In the spring of 2010, Ron and I were looking for a new church home. We did not want to try Salem Chapel, even though it came highly recommended by several friends, because they had this thing called Life Groups instead of Sunday School. “What is Life Group anyways? Sounds sort of nontraditional and that can’t be biblical!” we thought. After trying about every church we could think of with a Sunday School Program and still struggling to find the church God wanted us to attend, we decided to try Salem Chapel as a last resort. To our surprise, walking out of our first visit at Salem Chapel, Ron and I looked at each other and said, ”I think this is it! I believe this is where the Lord is leading us.” It was that fast and that simple. Well, sort of. We still had that issue of Life Group. As the Fall 2010 sign up approached, we decided that if we were going to call Salem Chapel our church home, then we needed to dive on into the deep end of Life Groups and give it our all.

At our first Life Group (led by Brad & Allison Roehrenbeck), we became quickly aware that we were the only representatives of the 50+ generation. We could have been the parents of everyone else in the room! Needless to say, we weren’t sure how the others would receive a couple of our age range as part of the group; however, by the end of the first meeting, we were not only comfortable with the concept of Life Group, we actually liked the makeup of married and singles, college to the more advanced in age (like us), and the variety of time periods that each person had been walking with our Lord. Every individual had something they could teach us or remind us about our walk with the Savior. Each week we grew closer to our group and more comfortable with the format. By the spring of 2011, we were hooked!

In the fall of 2011, Ron and I were asked to lead a Life Group. We prayed about the opportunity and decided that with the Lord’s help we would do our best to love and lead as our previous leaders had exemplified. In our 2011-2012 Life Group, some faces were familiar but many were not; however, it did not take long before each person found a special place in our hearts and within the group. When one of them cannot make Life Group for some reason, they are truly missed. We are not perfect leaders by any stretch, but it isn’t about us. It is about our God, his truth, and how he is using that truth to transform us.

What do we think about Life Group now? We embrace it with open arms! It is our smaller church family within the larger Salem Chapel church family within God’s Church around the world that spans all time! Now that is awesome! We care for one another.  We pray for one another. We encourage one another and hold one another accountable. Ron and I need that in our lives. If you haven’t given Life Group a try, dive on in! The spiritual waters are wonderful!

Pastor Josh Lindstrom
Series: Exodus | Provision in the Wilderness
Sermon: Bread From Heaven
Passage: Exodus 16:1-36

Remodel Edition 2. You never know where The Glass Table might be filmed. In this episode, Pastor Josh answers the questions, “How do I know if I’ve shared the whole gospel?” and “How do I know that I am saved?” Check out his answers and email us any questions you might have to theglasstable@salemchapel.org.

At Salem Chapel we understand that you may have attended for some time, found you are ready to get involved, and now you’re looking for some answers about us. A short conversation won’t suffice. You want to know why we do what we do. How are we organized? What’s available for students? What resources are dedicated to missions work? How did the church start? That pastor is pretty young, what’s his story? There are a myriad of questions people ask as they approach the path of adopting a new church home.

To answer these questions, we created Journey. Here’s how it works. On the third Sunday of each month, we offer the Journey class to unpack more details about our church. We meet from 11 am to 12 pm in the Media Center during the second service. For the first 20 – 25 minutes, Pastor Josh will share the vision and mission of our church, the core values and the expectations we have for those who would call Salem Chapel their church home.

After that, we’ll break out into small groups and give you the chance to engage our staff, elders and their spouses. We want to hear your story and give you the time to ask anything. We love this environment because it builds an opportunity for you to meet our leadership, hear our core values, and see the on ramps for you to be engaged very quickly into the life of the church.

If you’ve been to Starting Point, or you’ve been attending for awhile, and you’re looking for those steps to take to become more engaged at the church, we’d love to see you at the next Journey.

On Saturday, February 4th, Thrive Middle School students and student ministry staff met downtown to serve in the Rescue Mission’s Thrift Store. The Thrift Store sells donated furniture, books, and clothing, of which the proceeds go to support the operational needs of the ministry at the Mission. Twenty of our students spent several hours working to clean the retail shelving, front storefront, and items on the sales floor. Because the Resuce Mission is a not for profit ministry, the small staff at the store are already stretched in their responsibilities to maintain daily sales and inventory operations. Cleaning shelving on the salesfloor and presentation in a warehouse setting can be difficult to maintain in the middle of everything else. This is where our group was able to jump in with some rags and cleaner and help address a real need. The students worked tirelessly, without complaint, to clean and organize the shelves and inventory with the desire to see more sales to support the ministry there. We had a fun time working together, and based on conversations I’ve had with employees at the Rescue Mission, we really had a huge impact on the staff and the overall appearance of the store.

So you may be wondering, why do we have Middle School students doing events like this? What could possibly come from cleaning some dirty warehouse shelves? Well, if you’ve come to Salem Chapel before you may have heard us refer to what we call the Four Qualities of a Disciple: Know, Grow, Share, and Serve. We believe that a disciple of Christ will seek to put him or herself in service to Christ and others for the sake of Kingdom ministry. Though our students may only be between the ages of 11-14, we want to be modeling this quality and provide opportunities like this for them to get busy developing a heart of service now, not just as good citizens, but as followers of Christ who desire to see people come to know forgiveness and hope found in Jesus. We’re happy to help and support ministries like the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission who are taking the Gospel to the broken and hurting.

For more information about the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission, and how you can help through donations or service, please visit: http://www.wsrescue.org/.

Pastor Josh Lindstrom
Series: Exodus | Provision in the Wilderness
Sermon: Bitter Water
Passage: Exodus 15:22-27

But ask your same group of confident Christians, “Which comes first: faith or obedience?” You will again get some stutters, “um’s” and head scratching. Do I have faith that leads to obedience? Or does my obedience lead to faith?

It is an interesting question, and one that I think many of us would love to believe is answered in the affirmative in the first, but in biblical example it is often frustratingly the latter.

Believing faith leads to obedience is obviously true in some sense. I need to believe in God in order to have any desire to be obedient. But in another sense, it is not true at all. If I am struggling to have “faith,” that’s not a valid excuse to be disobedient. How convenient it would be if that were the case!

Interestingly, what often is the case is that our faith increases when we are obedient to God’s instruction and calling. Consider the example of Moses whom we have been studying. Look at the following statements made by him,

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”  Exodus 3:11

Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’”  Exodus 4:1

But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”  Exodus 4:10

Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me?  For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”  Exodus 5:22-23

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”  Exodus 14:13-14

One of those is not like the others, eh?  The question becomes, what transpired between the end of Exodus 5 and Exodus 14 to so radically transform a man from being a doubter with little faith to a throw-down-you-shut-up-spiritual-giant? Here’s the answer: 10 plagues worth of following God’s instruction and being obedient to His commands.

As Moses was obedient to God, his faith and trust in Him grew and grew. He saw God be faithful to His promises and experienced what David spoke of in Psalm 37:5, Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.

Moses saw his faith mature as he was obedient. I think we need to be objective with ourselves. Am I waiting for something before I commit my way to Jesus and live in obedience to his commands? Do I expect some measure of super-natural desire to do what God calls me to do? Am I wrongly thinking it should be easier?

I believe the chicken brought the egg and I believe that your obedience will grow your faith. Consider your ways this day; are you living in obedience to God’s commands? Make a change to live according to his word and watch your faith grow. Faith matures in obedience and so will yours.

One day you’ll reminisce and say, “Do you guys remember when we watched the remodel edition of The Glass Table?” Check out Pastor Josh & Pastor Dave in remodeled surroundings as they answer questions from the January 15th family business chat including a review of both the building upgrades like the “ministry cube zone” and the 2012 staff additions. You’ll also hear Josh’s final words on the Packers 2011-2012 season. Send us all your questions about the Packers and anything else to theglasstable@salemchapel.org.

If you have ever read Proverbs 27:17 and thought, “Man…that would be a great verse to have printed on a t-shirt,” you are not alone.  It’s just the type of verse you would expect to see printed across the hoodie (Maybe the first part of the verse on the front, the end across the back?) of a guy leaving a men’s breakfast. And it would be a good choice.

Few things are as effective in molding Christian character as solid biblical friendships.  The fruit of which yields accountability, encouragement & counsel:

Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
Oil and perfume make the heart glad,
and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. 
Proverbs 27:5-6, 9

The trouble is, few people really stop to consider exactly how iron sharpens iron? I assure you, it is not by simply being together. Throw two dull knives into a drawer and bring them out at Thanksgiving, trust me when I say, ain’t nothing good happening to that turkey. Those knives are still dull.

Iron sharpens iron when they are brought together with pressure and persistence. There needs to be a force exerted upon it to get the desired results. To be frank, attending church and sitting beside a likeminded individual will not develop Christian character in the spirit of Proverbs 27:17. There needs to be more.

One of the great joys I have in pastoring our church is hearing from new people expressing the desire to grow in their walk with Jesus. But regardless of how much we try to make our worship services impactful, on their own, they cannot reproduce the fruit of biblical friendships. So if you desire to grow, the question becomes, do you have any biblical friendships?  Consider the following questions,

• Do I have others I routinely care for? How do I engage in relationships with them? Do they even know I care for them?
• Am I praying prayers that are not my own but the desires of those I am caring for? How earnestly do I bring the concerns of others before God?
• Am I transparent with anyone? Who have I shared with recently and how truthful was what I shared? Do I have anyone in my life that would smack me if I needed it?

If you have been attending Salem Chapel and want to put your walk with Jesus into hyper-drive, make the effort to engage others and seek out some biblical friendships. If you like things simple, join a Life Group this month.  If your life is too complex for a Life Group right now, get on the City and see if a Community Group could get you connected with others like yourself. If you prefer to kick it old-school, ask someone in the lobby to meet for breakfast, lunch or coffee. Bottom line, get after it!

At the end of the day, while I am sure the knives don’t always enjoy being sharpened, I imagine it is far more desirable than being the dull one in the drawer. Get some persistent pressure in your life from Christian friends and your walk with Jesus will be anything but dull.  It will begin to be abundant.