“While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him. ‘You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,’ she said.But he denied it. ‘I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,’ he said, and went out into the entryway. When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, ‘This fellow is one of them.’ Again he denied it.After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, ‘Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.’He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, ‘I don’t know this man you’re talking about.’Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: ‘Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.’ And he broke down and wept.”Mark 14:66 – 72If you cannot relate to this story, you must not have ever taken a stand with your faith. I will confess that I have denied my relationship with Jesus several times and then reacted just like Peter. I once heard the best description of a Christian from a talk show host in Atlanta. Some lady, Mrs. I’m Better Than You, was arguing with the talk show host and said to him that he did not even know what a Christian was. Which he then replied, “Mrs., I know exactly what a Christian is…a Christian is a disturbed sinner.” Wow, now that is good. I know I belong to Him because when I sin or deny Him, I am disturbed about it. I have also learned some things from these times. I think sometimes we deny Jesus because we cannot adequately defend our faith. We know so little about the Bible that we cannot make a solid argument. I have also learned that when faced with these moments, no one can take my faith story away…I was blind but now I see. The more time you and I spend with God, reading His word and talking to Him, the more we build that relationship and become more confident in who we are and whose we are.– Mark Roberts
“Strategy is only as meaningful as the vision that gives it life; but a vision is only as effective as the strategy that gives it legs.”
What? I couldn’t believe my professor from Minneapolis knew about First Priority I guess he must have lived in Birmingham two decades ago when Mark Roberts helped start it there.
He went on to share the ABCDEF’s of Vision Casting as:
Appropriate: it connects in a meaningful way to who you are
What is more appropriate than for Christian students to share Jesus with their peers?
Bold: it challenges things and asks for more than what is presently given
FP extends your student ministry (not just you) to the school.
Clear: immediately understandable
FP helps students reach students at school. Clear enough?
Desirable: immediate value
Students who begin a relationship with Jesus do need a place to be followed up with and discipled. How about your church?
Energizing: simple and satisfying; challenges and motivates; helps everyone say ‘ME TOO!’
How about when a student hears about Jesus at school and takes his whole family to church? Happens every year multiple times.
Feasible: Continuity with reality. It separates wise leadership from the dreamers.
First Priority is possible. It happens all over the country for the first time every month of the year in cities, suburbs, counties, small towns, and villages. It can happen in the school closest to you too.
“A vision with feasibility is more than a pipe dream… Strategy provides both a logic and a first level of detail
to show how a vision can be accomplished.”
John Kotter
Would you take a look [again] at our First Steps guide to see how our strategy can help you see “The Hope of Christ in Every Student” in your school this year? With 300,000 churches and close to 69,000 public middle and high schools in America, together we can reach them all. It is feasible!
Guest post by our Tampa Bay, FL City Director, Amber Johansen
I love my job. I run a non-profit which helps middle and high school students to create an environment on their campuses to seek and to share God. Often more than not, it’s on public school campuses.
I know: God is not in public schools.
Wrong. He is and He is showing up more often than you’d think.
Our clubs meet weekly and are student-led. All students are welcome, no matter their background or belief system. It’s truly a sight to behold watching these students struggle with their awkwardness and social norms while trying to share their insecurities, doubts and hopes.
Today was one of those days. I visited a high school club which we had started in August. It started out really slowly…I mean, really slowly. In fact, during one of the lunch periods, we had only one student coming. It was painful.
It’s about this student that I would like to share.
From the start, it was obvious that she had nowhere else to be; no one was missing her; no one was counting on her to make them laugh. She’s serious- minded, focused and, above all else, awkward. I mean super awkward. She’s a tall girl and not about the latest style or trend. She doesn’t laugh at the right time or know how to work a room. She’s just Kelly…she doesn’t seem to fit in and she’s ok with this. Kind of.
For the first few weeks of the club, it was just Kelly struggling to make small talk. But…she kept coming. Sometimes she would talk, and sometimes she didn’t have much to say.
A few months later, the club hit the social calendar. The kids started coming and they just kept coming. Soon, Kelly was surrounded by other students. She wasn’t swallowed up, though, because her leader remembered Kelly’s faithfulness when no one else was there; when it was awkward and a little boring. Her leader made a point to speak with Kelly before and after the club; to ask her about her grades and about her classes. Even though the club had expanded, Kelly was treated like she was the only person in the room. I guess this is why she bothered coming at all.
Today, I visited the club and was able to see it in full force. The chairs were full and the kids were chattering away. I barely noticed Kelly at first. She was quiet and blended in.
Once I did, though, I was happy for it. You see, “faithful” is a rare quality and one that I am desperate to experience. She reminded me of why I bother at all.
When the bell rang, she came over to hug me. This struck me as odd because teenagers rarely want adult contact (at least not in my home) and especially from strangers. It was a big bear hug (she dwarfs me in size) and I was glad for it. In all my “to-do” lists and adult stress I hardly stop for hugs, but it is simply one of God’s greatest joys. She went from leader to leader hugging each of us with the same love and intention. It was very touching, really.
I could cry now just thinking about it.
As she left the room, I said what any mother would say: “we love you”. She looked back with the sweetest, most angelic look and said: “I love ya’ll, too”. Yeah, I was reduced to tears. What a moment. It reminded me of why I do what I do: kids matter and God sees.
Right then, all of us had experienced God and HIS community. Priceless!
(Kelly is a fictitious name to protect the student’s identity)
We send this out the most. If you have been on our list for two years, you have seen this at least four times. The heart and burden is what is most important. O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of ________ your servants, confessing the sins of the people of __________, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Nehemiah 1
October 6-8
Temple Baptist Church 5220 Old Highway 11, Hattiesburg, MS 39402
Registration is from 2-5 PM on Monday
Host:
Dr. J.D. Simpson, Founder and President of First Priority South Mississippi.
Speakers:
Chris Lane, Founder and President of First Priority South Florida. Chris will be sharing his story of God starting to work in him 17 years ago in 2 schools and parts of how they have gotten onto 180+ schools with the goal of 300.
Andy Blanks, Founder of YM360. Andy will be sharing a conversation on youth culture.
Ministry Ventures will be present to talk board development and fundraising.
Breakout sessions on working with the school system, board development, fundraising, staff and organizational layout and more. Details are coming together for an amazing time together. You do not want to miss this.
Details:
We will feed you lunch before you leave Wednesday noon. You can fly into Gulfport,MS. We will shuttle you free of charge to and from the conference. Lodging is a hotel with two guests per room. Add $50 per night if you would like your own room. Sessions and Seminars will be held at .
Cost: $195.
Early bird rate: $175 if you register by August 15.
Free to our FPOA Covenant Communities!
Click Here to register your details. Then click Here to pay.
Questions? email brad@fpofamerica.com.
First Priority
presents
“Networking”
w/ Dan Price
Friday, February 28
9:00 AM Central Time
Live on Google Hangout!
Once you are on Google+, add bradschelling@gmail.com to your circles. You will then be invited to the Hangout that Friday.
If you need assistance with ‘Google Hangout’, contact Brad via email for more information.
Dan Price is a board member with First Priority of America. Hailing from the state of Colorado, Dan is a natural networker. Dan attended Wheaton College on a football scholarship graduating with a degree in Business Economics. Dan currently leads a Vemma Marketing Team as well as owns and operates several Fedex truck routes. He and his wife Trish and son Lucas currently reside in Pheonix, AZ. Join us on Google Hangout as Dan shares tips on how to influence your community for Jesus Christ.
Has God called you to do something that you have not done because of fear?
Paul said to King Agrippa in Acts 26:19, “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.”
Paul was been prison for years because he was obedient to the vision from heaven. Wow, look where obedience get us; locked up!
No wonder we get scared to really jump out there and do something that God has told us to do, like start a campus ministry, go to the mission field, etc. We are scared of the unknown, the uncertainty of money and stability, the fear of failure. All of these things and many more keep most Christians on the sidelines of life, watching everyone else play. We wait for the players in the game to write a book or a song on how exciting it was for them to play in the game and then we run to the next conference to hear them speak and leave like we did at summer camp ready to charge hell with a water pistol. Once we get back home, we get caught up in back to business as usual and we sit and watch.
Life, real life, abundant life, is a life of obedience. If God told you to do something, then do it. Paul, like Nehemiah, was right where God put him. He was speaking to a king and proclaiming the good news. You are on this Nehemiah list because we believe God put you right where you are to unite your city to reach thousands of students. In 2014, don’t let Satan keep you on the sidelines. Do something. Get in the game.
Mark Roberts
It has been said that ‘timing is everything, but it’s not the only thing’. Remember that as you continue to follow God and walk into this new year. As the year starts, there will be moments filled with pressure to speed through to an ‘end’. Whether your end is to launch three new clubs, get your Initiation Team together, or get through the Vision Casting so you can get on with the rest, take your time and remember your goal: the Hope of Christ in Every Student. Your goal is not to start a club; students have lots of options for those already. Your goal is not to network youth ministers; there already is a ‘National Network of Youth Ministry’ that gathers them together because they are youth ministers. Business Leaders definitely do not need another nonprofit knocking on their door. But students do need eternal Hope. The only way to reach them all is with a united church effort in your community. Is anybody organizing them? That is why you are where God has placed
you. He has given you a burden; not for another thing to do, but to work this plan. Your end?
Uniting the Local Body of Christ
With a Plan of Action
To Influence the School
With the Gospel.
That’s it. Period. You do not start clubs. Sure, you may be actively involved in one, even Nehemiah worked on his part of the wall. But Nehemiah’s success wasn’t in his ability to lay bricks, it was his vision for the big picture and willingness to be used by God to bring his people together for a common purpose. If not you, then who?
The first steps to getting FP going in your community
8,373 students have shared that they began their walk with Christ as a result of them hearing the gospel in a First Priority club in 2013. Here is a story of one club influencing their peers and getting them plugged in to the body of Christ. God works in his ways.
| At one local school’s first Help Week (Helping Students Understand & Present the Gospel), a Student Leader trained fellow students how to use gospel surveys to share their faith. Each student that attended received copies of the surveys and were challenged to use them and come to next week’s meeting ready to share how God worked through them.At the beginning of their Overcome meeting the following week, students were asked if they had used the surveys. Everyone there said no. Surveys were handed out again and students were issued the same challenge. A Student Leader then shared the week’s devotion: Overcoming Your Fear of Rejection When Sharing Your Faith.
As students were leaving the meeting, one of the Campus Coaches encouraged them to survey several students who were sitting around in the hallway. Stepping up the the challenge, Student Leaders began putting into practice what they had learned in First Priority. Here is part of a text message I received from one of the Student Leaders later that afternoon: “I talked to a Muslim. And I asked her the questions and she said she would love to know more about a God who cared about her future. So I told her the gospel and my testimony and invited her to church. I wrote my church hours on a piece of paper for her. It was amazing!” The following week, First Priority met for their third week in the new HOPE Cycle…Prepare Week. As students learned about the details and purpose of a personal testimony, the Muslim girl they had met the previous week entered the room along with two of her friends. She had not been told when or where First Priority met…she had simply come looking on her own, drawn by the Holy Spirit. Seizing the opportunity, Student Leaders began sharing the vision and purpose of First Priority, including the desire that every teenager at the school go to heaven. One of the friends got up and left the room expressing, “I don’t want to hear this.” The other two girls remained throughout the meeting and listened intently. The following Sunday, the Muslim girl and the girl who got up and left the meeting attended the church of one of the Student Leaders. Here’s part of a texting conversation I had with that Student Leader that afternoon: “She really seemed engaged. She said she wanted to come back next week! She also brought her friend (who was the one that walked out of First Priority last week).” “Her friend had her headphones in the entire sermon but she kept typing something and when she finally showed it to her, I caught a glimpse of the note and it said “I want more information about this myself…can I really go to heaven?” And that was the topic that made her leave FP last week!!!” The story continues…… There you have it…what First Priority is all about! Students Engaging their campus with the gospel, sharing the Hope of Christ with other students!! |
Students find Jesus at Christmas?
I have family who were teachers of English as a second language, AKA missionaries, at a university in China a few years ago. They were not allowed to share Jesus or Christianity with ANYONE! If they were to do so, they risked being deported themselves and those they shared with, and their families, being imprisoned and beaten – even if they hadn’t actually converted. The risks were great. So they found [legal] ways to share. As ESL teachers, they were allowed to talk about American culture. What is more American than Christmas and Easter!?! The school administration allowed this in the classroom. Students in China found Christ through them sharing “American Culture”. What opportunity would lie in your local middle and high school if there was an organized group of Christians ready to share their faith at Christmas? Would the subject of Christmas be something that already has everyone at school’s attention? I think so! They may not believe, but they get days off for it so they love it. What would happen if you took those Christian students and had them invite their non-believing friends to the school commons one day after school to watch the movie Elf, eat spaghetti with syrup, and talk about Christmas? Would lives be changed? Maybe. Could lives be changed? YES! The sky is the limit on your creativity in how to make this happen. But the first need is for a group of Christian students to get together and pray about who God would have them invite. If your goal is life change, the program is the means to the end, not the end itself. So, start in prayer for the lost, start talking to students about being a missionary at school this Christmas, and gather 3-5 other churches to get in on the action. Time is limited and your youth budget may be already gone, but together life change can still happen in 2013.
Merry Christmas,
Brad
Want to do this but need to talk through it before getting started? Give us a call:
