2021-2022 School Year Ministry Report
It has been another incredible school year! Please take a moment to watch the short video above and read below about all the wonderful and exciting things God did in our schools through First Priority and Priority Kids clubs.
270
Out of the schools that reported, nearly 270 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.
5,000
Over 5,000 students attended First Priority and Priority Kids clubs every week.
93
93 active First Priority and Priority Kids clubs met weekly. Several new clubs started and many relaunched this school year.
240
240 middle and high school students from 48 schools were trained to lead their club. There were also 170 adult volunteers trained to lead Priority Kids clubs.
Thousands
In September, many clubs kicked off with See You at the Pole where thousands of students participated locally. Before school, students joined together at their school’s flagpole in prayer for their friends, school, city, state, nation and the world. The theme was “Just Pray” and the scripture verse was James 4:10 – “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” Many lives were touched, changed and challenged by one of the nation’s largest prayer movements.
“After a very difficult year like 2020, it is important to remember verses like Matthew 18:20 when God says ‘Where two or more gather in my name, I am there with them.’ After not being able to come together for over a year, we truly needed something like See You at the Pole not only to reconnect us with each other, but to help refocus our sights on our Lord. We are called to come together and there was no greater feeling than finally being able to unite as one and share our passion for Jesus Christ.” – Kayson Parker, First Priority Student Leader, Moody High School
150
In January, we held our 16th annual Leader’s Summit where more than 150 students, faculty sponsors and campus coaches were in attendance. This year’s theme was “You Are Not Alone.” The day was filled with worship, encouragement and training.
95
At our Leader’s Summit, First Priority student leaders were given a challenge for the month of February to have the highest club attendance during “Invite Week” where the Gospel would be shared. We are so excited to share that we had 15 clubs participate and out of these clubs, nearly 1,600 students attended and heard the Gospel, and 95 of them professed Christ as Lord of their lives! Praise the Lord! Congratulations to North Jefferson Middle School for winning the challenge! The entire school was awarded doughnuts! First Priority student leaders enthusiastically gave out a doughnut and invite card to attend their First Priority club meeting to each student in the school. These students demonstrated Christ’s love and were truly a blessing to the student body.
70
In the same Spirit of how “Jesus sent out the 70 two by two before His face into every city and place He was about to go” (Luke 10:1), we were thrilled at our recent City-Wide as close to 70 pastors and leaders were in attendance. They learned how they could be “sent out before Jesus into every school” preparing the way for the Hope of Christ to come into students’ hearts who would then share Him with their families, friends & school faculty members!
100
In an effort to demonstrate our appreciation, First Priority and local churches partnered together during Teacher Appreciation Week to bless teachers and administration! We are truly grateful for teachers and administration and all they do for our students! We wanted to take the opportunity to encourage and bless them, and show our appreciation for all their hard work. We were able to personally bless First Priority faculty sponsors and principals from over 100 schools across Greater Birmingham with teacher appreciation gifts. Many local churches adopted schools and provided the entire school staff with meals, goody baskets, gift cards, handwritten notes and much more. We would like to thank all those who contributed their time and resources to help make Teacher Appreciation Week a huge success, we couldn’t have done it without you!
Throughout the year, many clubs participate in various mission and outreach projects to serve their school, community and the world for Christ. This school year students gave out flowers and encouraging notes during Valentine’s Day, gave out hot chocolate on cold mornings, participated in the Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Shoebox ministry, collected money to purchase Christmas gifts for local families, taped encouraging notes to students’ lockers, gave out doughnuts and candy with an invitation to First Priority and much more!
163,814
So many incredible things happened this school year following the pandemic! But this is just the beginning. There’s more work to be done for the Kingdom! There are 163,814 students in 270 schools across Greater Birmingham. First Priority represents 93 of those schools with approximately 5,000 students. That means there are 177 schools and 158,814 students that need to be reached with the Hope of Christ. Will you help us? We need 100 new partners to invest in this ministry through prayer and giving. For $30 a month or $360 a year, 36 students will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel of Christ in your community. Does your child’s best friend know Christ? A young boy recently told his mom the only reason he wants to attend school is to go to Priority Kids. We need your help and there is no better time than now to join this movement and help change a student’s life today!
