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Kristina Sears

Oct 05
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Living and Sharing the Gospel

By Leadership Development

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15

First Priority is a great topic! How do you share your faith outside of the FP conversation? Be intentional about conversations that can lead to hope and the God of Hope.

We should be different from the rest of the “world” (in a good way). God places us in the rarest of places to share our faith and to tell why we have hope. When we ask God to use us, we must be willing to share our faith (and sometimes about our sufferings) even when we are tired, or standing in line at the grocery store.

Every Christian needs to find a way to share their faith in everyday life. I believe God understands our personality types and He is sympathetic that we will not be “raging evangelists” all of the time in every circumstance. But, I also believe we are to be prepared to give an answer, or, a word for God, as often as we can. In a world that seems to have lost all hope, we have a hope. In a world that wants to politicize EVERYTHING, we have a reason for our HOPE.

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First Priority is the HOPE for students everywhere, and, Jesus is the HOPE for their parents and the school administrators. It is easy to tell people about hopeful things. What is the reason you have hope? You may firmly believe it is only because you know God is in control of your life and Jesus lives in your heart. But, how often do you have to give a reason for this hope? If you find you rarely have an opportunity to tell someone about the Lord, then ask God for opportunities to share about your hope and He will quickly provide them.

Our simple message is our hope through Christ. It’s not that complicated. Be a living lifestyle missionary this week.

Nancy and I are honored to serve with you,

Rick Forbus, PhD
President and CEO
First Priority of America

Oct 02
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How God is already moving through our campuses this year

By Local FP Communities

We had an intro week at a middle school in Midland, TX before the club officially started. During that club meeting, Kenny invited his friend Niko to his First Priority club. Niko loved it and the following day went to Kenny’s youth group where he gave his life to Jesus. Now they are both leaders in their club on campus.

Shane Kenny
FP Director Permian Basin

3247 students attended SYATP in our three counties. It is the highest number of students in the last four years that the local radio station has been keeping record of. Praise God!

Casey Jones
FP Director North Alabama

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#LI

Sep 28
Love0

Hear from Casey Jones how he became the FP Director of North Alabama

By Local FP Communities

In John 17:21, Jesus prays for us to be one, as He and the Father are one, so that the world will know that God sent Him. Five months before coming on board as the Executive Director of First Priority North Alabama, my family and I prayed, “God, what do you want to do here and how?” Screen Shot 2017-09-27 at 1.44.39 PMAs we prayed, HE continued to take us to that verse. I thought, “yes, Unity but how? God, I don’t have connections in the area you are calling me to”. HE replied, “I know, it’s not you it’s me”. What a relief.

The team that God already had in place began to share their contacts and we could see that God was already speaking UNITY to others. I went and met with new and old churches to talk about the vision God had spoken to us and they said, “Unity is our theme this year for our church” or “we just had that conversation at lunch with our staff and now you bring this confirmation”. It was confirmation for me as well that I’m not missing HIM. Oh, and did I mention that He began to bring diversity (races and denominations) to what He was doing.

I really do not know how He did this, but I do know it was all Him. We prayed daily that He was Jehovah Nissi, the God that goes before us, and man did He ever. As of this morning we have 64 coaches wrapped around 24 campuses (at the end of the last school year we were at 21 coaches) with prayerfully 7 more coaches ready to be added. Our former Executive Director and Board laid the ground work and now we have come in and reaped where we have not sown (John 4:38). This truly has been a work of prayer and obedience for everyone involved and I am thankful to be a part of First Priority and what God is doing in our students across America.

Casey Jones
Executive Director
FP North Alabama

Sep 25
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Student Leaders Pray, Prepare, and Plan

By Student Leaders

Around 80 students attended our recent Leader Lab and were equipped to become missionaries to their schools who share the hope of Christ with their peers! unnamed(1)Our Student Leader Teams have been meeting at each school this month to pray, prepare, and plan together. They are planning to launch strong the first week of October as they are preparing to take the hope of Christ to every student. It has been incredible to spend time with each group as they are uniting for a Gospel movement of hope to the schools of Johnston County. No one can reach students like students can!

Joel Rowland
Executive Director
http://www.fpgreaterclayton.com/

#li #tw #in #firstpriorityclub

Sep 22
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Meet Haley

By Student Leaders

This is Haley. She is a junior in High School. Haley attends First Assembly Church and is very active with her youth group. unnamedThat’s not the best part, Haley is a Student Leader at her school and considers herself a campus missionary to the whole student body. Haley started leading First Priority in middle school and God has really had His hand on her for the last few years. She has a passion for lost people and a real passion for the gospel message. We are very anxious to see the amazing things that God is going to do through Haley this year at her campus and in her community. Please pray for Haley as she goes on a mission to share the gospel in her school.

Sep 21
Love0

How to Help Christian Students Understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ

By Student Leaders

When I wrote that title, my first thought may have been the same as yours, “Why would we need to help Christian students understand the gospel?  Don’t they go to church?  Haven’t they already heard and responded to the gospel?”  The answer that I will give you is simple. The average person needs to hear something 7 or more times before they understand it. So, how can we help Christian students (or those that attend church regularly and we call Christian) understand the gospel?

  1. Share the gospel regularly.
    The average human only retains 5% of what they hear from lecturing.  This method is at the bottom of the retention ladder.  So, if you find yourself speaking to the same group week after week, do not be afraid to say the same thing over and over again.  Chances are, they have not remembered what you said last week anyway.
  2. Share the gospel differently.
    Every person sees, hears, and remembers things differently.  If you shared the gospel through the Romans Road to Salvation last week in youth group, you captured the Bible study crowd.  This week, if you use the EvangeBall to share the gospel while doing a few foot tricks, you’ve captured a different crowds attention.  Keep the message the same, but mix up the approach every time.
  3. Have students share the gospel in your weekly youth group and at special youth group events.
    I remember the first time that I was given the opportunity to prepare a talk for youth group.  It was my second year of my internship in college.  The first year, I built relationships.  In the second year, the student pastor gave me an opportunity to lead the whole program one Wednesday night.  It changed my life forever and gave a foundation for ministry that I’ll never forget.  Don’t get me wrong, I stuttered and probably said a few things that weren’t theologically correct.  That moment still was used by God to set me on a path to full-time ministry.  Give the message of the gospel to the students and let them teach it.  They will never be the same again.
  4. Share the gospel socially when students are with you.
    I will start out saying that this is the hardest one for me.  It is lifestyle, not programing.  I am always encouraged when I am out with First Priority leaders and they ask our waiter or waitress how they can pray for them.  Back in the day, Doug Fields took this a slightly different way.  Lifestyle evangelism is when you built a dog house for your new dog, but didn’t build it alone.  You invited students from the student ministry over to help and had God conversations while working together.

Whatever your method, recognize that just because students show up on a regular basis, does not mean that they know and understand what Christ did for them on the cross.  Stay consistent and give it away.  2 Timothy 2:2 says, ‘The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men (and woman) who will in turn teach others.’

Sep 14
Love0

How to be Part of the First Priority Family

By Leadership Development

Being on the job as the President of First Priority for less than a month, I find that my excitement is increasing with every hour! Our national team has done an incredible job of taking me through “Boot Camp” to learn everything about the effectiveness of this vital school ministry. I’m still learning! As your new President, let me assure you of these commitments I’m making to you that are serving in the First Priority Family:

  1. My prayer time and Bible study is positioned to lift up FP every morning!
  2. I am leading our national staff to become better at everything that we do for you in the field. Excellence in everything!
  3. We have provided a world class Media Kit for you to direct prospects to on the fpofamerica.com website.
  4. I am “hitting the road” to meet with donors across the country to strengthen our financial abilities.

My challenge to you all who are already “aflame with the Gospel message” and enthusiastic about the ministry of FIRST PRIORITY:

  • Be intentional about expansion of clubs this year.
  • Be intentional about finding “Nehemiahs” that would be willing to start FP in a new region.
  • Be intentional about supporting First Priority of America.

One of the power verses we use as spiritual propulsion to do what we do in FP Clubs across the nation is John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Be encouraged and please email me with your ideas. rick@fpofamerica.com
Nancy and I are honored to serve with you,

Rick Forbus, PhD
President and CEO
First Priority of America

Sep 11
Love0

What HOPE do Students Have?

By Uncategorized

First Priority is in full swing all across America, and here in the ArkLaTex we are gearing up to launch twenty campus clubs this week! Twenty campus clubs means that approximately 200 student leaders will be intentionally engaging their school with the gospel, and we anticipate that the good news of salvation will be shared with nearly 3,000 teenagers this school year! Who knows? Maybe even more than that! Our prayer is that lost students will come to hear and receive the HOPE of Christ, and that they would find a community of believers ready to help them grow in their faith. Last year, we saw 123 students commit their lives to Christ. Would you pray with us this year that we would see the greatest number yet of salvations and testimonies as we live out the Great Commission? Jesus said in Mark 10:27, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” He is able to do far more than all we ask or imagine, but we MUST ask!

Sep 06
Love0

Why First Priority?

By Uncategorized

Working with students and student pastors for over 30 years, has given me insight on a few things. Of course, the older I get the more I realize I know nothing. But here is something I have learned. There is nothing more powerful in the life of a believer than to be used by God! When I was still a teenager and newly surrendered to the ministry, God taught me something that would steer my thinking for the rest of my life.

I was in Birmingham, Alabama when my twin brother Todd and I took some college students to a place called South Side on a Saturday night. It was an area of town that attracted some interesting folks. It kind of reminded me of the bar scene in the Star Wars movies. We went down to hang out and invite people to church. We had taken a church van, you know the one with the hand waving in the back window that tells everyone to follow them to vacation Bible school. Well needless to say, we parked it around the corner where nobody saw us. To make this very long story short, I will jump to the end of the night. We had been out talking with people all night and having a great time, when my brother told everyone to wrap it up and head back to the van. As soon as I told the last guy good night, I started heading down the street back to the van. My attention soon focused on this big dude leaning against a light pole. I have never heard the audible voice of God(I would die of course if I did), but I did hear a small voice inside of me that said go talk to him. Well as we all probably do, I started looking this guy over and sizing him up. He was huge. He had long hair to the middle of his back with a bandana to keep it out of his face, and big old motorcycle boots on that I’m sure would be used to put up my butt if I said anything to him. This guy was staring up into the sky and he looked mad. He did not look like he wanted to talk to me or anybody else. I started making excuses why I could not stop and chat, so I headed to the van. I jumped into the passenger seat and my brother pulled up to the stop sign where I could see this guy. I told my brother to hold on a minute. I needed to go talk to him. I really felt like the Lord wanted me to. I asked him if he would go with me and he said “God had told him nothing!” Todd and everyone else in the van said, “just go over there and tell him God loves him and if he gets mad just run. We are praying for you, now go”!

I stepped out of the van and was a little afraid, but it was like I made the step and boom, I was standing in front of this guy. You know when you are standing on top of a high cliff above the water and you want to jump but are hesitant? This was the same kind of thing. We all get in those situations where we know God has told us to do something and it seems crazy or intimidating and we start to hesitate. The freedom comes when you jump, when we step out of the boat. The thrill and exhilaration that comes from the encounter is amazing.

I found myself suddenly staring at this mountain of a man and ended up just saying “I think God wanted me to tell you He loves you.” After I said those words, I was ready to run back to the safety of the van, but something miraculous happened. He started to cry, I mean flat out bawl. After a few seconds (felt like minutes) he said something I will never forget. “I came out of that bar five minutes ago, leaned up against this pole, looked up in the sky and said if there is a God in heaven show me.” Five minutes earlier I had walked by him. He told me his grandmother had been praying for him for fourteen years. Like a child he dropped to his knees and prayed a simple prayer for God to forgive him and come into his life. WOW!! Here is the lesson I have learned that has shaped everything I think about ministry. God did not need me that night but He chose to use me. I got the blessing. I have never been so fired up for the Lord in all of my life, because here it is….I got to partner with the creator of the universe to redeem His creation! Once that happens to you or one of your students they will never be the same.

Why First Priority? Because it gives us the opportunity to equip our student leaders to go partner with God in the greatest mission field in our country.

Mark Roberts
Associate Director
First Priority of America

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