First Priority held its 16th Annual S.C.O.R.E. (Students Count On Real Examples) Banquet on Tuesday, April 27, 2010, at The Harbert Center. We would like to thank all those who attended and helped support this special fundraiser financially.
A local network of churches from the Highway 78 area sponsored a scholarship that was awarded to a First Priority student leader. We would like to congratulate Jake Kersh who received this honor for Christian leadership, academic excellence, involvement in leadership in a First Priority campus ministry and commitment to a local church.
Jake attends Minor High School and has been involved with First Priority for over four years. Jake is an eight-year member of Bayview Baptist Church. Jake’s youth pastor Jamey Walton was pleased to accompany Jake at the banquet. Several of Jake’s teachers say he is a joy to have in class and he always brings a positive attitude with him.
Jake was extremely thankful for this outstanding honor. Jake says, “I wanted to thank you again for the First Priority Scholarship. It really has been an answered prayer. My youth group has been praying for about two or three months for money to get through college and you’ve made that a reality. You are all walking examples of Christ. Thank you VERY much for the scholarship!”
We would like to give a special thanks to Laurie Stroud, founder and President of The Christian Family Publication, Inc. and publisher of the Birmingham Christian Family Magazine for serving as our Mistress of Ceremonies. We would like to recognize and thank First Priority Founder Benny Proffitt for sharing in our special event as well.
We would also like to thank our guest speaker Josh McDowell for his powerful message on “The Source of Distortion.” Josh’s ministry has been reaching the spiritually skeptical for almost four decades. Since 1960, Josh has written or co-authored over 120 books and has ministered to more than 10 million young people, giving over 24,000 talks in 118 countries.
During his message, Josh shared many surprising statistics regarding “absolute truth.” Josh’s definition of “absolute truth” is a truth that exists outside ourselves, one that is true for all people, for all times and for all places. Shockingly, 91 percent of young people say there is no absolute truth. Josh said we arrived at this because of two generations and two cultures. “At one time, truth was discovered. Now, many believe truth is created,” said Josh.
Josh stressed the importance of relationship-building to reverse this. Josh said, “Truth without relationship leads to rejection and rebellion.” Josh also emphasized the importance of First Priority’s mission that we must begin sharing the love and message of Jesus Christ with young students now. He said if the love and message is not shared with a child by the age of 12, he or she probably will not come to know Christ.
Many were touched and encouraged by Josh’s message. To view Josh’s PowerPoint Presentation or to listen to his Podcast, please visit www.josh.org.
Once again, we would like to thank everyone who attended our 16th Annual S.C.O.R.E. Banquet. Your time, finances and influence helped make this special event a huge success again in 2010. Many lives will be changed by the momentum that was gained from your efforts.
Visit the photo gallery on our homepage to view more pictures from First Priority’s 16th Annual S.C.O.R.E. Banquet!