Hey guys and gals!!

This is my first time ever writing a blog. It should be fun. October is officially over and we are moving into the cold, stormy weather. If it hasn't happened yet, just wait, it will. 

So.. what have we been up to? Good question. Last month we had our Fall Retreat with the Caveman. We were challenged and encouraged by Sam Baker as our speaker, a professor from Corban College. He spoke on Ecclesiastes ....

Big Weekend 2009 was awesome!  We'll have pictures & video up soon!  Make sure you don't miss the start of the new series OLD SCHOOL starting this Sunday.  Also keep your eyes out for our newsletter featuring some really 'old school' pictures of your leaders!

Hey guys!  BIG WEEKEND is coming up!  Don't please don't miss it!  It's past the deadline but I will still find a way for you to go!  Sign up on here. If you are having trouble using the web sign up please call 503-581-3680 ext 333 and leave a message or talk to Mary.  We have scholarships.  If you need one please e-mail me jlindley@salemnaz.org

* Unfortunately the tickets for Friday night did not come through... so Mary is working on some other plans for the girls!  Contact her for more details! (Posted 9:33pm Sept 14th)

Parents & Students,

As you may be aware from time to time we have some last minute opportunities come up for a night out on the town, etc. We have just received a donation of access to a box suite at the Rose Quarter for the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus Show. Space is limited so it will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. We will do a girls night and a guys night.

Thursday Night, September 17th GUYS night
Friday Night, September 18th GIRLS night

You can check out the show here:
http://www.ringling.com/TopLanding.aspx?id=15322


We will meet at the church 5:30pm both nights and return by 10:30pm. We only have about 12 spaces each night. You can sign up on the clipboard at 'sign up central' by the entrance to the middle school room on Sunday.

The only cost will be food.  You can either bring a dinner and eat it on the way there or bring money for snacks at the Rose Quarter.

We kicked off our Gospel Journey Maui series tonight with a great LUAU!  We'll start Gospel Journey Maui next Wednesday 7-8:15pm in the Annex at the church.  Check out the media section for a few pictures from the night!

Pastor Joshua

Parents and Students -

I just wanted to let you know our middle school website has been updated with a new theme and look for this year!  Make sure you take some time to check it out at http://www.myyouthgrouprocks.com   It will be updated with all of the latest information about events and activities.

-We had a great time this last Sunday morning welcoming our new 6th grade students and kicking off our new series called 'Friends'.  As we are starting another year of school we are learning Biblical principles about making friends, keeping friends, and being a friend.  Don't miss out on this exciting series Sunday morning at 9:15.

-We also start Gospel Journey Maui this upcoming Wednesday, September 16th from 7-8:15pm in the annex.  Check it out on our website.  

-Big Weekend (Fall Retreat) is coming up!  We've made it really simple to sign up online for this event.  You can also fill out a form at the church.  The cost is $55.  But if you bring 5 friends at $55 you get in free. (WHAT A DEAL!!!!) Sign up fast though!

-Also just to remind you this Sunday at 11am is a very important meeting regarding our building project.  We'll have our regular middle school service at 9:15am in the annex then head over to the sanctuary for this important meeting at 11am.

If you have any questions please contact me... jlindley@salemnaz.org

Looking forward to a great new year!

Pastor Joshua

Hey students and parents.  Make sure you catch a VERY important meeting about the building project this Sunday at 11:00am in the sanctuary!  Pastor Dave has some very important details to share with you and it's vital that you are in attendance.  We'll have our regular middle school service at 9:15am in the annex and continue in our Friends series then we'll head straight on over to the sanctuary for this important time.

Dear Parents,

Wow! Summer is almost over!  I hope it has been a good summer for you. I am excited about the things we have lined up for this year middle school ministries and wanted to take a few minutes and share with you.

I know this letter will arrive in the hands of some who may not have been to the church in a while.  I want to especially encourage you to not miss this new opportunity for your student to become involved in a youth group and learn what it means to live for God.  Our students face challenges today that can lead them down very bad paths in life.  It is crucial we reach students when they are in middle school and younger to help them make good decisions that will last for life.  Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help your student become involved here at the church.

I'm kicking off a new series this month called 'Friends'.  We will be taking a biblical approach to friendships and the relationships we have in life.  This is a great time for your students to bring their Bibles and come to church prepared to learn new things from the Bible and put them to practice in life.  We'll be doing this series during our Sunday morning service, which is 9:15-10:55am every Sunday morning in the annex.

We're doing a 10-week series on Wednesday nights called Gospel Journey Maui. This series takes a look at how we can articulate our faith among a culture of many faiths.  This series will take place on Wednesday nights from 7-8:15 pm in the annex.  We're kicking it off with a special Luau at the Martinsons’ on Wednesday, September 9th.  Their address is: 1634 63rd Ave NE, Salem, OR 97317.  We'd love to see your student at this event!

Our next major event is BIG WEEKEND.  This is our annual fall retreat. The cost this year is $55 and includes all meals, transportation, etc.  The retreat will be held at Camp Tadmor and is the weekend of October 2nd-4th. This event is an amazing opportunity for your student and their friends.  It's a fast-paced weekend full of games, scripture, worship, devotions, quiet time, and connecting time. Time and time again I have seen students who are new or unconnected with few or no friends attend this event and come back completely changed having made some new friends for life.  If there is ANYTHING that stands in the way of your student attending this event let me help.  We have some scholarships available and I am willing to do whatever is necessary to find a way for your student to attend this event.

I'm looking forward to another great year here at Salem First.  If you have any questions or anything I can help you with please let me know!

Pastor Joshua

jlindley@salemnaz.org

Hey guys!   

I just wanted to let you know how proud I am of you guys for all the work you did.  You guys were truly the hands and feet of Christ to everyone you met during the trip.  I appreciate your willingness to allow God to do incredible things through you. 

Enclosed is a group picture from the retreat.  I hope you'll put this somewhere in your room where you can see it and be reminded to pray for the people you met and the ministries we worked with during the mission trip. 

I also want to say a special thanks to those who did student devotionals for our sessions.  (Ross, Shannon, Garrett, Joanna, Morris, Allison)  These students did such a great job of sharing their heart with us during the trip. 

Congrats to the PPP.  Your team won the team competition for the week! Your team is invited to lunch on me at Red Robin Sunday, August 16^th, after the morning service.  Please let Mary know if you're going to be able to make it. 

I wanted to remind you about the Go Wide strategy we learned during the mission trip.  It's my prayer we will use this strategy to reach our friends for Christ this year!  If you forgot or need a reminder here we go!  

1.) PRAY: Remember to pray for your friends who don't know Christ.  

2.) PURSUE: Grow in your relationship with your friends.  Find 'forks in the conversation' where you can talk about God.  

3.) PERSUADE:  Help your friend understand the importance of giving their life to Christ!  If they were about to jump off a bridge you'd work really hard to persuade them not to... why not give the same effort to help your lost friends find faith in Christ? 

I'm so proud of you guys and look forward to seeing how God is going to use you this year to reach out to your friends.  Have a great rest of the summer!  See you soon! 

Pastor Joshua

Parents, 

Wow!  Summer is flying by!  I wanted to update you on a few things.   

First off we had a GREAT mission trip!  I'm so proud of our students.  They did a great job as they acted as servants in the city of Portland doing everything from yard work to serving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to the homeless.  Our students worked really hard and did a great job.  I did training with our students during the mission trip teaching them the importance of reaching their lost friends for Christ.   Quiz them on the Pray, Pursue, Persuade system they learned during the trip. 

Our 8th graders only have a few more weeks left in middle school.. September 6th will be their first day with the high school.  On Wednesday, September 2 we'll have an end of summer bash at the Hall's from 7:00 to 10:00 pm.  

Heads up on a few activities in August.  August 9^th is our Swim Party at the Eldens. More details are in the Newsletter. August 16^th is the reward lunch at Red Robbin for the PPP. Ask your child if they were on the mission trip what team they were on, they will know. 

I wanted to let you know about our next major student ministries event so you can begin planning now to keep your students calendar clear.  Our fall retreat will be October 2-4 at camp Tadmore.  More information will come soon but you'll want to make sure they don't miss this action packed weekend.  The weekend will include worship music, a special speaker, and tons of games and fun. 

Thanks for all you do as parents!  If you ever have any questions or need anything don't hesitate to ask! 

Pastor Joshua

jlindley@salemnaz.org

June 29, 2009 

Parents, 

Wow! June was a busy but great month in student ministries. Thanks to all of you who brought your families to our sexual purity class. I hope that this class was very productive in opening lines of communication in your family. I want to give a special thanks to Pastor Greg Hall for his work with us on this class. We still have copies of Every Young Man's Battle and Every Young Woman's Battle available for purchase for $10 in the student ministries office. Our students did a great job this month with our Sunday morning series as we walked through what it means to be eye, body and heart pure. 

This Sunday I'll be starting a new series on prayer. Please make every effort to have your student attend these very important and exciting Sunday morning services. Our regular schedule continues throughout the summer of 9:15-10:55 am Sunday mornings and 7:00-8:15 pm on Wednesday nights. 

July 15-19th is our summer mission trip to Portland. It would be great to have your student attend. We will spend time working at various projects throughout the city including time at food banks as well as outdoor work. Students also have devotional time, quiet time, as well as lots of spiritual and life training from our leaders and adults. Time and time again I have seen our mission trips change the lives of our students. If your student is already plugged into the group this trip will improve their relationship with others as well as draw them closer to God. If your student is not plugged in this trip is an EXCELLENT opportunity to get them plugged in with the group. We work very hard to help our students form healthy Christ-like relationships with each other on these trips while serving God. I will have a parent meeting on July 12th immediately following second service in the annex to give any last minute details of the trip to parents and students. 

As a follow up to our mission trip we'll head to the lake for a day on July 23rd for $15. This will include all food, transportation, boating cost, etc. As always with any of our events if you need financial assistance please let me know. I have scholarships available that can reduce the price of these events in special circumstances. 

One last note - I will be the speaker at the Los Angeles District Church of the Nazarene Jr. High camp July 6-10th. I would appreciate you keeping me in your prayers during this time as I'm speaking to and working with these students. 

As always if you have any questions or there is any way I can help you please don't hesitate to email or call! 

Pastor Joshua 
jlindley@salemnaz.org 

Don't miss the sexual purity class coming up this month.  The class is for parents & students.  It will be held in the annex June 7, 14 & 28.  

May 28, 2009

Parents,

This past month has been a great time for our middle school group as
we've been studying parables and learning how God wants us to live our
lives.  I want to take a few minutes to let you know about some things
coming up this next month and some ways you can be involved.

I will be starting a new series called Living Pure in a Dirty World
this coming Sunday.  I will be helping our students to understand how
we can live pure lives while being surrounded by all the impurities of
the world. Do everything possible to ensure your student is able to
attend these very important Sunday morning sessions at 9:15 am in the
annex.

Pastor Greg Hall and I will be hosting a Sexual Purity class for both
parents and students on Sunday nights in June.  (June 7,14 & 28)  This
class will have several components including some all group
discussion, some parent/student discussion, as well as special
break-apart sessions for parents and gender specific sessions for
students. I highly encourage you to make these classes a priority.
The class will be in the annex from 6:00-7:30 pm.

In July we'll be having our annual mission trip.  This year we will be
going to Portland.  The trip is July 15-19th.  The cost is $100 which
includes everything.  We'll be staying at Portland First Nazarene and
working with various organizations and churches in the Portland area
doing service projects.  Make sure your student doesn't miss this
exciting opportunity to serve God and grow in their relationships with
God and each other.

If your student is unable to attend our mission trip or any other
events because of finances please do not hesitate to let me know.   I
will do everything possible to work with you to find a way for your
student to attend these events.

Thanks,

Pastor Joshua

Parents,

God is doing some exciting things in our middle school group!  I look forward to every time I am with our students and the opportunity to hear what God is doing in their life.   It was great this past month to see ten of our middle school students baptized.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to read this letter and be informed about some great events coming up for your students and your family.

Friday night April 17th we're having a Recession Buster Family Night.  This is a low key night from 7-9pm in the annex featuring dinner and a movie.  The cost is $2 for an individual or $6 for an entire family regardless of size.  We'll be having dinner as well as watching the Christian movie Time Changer.  (There's a trailer of the movie on our website)

Hey guys.. I just wanted to remind you to check out the information on Stuck in the Middle.  We're going to have an awesome time in Seattle and I would love to have as many students as possible on this trip.  This trip is not just about hanging out and having fun but it's about growing in your walk with God and in your relationships with others. 

A great way to pay for this trip is by participating in the auction.  This will earn money that can be used for this trip as well as other trips.

 Seriously think about attending this event.  As always let me know if you have any questions!

Wow.. good job for those of you looking for the hidden text!  This is it.. it's actually in plain sight.  So.. now you're probably wondering what the word is.. the word you need to e-mail me this week to get a reward for your work on Sunday.  The word is 'derelict'.. that's right.  So email me at jlindley@salemnaz.org to let me know you found the word and put derelict in there and uhh yeah.. you'll get a prize.  And when if you're reading this letter and wondering what this is about.. then don't worry.. I just probably forgot to remove it after a prize time. See you guys on Sunday!

Joshua

Parents,

Thanks for taking a few minutes to allow me to update you on some exciting things happening in our middle school department.
Our students are doing great at bringing their friends to outreach events such as our broomball night.  I appreciate the way you support and help your student to bring friends to these events.  It is our desire to reach every student in the city of Salem for Christ.  Thanks for your help in bringing them to us!

This Sunday we’ll be finishing our series called The Games We Play.  This has been a great series as we’ve looked at what God’s word says about forgiveness, guarding our hearts, and the risks that we take for God.  I’ll be starting a series focusing on media influence next week.

Our kids live in a technological danger zone these days.  It is my desire to help them navigate through this and learn to be strong Christians who are following God even if it means going against the flow of what MTV is telling them.  Please take time to ask your student what they are learning and allow the conversation to continue on at home.

This month we will also spend some time focusing on our building campaign Extend the Vision.  As you may be aware we have some exciting opportunities to expand our facilities, which include a large gym and large rooms for our middle school and high school students.  There is an all church meeting planned for April 5th at 3pm regarding this project.   I hope that you and your student will plan to attend this very important meeting.  I will also be encouraging our middle school students to give to this project.

The student ministries auction is scheduled for May 1, 2009.  The auction is a critical piece of the financing for our student ministries department.  The money raised at the auction subsidizes activities for the entire year.  Students also have the ability to earn money individually that can be used towards fall retreat or the mission trip.  Each student is asked to bring in a minimum of $125 of donations plus work the night of the auction.  Students will receive $100 credit and will have contributed $25 towards scholarship others to fall retreat and the mission trip.  Donation request letters are available in the annex.

Don’t forget to go to our website for the latest news and information.  www.myyouthgrouprocks.com

Thanks!
Pastor Joshua

We had a great night playing broomball at the Lloyd Center!  I'm not sure we were really playing broomball by any actual rules.  I'm sure if an official from the "International Federation of Broomball Associations" showed up they'd pass out!  However... it was a TON of fun for our students.   The volume level was much quieter on the bus as we were returning and some students were half asleep!  As with any event.. great thanks is owed to all of our middle school staff.  We have a great dedicated team of adults who work hard to ensure every middle school activity is safe & fun.  Also - great thanks for Mary for all of the work she does behind the scenes.  

Broomball is going to be a ton of fun!  Don't miss it!  Bring as many friends as possible.  The cost is $5 per person.  For more information about this event please check out the info by clicking on the Broomball logo on the front page!  Don't forget to enter in the contest for a free $5 foot long sub from Subway!

Don't miss this Sunday! (March 1st) There's a lot of really exciting stuff going on!  What is so exciting??

 Here we go!

1.) Special speaker for the morning gathering! (9:15am)  We'll do our usual time of worship through music, etc. then expereince a special guest speaker!

2.) After second service we're having lunch together! 

3.) After lunch there's a showing of the movie "End of the Spear" in the sanctuary.  Admission is free!  Don't miss all the fun!

I want to really encourage you guys to attend the new seires 'The Games We Play'  We're going to be taking a look at various games you played as a child and how they apply to life today!  Don't miss it!

Hey guys!  Great job inviting friends to the all nighter this past weekend.  We had over 50 first time guests!  Don't forget to invite them to broomball later this month!  We are still getting things moved over to this new website so unfortunately all the picture galleries and videos aren't over here yet... give us some time and we'll have them. Remember.. if you have pictures from an event either bring them on a CD or upload them using this website!

No matter what you do.... DON'T MISS THE ALL NIGHTER!  It's going to be a lot of fun.  I'm excited about all the good reports I'm hearing about the friends you're brining.  This is a great event for friends!

Check out all the details for this event on this website.  If you bring 5 friends you get in for free!

So we finally have a new website!  This site will become the place for all news and information you need in for Middle School ministries.

There's a few ways you can get to this new site.  One is by going to the church website http://www.salemnaz.org and following the links to middle school.  An easier approach to remember is to use this name http://www.myyouthgrouprocks.com  We're obviously the only youth group in the world with that domain name so we must rock! :)

One of the new cool features on here is the ability for you to  upload pictures from a recent event or activity for us to use in a slide show on a Sunday morning, etc.  You can do this on the media page.

The blog space you are reading this in will always be updated with the latest information about events.  If an event changes or there is new information about an event this will be the place to check it out!

Hope you enjoy the new site!