Sad moment for SALT tonight

Tonight we did our fifth study in the '10 Commandments' series in 'More studies to go'. It was on commandment #5 - honouring our fathers and mothers. Because we're a predominantly Asian youth group I felt this particular study needed to stress that the reason we are obedient to our parents is not so that we score marks in being 'gwai' - but because it pleases God (cf Colossians 3:20)

On the way home I dropped off a couple of teens. Here's a snippet of the conversation I had with them in the car ride:

Me: Can I ask you a question and get an honest answer?

Teen: Sure!

Me: What are you afraid of most - dissappointing God or dissappointing your parents?

Teen: ... God...?

Me: Really...?

Teen: ...no... my parents...

Pray for the families in our church - that they would not only be counter cultural, but thoroughly Gospel centred.

CIA-SALT Camp 2008

So much has been happening in the past few months that things have started to drag - like this blog and our newsletter! Our apologies for the delay.

SALT had its first combined camp this year with CIA (Christ in Action - our Coopers Plains equivalent). We headed off to Koojawaren campsite in Toowoomba (well, Highfields - 10 minutes out from Toowoomba) and heard some great talks from guest speaker Sam Mak. Smak (as he is affectionately known) shared with the teens different parts of scripture and themed his talks on 'Humility'. The talks seemed to hit their mark with 13 teens responding after the Saturday night evangelistic talk and more teens probing with questions and being convicted of the truth of the gospel :)

Praise the Lord for all that happened on the weekend and praise the Lord that more teens came into His glorious Kingdom!

Here's some of the photos in a slideshow set to the camp theme song 'Before The Cross'.

SALT Library!

Last week we kicked off SALT's library! With a relatively generous church budget allocated to SALT this year we have been steadily raiding Koorong and Word bookstores during their sales to stock up on various books. Here's a list of some of what you may find in our reading list:

• the Manga Bible (Genesis & Exodus) - this has proved very popular with both the guys and girls!
• The Case for Christ/Faith/Creator youth & student editions by Lee Strobel
• Jesus Among Other Gods youth edition by Ravi Zacharias
• A Hell of a Life/Hanging In There/Sneaking Suspicion - great books for teens by John Dickson
• More than a Carpenter/Beyond Belief to Convictions - excellent apologetic's books by Josh McDowell
• I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris
• and a great little series of 'The Little Black/Pink Book' on various issues for teens

Pray with us that we'll continue to build up the library with solid resources and pray that the teens would find encouragement, growth and conviction of the truth of Christianity/Jesus through these resources!

My love/non-love relationship with SALT

I wonder if it's natural for me to feel a sense of dread week in and week out in the lead-up to SALT (SAint Lucia Teens). I'm not sure it should be.

Tonight was a great reminder of how buzzing and exciting youth ministry can be. I led one of the teens through the prayer of repentance! How small minded I am, how inadequate is my love for the teens that I minister to, and how great is the awesomeness of God!

Pray with me that this young teen would grow into a much more godly man than I am.