04.20.10 Campus Coach Testimony...

Being Consistent in First Priority

Be consistent, we hear that term a lot don’t we? But those words ring especially true for First Priority. Some campus clubs have great turnouts every week while others seem to struggle a little, but trust me when I say your consistency pays off.

Case in point, at Cumberland Gap High School, we have a foreign exchange student from Germany, she comes from a Catholic background, although they weren’t real faithful church goers. She began coming to youth worship on Wednesday nights with a new friend from school. Then she started coming to First Priority on Tuesday mornings. Every week she came looking for a place to belong (even though it was all foreign to her). Every week she would have questions about the Christian faith and every week the students would be there to encourage her and answer them. She would be consistent in asking questions and they would be consistent in answering them. Slowly and consistently the Holy Spirit was working on her until one Tuesday morning during a hook week the gospels was presented and guess who accepted Jesus Christ that morning? That’s right, our new friend from Germany!

We didn’t do anything other than being consistently obedient to the Holy Spirit in our efforts to reach every student on campus with the gospel. Because First Priority is a consistent presence on this campus and because the gospel is consistently being presented, the Kingdom of God grew that day.

Many students we meet on campus, even though they may not be from another country may feel like Christianity is foreign. However, being consistent with the love and message of Christ and being consistent with First Priority pays eternal dividends!

Larry Goad, Campus Coach

03.18.10 Birmingham Leadership Training

700+ Students spend the day in FP Leadership Training

On March 11, First Priority of Greater Birmingham held its fifth annual Leader's Summit, an in-depth leadership training event for students, teacher sponsors and campus coaches involved in First Priority local campus ministries. Over 700 students and teachers across the area attended this year's event. Local school boards of education endorsed the program, allowing up to five students to attend from each school and count the event as a field trip. Some boards even provided a substitute teacher so that the teacher sponsor could attend.

Students enjoyed a day of intense training, as well as praise and worship brought by CJ Blount who performed with the sleep design band. Chick-fil-A sponsored the event by providing financial support, materials, entertainment and lunch for everyone in attendance. Southeastern Bible College also sponsored the event by providing the venue for the summit. Leadership trainers included Tiffany Bittner, local T.V. news station anchor, Ryan Bowman, Chick-fil-A Corporate, Outreach Minister David Nasser, and First Priority Greater Birmingham President Greg Davis. These National Leaders provided students with timeless knowledge to propel them as leaders in their school. We would like to give a special thanks to our sponsors and leadership trainers who helped to make this event a huge success. - Ashlee Lambert, First Priority of Greater Birmingham

Here are a few testimonies from students that attended the training...

"I feel like I've been chosen for a reason, and God is going to help me change my school. This is only the beginning, and greater things are yet to come." -Hannah, Bragg Middle School

"Today has really been fun learning. I've learned a lot that I haven't learned before. I'm really glad there is a place that people can come together in this state and learn about God. - Michael, Etowah Middle School

"The Leader's Summit was amazing! I had a great time. The music was excellent, the speakers did a great job and also free food! But, most of all, I learned more about God and became closer to Him. Thanks for the great time. I can't wait until next year." - Philip, Student

03.10.10 California Club Makes the News

First Priority Club collected more than $1,000 for Haitians

ENTERPRISE STAFF REPORT

Los Baños High School's First Priority club came together to raise funds for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Club adviser and history teacher Tommy Jones said he couldn't have been more pleased with the outcome. There was no class competition or award given for the most donated. The fundraiser was organized solely for raising money for those who need it most.

In one class period, the students were able to collect more than $1,000. And that was entirely from the rest of the student body. The fundraiser turned out to be not only student-generated but student-funded.

"I thought the kids did really good," Jones said. "They were enthusiastic and happy to do their part. They want to do it again."

Jones said he was more impressed with the committment the students made to the fundraiser than the amount raised.

"Everyone was eager to help, everyone was eager to participate. And they want to do it even bigger next time," he said. "That's really positive, that our young people are that caring.

"And that was in just one period, not even a whole day," Jones said.

--Samantha Salas

http://www.losbanosenterprise.com/2010/01/29/61643/first-priority-club-collected.html

02.22.10 indescribable update from FP Club...

In the first two months of 2010 we have been flooded with incredible updates concerning what the Gospel of Jesus is doing on campuses all over the country through First Priority students. This month alone we have heard of hundreads of salvations, students who had tried to kill themselves one week/then found Christ the next week, and then the following testimony came in ...

...four weeks ago our First Priority club exploded! We had been averaging about 80 students per week, however that week over 150+ students came to the club and 50 students gave their life to Christ, WOW! The next week at club time, our room filled up with 270 students, and we had to move to another room for our club, this time 23 more students gave their life to Christ, again WOW! The third week the students decided to move the club to the gym, not knowing what to expect next. It worked out that the club backed into the lunch break, so over 800 students showed up in the gym for the First Priority club. After one of the students shared, a handful fo students gave their lives to Christ again, Amazing the gospel really works!

About an hour later I received a call from one of the FP student leaders at the school. One of the students who gave their life to Christ at the club that day was just caught at the school trying to flush bullets down the toilet. It seems that he had brought a gun to school that day to shoot his girlfriend and possibly others. When he gave his life to Christ, he was convicted and tried to cover his tracks. This young man is in world of trouble with the school and local goverernment, however we are so excited that this possible tragedy was diverted, and that he has been plugged into a local church to help him through this process of restoration.

The Gospel of Jesus is having amazing results all over the country as students are sharing their faith on campuses and through First Priority clubs. We are honored to serve such a bold and faithful generation by helping US cities unite under the cause of seeing every student in their city experience the love and message of the gospel before they graduate.

02.19.10 Update from 1st year FP Club...

Dear Brad Schelling:

I am George Atkins, the First Priority Leader at Mayo High School for Math, Science and Technology. This is our first year getting First Priority started in a really small town. I spoke to you this summer, and we discussed doing the F.I.S.H. series which we just finished doing. Our meetings F through S went well. We can only have our meetings at Mayo before school starts so we have had trouble getting our community involved until February 17. On that day we had a guest speaker named Jad Dean. He was the former place kicker at Clemson University who missed the game winning kick against South Carolina sailed wide left. He gave us his testimony and saved a couple lives. Roughly 200 people were there. We also raised about 200 dollars to go to missions. That was considered our H meeting.

We just wanted to let you know about the success First Priority is having in Darlington County. This is the first year so people are just starting to hear about the name. I believe next year we will have twice as many people.

Thank you for talking to me this summer about this amazing group!

George Atkins
Mayo High School's First Priority leader
Class of '12

02.10.10 FP Birmingham Update...

This was sent out by our City Director in Birmingham AL (Matt Wilson), check out their twitter updates, and the link attached.... MattWilson518

RT @FirstPriorityAL : @GovernorRiley proclaimed March 26 "Day of Prayer for Students Across Alabama" http://tweetphoto.com/11144846

02.05.10 Brandon Highschool Sioux Falls SD Update...

Just received a call from one of our City Staff in Sioux Falls, today they had a focus week during their FP club, and 7 students attending asked for Jesus to take over their lives. The Kingdom is celebrating Big Time, and so are we! What a great present from the Lord as we end our week of ministry all over the country. Each day students are sharing the gospel on their campuses all over the US, and we are seeing students come into new life in Christ Jesus and plugging back into the local church. It really is awesome to be a part of telling this story each day.