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Kristina Sears

We made it to June!

By Local FP Communities, First Priority Of America

It’s June! Can you believe it? We are celebrating the end of the school year and the excitement of ending strong and looking towards an even stronger school year in the fall. We can’t wait to see what God is going to do in middle and high schools across our nation!

Local Club Spotlight: FP Blue Ridge

Three sophomore First Priority Student Leaders handed out popsicles and Life Books to every student in their high school that wanted them. They gave out more than 125 Life Books for “summer reading”. All three will be establishing First Priority clubs at their school in the fall.

May Happenings

By Local FP Communities, First Priority Of America

May brings us together through Spring Meetings!
The first of four spring meetings happened on Monday and Tuesday in Nashville. It was a time to gather and share, learn, support, encourage, and have some fun through laughter and good food. We had 16 people from Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee, and several of us met for the very first time. We are excited to see what God has in store in each of these areas as we look forward to next school year.

The Spring Meeting in Corbin, KY is happening today, and there are two more meetings this month. One in Fort Lauderdale, FL and one in Denver, CO. We are looking forward to hear the stories of God moving through the leaders and student leaders of First Priority and the life change they have had the opportunity to witness.

Local Club Story:  “This morning I received a message from a middle school teacher who is running two clubs on her own. We are not able to get into the school and haven’t been since last spring. She started the club up again in March. She had to break it into two lunches, as it grew substantially. I have been given a list, one for seventh graders and one for eighth graders who are interested in being trained this summer for next school year. This is super good news! As we are planning a training but this will hit the middle school and high school for next year.” – Sandy Mast, FP of the Lakeshore

April Happenings

By Local FP Communities, First Priority Of America

April is a busy month! We are preparing for the 2021 Spring Meetings happening in May. The annual Spring Meeting is an event that happens in multiple cities so that we can gather in smaller groups to evaluate this past year and plan and set goals for the upcoming year. We also have a board meeting this month where we will reflect and plan for growth and changes for the 2021-2022 school year.

The First Priority of America writing team has been hard at work  developing new curriculum for the next school year. We are excited to see how EPIC next school year will be in the lives of students as they are equipped and prepared to invite and connect with others and their churches. We can’t wait to see how God is going to move!

Local Club Spotlight

First Priority Greater Springfield launched their first club last week! To hear more about FP Director Jeff Stanford and how he felt God’s calling to move him and his family to a new place in the midst of a pandemic, listen to the podcast episode 8 here.

March Happenings!

By First Priority Of America, Local FP Communities

To Take the Hope of Christ to Every Student!

The mission of First Priority of America has been stronger than ever this past year as we have had to navigate the way we do things in the midst of a world full of changes. We have spent time adapting to these changes while also focusing on our 5 Year Plan of expanding First Priority of America to new areas, reaching more students with the Gospel of Christ!

First Priority of America is hiring. One of the newest areas we are expanding is into TN Tennessee’s 1st Congressional District. Do you know someone with business and ministry leadership who would fit with the mission and culture of FPoA? You can read the job posting here.

These two senior high girls at FP of the Lakeshore in Grand Haven, MI have been making videos to reach their peers for Christ! They have really put time and effort into reaching students for Christ in a fun and inviting way. Click the image to watch!

Many FP clubs are asking for prayer as things are so different this school year. Please consider becoming a Prayer Partner today.

 

What have you learned about God?

By First Priority Of America

We made it through the first month of 2021, and although we are still in the midst of a pandemic, we can know without a doubt that God is full of love and He takes care of us and watches over us in the midst of heartache and pain and the unknowns of this world. His love never fails and we can have faith and trust that He is leading us.

Did you know?

First Priority of America is reaching out to the local colleges around the Nashville area hoping to find some college students who are interested in interning with us in the areas of student ministry, communications, and audio/video production. We have begun to advertise these internships and are excited about this opportunity moving forward. If you know a student in the Nashville area who might be interested, please have them contact kristinaz@fpofamerica.com for more information.

 

Free Resource!

By Nehemiah, FP Tools

As promised in our email last week, attached is our free Story Training Certification Guide. What is that? It is a simple outline to help your students learn to share their story in a very clear and concise way. Our prayer is that your students would grow in their relationship with God by writing down what He has done in their life. We also pray that by going through this training that they would feel empowered to share their stories with each other for encouragement and for those who do not know Jesus to come to Him. Questions, please let us know. We would like to walk through this with you if you need it.

Faith Story Certification Guide

First Priority is multi-church, not para-church

By Nehemiah

As someone who has done ministry, you have a passion to reach students. You also probably have tried working with other groups to reach students in school before. But, those opportunities did not return the results you desired. Some of them may have even caused hardship for your student ministry at church, pulling students away rather than helping you to grow.

Well, First Priority is different. We are not better, faster, or any other “er” than para-church ministries. We are different; we are multi-church. See, we believe the Holy Spirit is alive and well in every community in America. He is working in and through the local Church. What if we could help bring the local Church together around a school and give students from those churches a simple platform and plan to share Hope with their peers? We do not just believe that lives will change, we know because we have seen over 18,000 students come to follow Jesus in the past 18 months.

Will you do something different this fall? Will you allow us to join you and guide you as you reach students in your community? And yes, we do have a plan for COVID. Even if your school isn’t meeting in person, the students still have influence over each other and can influence their peers with hope and bring them into your community.

To get you started, be on the watch for next week’s email because we are going to be sending you a FREE resource to empower your students to share faith with their friends – Story Training.

Until next week,
Brad and Mark

 

Students can still share their faith with their peers

By Nehemiah, First Priority Of America

With all the chaos in the world, God is still in charge and He is still moving in this country. Even with the shortened school year, we still celebrate 7924 students giving their lives to Christ. BOOM!

FP clubs may look different this year, but the core of First Priority remains the same; to teach students how to share their faith with their peers. We do not know if students will be able to gather together at school, but we do know there are multiple ways they can still share the Gospel of Christ. Let’s be there cheering them on. God is good!

Exciting news! There is a FP Prayer Guide on the YouVersion app

By Nehemiah, FP Tools

We have great news!

We have a plan of action through our relationship with the Bible Project, YouVersion Bible APP, and our HOPE Strategy to train students to lead small FP Groups to reach their friends who are far from God in the Fall school year.

What is the Bible Project and YouVersion app?

The Bible project is a video platform (website) that explains the Bible. There will be a video to go along with each week of our HOPE cycle this year. It will be easy to find thru our HOPE guides online or the FP app.

YouVersion is the most downloaded free Bible app for phones and tablets. It was created and is operated by live church. We have uploaded a prayer guide reading plan for students to use to get ready for school.

Basically a reading plan lasts 30 days. Once you download and open the app, click on plans- then search First Priority. Every day the app will remind the user to read the scripture for that day. This will reoccur for 30 days or until the plan is finished.

Once we begin FP meetings, there will be a reading plan to go with each month of the HOPE cycle and there will remain a follow up reading plan for students who accept Christ all year!