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Kristina Sears

Aug 29
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Teachers are the “referees in the game.”

By Faculty Sponsors

Faculty sponsors are the volunteers that open their room and the doors of the school for the club to hold their meetings. At the school, they are the people who help the players stay in line with the rules of the local district and state. At the monthly leadership meeting, they are the ones guiding and showing wisdom to navigate the school as only someone on the “inside” can do. They do not participate in the game even though they are right in the middle of it.

Listen to Bernie Harrington talk about his role as faculty sponsor.

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Aug 22
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Training Student Leaders to bring H.O.P.E to their School

By Faculty Sponsors, Priority Parents, Student Leaders, FP Tools

HOPE classroomStudents are on the greatest mission field in America: school. Engaged in the middle of the “game,” students are the players we are here to train, pray for, and support, just as we do for foreign missionaries. First Priority clubs follow a four-week strategy called HOPE.  HOPE is an acronym for Help, Overcome, Prepare, and Engage.  

The H.O.P.E. strategy gives the student missionaries the action steps and direction they need to reach out to their peers at school. It is broken-down into these four actions:

  • HELP: Equipping Christian students with foundational truth to be able to articulate a simple gospel message in thirty seconds or less.
  • OVERCOME: Motivation and inspiration to overcome our fear, worry and doubts we have about sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
  • PREPARE: Giving 1-3 students the opportunity to prepare and share their journey of faith in God (in its entirety or in part).
  • ENGAGE: The opportunity for the believing students to invite their non-believing friends they have been praying for to come and hear about the HOPE of Christ.

Each month, they are provided with a HOPE weekly guide that helps them focus on a group and share the message of Jesus Christ with unbelieving students.

The H.O.P.E weekly guides are a resource we provide for free when you download our app on the app store or google play. They are also available as part of the club kit you can purchase in our online store.

Aug 15
Love0

Why We Do First Priority

By Local FP Communities, Student Leaders, Leadership Development

We do First Priority because it changes lives. Lives of students like Abigail, who was trained to serve as a student leader for her First Priority club at her high school. The opportunity and lessons Abigail learned while serving as a leader, have helped her to follow God’s call in her life as she starts a new chapter and heads to college.

Here is Abigail’s story:

I was just getting serious about my faith when I first started high school and, I was really struggling when it came to being bold in my walk with Jesus, especially on my school campus. First Priority became a place where I felt safe to go and speak about my faith with other believers, invite unbelievers to hear about Jesus, and practice telling others about all God has done in my life.

This club has provided ample amounts of opportunity for me to pray over people who are struggling in their walk with Jesus and celebrate with those who experienced God’s grace for the first time! I have been able to experience all of these things because of your support, whether that be financially or prayerfully.Abigail

Once a month, we were able to provide pizza for our club, all thanks to your giving, which encouraged over two classrooms full of students to come and hear the great news of Jesus Christ, some for the first time. The impact you have had on C.E. Byrd High School has had incredible eternal value and, as a, now former, First Priority leader, I am incredibly grateful for the sacrifices you have made to help us win the lost for Jesus!

In Luke 10:2 Jesus tells us that “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” and then calls us to “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” You are living this out by supporting First Priority. You guys have given over and beyond which has allowed First Priority to give away the scholarship I have been honored to receive.

You are equipping students to share the gospel middle and high school campuses and then sending them off to do the same things on their college campuses through your giving.

As a four year member of First Priority and now a recipient of the First Priority Scholarship, I would like to personally thank you for the sacrifices you have made so that I can do all Jesus has called me to do. I will be eternally grateful for First Priority and all it’s equipped me to do.

Thank you!

Abigail

Aug 08
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Check out our New Club Kits and other Resources!

By FP Tools

We are so excited to begin this 2018-2019 school year with our weekly guides ready to go as well as new club kits to help kick off the new school year! Check out the clubs kits by clicking the image below to see all that is provided to help you start a new club.

Promotional-Club-Packet2018-550x550

You can also check out and download our First Priority of America App that allows you to have all of the promotional material and weekly guides at your fingertips for free! Download it today on the app store or google play.

App FPoA copy

Aug 02
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Summer Prayer Challenge: Week 9 – SELF-CONTROL

By Local FP Communities, Priority Parents, Student Leaders

The act of saying “yes” to Jesus causes the “fruit of the Spirit” to come through us! The ninth fruit we are focusing on is SELF-CONTROL. It is difficult in the world we live in to not give in to those things around us that pull us in many different directions away from who we are called to be as Christians. The Bible “teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age”- Titus 2:12. 

Self-Control

Challenge: Pray this week that God would give you the strength to turn from the worldly wants and desires around us and to seek Him. Showing others what it means to live with self-control so that they may also be encourage to live in the same way.

// Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. – Proverbs 2:20 //

Jul 26
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Summer Prayer Challenge: Week 8 – GENTLENESS

By Community Leaders, Local FP Communities, Priority Parents, Student Leaders

The act of saying “yes” to Jesus causes the “fruit of the Spirit” to come through us! The eighth fruit we are focusing on is GENTLENESS. We serve a loving God and He has many ways of gently leading us forward. Psalm 119:105 says “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Gentleness copy

Challenge: Pray this week that God would gently lead you toward Him and help you lead others to Him. Specifically, how can you be more gentle in situations to the people around you?
Let’s also pray for the students who will be sharing about GENTLENESS In their schools during the month eight HOPE cycle. 


//let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person- Colossians 4:6//

Jul 19
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Summer Prayer Challenge- Week 7: FAITHFULNESS

By Local FP Communities, First Priority Of America, Leadership Development, Community Leaders

The act of saying “yes” to Jesus causes the “fruit of the spirit” to come through us! The seventh fruit we are focusing on is FAITHFULNESS. Our God keeps His Promises which make our faith have meaning and our eternity secure. Practicing faithfulness takes effort and we as humans often fail. So first pray for it, then model and share God’s faithfulness to others!Faithfullness
Challenge: Because God is always faithful, let’s commit to being faithful in praying every day even when we don’t necessarily feel like it. Let’s ask God how we can show others His faithfulness this week.
Let’s also pray for the students who will be sharing about FAITHFULNESS in their schools during the month seven HOPE cycle.
// One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. – Luke 16:10 //

Jul 11
Love0

Summer Prayer Challenge: Week 6 – GOODNESS

By FP Tools, Leadership Development, Community Leaders, Local FP Communities, First Priority Of America, Church Leaders

The act of saying “yes” to Jesus causes the “fruit of the Spirit” to come through us! The sixth fruit we are focusing on is GOODNESS. In the same way that the Goodness of God moves Him to act, the Goodness He imparts to us is what causes us to be world changers. Goodness is a heart change that occurs when we put Jesus in charge of our life.Goodness
Challenge: let’s pray that this week we wouldn’t just strive to “do the right things” but that we would seek Jesus deeper so that our hearts and minds will be transformed to imitate Jesus.
Let’s also pray for the students who will be sharing about GOODNESS in their schools during the month six HOPE cycle.

// For we are God’s Masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago – Ephesians 2:10 // 

 

Jul 10
Love0

Thank you for your Partnership

By Priority Parents, Student Leaders, Church Leaders, Faculty Sponsors, Community Leaders

Thank you for your partnership in the ministry of First Priority!  We are always encouraged by people who are passionate about reaching students, our future generations. We see the despair of middle and high school students brought on by abuse, addiction, depression, and suicide. Our goal is to bring the HOPE of Christ to every student in America. This past school year, we trained 3,608 Christian students to lead a First Priority club on 820 schools around the country and we saw 10,022 students come to know Christ!  This all happened inside public school buildings this school year! Thank you for being a part of that!

Henry Ford-2We are on our way to helping the 325,000 local churches in our country to influence all 41,000 public middle and high schools. We believe the body of Christ is alive and well in every community in America. What would happen if we got churches in your community to work together to influence their schools with the gospel? After all, Christian churches outnumber public schools four to one! This wouldn’t happen without you working in your community! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Keep praying for the lost to hear the gospel in your schools. Continue helping train and equip the Christian students to share their faith with them. And most importantly, talk about First Priority with family and friends in and out of your community. If nobody is sharing Jesus with the lost students in your school, nobody is sharing Jesus with lost students in your school! We are always one generation away from missing them entirely.

Jul 05
Love0

Summer Prayer Challenge: Week 5 – KINDNESS

By Local FP Communities, First Priority Of America

The act of saying “yes” to Jesus causes the “Fruit of the Spirit” to come through us! And the fifth fruit we are focusing on is KINDNESS. The Biblical idea of kindness is defined as one’s usefulness to others, and because God has shown kindness towards us, we are drawn to show kindness to others. Kindess
Challenge: Let’s pray that this week we would be reminded of the ways God has been kind to us so that we can embrace showing kindness to others through our words and actions.
Let’s also pray for the students who will be sharing about KINDNESS in their schools during the month five HOPE cycle.

// so God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness towards us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus -Ephesians 2:7 //

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