A Life on Mission Makes a Generational Gospel Impact: Paul and Bette Cardell’s Story
Paul Cardell has flown to Romania approximately 42 times in the last 23 years for one reason: at the annual missions dinner hosted by Mt. Bethel Church he was exposed to the struggle of Romania’s “street children” and he was moved to do something about it.
“These are children who suffered greatly under the country’s transition from communism to freedom,” explained Paul. “They were abandoned in hospitals, left in vacant houses, sent out to beg for parents who could no longer sustain life in very difficult economic and social times.” Even when these children were given a place in a children’s home, they struggled to make a successful transition into adulthood when they came of age.”
While many in Romania saw these children as “undesirables,” Paul and his wife, Bette, saw them as precious, vulnerable souls loved by God and in desperate need of experiencing Jesus’ compassion.
This is how Life Academy, and Mt. Bethel Church’s partnership with them, began. Twenty years later, and it’s clear the impact has been generational.
Life Academy’s Generational Impact
According to Bette Cardell, “Life Academy is not a building, but a conduit for training, building up, encouraging and providing a safety net for individuals and families who experience food scarcity, relational inexperience and housing deficiencies.”
The team at Life Academy, through the support of partners like Mt. Bethel Church over the years, has provided a variety of services from job training, mentoring, marriage counseling, trauma counseling, healthcare, crisis intervention, food assistance and more.
“We’ve walked with young people through domestic abuse, abandonment, depression, unemployment, human trafficking, drug abuse, and incarceration,” Paul explained.
In the last two decades, Paul and Bette have formed several relationships with young adults served by Life Academy. They’ve seen kids who were told they had no chance of making it graduate college, form their own businesses, get married and have their own children.
Many of the “first generation of street children” whose lives were changed through Life Academy over 20 years ago now give back as adults both financially and through volunteering.
“For these young adults without families to support them, Life Academy has become their family.”
“For these young adults without families to support them, Life Academy has become their family,” Bette explained.
Every time the Cardells lead a missions team from Marietta, Georgia, to serve short-term alongside Life Academy in Romania, they are blessed to see the transformation Jesus’ love has had on entire families throughout the years.
But perhaps the most significant generational impact has been on the Cardell’s family personally. Paul and Bette’s son, Jeff, and his wife Lauren, have been living and serving in Romania as missionaries for ten years now.
“God used our experiences as a family going on summer missions teams from Mt. Bethel Church to call my son and his family to ministry,” Paul said proudly.
Summer 2024
Recently, Mt. Bethel Church sent out a team of nine, with Paul as the team leader, to serve for a week with our ministry partner, Life Academy.
While in Timisoara, Romania, the team packed and distributed food boxes to help families in need. As they delivered these boxes, they sat with these families and listened to their needs, hopes and struggles. Several of these families Paul and Bette had met and served before on previous trips, like Simona and her seven children.
Mt. Bethel Church’s Mission Team with Simona and her six children (with one on the way!) Faces have been covered for privacy reasons.
They first met Simona several years ago and have reconnected with her on recent trips since then. Last fall, she and her kids attended a “Family Day,” which the Cardells helped with.
“Last year we shared the gospel with the kids through an activity that not only taught them, but they could take home to share with their families,” Bette stated. “This year, one of the children remembered it and retold us the Bible story from last year in his own words!”
This summer, the Cardells and other members of Mt. Bethel’s missions team were disheartened to learn that Simona and her children are facing eviction from their home. Their neighbors aren’t accommodating to such a large group of kids, and inflation in Romania is making it difficult for the family to find an affordable alternative. Life Academy is currently working to help Simona and her kids find a solution.
“Pray for God to step in and provide,” asked Paul and Bette. 
The Mt. Bethel team also helped a local church host an International Leadership Institute “History Makers” discipleship conference.
“Four Romanian teachers joined two American teachers to lead the training,” Paul explained. Participants from various backgrounds attended the conference, from young professionals with advanced degrees to students from middle-class families who attended the local church.
Paul Cardell teaching during the ILI “History Makers” Conference
“One moment I palpably felt the movement of the Holy Spirit on this trip was when, during the conference, I observed a young man sitting alone,” Paul recalled. “As a second-generation Life Academy boy, I have known him since he was a baby. Throughout school, he’s struggled with academics and with his behavior.
“But during the conference I sat next to him and asked to pray with him. He told me about a recent experience when he prayed to Jesus after a motorbike accident, and he felt Jesus come to him to heal and protect him!”
You Can Experience the Gospel Impact Too
Through your prayers and tithes and offerings to Mt. Bethel Church, you’re supporting Life Academy and our other ministry partners as they share gospel hope with individuals and families in need all over the world.
But you can make a personal, gospel impact when you prayerfully follow God’s call to go on mission through a short-term mission trip.
“Short term missions experiences can be beautiful glimpses of what God is doing in a given place,” Paul said about his decades-long experience of going on and leading short-term trips to Romania.
“They encourage our faith, give us perspective on how we live, challenge our cultural assumptions, and open our eyes to the joy of reaching out.”
He went on to say those who participate in short-term missions will find the experience doesn’t end when the trip ends. All of Paul and Bette’s many short-term missions have had one thing in common no matter the destination or activities: inspiration and urgency to live on mission in their daily lives when they come back home.