First Priority of Alabama

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Testimonies

Thank YOU for making a difference in 2022!

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Thank You and Happy New Year!

We pray you and your family have had a spectacular start to the New Year! It is incredibly important to us at First Priority to take a few moments to thank you for your involvement and share with you some highlights of everything God did through the ministry during 2022! Your generosity and faithful prayer support have truly helped make a difference in the lives of children and teens, and we are extremely grateful. God is on the move in and through this generation of students, and they are ready to change the world for His glory!

Your Impact In 2022

$116,000

We set a $100,000 goal for our year-end Victory Matching Challenge campaign. You helped us EXCEED that goal!  Because of your generosity, over $116,000 was raised!

781

781 salvation decisions were reported from our campus clubs across the Greater Birmingham area. Praise God!

6,000

6,000 students, on average, are attending First Priority and Priority Kids clubs.

115

115 active First Priority and Priority Kids clubs meet regularly.

481

481 student leaders have been trained.

You’re Helping Us Change Lives

Because of your prayer and support:

  • We hosted Leader’s Summits in January and September with hundreds of students in attendance and over 35 student leadership teams trained!
  • During Teacher Appreciation Week, we were able to deliver “Thank you” gifts to every faculty sponsor as well as dozens of goody baskets to school administrative staff across the city.
  • We hosted approximately 70 church leaders from around the area at a City-wide Luncheon where the First Priority model was presented.
  • We were able to participate in various community, missions, and youth events to raise awareness of First Priority.
  • Back-to-school prayer events were a huge success and prepared the way for a successful start to the school year.
  • Student leaders from two campuses were able to give doughnuts, along with invitations to attend their FP club, to every single student in their schools as a reward for winning club attendance challenges throughout the year.
  • “See You at the Pole” campus prayer meetings across the area showed tremendous turnout with thousands of students coming together to pray for their campuses.
  • We finished the year with 115 clubs and more are being added regularly!
  • Healthy things grow. Just as the ministry awareness and reach has grown, our staff has also grown! We hired Jody Trautwein as an Area Coordinator in February 2022. His wife, Sunny, was hired at the start of this year as our Communications and Event Coordinator. Casey Crumpton, who previously served as a teacher sponsor at Shelby County High School, was hired this month as a Network Representative. A new intern from Samford University also started this week!
  • We’re bringing back our banquet! On March 16, 2023, from 6:00-8:00 p.m., First Priority and Priority Kids will be hosting a Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction. We are thrilled to have President of the National Christian Foundation – Alabama and Former CEO of Express Oil Change Ricky Brooks as our keynote speaker. The evening will also include a time of student-led worship and a live campus club demonstration. Stay tuned as more details will be released soon!

 

When writing over 100 personal thank you cards a few weeks ago (pictured), we were simply overwhelmed with the goodness of God and gratitude for His generous love. The words from the first chapter of Philippians continually ring in our hearts: “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.” – Philippians 1:3-5

Give Hope Today

God is using students' testimonies to change lives!

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This school year, we have seen exciting things happen in Thompson Sixth Grade Center’s First Priority club. This is a club that has struggled with student leadership in the past. At First Priority’s Leader’s Summit that was held in September, we focused on the “how to’s” of effective campus ministry and trained students on how to implement the First Priority HOPE Strategy. This strategy equips students with a plan of action to reach their school with the hope of Christ. There are now nine girls that serve on the leadership team at Thompson. The “P” week of the HOPE strategy is Prepare, which is designated for students to give their personal testimony of how Christ has impacted their life. Recently during Prepare Week, MaKayla, a 12-years-old student leader, got up and shared her story about how she was involved
in a tragic accident when she was in 2nd
grade. To summarize, she has a passion for horses and had been playing with a foal that she snuck up behind and it kicked her in the left side of her chest. She continued to share how she turned blue from lack of oxygen and then white as paramedics were called to the scene. Her mother began praying as she struggled to know what she could do for her daughter. CPR was dangerous because if the ribs were broken they could puncture the heart. The moment when all seems lost, Jesus is the answer… MaKayla’s only injury was a mark of the horse’s hoof imprinted on her chest. Her only reason for what happened is that God had a plan for sparing her life and she is now impacting her classmates by telling the story of how Christ has delivered her. Wow, to God be the glory! Speaking in front of a large group of students can be very scary, especially in middle school. We’re so proud of MaKayla for overcoming her fears, listening to God’s call and reaching her campus for Christ by sharing what God has done in her life.
 
This is just one testimony of what occurs every week on nearly 200 campuses across the Greater-Birmingham Area. God is using the lives of students to reach their peers for Christ. Equipping the next generation of leaders to share what Christ has done in their life is vitally important and has become our First Priority. Do you want to get involved? We need your prayer and support to continue equipping students with a platform, strategy and provision for ongoing effective campus ministry outreach. Call us today at 205.871.8886 or visit firstpriorityal.com to learn about the different ways you can help us continue to reach students with the hope of Christ.

Check out the amazing things God has done in our schools!

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God is doing amazing things in our schools through First Priority 

For the past 25 years, First Priority has worked to see the Hope of Christ in every student across the Greater-Birmingham Area. During this time, we have seen hundreds of thousands of lives transformed for the Kingdom. We thank God for His great power and we give Him all the praise and glory for these changed lives. First Priority works! We want to share with you the great things God is doing in our schools through First Priority. The following are two of many testimonials we have received for the 2015-2016 school year:
I have had the opportunity to be a part of First Priority for many years. Over the years, I have had the joy of sharing, as well as receiving, the Gospel with students in both elementary and middle school. First Priority has made such a positive impact on the lives of our students. It is a place where all students can come to belong. Students reach out to all students, those who are cheerleaders, football players, honor students, etc., and those who are in need of a place to belong. Many students have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Those students who don’t attend church, have expressed such enthusiasm about attending the meetings. Ministers and guest speakers have encouraged all students to find a church of their choice and get involved. I’ll never forget the little girl raised of the Muslim faith. After a few years of questioning and impolite remarks, she finally decided to come to the meetings. What a blessing to hear her questions and to see the change in her behavior and attitude toward others and herself. We have had students raised of different faiths come together to pray for one another, work together to share the love of Jesus with others, and most of all, to lift up THE TRINITY! No club has ever had a greater purpose! It has truly been an honor and privilege to be involved with such a great group.
Kelly Green
First Priority Faculty Sponsor
Corner School

This is our first year to have FPKids at Oak Grove Elementary School (OGES). Approximately 116 kids attended our first meeting. Our kids love it so much and it’s a blessing to me every time I walk in the room with them. These kids are showing a passion for Christ that one doesn’t usually see these days. The Bible verses are exciting and cool for them to learn with the hand motions. One hundred Bibles were generously donated to us at the beginning of the year for every student to use. We have truly been blessed by these kids at OGES but could not have done it without First Priority. The organization has the curriculum all laid out for us and unique tools for us to use as we are teaching the kids about what Jesus said and how we can learn so much from the Bible.

Here is an example of the blessings we’ve received. Just today, I had a mom tell me that her child is getting baptized Sunday. She told me that she wanted it to be her child’s decision and that she knew what she was doing by being baptized and living for Christ. So I asked if the child really understood what she was doing and the mom told me, “Because of you and Mrs. Jenny she knows exactly what she is doing.” I was so proud at that moment. Those are the small rewards we have received from this great ministry.
Michelle Ray
Jenny Yearby
FPKids Faculty Sponsors
Oak Grove Elementary School
What is your First Priority testimony? Share it with us today at: info@gofirstpriority.com. Let us know the amazing things God has done in your school this year through First Priority.