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.

02.04.10 I was blessed this past Tuesday morning!...

It was another one of those times when God whispers, “See? This is why I’ve asked you to do what you do.”

Tuesday morning, I attended the First Priority meeting at Greeneville High School. Over 150 students filled the school’s cafeteria as four Seniors, who have been key student leaders of the ministry, shared their personal stories of how God has used First Priority to impact their lives.

One young man shared that he had attended First Priority as a Freshman but “talked the whole time” during the meetings and never took the purpose of the group seriously. His interest didn’t last long, and he soon stopped attending.

Near the end of his Junior year, one of the First Priority leaders had noticed a change in his life, and felt led by God to ask him to consider becoming a leader in the ministry his Senior year.

At this time in his life, he had begun taking his faith in Christ seriously, and had even been feeling that God may be calling him into full-time ministry. After lifting up the FP leadership opportunity in prayer, he realized that it might just be something that God wanted to use in order to grow his faith and develop his leadership skills.

Tuesday morning, he shared that story and confirmed that God had indeed used First Priority to grow him as a leader and to develop his faith. He encouraged the 150+ students to pray about stepping up as a leader, especially as a leader in the campus ministry.

While this young man’s testimony encouraged me, so did the stories of the other 3 Senior student leaders. What was even more encouraging was why they chose to share their stories....they are prayerfully seeking those who God is raising up to take their places as campus ministry leaders after they graduate this May.

These four young men and women of God are already looking ahead to make sure that First Priority continues to impact their school long after they move on. It’s a level of spiritual maturity that is not often seen in students their age. Most high school Seniors are suffering from Senioritis by this time and are only focused on what’s next for them. What an awesome thing to see God burdening their hearts for their generation!

There are thousands of Christian students in our local schools that have a desire to be used by God to impact their peers. All they need is the Body of Christ to come along side them, encourage them, equip them to be the leaders God has called them to be, and have an opportunity to use their gifts and talents for ministry.

That’s what First Priority is all about...Raising Leaders, Reaching a Generation, Restoring a Nation!

Soli Deo Gloria,

Haley