First Priority of Alabama

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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!
 

What is your First Priority story?

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What is your First Priority story? 

The following is a testimonial from Adria, who was a member of First Priority when she was in high school:
When I committed my life to Christ as a sophomore in high school, I got involved in my youth group and invited people to church. When I got my driver’s license, I loaded as many people as I could each week into my little car to take to church with me. That was good, but I realized there was so much more that I wanted to do for Him. I wanted everyone I knew to experience what I had by allowing Jesus to be Lord of my life. I thought about all of the students that I was around each and every day in my own school. I couldn’t fit them all in my car, but I could take church to them…at school. When I shared my burden of my school with my youth pastor, he told me about First Priority. I rallied together a few friends and shared with them how I would simply like to meet each week to pray and have a Bible Study before school. By hanging up a few posters and passing the word around, we began a First Priority Club my junior year at our high school that had about 30 students at our first meeting. By the end of the year, we had about 80 students gathering in our gym each Wednesday morning and grew to have up to 150 my senior year. Within those two years, I saw our club become one of the most happening things in our school. We had many of the area youth pastors involved and saw the churches begin to work together to grow the Kingdom of God. As the music began to play loudly each week, students would come rolling in to see what was going on in the “old gym.” But the best part was the impact that was made on their lives before they would leave the gym and throughout the day by students who were using high school as a mission field.
First Priority had given me a place to really let my light shine so others could see His grace. It was a place where students felt safe and accepted, and we saw so many make decisions to follow Christ. Our school became a different place because of the ministry of First Priority.  As I think back on the many unbelievable stories of lives being changed, I am reminded of two that stand out the most. One of my friends, who could possibly have been voted, “Most Likely to Never Become a Christian,” finally came to First Priority and made the decision to seriously follow Christ. I saw his life totally change! But, what was even better was when he asked to share his story at First Priority one Wednesday morning and filled the gym with people who came to hear what he had to say. So many people were saved because of his testimony then and even now as he pastors his own church.
My other story is a simple comment made to me one day by a girl I didn’t even know. “You are the reason that I’m saved,” she said.  That comment reminds me still to this day to do everything I can to help be the reason that people receive the love of Jesus.

After being in youth ministry for nearly 10 years, my husband went to work for First Priority because we believe in the ministry taking place in the local schools. We want to help begin and better First Priority Clubs throughout our area to help ensure that every teen can be introduced to Jesus in the place they spend most of their time. I love First Priority because I believe it gives students somewhere to be real in a place where they are trying so hard to belong and fit in. I love seeing churches come together with a common goal, realizing that students are searching for something to fill a void and Jesus is what they need. He is the best thing that could ever happen to anyone.

Do you have a First Priority story? If so, please share it with us at:info@gofirstpriority.com. We would love to highlight your story!