By Jenny Calsyn, The Salt Company Coordinator
This month we kicked off a new class we are offering called Theology of the Gospel. This class was written by Cornerstone in Ames and is a great resource to walk students through what the Gospel is and how it applies to their life, as well as how to talk to others about it.
We first informed our student leaders about this class and added it as a requirement to leadership last semester. We have 11 leaders. Half of them are taking the class this semester. As we talked about announcing this class to all of Salt, we had a goal in mind of 20 students total taking the class. This seemed like a high number since it is 1/3 of our ministry as a whole. We were amazed to see 26 students take the class. This has been a huge joy to see our students desire to learn more about the Gospel. Many of them have a church background but aren’t quite sure how to explain the gospel or apply it to their life beyond salvation. We are thrilled to see these 26 students either have a clear understanding of the Gospel for the first time or grow in their understanding of it. We have had 2 classes so far and have seen our students engage well in the class.
This will not only be a big win for Salt Cedar Rapids as we will have more students who understand and can explain the Gospel, but it also allows us to brush shoulders with some students who might not have been on our radar for student leadership. We can’t wait to see how God wants to use these students!
Another cool thing we have seen that has come out of this class is that many students who take the class go to lunch together after church. There are groups of students who didn’t hang out together before this class now getting time together each week. This has been fun to see!
By Adrienne, The Salt Company Student
It has been amazing to watch God take a hold of this amazing girl’s life so quickly. She came to Salt for the first time just before our Spring conference and was clearly nervous to be jumping in. She came to the conference, and I got to spend those few days with her, getting to know her story. She told me how she had been praying so hard for God to bring her Christ-minded community, and how in awe she was that He actually heard her prayers.
Over the past few weeks, God has been radically changing her heart, and she has been faithfully choosing to shape her actions to reflect that. She has started coming to Salt and connection group every week, and I am so excited to also start discipling her one on one each week. God is moving in her life in ways that are so incredible to watch.
In a matter of weeks, God has brought this college freshman who was living for herself and feeling empty to a young woman on fire for growing in her faith exponentially. She is already bringing new friends to Salt and sharing the Gospel with her friends. I am so excited to keep witnessing and encouraging Christ’s work in her! God is showing up in such big ways, and moving in so many hearts this semester!
