A First Priority club was recently restarted at Bumpus Middle School. Seven students have accepted Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and more than 100 students attend each week and the club continues to grow. Wow, God is good! A mother of a First Priority student shared the following with us about the club at Bumpus Middle:
My two boys have both been active in First Priority for a few years. Last year, my middle school son was looking forward to attending First Priority his first year at Bumpus like his older brother did. He attended every week and was discouraged at the low attendance, which was not the norm from the heavily attended First Priority at Brocks Gap that he was used to. Near the end of the school year, there was only about 3-4 kids that would show up and we were told that First Priority would be canceled for the year.
This bothered me as a parent of a child who really wanted to be a part of a Christian group each week before school started. At the beginning of school this year and my son’s 8th grade year, I decided to do something about the group. I connected with our church (Hunter Street Baptist) and some other area churches and parents to see if we could encourage attendance this year. I started a network of parents on Social Media and we kicked off our first day of First Priority in September.
To our surprise, we had 60 students in attendance. We had 16 students that signed up to be on the leadership team and they are so plugged in and do a great job leading First Priority each week. The kids continue to reach out and invite their friends to join us for First Priority and we are seeing God do amazing things and the numbers continue to grow. The first week that we presented the Gospel, we had 7 students that gave their lives to Christ. We’ve reached numbers above 100 in attendance and are continually amazed at the students and their desire to be a part of this fantastic Christian group.
At one of our recent meetings, we got to witness something very special. A former Bumpus Middle School student (and now a Senior at Hoover High) who attended First Priority the same 2 years that my oldest son did, came and spoke to our students. She shared with the kids that as a young girl, she was unchurched and never heard about Jesus in her home but a friend of hers at school shared the gospel with her and it changed her life. She is being used by God in mighty ways today even as an 18 year old. She encouraged our students to OVERCOME their fear of sharing the gospel with other students at Bumpus. She was living proof that God does great things when we are bold in our faith!
Praying the HOPE of Christ in every student!
We would like to thank this parent for sharing her heart with us, and especially for her passion to see the success of a club at Bumpus Middle School. Is there a First Priority club at the school(s) in your area? If not, help us start one today! It’s easy, call 205.871.8886 or send an e-mail to: info@gofirstpriority.com. We look forward to hearing from you!