LEading Students to know and follow JEsus
Whoever you are, everyone is welcome at First Students! First Students gives 7th-12th grade students the opportunity to get connected with a group of people their own age who are growing closer to the Lord each day. We want to see students know and follow Jesus Christ! First Students is a place for teenagers to deepen their relationship with Christ while simultaneously growing their relationships with others!
We're pre-registered for FUGE 2026!
Centrifuge Camp 2026 will be here before we know it. Stay tuned for updates throughout the year!
Dates: June 8-12, 2026
Cost: TBD
Location: SBU, Bolivar, MO
Ages: Students who have completed 6th-12th grade.
Dates: June 8-12, 2026
Cost: TBD
Location: SBU, Bolivar, MO
Ages: Students who have completed 6th-12th grade.
FIRST STUDENTS - WEEKLY PARENT EMAIL
We send out an email to our parents each Wednesday! If you would like to be added to the email list, send a message to tim@fbcsiloam.com! Here is the latest edition:
Upcoming Events
Laser Tag - November 9th - We will leave around 12:30pm and return around 5:30pm. The cost of laser tag will be covered! Your student will just need money for lunch! Have your student sign up on the sign up sheet in the student center!! We only have a couple spots left! Tomorrow, November 6th is the deadline to let Tim know your student will be going!
Youth Rally - November 12th - We’ll be loading up the bus and heading to Gentry for our next youth rally! The bus will leave at 6pm! This will take the place of our Midweek service. Encourage your students to bring their friends who don’t know Jesus! We will return to the church around 8:15.
Dessert Auction - December 7th - 2pm - Make and bring some desserts, and we will auction them off to raise money for your students to go on the mission trip in March, and to Fuge camp next summer!
Midweek 11-5
This week, we are continuing our Babylon series, diving into the theme of what it means to live as leaders for Christ in a world that tries to get us to follow its’ ways. We’re looking at Daniel 1 again and seeing that despite being in a foreign land and given commands from an ungodly king to go against their convictions as followers of God, Daniel and his friends chose to live by
faith and not follow the crowd.
THINK
In our culture today, there’s a strong pull to be a follower. In fact, sometimes it’s even easier to follow rather than lead. But as believers, we’re called to be leaders. We’re called to be set apart from the crowd and be an influence for Christ rather than the world. Daniel’s story in Babylon shows us how to stand firm in our faith and be a leader.
READ
Daniel 1:8-9 says: “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.”
ASK
Use the questions below to ask your student questions about the truths from our series. Look for ways to share personally, bring encouragement, and create a space for meaningful conversations.
• In what ways do you see the pressure to follow others in your life? How can you choose to lead instead?
• What does it mean to be a Godly leader?
PRAY
Pray for your student this week that they would:
• Recognize their potential and opportunity to lead based on who God calls them to be and how God had equipped them.
• Being a leader who follows Christ, lives differently, and is set apart can often be unpopular, lonely, or difficult. Pray for strength as your student chooses to live differently!
Sunday Morning 11-9
This lesson is called “The Plagues and the Passover.” We’ll be learning about how the plagues of Egypt were God being faithful to His people. The plagues,
Passover, and Jesus’ death on the Cross are thousands and thousands of years apart, and yet, the thread of God’s love and grace connects them all. The Passover and the Exodus were huge aspects of God’s plan to redeem humankind from the consequences of sin. But Jesus’ death on the Cross was the highlight of this plan. It’s so powerful to see how the Passover was an echo of the perfect rescue that Jesus would usher in.
Lesson Overview: Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? While we can’t cover all of this in one lesson, we get to talk about one small glimpse of it: Jesus was the perfect sacrificial lamb who saves us from death. In this lesson, we’re looking at the 10 plagues. Then we’ll talk about the final plague, the Passover, and how that relates to our salvation through Jesus. We will equip and encourage students to really focus on the connection between the two because The Thread in this lesson is a remarkably strong one.
What We Want Your Teenager To Learn: See how God acted miraculously on behalf of His people to free them from slavery in Egypt. Understand that Jesus is the true Passover Lamb, saving us from death through His blood shed on the Cross.
What We Want Your Teenager To Do With What They’ve Learned: Consider the idea of being “ransomed,” and how that impacts their life.
Scripture Passages:
Exodus 7:1-7, 20-25; 8:1-7, 16-24; 9:1-12, 22-28, 35; 10:12-15, 21-32, 37-51;
John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:17-19
Please Take A Few Minutes This Week To Read These Passages.
NEXT STEPS...
During the next week, as you engage in conversations with your teenager, remember that one way that will help them to understand and apply what they have learned is to explain it to someone else. Use the following questions to guide your conversation:
• Your teenager saw in the lesson that God protected the Israelites, even as the Egyptians received plagues as consequences for their hardened hearts. Consider asking your teenager if it’s hard to believe that God will protect them. Ask if he or she can recall experiencing this protection.
• What does it mean that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, the only sacrifice that could truly save us from death? What are ways people try to save themselves?
• This kind of story raises some tough questions that you may want to dig in even deeper, depending on the maturity of your child. Pharaoh may have had a hard heart because he didn’t want to lose the labor that was needed to run his land. Plus, God unleashed some difficult plagues on Pharaoh. Do you sympathize with Pharaoh at all?
• What does this story ultimately say about God? (Some teenagers may not like the way it portrays God--that God issues tough consequences. Affirm these points of view, but also show them how God protected the people who sought to
honor Him).
Thank you for all you do. As a parent, you are the primary spiritual influence in the life of your teenager, and they desperately need you. I’m praying for you! If you have any questions or if I can help with anything, please don’t hesitate to let me know.
Tim Conley
Student Minister
FBC Siloam Springs
tim@fbcsiloam.com
Laser Tag - November 9th - We will leave around 12:30pm and return around 5:30pm. The cost of laser tag will be covered! Your student will just need money for lunch! Have your student sign up on the sign up sheet in the student center!! We only have a couple spots left! Tomorrow, November 6th is the deadline to let Tim know your student will be going!
Youth Rally - November 12th - We’ll be loading up the bus and heading to Gentry for our next youth rally! The bus will leave at 6pm! This will take the place of our Midweek service. Encourage your students to bring their friends who don’t know Jesus! We will return to the church around 8:15.
Dessert Auction - December 7th - 2pm - Make and bring some desserts, and we will auction them off to raise money for your students to go on the mission trip in March, and to Fuge camp next summer!
Midweek 11-5
This week, we are continuing our Babylon series, diving into the theme of what it means to live as leaders for Christ in a world that tries to get us to follow its’ ways. We’re looking at Daniel 1 again and seeing that despite being in a foreign land and given commands from an ungodly king to go against their convictions as followers of God, Daniel and his friends chose to live by
faith and not follow the crowd.
THINK
In our culture today, there’s a strong pull to be a follower. In fact, sometimes it’s even easier to follow rather than lead. But as believers, we’re called to be leaders. We’re called to be set apart from the crowd and be an influence for Christ rather than the world. Daniel’s story in Babylon shows us how to stand firm in our faith and be a leader.
READ
Daniel 1:8-9 says: “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.”
ASK
Use the questions below to ask your student questions about the truths from our series. Look for ways to share personally, bring encouragement, and create a space for meaningful conversations.
• In what ways do you see the pressure to follow others in your life? How can you choose to lead instead?
• What does it mean to be a Godly leader?
PRAY
Pray for your student this week that they would:
• Recognize their potential and opportunity to lead based on who God calls them to be and how God had equipped them.
• Being a leader who follows Christ, lives differently, and is set apart can often be unpopular, lonely, or difficult. Pray for strength as your student chooses to live differently!
Sunday Morning 11-9
This lesson is called “The Plagues and the Passover.” We’ll be learning about how the plagues of Egypt were God being faithful to His people. The plagues,
Passover, and Jesus’ death on the Cross are thousands and thousands of years apart, and yet, the thread of God’s love and grace connects them all. The Passover and the Exodus were huge aspects of God’s plan to redeem humankind from the consequences of sin. But Jesus’ death on the Cross was the highlight of this plan. It’s so powerful to see how the Passover was an echo of the perfect rescue that Jesus would usher in.
Lesson Overview: Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? While we can’t cover all of this in one lesson, we get to talk about one small glimpse of it: Jesus was the perfect sacrificial lamb who saves us from death. In this lesson, we’re looking at the 10 plagues. Then we’ll talk about the final plague, the Passover, and how that relates to our salvation through Jesus. We will equip and encourage students to really focus on the connection between the two because The Thread in this lesson is a remarkably strong one.
What We Want Your Teenager To Learn: See how God acted miraculously on behalf of His people to free them from slavery in Egypt. Understand that Jesus is the true Passover Lamb, saving us from death through His blood shed on the Cross.
What We Want Your Teenager To Do With What They’ve Learned: Consider the idea of being “ransomed,” and how that impacts their life.
Scripture Passages:
Exodus 7:1-7, 20-25; 8:1-7, 16-24; 9:1-12, 22-28, 35; 10:12-15, 21-32, 37-51;
John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:17-19
Please Take A Few Minutes This Week To Read These Passages.
NEXT STEPS...
During the next week, as you engage in conversations with your teenager, remember that one way that will help them to understand and apply what they have learned is to explain it to someone else. Use the following questions to guide your conversation:
• Your teenager saw in the lesson that God protected the Israelites, even as the Egyptians received plagues as consequences for their hardened hearts. Consider asking your teenager if it’s hard to believe that God will protect them. Ask if he or she can recall experiencing this protection.
• What does it mean that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, the only sacrifice that could truly save us from death? What are ways people try to save themselves?
• This kind of story raises some tough questions that you may want to dig in even deeper, depending on the maturity of your child. Pharaoh may have had a hard heart because he didn’t want to lose the labor that was needed to run his land. Plus, God unleashed some difficult plagues on Pharaoh. Do you sympathize with Pharaoh at all?
• What does this story ultimately say about God? (Some teenagers may not like the way it portrays God--that God issues tough consequences. Affirm these points of view, but also show them how God protected the people who sought to
honor Him).
Thank you for all you do. As a parent, you are the primary spiritual influence in the life of your teenager, and they desperately need you. I’m praying for you! If you have any questions or if I can help with anything, please don’t hesitate to let me know.
Tim Conley
Student Minister
FBC Siloam Springs
tim@fbcsiloam.com
