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Local FP Communities

Nov 15
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Sharing the Hope of Christ

By Local FP Communities

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What an amazing month for our First Priority Chapter in Stanford, Kentucky! We had 6 decisions for Christ in our first week of club meetings! The celebration doesn’t stop there. We launched 3 new clubs during the months of September and October. That means that we will have the opportunity to be the salt and light to hundreds of students at those campuses. Our new clubs are Woodlawn Elementary, McKinney Elementary, and Fort Logan High School. Please pray for these new schools as we train missionaries to share the Hope of Christ with their peers. We also would like to recognize our new campus coaches and faculty sponsors for joining us in the good fight. Thank you all for your hearts for our students and schools. Above is a photo from one of our schools at our recent See You At The Pole event where hundreds of students gathered to pray for national day of prayer. See we still pray in school!

Shawn Ingram
FP Director
FP Heritage

Nov 13
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When God Speaks

By Local FP Communities

Recently, I attended our national conference and we were challenged to reach out to neighboring counties with the gospel. I have had reservations about expanding. My first reservation is with 26 active clubs right now, I have feared being spread too thin. But at our conference God spoke to me. “What are you afraid of that I can’t handle?” “I am waiting on you to step out in faith.” My thoughts went to Joshua 3:14-17, when the children of Israel wanted to cross into the promised land but the Jordan river was flooding. God told them to cross, but they were afraid. Finally, when the priests stepped their feet into the river, it parted!

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At our board meeting last week, I shared with everyone what God had said to me and we discussed expanding early next year. But God already had things in motion! I received a message the next evening from a teacher in McCreary County saying she had “a few students who want a First Priority Club here.” The next day, I went to McCreary Central High School to meet with “a few students” and 147 students came and we had to move to the library!!! God had been working in their hearts for a while and as soon as I stepped foot in the river, it parted.

We are excited to start our 10th school year! We have had reports of 9 more students giving their lives to Christ since my last letter! 1,951 students have accepted Christ through First Priority Tri-County in our 10 years of existence. We have a big mission, but we also serve a big God.

Tim Bargo,
FP Tri-County

Nov 06
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How First Priority changed Robin’s life and now she is impacting the lives of others!

By Local FP Communities, FP Success Story

Meet Robin. She was a student growing up in Birmingham, Alabama whose life was deeply impacted by the First Priority club in her school. Listen to her share how First Priority changed her life and supported her through some of the most difficult circumstances. She now is living out her faith story as she supports student leaders in her own children’s First Priority club. Great Story!

Oct 23
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Partner Banquet: Results and Progress

By Events, Local FP Communities

Less than two weeks ago, we celebrated the many things that God is doing in Johnston County and across America at our second annual First Priority Partner Banquet. It is amazing to see how God is using Elementary, Middle, and High School students to impact their schools with the hope of Christ.

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Since our launch in Johnston County, we have grown to:

18 schools
28 partner churches
175 student leaders
100 adult volunteers
700 in weekly attendance
322 commitments to Christ.

We are humbled and honored to see what God is doing through the students of Johnston County. Our vision is to be in every school in Johnston County by the end of 2019. This goal is based on the interest of students across Johnston County who want First Priority in their schools.

We would like to give a special thank you to everyone who attended the Banquet. It was our pleasure to host you and spend the evening together. Through your partnership of praying, promoting, participating, and providing, this mission can be accomplished. We are excited to continue this journey together!

Sincerely,
Joel Rowland
Executive Director of First Priority Greater Clayton, NC

Oct 18
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Equipping Students to share Christ on Campus

By Local FP Communities, Student Leaders

“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” Romans 10:14

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First Priority students are dedicated to reaching friends with the hope of Christ. By partnering with area churches, we provide students with ongoing training and they learn important skills such as:

Public speaking
Team building strategies
Meeting preparation
Conflict resolution

Is this legal?
The First Amendment and the Equal Access Act afford students (in secondary grades) the right to gather on public school campuses, even for religious reasons.

Is the model sustainable?
Because our organizational model is student focused, our resources and training strategies help empower students to be who God created them to be. All groups are student-led and graduating leaders mentor younger leaders, thereby ensuring sustainability.

How is First Priority funded?
As a registered nonprofit, we are funded by donations from churches and private donors. All donations impact local students and are tax deductible.

How can you help?

  • By praying for students to share their faith and pursue God’s truth
  • By praying for churches to have a burden for students/this generation
  • By letting others know about our mission
  • By supporting our organization as a donation partner

If you would like to find out more about supporting First Priority you can find more info here.

Amber Johansen
FP Director
First Priority Tampa

Oct 02
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How God is already moving through our campuses this year

By Local FP Communities

We had an intro week at a middle school in Midland, TX before the club officially started. During that club meeting, Kenny invited his friend Niko to his First Priority club. Niko loved it and the following day went to Kenny’s youth group where he gave his life to Jesus. Now they are both leaders in their club on campus.

Shane Kenny
FP Director Permian Basin

3247 students attended SYATP in our three counties. It is the highest number of students in the last four years that the local radio station has been keeping record of. Praise God!

Casey Jones
FP Director North Alabama

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#LI

Sep 28
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Hear from Casey Jones how he became the FP Director of North Alabama

By Local FP Communities

In John 17:21, Jesus prays for us to be one, as He and the Father are one, so that the world will know that God sent Him. Five months before coming on board as the Executive Director of First Priority North Alabama, my family and I prayed, “God, what do you want to do here and how?” Screen Shot 2017-09-27 at 1.44.39 PMAs we prayed, HE continued to take us to that verse. I thought, “yes, Unity but how? God, I don’t have connections in the area you are calling me to”. HE replied, “I know, it’s not you it’s me”. What a relief.

The team that God already had in place began to share their contacts and we could see that God was already speaking UNITY to others. I went and met with new and old churches to talk about the vision God had spoken to us and they said, “Unity is our theme this year for our church” or “we just had that conversation at lunch with our staff and now you bring this confirmation”. It was confirmation for me as well that I’m not missing HIM. Oh, and did I mention that He began to bring diversity (races and denominations) to what He was doing.

I really do not know how He did this, but I do know it was all Him. We prayed daily that He was Jehovah Nissi, the God that goes before us, and man did He ever. As of this morning we have 64 coaches wrapped around 24 campuses (at the end of the last school year we were at 21 coaches) with prayerfully 7 more coaches ready to be added. Our former Executive Director and Board laid the ground work and now we have come in and reaped where we have not sown (John 4:38). This truly has been a work of prayer and obedience for everyone involved and I am thankful to be a part of First Priority and what God is doing in our students across America.

Casey Jones
Executive Director
FP North Alabama

Jun 18
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Student Testimony from Crystal River High School

By Local FP Communities, First Priority Of America, Student Leaders

Growing up in school talking about Jesus is hush, hush and frowned upon. So naturally, everyone was a little surprised when First Priority came about. I was very excited because once a week I got to sit and have lunch with people who shared my faith, listening to someone educated on it give a message. Now that the school year is through I can reflect on all the wonderful things First Priority has done for my school, my friends and me.

Everyone who knows me knows my passion for Christ via my opinionated mouth. So when it was time to head up stage to talk about Jesus in school none of my friends were surprised when I invited them. The courageous and daring went with me, the shy and self-conscious remained at the table. People came and went during the school year, some seeing First Priority as it was, a wonderful midday escape from public school life, others didn’t find it as beneficial and let the mockery of the remaining students as the curtains closed sway their decision. Regardless of what was whispered behind the closed curtain the First Priority students stuck together because we finally had something to show off and be proud of. We finally had something to drag our friends into.

Bringing people to Christ is an unspoken goal among all those who follow Him, so doing it as school was even cooler. I’ve met a lot of new people I normally wouldn’t get the chance to talk to, or even know follow Jesus. I’ve seen a plethora of my friends and fellow class mates come closer to Christ through First Priority. It means so much to me to be alongside them in their walk with Christ. The pastors and student leaders who take time out of their day to come to our school and preach to hungry teenagers are important to me just the same. I’m very thankful for these people and for the opportunity to bring my friends to know my Savior. I can’t wait for the years to come.

I hope it becomes popular among Citrus County students and we see that following Christ should indeed be our first priority.

Taylor

Dec 07
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The Two Questions That Follow…

By Local FP Communities, Priority Parents
As we travel across the US, we experience incredible stories of parents who hear about what their children are involved with in the name of First Priority at their schools and find themselves drawn to become a part of what God is doing on their student’s school campus.

 

I learned of one great story in Shreveport, LA this past month and want to share it with you.  David is a businessman in the Shreveport area and was part of the team that helped launch First Priority locally, 3 years ago.  As he began to investigate First Priority through conversations with other members of the launch team, he came to realize that this “club” was different.  What David learned is that First Priority is NOT a club; the club is simply the outcome of what First Priority does. First Priority by definition is a local organization that unites the body of Christ to reach students on the public school secondary schools.

 

It was in his conversations with John Carruth, another part of the launch team and current director in Shreveport, that David realized he too had a role to play in uniting the body of Christ around the local schools. As a business leader, David was able to bring to the table other businesses in his network that were interested in seeing positive influence brought to this local school. As parents, he and his wife have been able to share all that First Priority as meant to their family over the past few years with many other families in their area.

 

 

David now serves as the Board president for FP ArkLaTex, which is the First Priority organization based in Shreveport. His families support of the multiple schools that are served by FP ArkLaTex is awesome.  We are so thankful for the thousands of parents like David and his wife that play an active role in uniting the body of Christ around a school, or a community to reach every student.

Two Questions tend to come out of a story like this…

 

First, what role can i play to support my student on their school campus through First Priority?  We urge parents to get involved, through the 4 P’s “Praying, Participation, Promoting, and Providing.”  Those are pretty self explanatory, however we offer a very simple guide that helps you put those ideals to action.

To order your Priority Parent guide, click here…

 

Second, how can i find the local FP organization in my community? There are over 50 organizations across the US, just below in this email you will se a FP logo in the Social Networks listing, click on that logo, and it will take you to the National FP website. There you will find in the Get Involved section a listing of organizations with contact info.
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