Joel Rowland, First Priority Director of FP Front Range, started a project called Your Story Matters where he interviews students and community leaders to bring Hope and Good News! Check out his interview with Claire, an 8th grader, as she tells her story of how First Priority impacted her life so that she could impact the lives of her peers.
I have heard story after story about FP student leaders and even students who weren’t leaders going on after they graduate to serve in First Priority in some capacity. Some of them have become a campus coach, faculty sponsor, priority parent, or even a full-time Director of FP in their area. It is amazing to see the club that they once valued in middle or high school, becoming a big part of their life as an adult as well. Here is a story out of FP Blue Ridge about a recent graduate who plans to keep helping with First Priority beyond high school. This is from FP Director Haley Wherry:
A First Priority Student Leader who just graduated called me. In 7th grade, he launched First Priority in his middle school, and then was a leader who revitalized First Priority in his high school. His younger brother was a leader in the middle school and will be a leader in the high school, and his youngest brother will be a lead in the middle school this year. The reason he called me was to ask if First Priority was in any of the schools near the local college he will begin attending in the fall. He wants to be a Campus Coach in one of them. When I told him that no schools in that area had First Priority clubs, he said he would help to launch at least one club in one of the schools and coach it while he was in college. He then told me that he was going to college to be a teacher and that he would be a First Priority Faculty Sponsor wherever he served in the future.
First Priority is changing the lives of students. It works. And it’s long lasting. And our hope is that we can see First Priority in every school across the nation so that all students can hear the Gospel of Christ.
“Sometimes I feel like I am the only teenager trying to live for God, but then I think of all the other students in FP, not only in my school, but across the nation. I am reminded that I am not the only one, and there are people I can go to and lean on for help spiritually.
First Priority has also given me the confidence to talk about and discuss God openly to other students. When I started directing meetings and speaking to the group, I was timid and hesitant to tell my testimony. Now that I have spoken more, I have the confidence to share God’s good news with everyone because of the practice in First Priority. Considering my initial lack of confidence, I truly believe that God has given me the gift of gab. Most of the times this leads to me talking too much, or saying something that I wish I could take back, but I feel like I am putting this gift to work in First Priority.
This club has given me a platform to share the things that God has shown me that helps live life to its fullest potential. Lastly, FP has given me the opportunity to do something in school that will help save my soul and others. Sure, art clubs and scholarly activities are great to be apart of, but when I stand before God, I have to give an account of what I have done to help build his kingdom. FP has given me the opportunity to help build God’s kingdom through volunteer work and witnessing to others, and I am truly grateful for that.”
-Jada, student from FP St. Louis Metro East
Recently, Barna research released that only 10% of Gen Z church goers are actively living out their faith in our current culture.
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.
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!
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.
In this video, Layton, a student in NC, shares her story of how she has become a role model in her school by making a public profession of faith in Christ through baptism. It has made her a role model where she gets the opportunity to be asked questions about God in school.
This video is from FP Greater Clayton
Joel Rowland, Director
http://www.fpgreaterclayton.com/
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
As you also well know, the most significant influence on a student is another student. Students reach students. I am convinced that if we as adult leaders teach, show, and give students simple tools to share their faith, they will. I have seen it time and time again, whether it is the Roman road to salvation, the GOSPEL bracelets or whatever tool you choose, that if you teach it, model it, and give students the opportunity to practice it with other students, they will take it and run with it. This generation of students is not afraid to talk about their faith, as a matter of fact, they want too. It is our job to help them do that. It is our job also to help give them a place to practice what we have taught them. Can you think of a better place to try out their new gospel knowledge than at school with their peers?
This is where we can help. You need an outreach strategy for the public schools, you need a way in, and you are tired of the school dictating culture. You can be a catalyst for change in the schools in your area. We can help guide you to organize and train student leaders to start a First Priority club on the campus that will pay spiritual dividends for years to come. The simple training you did with students, just might be the spark that gets a spiritual fire started (sorry I was having a flashback to camp). Ok anyway, you and I are called by God to be equippers of the saints. Let’s be an influencer of culture and pray for revival.
Keep fishing,
Mark
Do you often wonder if faithfulness really pays off? In a culture built on immediate satisfaction and the pursuit of comfort, it seems to be a value that has fallen by the wayside. But, among God’s people, it is a virtue worth guarding and worth displaying.
Many students come to mind when considering this, but one in particular stands out to me. She wanted to launch a First Priority group at her school last year, but had little support going in. In fact, there were many weeks (and months), when she and one other student were the only ones in the meetings. This did not shake her, though. She continued to pray, to attend the weekly meetings, and to invite friends. There was not a time that she faltered or questioned her calling. Her faith amazed my staff and me.
Then, the group began to grow and last week they had their biggest turnout. As she described it: “this is truly God’s group; a safe place for students to come into and grow in relationship with him.” Wow, what a wonderful example of faithfulness and God’s willingness to provide.
It is my prayer that First Priority will always be a place where students find their purpose, remain steadfast in their faith, and faithfully share the hope of Christ with others.
Blessings Abundant,
Amber Johansen
Executive Director, FP Tampa
Last week we talked about letting students lead. Sometimes, leading can be something simple. It doesn’t always have to be someone standing up in front speaking. Students can lead by being a good example to those around them or simply sharing something with someone just like this middle school student did in Birmingham, AL. Read this testimony of a middle school student who had the best day ever!
Testimony – “It was 7th period and my science teacher had asked us to take out our books and read for the rest of class. My fellow table partner could be a helpful type but was the kind of person that would slip up from time to time as any human, but I was recognizing a pattern. Homework, incomplete. Words, unkind. Character, unhappy. So as you would have guessed, he didn’t have a book. So he asked me to borrow one from my, “library”. I browsed through and carelessly handed him the book, “The Biggest Story”. I thought he might enjoy it because of all the art in it. He yanked it from my hands and ran his fingers through the pages. By the end of the class he had finished the book and was overjoyed during 8th. He was full of happiness and wouldn’t stop telling me about the book. It made him smile and it made me happy. The next morning, we had a guest speaker in our First Priority club and there was a special person that I had never seen in any Christian club, and he was from my 7th period. Can you guess who it was? Yes! The boy from 7th period! He came up to me later during class and told me that he had become a Christian that morning. It was the best day ever!”- Student, Berry Middle School
I’m sitting at home on a sunny but very cold January day with my kids who are home from school due to the NO snow we got here. Life in Tennessee for you. I told my kids I had to work still even though they were home for the day and I am battling a bad head cold. My 11 year old daughter was bored before school should have even started. I told her there was a bag of chocolate chips in the cupboard and she could bake some cookies. She immediately got up went and grabbed the chocolate chips and went to work. She has done this before pretty much by herself but I was there to help guide her. Today I couldn’t since I was working and sick. I said a few things from my computer as she was going along. She said, “mom, I know what I’m doing, I don’t need help.”
So often we want to jump in and help our students lead. We think they can’t make it on their own. That they won’t do it quite right or say just the right thing. But we need to learn to let students lead. They are capable and really, more effective in reaching their peers than we would be. They don’t have to be perfect or say just the right thing. They just need to be willing to lead.
First Priority is all about letting students lead. Students reaching students. Students sharing the hope of Christ on their middle and high school campuses. Students can influence their school campuses for Christ if we simply let them. You can train them and equip them with the tools they need to lead, but then you need to give them the reigns to do what they were taught to do.
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12 NIV
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