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Faculty Sponsors

May 22
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How First Priority is pointing the way to Jesus

By Priority Parents, Church Leaders, Faculty Sponsors

In a lot of ways, First Priority is like John the Baptist. Matthew 3:3 says this about John the Baptist:

“For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”

Like John the Baptist, First Priority is pointing the way for the church to legally reach teenagers and influence the school with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Many people believe (falsely) that it is illegal to speak the name of Jesus in a public school. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The government of the United States cannot dictate religion, so when a student enters the halls of a school, they are not required to leave their faith at the door. They can share the gospel with their peers and with their teachers. But, many will not get up and share Christ alone. The first time is always the hardest and most intimidating. People do not want to do scary things on their own the first time. Friends help take the fear away. We must work to help gather students to create a space at school where they can share the gospel of Jesus Christ with their peers. Adults have a [legal] role to play! Teachers cannot preach to students, but they can open their room to the club. Over the last 11 years as a faculty sponsor for F.P., Sam saw more than 400 students receive Christ in his classroom. This was not because he was sharing the gospel, but because as a teacher, he opened the room to the First Priority club and watched students share Christ with their friends. Youth Pastors train and equip the [teenage] saints for works of service week-in and week-out at their church programs. First Priority gives students a place to implement prayer, evangelism, and come back to church for discipleship. Parents pray. I believe that. What if the parents prayed together? After all, what we are talking about is spiritual, not physical, mental, nor emotional. Let’s gather and open the heavens for God’s work to go forward at your child’s school. And let’s not forget the leaders in the community. Whether you lead in business, government, or non-profit, you are a valuable piece of the First Priority puzzle. You create longevity and structure for ministry to happen not just at one or three schools, but in every middle and high school in your community.

Long story short, the Good News found in Jesus Christ is shared at public middle and high schools every day that they are open. Students reach students at school. There were 10,022 students who began their walk with Jesus in their school building in the 2017-2018 school year. Is that happening in your local school(s)? If not, will you play your role and help make it happen where you live?

Until all have heard in our country,

Brad

Sep 20
Love0

Your Story

By Community Leaders, Priority Parents, Student Leaders, Church Leaders, Faculty Sponsors

Have you ever thought about the role that stories play in your everyday life? Stories help us understand things that other forms of communication cannot. Stories sometimes become the way we understand ourselves and the world around us. Did you go to a theater to see any
movies this summer? Obviously, the movie was itself a story, but what other stories were involved in your decision to go and pay money to see that movie? Did you see an advertisement for the movie? That’s a story. Did you go with friends? A personal story probably determined which friends you went with. Did you buy snacks to enjoy during the movie? A story had to be displayed to help you understand that this entertainment experience would be right for you. Some stories are not as obvious as others, but stories generally do four things:

  • Stories make a point
  • Stories make the point memorable
  • Stories make the point meaningful
  • Stories create connections

Screen Shot 2018-09-17 at 11.39.17 AMMany of us think that we have nothing worth sharing. Maybe you think your testimony is nowhere near as powerful as someone else’s. If you follow Jesus, however, you must realize that the true power of your story is in the Gospel, not in your own achievements. No matter what our experience appears to look like on the surface, the truth is that we were lost and now we are found! We were in darkness but now we walk in the light! Once we were alone and without hope, and yet Jesus has brought us into His family!

So I want to encourage you to share your story. You never know how it might help spread the gospel to those who hear the message.

Aug 29
Love0

Teachers are the “referees in the game.”

By Faculty Sponsors

Faculty sponsors are the volunteers that open their room and the doors of the school for the club to hold their meetings. At the school, they are the people who help the players stay in line with the rules of the local district and state. At the monthly leadership meeting, they are the ones guiding and showing wisdom to navigate the school as only someone on the “inside” can do. They do not participate in the game even though they are right in the middle of it.

Listen to Bernie Harrington talk about his role as faculty sponsor.

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Aug 22
Love0

Training Student Leaders to bring H.O.P.E to their School

By Priority Parents, Student Leaders, FP Tools, Faculty Sponsors

HOPE classroomStudents are on the greatest mission field in America: school. Engaged in the middle of the “game,” students are the players we are here to train, pray for, and support, just as we do for foreign missionaries. First Priority clubs follow a four-week strategy called HOPE.  HOPE is an acronym for Help, Overcome, Prepare, and Engage.  

The H.O.P.E. strategy gives the student missionaries the action steps and direction they need to reach out to their peers at school. It is broken-down into these four actions:

  • HELP: Equipping Christian students with foundational truth to be able to articulate a simple gospel message in thirty seconds or less.
  • OVERCOME: Motivation and inspiration to overcome our fear, worry and doubts we have about sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
  • PREPARE: Giving 1-3 students the opportunity to prepare and share their journey of faith in God (in its entirety or in part).
  • ENGAGE: The opportunity for the believing students to invite their non-believing friends they have been praying for to come and hear about the HOPE of Christ.

Each month, they are provided with a HOPE weekly guide that helps them focus on a group and share the message of Jesus Christ with unbelieving students.

The H.O.P.E weekly guides are a resource we provide for free when you download our app on the app store or google play. They are also available as part of the club kit you can purchase in our online store.

Jul 10
Love0

Thank you for your Partnership

By Community Leaders, Priority Parents, Student Leaders, Church Leaders, Faculty Sponsors

Thank you for your partnership in the ministry of First Priority!  We are always encouraged by people who are passionate about reaching students, our future generations. We see the despair of middle and high school students brought on by abuse, addiction, depression, and suicide. Our goal is to bring the HOPE of Christ to every student in America. This past school year, we trained 3,608 Christian students to lead a First Priority club on 820 schools around the country and we saw 10,022 students come to know Christ!  This all happened inside public school buildings this school year! Thank you for being a part of that!

Henry Ford-2We are on our way to helping the 325,000 local churches in our country to influence all 41,000 public middle and high schools. We believe the body of Christ is alive and well in every community in America. What would happen if we got churches in your community to work together to influence their schools with the gospel? After all, Christian churches outnumber public schools four to one! This wouldn’t happen without you working in your community! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Keep praying for the lost to hear the gospel in your schools. Continue helping train and equip the Christian students to share their faith with them. And most importantly, talk about First Priority with family and friends in and out of your community. If nobody is sharing Jesus with the lost students in your school, nobody is sharing Jesus with lost students in your school! We are always one generation away from missing them entirely.

Oct 16
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Hebrews 12:2 came to life for some South Florida students

By Priority Parents, Student Leaders, Faculty Sponsors

On Wednesday September 27th, First Priority clubs all over South Florida joined in a global movement of student prayer! Some schools had over 80 students, parents and teachers. Some only had 2 students. But all were making a bold choice to join hands and ask the Lord onto their campus.  unnamed(4)

The theme of this year’s See You at the Pole was Hebrews 12:2, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

For the students at Murray Middle school, this verse really came to life. Their flagpole is right where buses get dropped off in the morning and they were there praying just before school. As their classmates got off the buses, they began harassing the students praying. Although being cursed at and insulted, the First Priority students continued to pray, tears steaming down their faces, that the Lord would bring revival to their campus! After the prayer was over, the resolve was a greater passion to reach their broken and lost classmates!

Today, we praise God for the student leaders who keep their eyes fixed on Jesus, even when it is tough.

Chris Lane
FP Director South Florida

May 08
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Great Resource “Do Hard Things”

By Faculty Sponsors
First Priority wants to say thank you for being a leader and a light on the schools in your community. The school in America is considered to be part of the 3rd largest mission field in the world consisting of 25 million students. The hard work and your passion to see Christ made known at your local schools has been amazing almost 10,000 students have put their hope in Christ! Praise!
Being a teacher is such a awesome job, you have the opportunity to inspire and teach students a skill or give them information to learn. You play such a vital role in the shaping of our young people. We wanted to share some reading material with for the summer. The book ” Do Hard Things”.
If your looking for a great resource to help equip your students to become a stronger leaders you should check out  the book by Alex and Britt Harris. They wrote the book when they were 18 years old.  They have had over 35 million hits on their website challenging teens all across the country to do hard things. They also talk about views about teenagers and challenges them head on. One of the challenges they discuss is the idea of being a teenager is not  a vacation from responsibility.
 The Harris brothers bring out that most teenagers have bought into this idea of teenagers are on a vacation.The book will challenge students to look beyond their potential and inspire them to do hard things for God. When we look through the Bible we have seen teenagers do some hard and amazing things. One story from the Bible that we all are familiar with is David and Goliath. David was a teenager and he trusted God to defeat the giant Goliath. Yep a teenager slayed the giant in front of the armies of Israel and the philistines. Sometimes we just read over that familiar story and miss that God chose a teenager not the king, experienced solider, or a adult but God chose a teenager to lead Israel to victory.
“Unfortunately we often get praise for things that weren’t particularly difficult to achieve. If we focus on the props and encouragement of those who have low expectations for us, we become mediocre. It can be challenging to set our sights on excellence, particularly when we’re hearing that we’re already there. One of life’s greatest lessons, which we all must learn, could be expressed in the phrase “That was nothing. Watch this.” Challenge yourself and others to call the normal things normal and save that word excellent for things that really are.”
― Alex Harris
What a awesome statement! Our hope is this for you  students too! If your wanting to find out more about this resource check out their site.
Mar 20
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350 students and teachers @ Mill Creek Middle School

By Faculty Sponsors
Through First Priority and FCA Clubs in Cherokee County, God has allowed us to reach over 1500 students per week this year!!  We are humbled and blessed with the privilege of working with local churches and businesses to reach our next generation with the Good News of Jesus Christ.  The 253 decisions that have been made on our campuses is absolutely incredible, however, we believe this is just the “tip of the iceberg” of what God has in store as His Church unites for the purpose of spreading the Gospel in our schools!

Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God is able to do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”.  I truly believe that God is about to do just that through First Priority of Metro Atlanta!!!

Will you join us in continuing to pray for our Campus Missionaries as they reach their peers with the Gospel??  Will you prayerfully consider partnering with us financially to reach our next generation for Christ??
Jan 16
Love0

Faculty eupdate 1/13 New Year Same Goal!

By Faculty Sponsors

New Year Same Goal!

We are well into the New Year and all our goals are set. As we look into the New Year of 2013, we are thankful for the past but eager for the future. This past year, First Priority of America saw 9911 students across the nation put their hope in Christ. Praise God! We are so thankful for our faculty sponsors; you play a vital role in making First Priority happen.  In this edition, hear what First Priority means to a faculty sponsor at a Priceville middle and high schoo

 

THE REFEREES IN THE GAME.

These are the faculty volunteers that open their rooms and the doors of the school for the club to hold their meetings. At the school, they are the people who help the players stay in line with the rules of the local district and state. At the monthly leadership meeting, they are the ones guiding and showing wisdom to navigate the school as only someone on the ‘inside’ can do. They do not participate in the game, even though they are right in the middle of it.

 

 

FROM A FACULTY SPONSOR

First Priority is a priceless activity to have at school.  There are other organizations and clubs that focus on God, but First Priority focuses on evangelizing and witnessing in the halls and bringing lost people to Jesus.  First Priority is an avenue to allow these kids who have given their lives to Christ to reach out and lead their classmates to Jesus.  From a teacher’s perspective, I have seen some students’ behavior change because of the power of God working through First Priority.  There is one student who invited Jesus into his heart and now he is bringing his brother to the meetings with him. That is what it is all about.  It is motivating to see students arrive at school early and sacrifice their time to stand up for God.  God gave us Jesus as a sacrifice and to see these students swallow their pride and stand up for Him here at school is amazing.  I wish First Priority would have been at my high school during my high school years.  I believe it would have made a difference in my life.  As a teacher, we hear a lot about how bad this generation is, but this generation is also amazing.  From the words of Mark Cahill in his book about evangelizing and witnessing, One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven, “If you’re not fishing, you’re not following,” summing up First Priority.  As a teacher, I am blessed to be at a school that allows First Priority to be active.

 

Joshua Sawyer

Priceville High

Gal. 2:20

 

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