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Local FP Communities

Feb 05
Love0

Students find belonging in their First Priority club

By Nehemiah, Local FP Communities

Students want to feel like they belong. They seek others who are like them or who like the same kinds of things they like. But often, it is easy to go to school everyday thinking that there is no one like you. No one else who likes the same things you do or believes in the same things you believe in. But they are out there just waiting to be found.

One student from Wake County in North Carolina realized this when she decided she wanted to help get a FP club going in her school. She thought there would be no one at her school who was a Christian. Once she got permission to start her club, she realized there were a lot of Christians excited about it. Even the janitor started talking about the Bible to her and her mom. It was like Christians were in hiding. FP gave them a safe place to stand together and invite others to join.

At another FP club on the Emerald coast, students went out into their campus inviting other students to come to the club that day, handing out invite cards and biscuits. Students came and heard the gospel and four of them raised their hands proclaiming they accepted Christ!

First Priority gives students a place to belong. And a place to invite others to belong and learn about the love they can receive from Jesus Christ.

Jan 29
Love0

Students are looking for the opportunity to be used by God

By Nehemiah, Local FP Communities

In November, I had the privilege of speaking at a booming country church in Milo, Oklahoma. It is in the middle of nowhere. When you drive up, you are shocked at all the cars that are in the parking lot. You have to think where in the world did everyone come from, and where do they live? Mike Johnson has been the pastor there for years. He works in the oil field full time and preaches on Sundays and Wednesdays. He is one of my favorite people in the world and one of the Godliest men I know.

That Sunday morning, after I spoke, a girl name Chy came up to me and said she was a senior and wanted to get a First Priority club going before she graduated. During Christmas break, we set up a time to do a training with her so she could start a club after the first of the year. I told her all the things she would need to get in place and about the leadership teams and their roles in the club. I thought that it would be a few weeks before they got started. I was wrong. She started it the first week back! I got a phone call from Mike, who was all excited and tells me he heard from Chy. The very first meeting ‘help week,’ she was walking through one of the gospel tools, and four students gave their lives to Christ. BOOM! I am convinced there are thousands of Chy’s out there just waiting for someone to provide them with the opportunity to be used by God. Let’s pray God raises an army of these bold teenagers, and as the book of Acts says about the disciples, “these men who have turned the world upside down are now in our city.” Acts 17:6

Jan 15
Love0

Is God still in our schools?

By Nehemiah, Local FP Communities

Rachel Camarota, FP Director Johnston County

This blog was written by Rachel Camarota, Director of FP Johnston County, NC.

Before I stepped into this role with First Priority, I was a teacher and the sponsor for an FP club at a local high school. Every day I saw the need for Christ-centered clubs in our school and among our students. But do you know what else I saw? Students who love Jesus, who were unashamed to share their faith through First Priority.

For the past decade, we have been told that God is not present in our schools anymore or that young people aren’t interested in Jesus – but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s spirit lives in you?”

While in recent years there has been a noticeable decline in Christian beliefs in our schools and among our young people, as long as we have students who walk the halls and believe in Jesus, God is still there.

This is where First Priority comes in. We train students to be disciples of Christ and to share the Gospel in their school – and it is working. Just in the last weeks of 2019, 2 students accepted Christ in a local high school!

But those students would’ve never been given that opportunity had it not been for student leaders being brave enough to share the Gospel at First Priority – and they can’t share the Gospel without your help. Click the button below to find out more info about how you can start a club in a school in your area.

Start a Club

Rachel Camarota
FP Director Johnston County

Jan 01
Love0

Students spread Christ’s love this Holiday Season!

By Local FP Communities

Stories of students sharing Christ’s love from FP Birmingham, AL

Throughout the year, and particularly at Christmas, many First Priority clubs participate in various mission and service projects to serve their school, community and the world for Christ. We would like to share several of those awesome stories with you!

  • Spain Park High School students raised money to purchase 16 water filters for families in the Dominican Republic. Each filter will provide a family clean water for up to eight years. Until They Know is the ministry that will deliver the water filters and as a result these families will have the Gospel shared with them at the time of delivery and each time someone checks on the filters. Once the families receive a filter, Until They Know will continue to follow-up with them throughout the eight years. These students are passionate about reaching others with the Gospel at home and abroad.
  • North Jefferson Middle School First Priority students collected gifts for Lovelady Center children.
  • Pelham High School First Priority students gave out hot chocolate and candy canes to students to kick off exam season.
  • Thompson High School First Priority students passed out candy canes and Bible verses to students.
  • Oak Mountain High School’s First Priority club served hot chocolate to students to say “Merry Christmas” and share Christ’s love this holiday season!
  • Calera Middle School First Priority student leaders blessed the school with goody bags containing candy, life books, and an invitation to First Priority. Just about every student and teacher at Calera Middle went home with a goody bag! “We pray that all who received them will read the life books and maybe even come to First Priority to hear more about the Gospel,” said Campus Coach Savannah Grace.
  • Forest Oaks Elementary School’s FPKids club partnered with Liberty Baptist Kids Ministry in Chelsea to provide 244 candy goody bags to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. Kids brought in candy for Military and First Responders for a mission project.

We’re super proud of these students and their passion to serve others and reach them with Christ’s love. Students are inviting their friends to First Priority. Students are sharing their testimonies. The Gospel is being shared on campuses every week and students are responding with questions and professions of faith. God is using First Priority to change lives. Please pray for these students as they strive to reach Every Last One.

Nov 06
Love0

8 Times the Impact!

By Local FP Communities, Student Leaders

Recently, Barna research released that only 10% of Gen Z church goers are actively living out their faith in our current culture.

That is alarming!


However, that research also showed that the same 10% are willing to live more boldly for Christ than previous generations, allowing them to have a huge impact on those around them.

This is exciting! 


The best news, we are seeing the 10% rise up on South Florida campuses!

Last Wednesday in Miami-Dade County, eight schools hosted their club to be an outreach event on their campus. In every one of those eight schools, student leaders actively brought their friends and shared the Gospel!

86 students made a decision to follow Jesus as a result of those eight clubs!


Students are fired up about sharing the love, peace, and hope of Jesus with all their classmates. They are standing unashamed in both their words and actions. As a result,  many of their classmates are attracted to their boldness for Jesus and want to know more.

God is using these students in a mighty way to change thousands of lives in their schools.

 

 

Oct 10
Love0

Two new clubs celebrate life change!

By Local FP Communities

Read these stories shared from two new clubs that started in different areas this year and how God is already moving on those school campuses.

Tyler Eanes, a newly trained FP campus coach in Gainesville, Georgia, trained student leaders who got a FP club going in a new school called Cherokee Bluff. On their 2nd official meeting it was Overcome Week. I told Tyler, just wait until Engage week when you get to see students give their lives to Christ, it will fire up everyone. Well, they did not have to wait until Engage week, Go God! Another new club that started this year in Kansas City saw one student give their life to Christ in their first FP Club meeting of the year! One of the student leaders invited her friend to the club who went to church but had never heard the gospel and she gave her life to Christ in that first FP club meeting. Praise God!

You can be a part of this movement too! Isn’t it exciting to hear about life change in our middle and high schools? Did you know we will train you to help students lead students in the Hope of Christ? Register today for the last Start a Club Webinar of the year. Read more about it by clicking the image below and sign up to join the movement of sharing the gospel of Christ.

 

 

Sep 04
Love0

Meet Zac!

By Local FP Communities

The kids of First Priority at one of the middle schools in South Florida were excited to share their faith but they didn’t really know how to get out there and do it. Once they were given a Club Impact Kit things changed.

They spent their week outside in the hustle and bustle of the bus loop and pick up area. They used a speaker to play music and they passed out candy to other kids running for their rides.

The excitement caught the attention of Zac, a 7th grader who rides the bus. He went over to the crowd and asked what was going on. The students from the FP club explained that they were having a FP club party next week and he should come.

The next week, Zac came to the club. The excitement in the courtyard was the initial thing that caught his eye but the Gospel penetrated his heart and he turned his life over to Jesus!

A few weeks later, Zac asked his club mentor about youth group and she invited him to attend church that Friday. Ever since, Zac has been faithfully attending church and he has never come alone! 

God truly used a speaker, some candy and a bus loop to meet Zac where he was.

Jul 18
Love0

Praying over our Schools

By Nehemiah, Local FP Communities

Haley Wherry, FP Director of Blue Ridge

Whether school for you starts on August 10 or September 10, the school year is quickly approaching. One thing that we can all do to kick the year off to a good start for our schools is to pray. In Tennessee, the state government made a law that the weekend before school starts is to be the ‘Weekend of Prayer Over Students’. We use that law (that doesn’t do much) as an excuse to rally parents, teachers, and area churches to set a day/time that weekend to pray together. We want to encourage you as well to find ways to be praying for your schools, students, teachers and administration. Click the image to listen to Haley Wherry, FP Director of Blue Ridge talk about the 2019 Tennessee weekend of prayer.

God calls us to pray. Romans 12:12 says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”  We want to constantly be in prayer for these students who are the leaders of our future. It is our job to support and encourage them to be who God has called them to be.

May 29
Love1

A Principal is thankful for the FP Club at his school!

By Local FP Communities, FP Success Story

At a recent First Priority meeting in the biggest school in our region (FP Blue Ridge, TN), a sophomore girl visited the club for the first time. No one knew her. She saw students preparing to go out onto the campus with gospel surveys. She approached and asked what was going on. A freshman leader told her about First Priority and she said she is seeking Christian fellowship because her friends are bringing her down and driving her from God. She claimed to be a Christian and went evangelizing with the team.

When she returned to the room we were debriefing about the experience. She suddenly went into a violent seizure and fell face first into a table leg, busting her cheek and leaving a gash in her scalp. I jumped around the table, pulled her out and determined she wasn’t bleeding to death or choking on her tongue. She seized for at least 6 minutes, while the school officials came running in and EMTs arrived.

We prayed over her, cleaned up and stayed with her until she was taken away by the ambulance. She had mentioned where she went to church, so I was able to contact her youth pastor who knew her as a former attendee. The youth pastor visited her in the hospital and let me know she went home that night with stitches.

She was back at school with a black eye and stitches and showed up at the First Priority meeting. She went evangelizing again with the team. When the meeting was over, she remained behind and approached me and another Campus Coach and asked “How do I find friends?” We encouraged her and gave her advice on that question and several others, encouraging her to get involved at her church and hang with people that lift her up, not tear her down. It was an opportunity to speak into a student we would never have met outside of First Priority.

Later that day I went to the principal at the high school. When he saw me, he said, “I’m glad you are here…I need to talk to you about an email I received yesterday regarding First Priority.” He then told me that the mother had emailed him a lengthy message. He said her main point for the email was that her daughter’s favorite class was First Priority (she must not know it’s a club), that her daughter couldn’t stop taking about it, and the mother wanted to ask the principal if he could assure that she could attend that class next school year.

He said her email was a testimony to the value of First Priority on his campus. I assured him it was a testimony to the student leaders who are loving on this student and the whole student body. He then said, “Most people outside of these walls only hear about the bad things that go on here. But, there are good things happening here and First Priority is one of them.”

May 02
Love0

Check out what is happening in Bristol, TN

By Local FP Communities

Scott Emerine Bristol Area Director was invited to speak today at Vance Middle School. Students will be altering the HOPE cycle to have Engage weeks to finish out the year and they will be sharing the Gospel using their testimony worksheets and the First Priority Blue Ridge provided Bibles from First Priority of America. We are extremely proud of how innovative and creative students are and how churches are partnering with the student missionaries to empower them.

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