Caroling Tomorrow Night

We're heading out to spread a little love. We'll be caroling from 6:30-9:00 all over the city. Hope that you can join in this special time of serving.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

How rich are you?

This past week we talked a lot about materialism. So many times we can make the mistake of thinking that we are poor by looking at people that have more than us. But when put into perspective we can see that we have much more than think. See for yourself... follow the link and see where your wealth measures up.

The Global Rich List

Since many of you may not have a great understanding of how much money your family has, you could do this with your parents. Or, here are some numbers you can try putting in to see how they measure up:

• $38,000 - The median household income of Winston-Salem
• $20,000 - US poverty guideline for a family of 4
• $1,300 - If you made $25 every week baby sitting
  

The Message Board

Have a random comment? Want to say something unrelated to a post? This is the place for all your ramblings.

Night of Prayer

A quick reminder for you guys. There will not be Thrive this week since there are nights of prayer on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Each night prayer will be at the church office from 7:00-8:30pm. If you can try to come on Wednesday but if that doesn't work than you can totally come on either of the other nights.

Rake N Run

I'm sure you all have noticed that it's Fall outside! It's that time of the year where trees start shedding leaves all over the lawn and that means raking. On Sunday, November 11 we're getting a group together for ministering to people who could use a hand in this way. If you're in the junior high, please bring a rake with you that afternoon. We'll meet up at the church office at 2:00 and end at 5:00. We're going to have a lot of fun being together (like always), and we'll be serving others as well, so please join us! You can sign up this upcoming Wednesday at Thrive or just email Dave at djacobson@salemchapel.org.

(Ps. Excellent job bringing friends for the staff hunt. Keep it up!)

Random Poll

What is your favorite pizza place?

Leave an answer in the comments...

Staff Hunt Photos

This past Saturday, we held our Staff Hunt. Each of the seven Thrive Staff members dressed up and camped out in the mall. It was your job in your group of students to find each of the Staff. Some did well, some did not so well. Here are some pics to remind you what you were looking for.



You can click on a picture to see a larger version or to leave a comment.

Staff Hunt: Saturday, October 20th

It is finally here. The most talked about event of the fall. Staff Hunt.

Come on out to the church office on Saturday, Oct. 20. The fun begins at 2:30 so be on time. At the office you'll find your group and get instructs. Some parents and adult will take you over to the mall where you'll try to find all of the Thrive Staff.

• Dave
• Brie
• Matt
• Chris
• Jonathan
• Amanda
• Carlye
  

Did you figure out who's who in the picture? You may want to start there.

Music Video of the Week

Band: Relient K
Song: Be My Escape

Would you rather..

Would you rather be glued to an airplane or a cruise ship? Why?

New Kid On The Blog

Hey everybody!

I'm Dave's little helper for the blog now! Just letting everyone know so you can be looking forward to some extra fun stuff. I'll probably be stopping by quite often so make sure you don't leave me hanging on here. :)

If your someone who gets on a lot or even from time to time holler at me so I can get a general idea of who is into this world wide web. Just click to leave a comment below letting me know you're here. Thanks!

Photo Scavy Pics

Enjoy!



1st Place: Tree Huggers


2nd Place: Team Flipflop


3rd Place: Team X

Back in Action

The blog may have seemed lame for a little while, but...

WE'RE BACK!

Look for more updates soon.

Canoe Trip Update

We had a great trip on Friday and Saturday. Here's a recap:

Friday: Left a little after 9:00. Had about a 4 hour drive with a stop for snacks another stop for food at a mall food court. We got checked in with Headwaters Outfitters, had our orientation, and got the water around 3:30. Paddled 8 miles which took about 3 hours. It was absolutely pouring rain for 30 minutes. We got to the campsite and made camp, cooked some dinner, sang some songs, looked at God's Word, and played some games while make S'mores and Banana Boats.

Saturday: Quick breakfast and we were on the river by 9:30. We had a bit more of a relaxing day. A whole lot more tipping of each others canoes. Stopped for lunch on the river about noon. Continued on till our pick up point at 3:00. It was a total of 12 miles the second day. (Grand total of 20 miles paddled. Good work.) Quick run back to the campsite to pack up and the 4 hour drive home with a stop for dinner.

Everyone made it back safe and sound a little damp and very tired. Pictures coming soon.

Canoe Trip this Friday and Saturday

We are really excited about the canoe trip that is coming up this weekend. Here are the top five reasons why you should be excited too:

1. Swimming in a river.
2. Getting to hang out with Dave, Brie, Jonathan, and Amanda.
3. Two days without showering.
4. Banana boats.
5. Three and a half hours in a van road tripping to the mountains.
   

There is a brochure that has all of the information you could ask for like: schedule, packing list, and registration. If you have any questions about the trip, contact Dave.

Hogs Win... Hogs win!

Great game last night. Everyone that went had a great time. Great job with that wave guys. Those of you who couldn't make it, you were missed.

Jr. High Mission Project // July 12-13

Just a reminder. Many of you have said you were interested but have not yet signed up. We need to know as soon as possible who is going to be participating so we can plan out our projects. Let Dave know if you are planning on serving as soon as you finish checking out the blog.

In case you missed it...

We played a little "Extreme Bobbing for Stuff." A fun game where our lucky contestants race each other to bob for some random objects using only their faces. The twist: they are bobbing in ice water. Let me tell you the water was pretty frigid.

Watching the Taylor and Rachel compete head-to-head was pretty hilarious. Here were a couple of pics from the night:

Warthogs Game

Next Wednesday, July 4th, we'll be heading over to Ernie Shore Field for the Warthogs game. We've already bought tickets but it is not to late to secure your spot. Be sure to sign up or shoot me an email if you are interested. We'll be enjoying the fireworks after the game. Cost is 8 bucks. We'll meet at the church office at 6:00 pm and return at 10:45 pm.

Summer teaching series

PRESS ON

Every once and a while we need to be challenged and to be reminded of what we are called to be. This whole summer we are going to be looking at the book of Philippians. Come check it out as we read of Paul's letter to the Philippian church. This is an encouraging and joyful letter as Paul challenges the Philippian church to ramp up their faith and really strive to take things to a new level.

The summer is in full swing!

We are already one month into the summer. Can you believe it? We've had two Patio Lanterns on Wednesday night. For those of you that have been out of town or haven't made it to one yet you need to come. We've had a load of fun and we've go some sweet things planned for the summer.

A little break

You've probably noticed a little less posting than normal. As we draw closer to the Mexico Trip it has been increasily busy. We'll take a little break from posting here but you can definitely check out the Mexico Trip Blog to stay updated with the trip. You will be sure to find some full fledged posting right back here when we get back.

The Summer Calendar is done

If you haven't seen it yet, we have a SWEET summer planned. There is a scavenger hunt, a baseball game, and a canoe trip to name just a few of the awesome things happening!

In addition to those extra events we will be having our weekly program of Patio Lantern pretty much every Wednesday night 6:30-8:30. We will be combining both Jr. High and High School. The first one is June 20 and this is the night that we are inviting the upcoming 6th graders to join us. It should be a great night together.

We'll be mailing the calendar but if you just can't wait, you can download it over the the right.

New Mexico Trip Blog

That's right... another blog. We have this blog ready to go so we can keep the church and all our supporters updated on how our trip to Tijuana, Mexico is going. We'll try and put up some pictures and specific ways you can pray for us. Check it out.

www.salemchapelmissions.blogspot.com

What'd you do with your buck?

Last Sunday we finished up our series "Why do we do that?" One of the things we looked at was loving others. To try and give you a practical and fun way to love others you received a buck and list of 25 ways that you could use that dollar to show love to somebody. Well... how did it go? What way did you use it? What was the result? I'd love to hear what happened as a result.

Check out our new ride

Salem Chapel is now the proud owner of a 12 passenger van. This is going to be our ride for retreats, events, and anytime we need to get somewhere. Pretty sweet, huh?

Summer Mission Trip Details

Just wanted to remind you that we are not meeting this Saturday. We'll be talking on Sunday night about the details for the trip. We've got some cool things in the works and I'm excited to let you know more. I hope that you have a great week and we'll see you on Sunday.

Why do we do that?

We are in a series right now called "Why do we do that." We are spending five weeks looking at the things that we do as a church and why we do them. This past week we looked at preaching and did it in a little different of a way. I asked five questions and you all had to look through the Bible and try to find the answers. Some of you wanted to work a little more on them so we can hear a report on what you found next time we meet. Here are the five questions:

1. Why is preaching so important?
2. Why preach from God's Word?
3. What comes from hearing God's Word preached?
4. What is my role when I hear preaching?
5. Why do we say at Salem Chapel boldly proclaiming "without apology"?

I'm excited to hear next time we meet what you guys were able to find. Remember to do something special for your mom this sunday. We are not having Thrive on Mother's Day.

Video of the Week: Matrix Ping Pong

This one is a classic.

Week of Prayer

Don't forget... this is week of prayer. You are totally invited tonight and tomorrow night to join the church at the office for a night of prayer. They are from 7:00-8:30 pm. We already had one last night and it went great. Send me an email if you have any questions.

Video of the Week: David Crowder Band

Fun video to a great song.

Putt-putt Tournament this Saturday

The green jacket is up for grabs this Saturday. We're meeting at Adventure Landing for 3 hours of miniature golf, arcade games, and fun hanging out. We'll start at 10:00am and end at 1:00pm. Come ready to compete because we are going to award a ton of prizes the next night at Thrive.

Digitized Putt-putt Training

If you are a bit rusty on your golf skills you may want to check out this digital trainer. What's your best score?

Pictures from the Spring Retreat

Thrive JH Spring Retreat

I uploaded a bunch of pictures from the hike to Picasa. You can check them out by clicking above. Feel free to add some comments if you want. I will hopefully be updating it with some more photos from the campsite.

We're Back!

We made it safely back from the Spring Retreat on Sunday afternoon. Let me tell you, we had a blast! The weather couldn't have been more perfect. Everything went great and if I am not mistaken everyone that was able to come had an awesome time. Keep a lookout this week... I will be posting some pictures from the weekend.

T-minus 2 days

SPRING RETREAT THIS WEEKEND! It is going to be sweet.

Say goodbye to the message board

The message board was fun while it lasted but I really didn't like having pop-ups every time that you come to the blog. So... say goodbye. Looks like you will have to leave any comments on the different posts.

The Return of Four Square

Ladies and gentlemen... and all you Jr. Highers. This Sunday we are going to break out our beloved game of four square. The weather should be nice... it should be light enough because of dalight savings... the planets are aligned. So come ready for a crazier then ever game of four square. My guess is you may be a bit rusty, but like riding a bike I'm sure that you'll pick it up again quick.

Video of the Week: Panda Sneeze

Okay, this is good for 2 reasons:

1. How does that little guys have such a ginormous sneeze?
2. Mom does not know what to do.
   

I'm already tired of the message board

I didn't know it when I put it up but the message board opens two popups each time you open the website. What's your vote... should it stay or go?

Message Board

I know that you guys like leaving comments but sometimes have a message for me or want to say something that is unrelated to a post. Now you can leave a message on the message board over on the sidebar. You can use it for whatever you want. You can leave a message for me or say something to the rest of the students. I hope you enjoy it.

Too busy to post

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Things have been pretty busy around the office. I know that you guys enjoy checking out the blog though so we'll see if we can't get some more action happening. Keep checking back this week and we'll get some new posts up for you.

Laser Tag this Saturday

This coming Saturday night is Laser Tag. The cost is $15. We will meet at the church office at 5:30 pm and return at 9:00 pm. You don't want to miss this. If you haven't signed up yet, email Dave at djacobson@salemchapel.org.

No Thrive this Sunday

Just a reminder there is no Thrive this Sunday because of the Super Bowl. Have fun watching the game. If you had to choose, who would you like to win?

Video of the Week: Crazy Frog Bros

You may have seen this one before, but I thought you needed a crazy video for a crazy week.

Spring Calendar is here

We have got a ton of sweet things planned this spring. I am really looking forward to it. If you haven't got your hands on a calendar yet, you can download a PDF of one to the right. We are currently in a teaching series that we just started this week called "Heroes." Should be a pretty cool series that's got me pretty stoked.

Here are the events that are coming your way this spring:

• Laser Tag (Sat, Feb. 24)
• SPRING RETREAT (Fri, Mar. 23- Sun, Mar. 25)- You don't want to miss this!
• 2nd Annual Salem Chapel Open: Putt-putt tournament (Sat, April 14)
• Cookout (Sun, May 27)

Which one are you most excited about?!?

Introducing...

Isaac Timothy Lidbom

It's a boy.

At 12:19 pm today the Lidboms had a baby boy weighing in at 7 lbs 14 oz. Congratulations Lidboms!

Baby Poll

SaraL is due this coming Saturday. I thought it would be fun if we had a little contest to guess what time of day (on whatever day the baby comes) it will be. Leave a comment with your time you think that little bundle of joy will get here. The winner gets... say... five dollars to Chipotle.

Pick a time rounded to the nearest hour. Each person can guess one time and an hour can only be guessed once. I will fill in names as you guess.

12 am
1 am
2 am
3 am Kieson
4 am Brie
5 am Dave
6 am
7 am Eva
8 am
9 am
10 am
11 am
12 pm
12:19 pm Isaac Timothy
1 pm
2 pm
3 pm
4 pm
5 pm
6 pm
7 pm CrysAne
8 pm
9 pm
10 pm
11 pm

Wii have it

It's here. Thank you Sarah (and Derek) for waiting in line.

Promises from God's Word: Dealing with Sin

Last Sunday we talked a lot about the effects of sin in our life and we were challenged to do avoid it at all costs. Here are some promises that you can hold on when it comes to facing sin in your own life. If I were you, I would try to memorize a couple of these:

• No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
• Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7
• I have stored up you word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11
• Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is great than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

God wants you to have victory over sin. Keep fighting the fight. Are there any other verses that you can find that gives encouragement or advice in dealing with sin? There are plenty more... post some more that you find.

Video of the Week: Diet Coke & Mentos II

The guys at Eepybird are at it again.

Video of the Week: Statue of Liberty

If you haven't seen it yet, check out this sick play last week by Boise State. If your not into football... sorry.

Next week Thrive is a special night

Don't forget about the time change. You don't have school on Monday. For this reason we are going to hang out a little longer and play some games. 6:30-9:30pm (be sure to let your parents know.)