Cheryl was born the youngest daughter of Pastor Chuck and Kay Smith. At a young age, her father instilled in her a love for biblical truth. But according to Cheryl, her mother was the person who infused her with a passion and enthusiasm for the promises and exhortations of Scripture.
Although Cheryl grew up in a godly home, she experienced a two-year crisis of faith her senior year of high school and first year of college. Introduced to intellectualism and stumbled by an emotional upheaval, she almost surrendered her faith. “I remember being alone in my room and literally contemplating resigning myself from the Christian faith. … Suddenly, I felt a presence enter the room.” Cheryl describes this as the time Jesus presented Himself to her and asked, “What will YOU do with Me?” That day, Cheryl made a full surrender of her life to Jesus Christ.
Almost two years later, Cheryl met her soul mate, Brian Brodersen. They saw each other at a home Bible study in Huntington Harbor, California. Cheryl recalls a handsome young man cornering her. “He had an infectious love for Jesus. As we spoke about the Lord, I kept saying to him, ‘Wow! You love Jesus like I love Jesus!’”
On May 23, 1980, Cheryl and Brian were wed by her father at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. A year later, God graced Brian and Cheryl with their first child, a beautiful girl named Kristyn. Three more siblings would later join: brother Char, sister Kelsey, and finally, brother Braden.
In 1983, Brian and Cheryl moved to Vista, California, where Brian assumed the pastorate of a small Calvary Chapel. It was that year at Calvary Chapel Vista that Cheryl first began to minister to women on a weekly basis, teaching through the Bible. In 1996, Brian and Cheryl moved to London, England, with their four children. There Brian established a Calvary Chapel in Westminster, London, just a half mile from Buckingham Palace. God was faithful to add daily to the fellowship in London. While living in England, Cheryl homeschooled her four children, taught two weekly women’s Bible studies, hosted many visitors to her home, and worked in children’s ministry.
In the year 2000, at the request of Cheryl’s father, Brian and Cheryl, with their family and a new son-in-law, returned to California to have Brian transition into the pastorate of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.
Since returning, Cheryl has assumed from her mother the Joyful Life women’s Bible teaching ministry at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. She hosts a weekly program on calvarychapel.com entitled “Living Grace,” interviewing women from all walks of life. She and Brian also host the call-in Bible program, “Wisdom from the Word,” on Friday afternoons. Cheryl and Brian have four children, two sons-in-law, two daughters-in-law, five grandsons, one granddaughter, and a Golden-Doodle named Barnabas!
Cheryl has been ministering for over 26 years as a retreat and conference speaker, Bible teacher, wife, mother, and grandma. It is her joy and privilege to minister biblical truths to women of all ages.
