First Priority of Alabama

The Hope of Christ in Every Student

Join our Race to 100 Challenge!

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What if I told you that for just $25 per month a student’s life could be changed forever? Yes, you read that right! That’s a large pizza and an order of bread sticks once a month. We would like to inform you about our Race to 100 campaign. We’re racing to find 100 people to give $25 per month for the next 12 months. That’s $300 a year. Your monthly gift will be used immediately to develop campus ministry for students on their local school campuses. Our goal is to reach every school in 22 school systems across central Alabama; that’s nearly 170,000 students. But, we can’t do this alone, we need your help. Will you prayerfully consider joining our race and giving $25 per month for the next 12 months?

The following are 12 important reasons to join the Race to 100:
  1. The largest mission field in the state of Alabama is the public school.
  2. More students will be equipped to share the Gospel with their peers.
  3. New resources will be developed to train students with evangelistic tools to share the Gospel.
  4. New First Priority clubs in middle and high schools will be started across our area.
  5. We will be able to reach a younger generation by starting new FPKids clubs in elementary schools.
  6. We will hear more student testimonies of “I came to know Christ through my First Priority club.” For some students, First Priority is the only youth group they are exposed to.
  7. First Priority’s HOPE Strategy works! Students come to know Christ every month.
  8. First Priority connects local churches as the body of Christ to build the Kingdom of God.
  9. A First Priority volunteer will make a difference in the lives of hopeless students.
  10. You will help students promote See You at the Pole on their local school campuses.
  11. You will help provide doughnuts, biscuits, pizza, drinks and other incentives for more students to attend club meetings and hear the Gospel.
  12. Students who respond to the Gospel will continue to be followed-up with by the local church.

For more than 25 years, First Priority has worked with local churches to raise up a generation of students who will choose to make Jesus Christ their First Priority. For years, church leaders have heard the claim that nearly nine out of 10 Christians accept Jesus as their Savior before the age of 18. If that statistic was accurate in the past, it no longer depicts U.S. society. Now Barna says that, “If Jesus is not already part of their lives by the time they leave junior high school, the chance of them accepting Him as their Lord and Savior is very slim (6% to be exact).” That is why we unite the body of Christ with a plan of action to influence the school with the Gospel.

 
Please prayerfully consider continuing your important partnership with the ministry of First Priority by joining our Race to 100. Thank you for your continuous support!
 

Win FREE tickets to Winter Jam 2017!

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CLICK HERE to register your youth group or First Priority campus club to win FREE TICKETS to Winter Jam 2017!

Winner will receive 25 free admission passes to Winter Jam 2017 at Legacy Arena at the BJCC on March 17, 2017. These passes do not guarantee entrance to Winter Jam in the event that the venue reaches full capacity. For more information on Winter Jam visit JamTour.com.

Partnership with Samford University’s Ministry Training Institute

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First Priority and Samford University would like to invite you to a student ministry training workshop that will be held on the beautiful campus of Samford University on Thursday, December 3, at 6 p.m. in the Cooney Sullivan Field House 3rd Floor Conference Room. The cost is $10 and includes dinner. There are only 95 seats, so register now! Registration ends Tuesday, December 1, at 4 p.m.

Lead Teams student ministry workshop is probably THE most effective overall one-night event you will ever attend. Participants will learn strategies that will mobilize volunteer staff into a powerful ministry team with purpose. Watch the video above for more details.

We hope you’ll make plans now to attend; don’t miss out!

Click here to register 

Over 520 salvations for Christ on campus this school year

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Year in Review graphic

2014-2015 First Priority Ministry Report

God did some amazing things in our schools this year. Students on our campuses work each week to ensure the Gospel is spread throughout their school. They are unashamed and eager to share their faith and help their friends mature in their relationship with Christ. The desire to see their friends accept the love and message of Jesus Christ is evident in the number of salvations reported for this school year. We are excited to present to you the 2014-2015 First Priority Ministry Report. Out of the schools that reported, nearly 13,000 students attended First Priority and FPKids every week when school was in session; and we are excited to announce that over 520 students made a decision for Christ on their school campus. There were countless more salvation decisions at First Priority sponsored events throughout this school year as well. These students were followed-up with to be discipled and become involved with a local church. Wow, God is good! While students are reaching students, God is at work shaping lives.

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below for a full recap on our schools, events and networks.

2015 YIR cover img (2)

See You At the Pole Media Coverage

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Check out these media links from last week’s See You At the Pole.

Think Fast with Guest speaker Coach Bobby Bowden

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Think F.A.S.T. is a day by day spiritual outline upon which to model our daily Christian lives. A life based on words like Faith, Accountability, Sacrifice and Testimony allows us to change the world. A life based on words like Foundation, Authentic, Service and Timing enhances personal performance. All these words help to provide a life of Fulfillment, Affirmation, Sanctification and Transformation which is Finding God’s Winning Spirit

It is with great honor that the Sports Theology Institute announces Coach Bobby Bowden as the keynote speaker at the Think F.A.S.T. coaching session in Birmingham. Besides being a Birmingham native and one of the most decorated college football coaches of all time, Coach Bowden is a devout Christian and tireless mentor to men and women in all sports.

For more information on the Sports Theology Institute and our Think F.A.S.T. program, visit us online at

www.sportstheologyinstitute.com

When? June 19th

Where? Central Park Baptist

What Time? 1 -3 p.m.

How Much? $0

www.sportstheologyinstitute.com

FINDING GOD’S WINNING SPIRIT

 

Club or Not

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Is First Priority a Club?

Yes and no.

 

My hope is after reading this you can truly understand the point of the campus ministry and the strategy First Priority. Simply put, First Priority is a strategy for students to bring the Hope of Christ to the school campus. If you refer to First Priority as a club at your school, you are not in the wrong. But, the moment your First Priority club begins to look more like a club of members who refrain from impacting the school campus is the moment you are no longer First Priority

 

First Priority from the beginning was a strategy meant to unite the body of Christ on the school campus to reach students on the biggest mission field in the country. First Priority was never meant to be an exclusive club where only a few kids gather once a week and talk about Jesus. First Priority is a mission strategy using students to create radical fundamental change on the school campus.

 

As leaders and campus coaches, it is not our job to run this movement but to equip students to be leaders and take charge of the movement on their school campus.

 

Students have more influence with their friends in their little finger then all of the youth leaders combined. It is our job to train up these leaders and help them understand how much potential impact they have. Youth Leaders, we must take the background role in this strategy and allow Christ to move through these students as they impact their schools in ways we could never imagine.

 

First Priority is a mission, we must never forget that. The moment we do, we become static and useless. Let’s equip our students to impact their school campus for Christ and be used by the creator of the universe to redeem his creation.

 

My First Priority Club doesn’t have a faculty sponsor; what do I do? by Ashlee Lambert

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To have an effective First Priority club, a faculty sponsor is very important. He or she is a volunteer who supervises students to ensure they remain in line with the rules of the local district and state. The faculty sponsor becomes the main person or liaison for the students in the school to organize and charter the club. According to the Equal Access Act, the faculty sponsor’s role is to monitor the club. In order to receive the support of the school administration, it is of utmost importance that the faculty sponsor communicate the mission and the role of the club to the administration, developing a certain amount of trust between the two. In time, the appropriate leadership of a faculty sponsor and the enthusiasm by students, the First Priority club will positively impact the school, which will be both pleasing and beneficial to the administration.

 

But what do you do if your school’s First Priority club doesn’t have a faculty sponsor? “I wanted to be the teacher sponsor because I knew I would have the opportunity to be directly involved spiritually with the kids,” said Stephen Hickman, Minor High School First Priority Teacher Sponsor. After being interviewed by First Priority, Stephen offers the following suggestions to students, parents, business leaders and youth pastors who are seeking to find a faculty sponsor for their club:

  • Pray that God will send a faculty sponsor
  • Provide detailed information of responsibilities to teachers
  • Provide teachers with information about the joy and opportunities that come with being the faculty sponsor
  • Help teachers understand the positive influence they can make on students’ lives
  • Ask students to provide a list of teachers they would recommend
  • Ask the principal/school administration who they would recommend
  • Work with local church pastors and youth pastors to see if there are teachers within their church who would be interested in sponsoring the club

 

Faculty sponsors are vital to the success of an effective club, and they truly can make a difference in the lives of students. As First Priority, we are here to serve you. If your First Priority club doesn’t currently have a faculty sponsor, please don’t hesitate to call us at 205.871.8886 or e-mail info@gofirstpriority.com. We will do whatever we can to help you find one.

 

Checkpoints – A Tactical Guide to Manhood

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I want to introduce you to a book that can make a huge impact in every guy’s life you know.

Checkpoints – A Tactical Guide to Manhood was written by Youth Pastor Brian Mills and Army Captian Nathan Wagnon.

These guys had a dream to write a book designed for guys that would challenge them to let the little boy sit down and the man stand up.  If you have been around students for any amount of time, you know that we need many of those to stand. Brian and Nathan also realized that there are a lot of dads out there who want to go through something with their sons but had nothing that was “guy made” that their sons and them would enjoy – this is it.

Checkpoints is now that book.  It is written as a 40 day journey done over 8 weeks, because guys will miss a few days.  At the end of each week, checkpoint, there is what we call the after action review where they will have questions that can be asked to each other in accountability, personally by yourself, dad can ask his son, a small group leader can ask his group or really in any environment.

At First Priority, you know that we are all about raising the next generation of leaders. I believe this is another tool in your arsenal to help do that. That is why we wanted to put this in front of you. Use it, so we will have more men stand up and live the life that God has called them to.

We want to encourage you to check out this incredible new resource for your family, ministry, for you personally or for friends. I picked it up and have it on my Kindle. You can get it today by clicking here.

Matt Wilson

Executive Director

First Priority Greater Birmingham

A update from FP Front Range in Aurora, CO

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A message from our FPOA staffers about prayers for Aurora, CO:

Friends and FP Family,

Just to keep you in the loop. I have reached out to Shannon Popp or Area Director in Aurora CO. Shannon leads a movement around 8 schools in that area, with 20+ churches involved. He is just waking this AM to the news and trying to get his arms and heart around it.

This is already an area that is desperate for the gospel to go forth, long before this senseless act of violence in the theater last night the light of Christ shines brightly in this dark region.

Please take a moment to remember this region in your prayers, . Also for Shannon and his family as they continue the work of uniting the local church around the schools in their area.

We will continue to pass on ways we can support them beyond prayer as we get them.

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