for ALERT Cadet for the next three to five years. I’d like to give you a quick report on the decisions so you are up to date and as excited about ALERT Cadet as we are.

First, the team took energy from what God did in 2009. I presented a report entitled, “Accomplishing the Mission – Extending the Reach.” It was truly amazing to see how God brought 944 new people to join ALERT Cadet utilizing only $160,000 of His dollars! The entire presentation is available on the web at http://www.alertcadet.org/presentations/. The focus areas for 2010 and beyond are:

Thriving – Begin to actively introduce ALERT Cadet into churches; continue international expansion in Mexico, South East Asia, New Zealand, and Australia

Impacting – Begin member father surveys and individual unit metrics to determine present effectiveness and future direction

Recognized – Increase bookfair presence from 38 to 43; continue writing for homeschool magazines and web sites; increase speaking engagements; seek opportunities to present in churches

Organization – Nominate and promote new senior leadership; develop these leaders with formal mentoring programs; continue to train and empower longer-term volunteers

Mature – Maintain the gains of 2009 with changing staff; reproduce internationally

Resources – Open regional offices; incorporate ALERT Cadet in all countries where it does business; implement new database software to allow access and record keeping by regional offices and individual members; actively solicit donors and share the vision with them.

Second, the team considered what it would take to move ALERT Cadet from being a “good” program to a “great” one which God could use mightily. We structured our discussion around Jim Collins book entitled Good to Great. We asked ourselves how we would know if we were accomplishing the vision of “assisting fathers to win and keep the hearts of their 8 to 17-year-old sons.” We also wanted to know how best to keep our resource engine humming with volunteers who have a heart to accomplish the vision and finances to expand the work. We also considered how best to get the word out about this program and ministry; this resulted in us considering partnerships with other like-minded organizations and in determining to develop materials to share the ALERT Cadet program with churches and pastors.

Third, the team discussed several issues including the pending Mother/Daughter Curriculum (“MDC” is its temporary working name) and how this would be rolled out to interested families in April. The MDC will not be a ministry of ALERT Cadet, but, rather, we are giving it a home until God brings a family who would like to take on the further development of the curriculum and market it to families. We also discussed the theme for our 2010 camps, which is “Created for Great Works” from 2 Timothy 2:19-26. Be sure to check the website at http://www.alertcadet.org/events/camps/ for dates and locations on this year’s camps. We then discussed updates to the 2010 version of Welcome to ALERT Cadet and the timing of the Pilgrim Handbook update and writing of the fifth year curriculum, the Soldier Handbook.

Fourth, we have had concern over the years that some of our units do well while others struggle. We discussed the reasons for this and agreed to focus considerable effort on helping unit leaders be successful. Mr. Joseph Schroeder has joined the ALERT Cadet volunteer headquarters staff and will have this as one of his top items. To facilitate this unit care initiative ALERT Cadet will be moving to a new database system in April, which will give you much more information and access to your personal data. It will be a valuable resource for individual units to post information, events, and keep records. You will also be able to register on-line for events, and new members will be able to join and pay from our website, instead of from a paper form.

Fifth, we have decided to begin introducing ALERT Cadet to churches in a more active way. For years we have had requests, but we have never developed any “church specific” materials to assist pastors with starting ALERT Cadet in their churches. We will be producing materials, including a video for church leaders, in the first part of 2010, which we will roll out to assist ALERT Cadet members in sharing the program with their church leaders.

Sixth, we detailed the roles of our captains and majors in the new organizational structure of ALERT Cadet. Our captains, “Area Leaders,” will primarily be focused on unit care on the local level and helping new members become plugged into our active membership. The majors, “Regional Leaders,” will focus on assisting the program to move forward and on being the more public face of ALERT Cadet. They will also take on the “Area Leader” role where we currently have no captains.

Seventh, we considered two important items in the ALERT Cadet program. The first is setting a well defined end-point for the program, a so called “pinnacle award,” similar in scope to the Eagle award in Boy Scouts. A team is now studying what the best option would be and how many handbooks the award would consist of, so stay tuned for more developments later in 2010. We also agreed to more closely tie the ALERT Cadet Physical Fitness Excellence ribbon award requirements to the U.S. Presidential and the U.S. Army Physical Fitness standards. We will review the currently published ALERT Cadet standards soon and publish new point charts. We also decided that when we develop new ALERT Cadet standards we will set a one-year transition period before the new standard goes into effect. The ALERT Cadet ribbon standards will be reviewed annually for any change to the Presidential or Army standards.

Lastly, the team gave me and the headquarters staff our annual appraisals. This was a good time of discussion on what we are doing well and should continue doing, and what is not going so well and how to improve it. I am grateful for these men and their counsel to me on what I can do to continually improve.

This has been a long e-mail, but I thought it important to update you on the progress your organization has made and is making. I hope you look forward to 2010 as much as we do and to what God again will accomplish to His glory with this sharp tool called ALERT Cadet.

In Christ,

Lt. Col. Roger D. Farr
ALERT Cadet Commanding Officer