Dear SALTeens,

As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected so many things in our society this year, and unfortunately, SALTeens is one of those programs. We have decided that SALTeens should be suspended for this summer, at least in terms of meeting on campus, rehearsing together, and traveling to host churches. We know this is going to be disappointing for all of you, but we are most concerned about your safety and health at this time. Many of the church camps and conferences that operate during the summer have been forced to cancel or suspend their normal meetings, and we believe it is in the best interest of everyone at this time to do the same.

After discussing several options, hearing from parents, current/former SALTeens, and churches, the consensus is to go with a “Virtual” SALTeens.  We are asking students to reserve the week of June 22-26 (our regular “tour week”) for SALTeens activities.

For current SALTeens and those wishing to participate this summer, these activities would include meeting as a group via Zoom in the morning for activities, check-in, and a devotion. We also plan on doing breakout “Family Groups,” depending on our numbers, for more intimate activities, sharing and prayer time.

SALTeens Online will be available for others to see including doing a number of livestream events during the “tour week” of SALTeens. We will replay previous concerts from the most recent years each evening at 7pm.

Former SALTeens will act as “hosts” for the evening (to introduce the concert) as well as providing video testimonies of the impact that SALTeens has had on their life.

We plan on using “Holy is the Lord” as a closing song that former SALTeens can record and send to Bruce Dicus to create a virtual choir of previous SALTeens participants. We have already talked with former Salteens and they are excited about participating in the “Holy is the Lord” traditional closing song. Bruce will send out a “click track” for all SALTeens to participate in the singing of our final song.

For our graduating seniors, your entire spring semester has been disrupted by the coronavirus. In order to give you an opportunity to have your final year of SALTeens, we would like to invite you to participate in SALTeens 2021 next summer, after your freshman year in college. We know this is an unusual time, and so we are making an unusual exception in order to give you another opportunity to have the “SALTeens experience!” We will share more about this invitation as well as what all this means for those of you counting on SALTeens’ scholarships in the coming weeks.

For now, stay safe and healthy, and keep looking up! We know that with God’s help we can get through this together. Take care, and we will be in touch soon with more details about SALTeens Online.

Sincerely,

Mark Worley
Bruce Dicus
Scott Spies