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	SHIFT Middle School Ministry (6th - 8th Grade) SHIFT is the name of our middle school program at Sugarloaf. It is based on the idea that we need to shift our focus from ourselves and the world to Jesus. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, he will get us through the often rough period of life we refer to as middle school. Jesus is the rock we want students to build their young lives on. SHIFT meets weekly on Wednesday nights from 6:30-8:15pm for a time of making friends, games, wild skits and walk-on characters, small groups, videos, worship, and a relevant Biblical lesson as we tackle issues that middle school students struggle with everyday. Issues like peer pressure, friends, bullies, self esteem, dating, acceptance, teachers, etc. SHIFT is not what you would call quiet. It is loud and crazy. It is a bit of "controlled chaos". While we like to have a lot of fun we really hope students hear the message each Wednesday night. Before SHIFT each week, "Big Al's Snack Shop" is open selling pizza-by-the-slice, snacks, and drinks starting at 6:00pm. We also have a game room where studens congregate and cut loose playing foosball, ping-pong, air hockey, dome hockey, and tocky. downSHIFT Our downSHIFT Bible Studies are designed to intentionally slow down and dig into God's word. These studies are a little more "quiet and secluded" in a sense because they are designed for the student who wants to go deeper into the Bible. During the school year we'll have a couple of different "sessions" of downSHIFT, typically following Fall Camp and the Winter Retreat. During each session we'll offer a downSHIFT AM (before school at 7:30am) and a downSHIFT PM (before SHIFT at 5:30pm). Each session typically lasts 4-6 weeks. The Wire -- Middle School Sunday School The Wire is the name of our middle school (6th -8th grade) "Sunday School" worship service Sunday mornings at 9:30am. This hour long service is split between a time of worship led by one of our student-led worship bands and a time of Biblical teaching taught by one of our staff. We typically take a Biblical book or character and pick it apart over the span of a month or so and apply the lessons learned to the everyday lives of middle school students living in the 21st century. We want students to understand God's Word on a deeper level and how it relates to us today. During the summer (from the end of May through early August) we have a combined middle school and high school worship service at 11:00am only. Come join us as we go deeper in our faith!!!! Monthly Service Project Each month SHIFT offers a special service project on a Saturday morning where our students can get out and serve Christ by serving others. This Fall our scheduled dates are August 29, September 26, October 24, November 14, and December 12. Space is limited so be sure to sign up a couple of weeks in advance once we announce it. Fresh Start "Confirmation" Class We do Confirmation a little differently at Sugarloaf UMC. Our class is called "Fresh Start" and is a 6 week (5 weeks of classes and 1 weekend retreat) condensed, intensive class for students who are either in 7th or 8th grade. Our goal with Fresh Start is to not only help students make an informed decision regarding Christ, but to set them up for a life-long journey with Christ. We don't see Confirmation as a graduation ceremony or finish line, but as a commissioning service and starting line. We want their decisions to follow Christ to be real and authentic, not some rubber stamp. So we've designed our class around that idea. During class we'll tackle a different major tenet of the Christian faith each week. We'll teach for half an hour and then break up into smaller groups to talk about each issue more indepth. Students are required to attend Fresh Start at 11:00am, but are also required to attend "the Wire" middle school worship service at 9:30am, as well as SHIFT on Wednesday nights. We also have a daily journal as we read through "the Case for Christ" together. Students are also required to attend SHIFT's Winter Retreat (February 5-7). Students are allowed to miss 1 Sunday morning and 1 Wednesday evening. Any more than that and they've missed 40% of the content of the class. This year we'll kick off Confirmation on Sunday, January 24. The Confirmation Service will be held on Saturday, March 6 at 5:00pm followed by recognition the following morning, March 7th during both church services. Registration for Confirmation will begin in December. We'll have a special parents meeting to go over all of the details between services on Sunday, December 6th. Mission Trips In Summer of 2010, we will have 2 different "level 1" mission trip opportunities for students currently in 6th or 7th grade. The first trip will be to Chattanooga, Tennessee from June 6-11 and the second trip will be to Louisville, Kentucky from June 20-25. Both of these trips will be with an organization called "Youthworks". Students who are currently in the 8th grade will have 3 different "level 2" mission trip opportunities. The first is to New Orleans with NOBTS (New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary) May 30-June 5. The second is to New York City with the Center for Student Missions June 5-13. The second is to Tijuana Mexico with Amor ministries June 5-12. We'll have our parent informational meetings for the mission trips on both Wednesday, November 11 and Thursday, November 12. The same information will be given out at both meetings. Other Events SHIFT also offers many other special events, weekend retreats, trips and mission projects. Typically, we have at least one large event a month and one local mission project a month. Fall Camp is in September and Winter Retreat is in February. Summer is packed with several different mission trip opportunities as well as summer camp. Keep up to date on what is currently happening at "student events". ALTÆR High School Ministry (9th-12th Grade) There are two ways to spell ALTÆR, altar and alter. Each has a distinct meaning. The altar is a place where you offer something to God. In this case, "ourselves", as it says in Romans 12:1. There is also the spelling alter, which means to change. When we offer ourselves to God at his altar, he transforms us from the inside out, as it says in Romans 12:2. In other words, if we altar ourselves, God will alter us! ALTÆR meets weekly on Thursday nights from 6:30-8:15pm. During our meetings we have a time set aside for hanging out and making new friends, games, skits and walk-on characters, videos, small groups, student testimonies, worship, and a relevant lesson. Our teaching time on Thursday nights is topical, which means we teach on issues that high school students are dealing with based on a Biblical perspective. Issues such as dating, friends, sex, alcohol, parents, the future, self esteem, etc. Afterwards we head out to dinner together at a local fast-food place for a further time of fellowship and building relationships. We typically rotate through Chic-Fil-A on Satellite, Moe's on Sugarloaf, Zaxby's off of 120 by Discover Mills, and 5 Guys on Old Peachtree. D-Groups For those students interested in going even deeper we have what we call "D-Groups", short for discipleship groups. A D-Group is made up of 4-7 students and an adult volunteer or staff member that meet weekly for sharing, accountability, Bible study, and prayer. These groups typically really bond together and become tight-knit families as they walk through life together. Students interested in this next level commitment need to contact Stuart at starta13@gmail.com. Student Leadership Student Leadership is for students in 11th or 12th grade who are at the point where they now want to give back, serve, and set the temperature at ALTÆR. These students serve behind the scenes to make ALTÆR better and more effective. Interested students need to fill out an application, be interviewed by Aaron, and need to meet all of the necessary requirements. We also have junior leadership for seniors interested in serving with the middle school program SHIFT. SLAM -- Student Life A.M. SLAM is our high school "Sunday School" worship service at 11:00am every Sunday in the Student Life Center. Our time is spent in worship led by one of our amazingly talented student-led worship bands followed by a time digging into God's Word and applying it to our everyday lives. We typically tackle a Biblical book or character over the span of a few weeks. For instance last school year we worked our way through the book of Genesis, the life of Moses, and the book of 1 John. During the summer (end of May through early August) we have a combined middle school and high school service at 11:00am only. Come take your faith and Biblical understanding to the next level! Mission Trips This coming summer we'll be offering six different mission trip opportunities for high school students. We'll have three "level 2" trips for any high school students. This year we're heading to New Orleans (May 30-June 5), New York City (June 5-13) or Tijuana Mexico (June 5-12). We'll also be offering two "level 3" trips for students currently in 10th grade or higher who have been on a level 2 trip. This year we're heading to Costa Rica (June 19-29) and Panama (July 3-13). Finally we'll be offering one "level 4" trip for students currently in 11th grade or higher with previous level 3 experience. This year we'll be ministering in Peru around July 2-15. Don't miss the parents informational meetings on November 11 or 12 from 7:00-8:00pm. Other Events ALTÆR also offers many other special events, weekend retreats, trips and mission projects. Typically, we have at least one large event a month and one local mission project a month. We also have our Fall Break Road Trip in October and Winter Camp in January, as well as the 30 Hour Famine in March. During the Summer, we offer four different levels of mission trips as well as a summer camp at the beach! Click on "student events" for more details. For more information on current activities or our summer mission trips see Student Events.

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