This blog post was written by Hannah Blackburn.
In this week’s episode of the First Priority Podcast, Brad Schelling and Steve Cherrico sat down to discuss the importance of church based leadership. This process involves training and equipping leaders for ministry and keeping a focus on the local church. Although First Priority clubs aren’t in existence everywhere around the country, churches are! One of the goals of First Priority is to empower the church to train students who will then lead their peers to Christ within their school.
What is the process for church based training and where does it fit? The process involves a guide called EPIC. Thousands of students have come to know Christ through this resource! But the process for equipping student leaders to lead their peers to Christ starts before EPIC. The process starts with finding key influencers in each city who can rally the troops, raise funds, and hire staff. Together, they network with the local church to train club leaders.
How does First Priority network with the church? Ultimately, it is about being Gospel focused as we become one with the local church, spanning denominations, and keeping an emphasis on partnership with one another.
Who do we engage when it comes to a local church? Where do we even start? We start by identifying a group of “key influencers” in a local community. These could be business leaders, parents, or church leaders, and they make up the key influencers who are passionate about making sure the gospel goes forward. It comes down to a group of about 5-7 people who guide or impact the community in some way, shape, or form.
Why do we need key influencers? It’s easy to identify Christians who want to work with students: youth pastors and youth ministers. But if those people are the only points of contact, they may not have enough influence to sustain a First Priority club. Most youth pastors are incredibly passionate about fellowship, worship, and discipleship, but not every youth pastor is passionate about evangelism. Key influencers are a vital network between First Priority resources, students, and the local church.
One of the things First Priority does well organizationally is keeping its focus on seeing the local church win! There are countless ways that our clubs assist the church. For example: plugging new believers into a church’s youth ministry, which leads to their families coming to church, which leads to whole families coming to follow Jesus! Churches already encourage members of their youth ministry to invite their friends and families to church, and First Priority clubs give students an opportunity to do so.
First Priority clubs also benefit businesses and business leaders. The clubs lead students to a transformative Gospel. Through this transformation, students become trustworthy employees; they desire for truth, build morality, and ultimately become future business leaders! It’s a great example of the butterfly effect! Although we have no idea how far this impact goes, we know God can use First Priority clubs to raise this generation to become the next generation’s key influencers.
