By Rachel Havlak, Salt Company Resident, Keystone Church
The month of August is kickoff season for the Salt Company, and Ankeny Salt has been busy with new outreach events on campus to build momentum for the fall. For the first time, Salt Ankeny decided to give away free pizza at DMACC in order to get the word out about Salt Company and reach students who did not know Salt even existed. We were not quite sure what to expect, but roughly 200+ people came through the line to get pizza and pop. Student leaders were there connecting with each person and were able to get contact information for people through the “get to know you” cards. Daniel Nemmers, the Salt Company Director, gave a short 4-minute speech about why Salt Company loves Jesus and why they want to reach out to students at DMACC. The free pizza on campus was a hit and helped build even greater momentum for the Scavenger Hunt that same night.
The Scavenger Hunt at DMACC was also a great success! Student leaders helped check people in, pass out free Chick-Fil-A, and did a great job connecting with students. The goal of the Scavenger Hunt was to get students into smaller groups by placing them in a car with one of our student leaders. The student leaders then helped lead them on the Scavenger Hunt which was on and around DMACC. Before the night was over, Daniel was able to share the gospel and his testimony with everyone who came. It was amazing to see several students who had come to free pizza also come to the Scavenger Hunt! That night over 200 people came to the Scavenger Hunt and 103 of those people were brand new to The Salt Company! All of the kickoff events were a testament to God’s faithfulness to work through broken people in order to reach DMACC for His glory!
Before the school semester started, Salt Ankeny had their annual Leader Retreat to equip and train our new student leaders. God has been so good and we have added several more students to our leadership team, so we were excited to cast vision for the fall and become a tight-knit family. We had our retreat at Hidden Acres Christian Camps and the students had a great time! We helped the students bond the first night by putting them into teams and making them work together on a relay race. That evening Daniel Nemmers, the Salt Company Director, gave a message about finding strength in Christ this semester and instead of having the “do do do” mentality to remember the importance of “being” in Christ and finding rest in Him.
The next day the students were able to work together in small groups on different challenge courses in order to work as a team. This was the highlight of the weekend because through the debrief following the challenge course, students were able to see the real-life applications for things like communication, carrying one another’s burdens, and relying on one another when leading their connection groups. In the midst of playing glow in the dark dodgeball and playing with zorb balls, we were also able to cast vision to the students for the fall, train them how to lead connection groups, teach them how to identify and pour into potential leaders, and how to manage their time well this school year. Overall, the weekend was a success and it was great to spend time with our new leaders and pour into them before Salt Company began!
