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)

52 Days to Hot

Nehemiah 7:3 states: “I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem are not
to be opened until the sun is hot. While the gatekeepers are still on
duty, have them shut the doors and bar them. Also appoint residents
of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some near their own
houses.”

As we look at the 7th chapter of Nehemiah, we notice that Nehemiah gave specific instructions to the people of Jerusalem. Your job as the director for First Priority is the same. You organize and challenge the networks to bring the Hope of Christ to every student. Notice that the gates were not to be opened “until the sun is hot”. Ask yourself these questions, “Is the school ministry we are launching ‘hot’? Is everything in place?”  When you get to your ministry launch date, here are the things that need to be “hot”.

Networked churches.
Networked parents.
Trained Campus Coach.
Trained student leaders.
Trained faculty sponsor.
Has your network of student leaders gotten permission from the school?
Do you have a meeting place?
Are the churches promoting the launch of the cycle?

Nehemiah gave instruction, motivated, challenged and organized the people to do their part. You do that through the Initiation Team and the Vision Casting Event.  They successfully completed their task and the walls were rebuilt in 52 days. You aren’t rebuilding the physical walls around a city, but your task is not easy either. Your work is important. God has placed you in your community to unite the church and bring about revival. Go and make sure it is “hot”.

Brad Schelling

The devil’s M.O.

M.O. is his modus operandi, his usual way of doing business. Today, we are seeing his M.O. is distraction. There is an enemy who will always try to distract you from your mission. He is always trying to spread rumors and cause dissension among people. I love Nehemiah’s reply! “I am carrying on a great project and cannot come down.” 

 “But they were scheming to harm me; 3 so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.” Nehemiah 6:2-4

Sometimes it is easy to get sucked into all the drama and gossip of meetings and people’s agendas. I call that ‘politics’ (in a negative way) because they simply wanted a meeting, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” We spend so much time defending our positions and over-spiritualizing things instead of just carrying on the project and not coming down. If you are trying to unite the church to take the gospel to the school campus, somebody is going to try to bring you down. If I may quote Taylor Swift (sorry), “People throw rocks at things that shine.” You can either throw a rock back four times and sit through four meetings with the same people or you can continue your “GREAT PROJECT”!

Carry on!  It is worth it: A United Church with a Plan to Influence the School(s) with the Gospel.

Brad Schelling

1 Thing to Do, No Matter What Your Ministry

Help the poor. Profound. Yes it is. But when you are out in the community, you will have the opportunity to meet people’s needs outside of your core focus. In Nehemiah’s situation, the volunteers who were building the walls needed help. His goal was to build a wall. He could have ignored them, but that wouldn’t have been what God wanted him to do. So he met their needs. In a First Priority situation, you never know whose needs you will have the opportunity to meet along the way. First Priority groups have been known to do backpack programs, feed teachers, sponsor compassion children, provide essentials to families in the school who have had a house fire, work with community development, provide daycare for single moms. You get the idea. Ministry, well the lives of people, are messy. When you get involved, expect messiness. Nehemiah did. You will too. I encourage you to pray through Nehemiah 5 to experience and notice how he reacted to 2 different situations. Your ‘meet someone’s need’ opportunity may be different, but Nehemiah may help influence your path.

Peace,
Brad Schelling

How to overcome discouragement 10 times!

Have you ever felt like everyone was against you? Me too. It happens to all of us. It seems to happen more when we have a goal and are working towards something. Nehemiah had it with opposition from Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod! Not only that, but, “Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, ‘Wherever you turn, they will attack us.’” Not only did Nehemiah have 2 individuals and 3 people groups against him, but he had the very people that he was serving coming back again and again and again and again with negativity! How did he endure?
Do you remember back a few weeks to the title of the Nehemiah 2 article? It was called ‘Your hand to success’. It was God’s hand that helped him get started. It is God’s hand that is going to keep him going through this discouragement. Nehemiah 4:14 says, “Don’t be afraid. Remember, the Lord who is great and awesome.” Nehemiah went back to the foundation of his call, when he spent 9 months developing his burden. Had Nehemiah not started with a developed burden from God’s hand, how do you think he would have responded in this situation?

Peace,
Brad Schelling

Matt. 4:19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

If you are following Jesus you are fishing for men. There is no way around it. You are a follower of Jesus today because someone in your life was fishing. Think about all those people God used to influence you toward a relationship with Jesus. I believe each of us live where we live, we work where we work because God put us there to influence ‘our’ world. Your job and mine is to bait our hooks with the fruits of the Spirit so that we will be attractive to the lost men and women we are around. Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Think about the people God has put in your life right now. Are you influencing them toward a relationship with Christ? If you are not, that is why you are frustrated as a Christian, you quit fishing. I have learned over the years if local churches quit trying to fish, they fight and eventually fail. They usually split and rename the new church “Harmony” Ha. Be encouraged! God has called you to greatness!

Keep fishing,

First Priority

5 Network Roles to Change Lives

In Nehemiah chapter 3, over 39 groups of people worked on their section of the wall; they each had their area and role to fill.  For example:

28 Above the Horse Gate, the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house. 29 Next to them, Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his house. Next to him, Shemaiah son of Shekaniah, the guard at the East Gate, made repairs. 30 Next to him, Hananiah son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another section. Next to them, Meshullam son of Berekiah made repairs opposite his living quarters.

Notice that each priest made repairs in front of their own house. Each of us in the ministry is responsible for the area God has placed us in. As you work to build a team of people that will help you make First Priority a reality, think of the essential networks: Students, Teachers, Church Leaders, Parents, and the Business Community. Each network works on their own section of the wall, ‘runs in their lane’, and does their part. Students use their freedom of speech and assembly to assemble as Christian students and talk about Jesus. Teachers are needed as ‘faculty sponsors’ of the club under the Equal Access Act. Church Leaders coach the students to implement the HOPE cycle. Parents pray together. Business Leaders oversee the long term health and direction of the ministry movement in the entire community. If everybody builds their piece of the spiritual wall in your community, you will see the ‘Fear of the Lord’ as the beginning of wisdom passed on from one generation of adults to a new generation of students.

Mark Roberts and Brad Schelling
roberts@fpoa.org
813-340-4002
brad@fpoa.org
605-351-5078

Your Hand to Success

Nehemiah 2:8 – “the hand of God was on him.” It wasn’t because Nehemiah had a plan that made him successful. It was the hand of God. Proverbs tells us “many are the plans of a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

How did Nehemiah discover God’s purpose? Two words: Kislev and Nisan. Kislev is the month of March(ish). Nisan is the month of December(ish). Nehemiah took nine months to process what his friends came back and reported from the city of Jerusalem. After nine months Nehemiah could no longer do his day job. He cried before the king.

Many people ask us how long it takes to start First Priority in their community. In asking this question, they are really asking how long it would take to start a club. A club in school can start as short as today and as long as tomorrow. How long it takes for you to develop your call to unite the community you are in and sense God’s hand in this plan? I do not know the answer to that question. Mark Roberts calls it the ‘sleep test’. Once you start losing sleep over lost kids in your community, call us. Some do. Some don’t. We’ve had roofers calls us letting us know they are selling their company. We’ve had student ministers call us and say they can’t continue to do student ministry anymore without adding in First Priority. We’ve had moms call us and organized there friends to get First Priority going.
Whatever your situation is, take the time you need to develop your plan and wait for God’s hand. It is never to late. It is never to early.

Peace,
Brad Schelling

13 Weeks to Life Change
“God’s presence is better than drugs.” Bryan found himself high on a substance that he was unfamiliar with that a friend had given to him. It caused blood to pool through his arms. One day at school, he found himself invited to a First Priority club by a friend from band. Two months later, he was in church surrounded by Christians. He went from drugs to church kids. He felt connected to his family. Life was full. God was present. You can check out more of his story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMazb6dQm2U

Welcome back to the First Priority Blog. We took some time off, part on purpose, part not intentionally. We’ve been through some restructuring of our organization to better serve you. We are now ready to be back in our routine of weekly emails to encourage and equip you to Connect the Church to the school Campus for the cause of Christ.

Our Vision is clear: the Hope of Christ in every student in America.

Many students do not reject Jesus, they simply do not know he offers hope. The world has told them that Jesus was all about religion rather than relationship.

Our Mission tells us how to see our vision become reality: Unite the local body of Christ with a plan of action to influence their schools with the gospel.

Every member of the body of Christ has a role to play in bringing Hope to this next generation. We see this analogy of leadership played out in the life of Nehemiah. So, for the next 13 weeks, we will share 13 pieces of unity, collaborative effort, overcoming obstacles, raising funds, perseverance, and more.

You do NOT want to miss out! Share this with friends and loved ones. Get ready to see God use you to change the culture of your community!

1 struggle. 1 Solution.
As we see another school year come to an end, we find a new season upon us: Summer. With change comes the opportunity to evaluate. I pray that you have done this in your ministry. We are doing this in ours. With evaluations come the good and the bad. In Nehemiah chapter one, Nehemiah’s friends come back with an evaluation of the city of Jerusalem. They report that the walls of the city are broken and the city lays in ruins. They also report a remnant, those who have survived and continue to live in the city of Jerusalem. In America we see a similar picture of despair with a glimmer of hope. The spiritual walls/lives of students today are broken, resulting in statistics like this:
Every day in America, of students from ages 5 – 17:
5 are killed by abuse or neglect
5 commit suicide
32 die from accidents
186 are arrested for violent offenses.
368 are arrested for drug offenses.
1,204 babies are born to teen mothers.
3,312 high school students drop out.
America also has a remnant, believing students living out seven to twelve hours of faith a day at school, resulting in stories like this:
Steven reported to us this month: “Since we started FP in Lake City, our youth group has taken on a completely new identity. Our Students are excited about (instead of afraid of) reaching their friends for Jesus. The results are simple: Our Youth groups has grown, dozens of students are getting saved and the Christian presence at the school is thriving!”
“Frankie” in Tampa – he used to be an atheist and this group has helped him to start believing in God.
“Raven” in Tampa – it helps her connect to God in school……….FP gives her things to ponder and consider………because of FP, I now want to let others know about my faith and be baptized.
These negative stats and positive stories happen in cities, towns, villages, rural, urban and suburban each and every day across America. Scripture tells us why: All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23. The solution is spiritual. Will you organize the family of God in your community like Nehemiah did to rebuild the “spiritual walls” and bring the Hope of Christ to every student?

Peace,
 Brad Schelling