You stay salty by staying connected to Jesus and faithful to the habits that help you grow: reading daily, serving weekly and meeting monthly with your team. Boot Camp was just the start. Over the coming months, you’ll grow in leadership, build friendships and learn to live out your faith in real life. And by the end of the year, the goal is for you to be ready to help someone else follow Jesus.
What the Year Ahead Looks Like
After Boot Camp, your SALT team will meet once a month. Each meeting includes food and fun, a leadership lesson, honest discussion, a check-in on your Bible reading and serving and time to pray for each other. Between meetings, you’ll keep reading a chapter of the New Testament each day and serving on your ministry team each week.
In the final month, your church will celebrate what God has done in you. You’ll share stories, get launched into whatever God has next and, if your church chooses to use one, receive a certificate of completion during a church service. But the certificate isn’t the real goal. The real goal is a faith that’s truly yours, one that lasts beyond high school.
Staying Connected to Jesus
Staying salty isn’t about willpower. It’s about staying connected to the source:
John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
That’s why daily Bible reading matters so much. Some days it will feel exciting; other days it will feel like a chore. Keep going. Comment in the reading plan, talk about what you’re learning and ask questions. Little by little, God’s Word shapes you.
When You Feel Like Quitting
Every SALT student will hit a stretch where it gets hard: busy seasons, missed readings, a serving shift that feels boring or a friend who drifts away. That’s normal. Don’t give up.
Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
If you fall behind, don’t quit. Just pick up where you are. Let your leaders and teammates know when you’re struggling, and encourage others when they are. Consistency isn’t perfection; it’s getting back up and showing up again.
Get Ready to Make Disciples
Here’s the invitation: by the end of this year, be ready to help someone else follow Jesus. You’ve learned the essentials of the faith in Boot Camp. Now start praying for one or two friends who need Jesus or need help growing. Build real friendships, look for chances to talk about faith and ask your leaders to help you take the next step.
Colossians 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
That’s what it means to be salt in your school, your family and your church. God has started something good in you, and he’ll keep working in you all year long (Philippians 1:6). So keep reading, keep serving, keep showing up and stay salty.
The Takeaway
How do you stay salty? Stay connected to Jesus, keep reading daily, serving weekly and meeting monthly, don’t give up when it gets hard and get ready to help someone else follow Jesus.
