Family Business God’s call to officership brings four cousins to the College for Officer Training.
C
adet Matthew Rideout, Cadet Joshua Rideout, Cadet Janelle Colbourne and Cadet Kelsie Burford have a few things in common. First, they’re all cadets at the College for Officer Training (CFOT) in Winnipeg— the first three in the Messengers of Reconciliation Session (2020-2022) and Cadet Kelsie in the Messengers of Grace Session (2019-2021). Second, Cadet Matthew and Cadet Joshua are brothers. And third, Cadet Janelle and Cadet Kelsie are their cousins. Leigha Vegh, associate editor of Salvationist, interviewed the four family members to ask them about their journey to officership together. What does it mean to you to do ministry with family at CFOT? Cadet Joshua Rideout: The opportunity
to share my training and ministry opportunities with my family at CFOT is a special privilege that few 16 January 2021 Salvationist
experience. Many people have asked me if I planned on going to CFOT with my brother, Matthew, and cousins, Kelsie and Janelle, and the answer is no. I never consciously made the decision to go with them. I ultimately felt God was calling me to go into training this year regardless of who was going to be there. That being said, I also believe that God has a specific purpose and plan for each of our lives and that it is not a mere coincidence that the four of us are here in training together. We all grew up together, not just as cousins, but closer to siblings. It’s something that we have never taken for granted. In this season more than ever before, with the stress of training, ministry, COVID-19 and everything else, it has been easy to see the intentionality of God’s hand at work. I mean, what are the odds of us all being here at the same time? All
in all, having a personal family within the greater CFOT family has been a blessing and I am excited to see what God has in store for the continuation of our training. Cadet Matthew Rideout: Doing ministry with my family at CFOT has been
neat. All four of us are officers’ kids who were born into that life. Knowing that we are following in the footsteps of our parents to become officers in The Salvation Army is unique. Out of my dad’s family, his younger brother and youngest sister were the three youngest out of six who became officers. Back on Father’s Day, around 43 years ago, my grandfather accepted Jesus as his Saviour one Sunday night, after my dad and his younger brother went forward as young children to accept Jesus that same morning. I