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KSV
Members Still Serving by Dr. David L. Meschke
PURPOSE
- To proclaim the gospel of Christ and disciple believers in the military
communities (military forces and their families, retired military, and
civilians working in the military community) in nations of the former
Soviet Union. STRATEGY - Cadence International is partnering with the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (UECB), a well-established and growing evangelical church in countries of the former Soviet Union. Working together, we identify within their churches former military personnel who have biblical training and who sense the Lord's calling to minister to their military forces and communities, which as yet do not have official military chaplaincies. The UECB assigns these men and their wives to do military ministry, with Cadence providing them prayer support, financial support, and encouragement. CURRENT STATUS - Our first selection and sup-porting of military workers took place in Belarus in early 1997, then followed in Ukraine and in Russia during 1998. Additional workers have been appointed each year since then. At the present time, a total of twenty nine national workers are working full-time in military ministry in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, together with their wives, supported financially by praying donors who provide them funds through Cadence International. In addition, God has
brought Alex and Isabel Jaruchik to serve alongside Dave and Betty Meschke
in this unique Cadence ministry. Alex is well known among believers in the
former Soviet Union, having translated Dr. J. Vernon McGee's radio program
"Through the Bible" into Russian language for twenty-five years. Alex now
prepares Bible teaching radio programs which are aired four times weekly
by Far East Broadcasting Company, targeting military people in the Lands
of Russia. Alex also serves as Dave's translator when they visit our
workers in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Military people and their family members are coming to Christ, being baptized, and then being discipled in the Christian faith. Many Bible studies are being conducted. Churches have even been organized in military villages (we would say "military housing areas") adjacent to military bases, and some of them have already acquired their own houses of prayer (we would say "church buildings"). Over three hundred thousand Gospels of John have been distributed by our military workers.
ADDITIONAL SPONSORSHIP NEEDED - Will you prayerfully consider helping
to sponsor one of our workers, by prayer and financial support? Financial
support for these national workers varies from $200 to $300 monthly,
depending on the size of their family and their geographical location. We
have several workers who still lack a portion of their support, and we
have recently appointed additional new workers for whom we have only a
small amount of support. Support in any amount will be appreciated. You
may make your check payable to "Cadence International," and send it to
P.O. Box 1268, Englewood, CO 80150, together with a separate note that
your gift is for support of one of our Lands of Russia workers.
During twenty-one years of active duty service in the Navy, Chaplain Meschke served more than eight years in ships, aboard Destroyer Squadron 26, USS AJAX, USS CORAL SEA, and USS PROTEUS. Much of this time was spent at sea in the Caribbean and Western Pacific areas. He served at Navy bases in Tennessee, Illinois, Florida, California and Rhode Island, and at Marine bases in California and North Carolina. He also served with a Marine combat infantry battalion (1 8t Battalion, 26th Marines, Fifth Marine Division) in the Republic of South Vietnam for one year. Dave left active duty with the Navy in 1978 to become the General Director of Cadence International. Founded by Jesse Miller and other former GIs in 1954, Cadence now numbers 250 missionaries who lead ministries in some sixty locations near military bases in Korea, Japan, Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, England, Germany, Italy, Spain, and sixteen states in the U. S. including Alaska and Hawaii. Dr. Meschke also served from 1981 to 1994 as leader of the military chaplaincy program for IFCA International, known now as Bible Churches Chaplaincy. During those years the number of their chaplains serving in the Armed Forces more than doubled. Dr. Meschke has served in other offices of IFCA International, including the office of National President from 1993 to 1996. After leading Cadence International for seventeen years, Dave relinquished leadership of the mission in 1995 to pursue gospel ministry to the military forces of nations of the former Soviet Union. To date these nations do not have official military chaplains to carry on religious ministries. He has established a partnering relationship between Cadence and the largest evangelical Protestant church body in these nations. American donors to Cadence are providing prayer and financial support for twenty-nine former Soviet military men and their families, mostly former officers, who are now engaged in evangelistic out-reach to their own military forces in three nations of the former Soviet Union, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Dave has made twenty-one ministry trips to these countries, providing training and encouragement, as well as financial support, to those national workers. In 1950 Dave married his college sweetheart, Elizabeth ("Betty") Warren, of Oak Park, Illinois. They now live in Centennial, Colorado, near Denver. They have five adult children, one of whom is serving in Christian ministry, fifteen grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. In 2003, Dr. Meschke was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Divinity by the Rocky Mountain Bible College and Seminary, located in the Denver area, for his forty-six years of faithful ministry to the military forces of America and of other countries. For more information on
Cadence International
Khe Sanh Community Library Fund by Chuck (Lt. Col.,
USMCR, Ret.) March 2003. Sitting on a split bamboo floor in a house on stilts, sipping fresh green tea with Chief Nai in the village of Ruong after a day hike up Hill 881S with the Chief and one of his villagers guiding us, it is hard to imagine the danger and destruction of the area in March 1968 — unless you were there back then. As Ray Stubbe wrote after viewing a picture of my wife and I on the slope of 8 8 IS in March 2003, "Who would have thought that a man and his wife would one day stand in a place that once was so dangerous." But we did, and we have decided to return the Chief's hospitality by raising money to build a community library for his village and other villages in the area. Chief Nai's village is nestled in the valley by the stream below Hills 689 and 881s. He returned to the area in 1972, and today his village numbers about 400 people. In May 2004, my wife and I visited with him again. This time we went specifically to ask him what we could do to help his village. Chief Nai replied that his village has a school, a water purification system, a hospital, and a road was being built; he really didn't need anything else!! But his village does not have a library. The library that we are building is fully equipped and staffed for one year, and it will also serve the community as a social gathering place. Approximately half of the books will be about unexploded ordnance and landmine safety. The land for the building will be cleared of unexploded ordnance, and landscaped when the building is finished. A librarian will be hired and trained. The cost is about $7000 dollars, and our first library project has been fully funded by my wife and I and our family and friends. My wife and I are working with Chuck Meadows, Executive Director of Peace Trees Vietnam, Inc. (COL, USMC, Ret.; Commanding Officer, Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines in the battle of Hue City, February 1968). We are looking for others who will help build another library in the Khe Sanh area. Maybe there are members of the Khe Sanh Veteran's Association who would like to build for the future in Khe Sanh today. Perhaps some of the Khe Sanh veterans would like to build a library in memory of some buddies. For myself, I am not only returning the hospitality of Chief Nai, but I am continuing to help the people in the Khe Sanh area in a way that I could not in 1968 or 1969. My wife is a humanitarian at heart, and I am proud to have her as a partner in this project. If anyone would like to join my wife and me in our community library project, you may send your contribution to Peace Trees Vietnam at the address on the brochure, and mark it for the "Khe Sanh Library Fund." Locations for future libraries, when funded, will be based on needs assessment by the local authorities and agreement with Chuck Meadows and his Peace Trees Vietnam staff. We expect to work throughout Quang Tri Province, and be we are focused in the Huong Hoa District, of which Khe Sanh is the capital I forgot to mention that on our second visit to Chief Nai, after the fresh green tea, he served his own locally prepared rice wine. He said it was 50% and not as strong as that of the next village over which has 65%. Now that was an honor and an experience I will not forget for a long time!! As a matter of fact, I am looking forward to returning to his village to see the library, and I am wondering what Chief Nai will do then.
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