“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 and what we were up against as leaders!  I heard this in a class lecture I was listening to by Justin Irving, who is in charge of the leadership doctorate at Bethel Seminary in Minneapolis, MN.  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.

Nehemiah 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 coordinator for First Priority is to organize and challenge the networks of people 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 we are launching on ‘hot’? Is everything in place?”  When you get to Phase 3 (Direction), here are the things that need to be “hot”.

• A network of churches.
• A network of parents.
• Trained Campus Coach.
• Trained student leaders.
• A 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. You will notice if you read on that the rebuilding of the walls and the unity of the people caused a revival in the city.

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”.

First Priority is a strategy for the local church.  It is a community owned movement.  As Nehemiah, this means you will most likely go from leading followers to leading leaders.  One of the first steps in developing a new First Priority is putting together an Initiation Team.  From teachers to parents, from church leaders to business leaders, your Initiation Team will be filled with people who are overseeing others as well.  This is a time for 2 Timothy 2:2 to come into effect in your life if it hasn’t already: and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.  If this is a little intimidating, that is a good thing.  You are on the edge of a God ordained call for your community.  Your role is to help leaders see the crisis (students haven’t heard the gospel of Jesus – and sometimes what they have heard on the news has caused them to distrust Christians), understand the solution (working together as the body of Christ in our community makes us stronger), and how to fulfill the call (networks working together – each playing their role).

On a level, you will look for like minded people who believe in the same vision and mission that you do.  Yet, most of the people you are looking for will be very different from you.  A business leader generally needs a different set of strengths than a mom or a teacher; and each will bring a different set of abilities to the FP table to do what only they can do.  Phase 1 of First Priority is a lot of networking.  So you will need people who are social to get in front of others.  You will also need people who like to follow up and send regular email updates.  Phase 2 brings financial considerations and an accountant becomes invaluable.

Different Network leaders have different opportunities as well. Youth Pastors have the opportunity to invest in student leaders’ spiritual development alongside the parents, where the teacher does not.  But the teacher is with the students for eight hours a day, which makes their consistency and influence key.  EVERYONE plays a role and is important to the launch, health and success of a First Priority Movement.

Have open conversations with your new and growing team about what each person can bring to the table (prayer, accounting, influence, school leadership, community grants, etc).  Whatever it is, everyone has strength that brings opportunity to influence students at school.

The more diverse your group is, the more beautiful working together becomes.

There is Hope,

Brad

VISION: (The what) The Hope of Christ in Every Student in your community

MISSION: (The How) Unite the Local Body of Christ to Influence the School with the Gospel

DISTINCTIVE: (The Why) There are more students who call themselves Christian walking the halls of your public middle and high school than football players; why are they not the most influential?  The football program has many teams including the freshman, JV, and Varsity.  They all work together for the same purpose: to win a state championchip.  The local body of Christ has many churches, are they all working together at the school for the same purpose?  Not a para-church ministry, but a local church mission.

CORE VALUE: (The Who) Send your students on a mission trip nine months a year where they live most of their day: at school.  Many students who do not call themselves Christian haven’t outright rejected the life and message of Jesus, they’ve never heard it from someone they trust.  They’ve gleaned from the movies, media, and political issues.  What if the local church had a strategy to work together to influence the students at school with the gospel of Jesus Christ?  Christian students as missionaries with networks of adults supporting and enabling them to succeed.  That strategy is First Priority.

The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”  Nehemiah 2:4-5

The king and queen asked for his plan and Nehemiah laid out what he needed to accomplish the task before him. Have you laid out your plan? Do you know what you want?  If God gave you favor with a King in your city, are you ready to lay out your plan? Take a look at the details laid out in the First Priority Phase 1 Guide.  Have you taken the time to fill out your city diagnostic? Do you know the condition of the walls in your city? How is your burden for the broken students?  Have you prayed and fasted, the preparing work for the king’s question?  Can you tell them the process you will work to rebuild the walls? Can you explain what you are doing to make people aware of First Priority and building an initiation team?  Clarity is key.  Knowing where you are going is important.  God has given you a heart to see the Hope of Christ in Every Student.  Today is an opportunity to take a step forward by being ready when the opportunity presents itself.

There is one thing to remember as you plan and schedule your launch for First Priority.  You have a date in mind, plans in place, and people interested, but have you inspected the ‘walls’?

11 So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days.12 Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode.13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.14 Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass.15 Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.16 And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work. Nehemiah 2

Did you see it? The walls were so broken that the normal paths of travel were impassable.  The same may be true for students in your community.  The normal paths of healthy growth, development, and learning are broken.  Does Sarah really care about chemistry if dad beat mom the night before?  Will Steve really get the most out of the youth ministry tonight if his best friend that day tried to commit suicide and only he knows?  Examine your community’s walls!  Get with the guidance counselor to see what the students are dealing with in school.  Set a meeting with local law enforcement to see what they are getting in trouble for on Friday nights and what their parents are getting arrested for.  Dig around, but do it quietly and with humility.  Your heart is passionate and concerned for the status of the community.  As your heart grows more desperate for the Lord’s movement in your schools, you will begin to see the overflow of sharing the First Priority vision with those you talk to everyday.

Peace.

If you are like me, you make a check list of things you need to accomplish for your day, week and year. We at FPOA use a program that allows each of us to create their personal task list that stares us in the face until we go after it and get it done. Nehemiah had a list. When the king asked him what he wanted he listed it off.

Nehemiah 2: 7 I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? 8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. 9 So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.

Don’t let the summer slip away into fall and have your students who made spiritual commitments at camp to influence their schools forget and do nothing. Students need guidance and direction.  They need reminders and easy, short goals.  They need you to organize the rebuilding of the wall!  Below is a “Schedule for the Day” (it’s really more like 1-3 months) for you to use in getting a movement going in your area.

1. Pray and Fast – Nehemiah had a burden for the community

2. Learn First Priority – God laid a plan on Nehemiah’s heart.  What’s your plan?  First Priority is church united to influence.

3. Build a Team – Nehemiah didn’t do it alone; you don’t need to either.  God wants to give lots of people joy, let him.

More details are available in our First Steps Guide.  For a free copy, email brandon@fpofamerica.com

Keep Fishin’.

Will you pray with me for your community?

“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.”

I ask that you print this prayer out and pray it every morning as you look ahead toward your day rebuilding the spiritual walls of your community through First Priority.

In Christ,

The FPOA Team

And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame.  The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”  Nehemiah 1:5

Let me rephrase that for ministry today: “The remnant in the __________ school in my community is surviving, but is in great trouble and shame.”  The body of Christ is alive, but it is shrinking while the overall student population is growing.  Even at that, the ‘Christians’ are becoming Samaritans (if I may stretch the analogy).  Let me explain.  My middle child (daughter) turned 10 in July.  She had a sleepover at our house with six friends.  Let me tell you that the conversation was eye opening.  I didn’t realize that we are sheltering our kids.  Ten year old girls with iPhones, playing mine craft at will, watching Usher on Saturday night live, and Barbie has been turned into a zombie!  What has America come to??  Barbie?  Is nothing sacred anymore? (note sarcasm)  Know that this is not all of them, but it is the popular culture creeping in younger and younger.  These are ‘Christian’ girls being raised in ‘Christian’ homes.  Where will the ‘cool’ conversation be by the time they hit high school?  I think I know, because I hear it in the music and watch it in the movies.  Nehemiah and I reacted the same way.  Here is how he reacted:

As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Nehemiah 1:6

How do you react when you see popular culture creeping younger and younger?  What can we do about it?

Thinking out loud,

Brad Schelling, Mark Roberts, Brandon Starnes

First Priority of America New Start Team

I hope this writing finds you doing well and enjoying the spiritual fruit that ministry in the summertime brings with it.  While schedules are often sporadic and lack a ‘normal’ weekly routine, they also bring opportunities for extended periods of time with students at camps, retreats, mission trips, boating at the lake, and the like.  Many of those opportunities have special times to share the gospel of Christ built in.

In the First Priority world, we hold high value to Paul’s word given to Timothy: “Entrust (the gospel) to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”  This summer, you have seen students accept Christ, share Christ, help others in the name of Christ, etc.  Students took ownership of their faith under your leadership.  Can that happen this fall at school too?  We believe that it can.  This starts with you entrusting your students to influence their school, helping them take leadership among the single largest (yet unorganized) group at their school: the Christians.  While it is lots of work to lead a mission trip for a week in the summer, the results are always amazing.  God moves.  The same is true when you send your students on a nine-month mission trip to their school this year.

The first step is to set a goal.  Make it specific.  Put it on the calendar.  Tell someone.  Here is the idea: My goal is to get three churches to start the First Priority club at _____________ middle school by October 1.  Then call us and share!  We will celebrate with you, support you along the way, and help you navigate the issues others have had to deal with as well.  If you do not make it specific, on the calendar, with other people, your chance of seeing the students at the ____________ middle school finding hope in Christ this fall is slim to none.

Praying for revival,

Brad Schelling