First Priority held its first City-Wide Campus Ministry Network Luncheon of the year on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015, at Lakeside Baptist Church in Birmingham. Nearly 100 youth leaders and children’s ministers across the Greater-Birmingham area attended for a time of equipping, encouragement and fellowship. Everyone enjoyed a delicious lunch from Full Moon Bar-B-Que.

Our special guest speaker Director of Student Ministry at LifeWay Christian Resources Ben Trueblood brought an inspirational message about the essentials of a healthy student ministry. “We’re on a great race of mercy,” said Ben. “We need to rescue this generation with the Gospel.”

Three Essentials of a Healthy Student Ministry

1) Kingdom Expanding

– Must be modeled by a leader

– More than church expanding – break away from just trying to grow your group. This is a good thing but it’s important to focus on growing the Kingdom, not your numbers.

– Move toward the nations – make sure students know God’s heart is for the nations. Students need to see beyond themselves. They need an international mission experience before they graduate high school.

2) Character Transforming

– It’s not character forming; it’s students being transformed into the image of Jesus

– It’s not about telling students, “No, no, no; you’re not supposed to do that.” Show them Jesus and they will know they shouldn’t do certain things.

– Connect students to Jesus – get them in God’s Word and teach them how to walk through it.

– Understanding of grace

3) Culture Shaping

– Students shaping the culture instead of being shaped by it

– Do they believe they can shape the culture? Do we believe they can? Our answer should be, “Yes.”

“We’re on a great race of mercy,” said Ben. “We have the serum for this generation. It’s the Gospel. Let’s run feverishly to this generation with the Gospel. Make sure students know they can shape their culture with Jesus.”

We would like to thank Ben again for his encouragement and knowledge he shared that will help youth pastors strengthen their student ministries. We would also like to give a special thanks to our sponsors who helped make this event a huge success: Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes, YM360, and Interlinc. Representatives from these organizations provided youth leaders with educational material about their programs and upcoming events. These groups also gave away several nice gifts and youth ministry resources. Please take time to visit their Web sites. We would like to thank all those again who attended and joined us for a great time of growth and fellowship.