Lakeland High School in Suffolk Virginia is home to Payton a 9th grader at their school who surrendered her life to Christ this past New Years Eve. Two weeks later, she found herself at Washington D.C.’s Dare 2 Share Conference. During the free time she shared the gospel and prayed with nearly 60 people at a mall! She was so excited that she skipped dinner so should could keep talking to more people about Jesus!

That night Payton was asked by her youth Pastor, JC Kimmer, to share with the crowd of 2500 students at the conference about what God was doing in her life. During that time she was asked about her plan to bring the Gospel back to her school, she immediately said “I’m going to invite my friends to First Priority!”. The Hope of Christ In Every Student.

Wallins School in Harlan Kentucky experienced a crazy thing happen at our First Priority Club Movement recently; following a message on ‘being thankful’ delivered by one of our student leadership teammates, 6 students ranging from 5th-7th grade, believed on Jesus as their Savior. At break time, another 7th grade student came to accept Christ as a result of one of the others sharing with him his new faith. What a blessing to see the wondrous work of God in our young people!

South Fork High School in Stuart Florida had an amazing mission week last Wednesday. The pastor from UMC in Stuart came and gave a great gospel presentation and 3 students came to Christ. A couple of days later one of those students came up to the teacher and said he accepted Christ and wanted a bible.

What makes this amazing is that this student is known as the ‘school atheist’, he was very outspoken against Christianity. Some of the students in the club encouraged him to come to mission week to see for himself. in the days following word got around campus that he accepted Christ, and that he is now being discipled!  What can we take away from this, students reaching students with the Hope of Christ, really works.

There is a plan to reach your school Jesus said “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men” in Mark 1:17. The gospel story and your testimony about what it has done in your life is the plan that we have all been given to reach our peers with the Hope of Christ.  First Priority’s student guide, will help the Christian students at your school work together, so that every student in your school can experience that same hope. By knowing the plan, and the role you play, clarity can be brought, and many can be reached. Click on the Student Guide link below to get your copy. Then reach out to First Priority, we are here to help you implement the plan.

Jenny Lou Jackson, is an 8th-grade language arts teacher at Corbin Middle School in the Corbin Independent school district. This past October, she was named 2012 Middle School Teacher of the Year in the state of Kentucky.

Mrs. Jackson is a 12-year teaching veteran. She has taught language arts at her current school for the past three years. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Eastern Kentucky University and a master’s degree and teaching certification at Union College. In addition, she’s a candidate for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification. Jackson was listed among the Tri-County’s Top 20 Citizens by her local newspaper, in which she was featured for innovative teaching techniques. She is a recipient of her district’s Most Caring Teacher Award, and her professional affiliations include the Kentucky Association of Professional Educators, National Board for Professional Teachers, First Priority Club Movement and the Christian Educator’s Association.

We are inspired by Mrs. Jackson’s dedication to the education of her students, and her faithfulness as the Faculty Sponsor of the First Priority Club at Corbin Middle School.  Mrs. Jackson is a perfect representation of thousands of you across the US who serve First Priority as Faculty Sponsors. The excellence of the education process you provide and your faithfulness in supporting First Priority at your school brings us hope. It is our desire that this video will bring you encouragement, as you serve your local school this year! ]]> http://www.fpofamerica.com/kentuckys-teacher-of-the-year/feed/ 0 http://www.fpofamerica.com/seeing-the-benefits-of-fp-trainings/ http://www.fpofamerica.com/seeing-the-benefits-of-fp-trainings/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:25:08 +0000 scherrico http://www.fpofamerica.com/?p=1242  

As a Priority Parent I am sure you are always thinking about the ways that you can pray for and provide for your student. One of the provisions that has developed through First Priority communities all over the US over the years, are “Student Trainings.” These events take students from 1 or 161 schools in an area, and bring the student leaders together to “train them up in the way they should go.” Check out this article about a huge training happening in Birmingham, AL this week for that purpose. I share this with you not that you need to attend, but to get the wheels turning for what is possible for your community as well.First Priority Alabama Leaders Summit 2012 We would like to invite you to join First Priority and Chick-fil-A for another high-impact, exciting one-day conference! The seventh annual Leader”s Summit will be held on Friday, Feb. 3, 2012, at Samford University. Student and adult leaders from our Birmingham AL and North Alabama communities will be in attendance this year. The Summit will feature live music and inspirational messages geared toward highly motivated student leaders and teacher sponsors involved in First Priority club movements. Students will be equipped and encouraged on a new level. Some of the nation”s top leaders will provide in-depth leadership training in timeless skills, making them better leaders in all aspects of campus life. Thanks to our gracious sponsors, we are able to provide this event at no cost to attendees. We hope you will plan to attend this exciting leadership training event! If you are not able to attend, we ask that you please keep the students, teachers, campus coaches and speakers in your prayers.

Jethro, who was not a believer at the time, gave Moses some very practical advice. He talked to him about delegation and organization. To select dependable leaders and share the workload. He gave Moses criteria for selecting good leaders. To train the people in the laws of God and empower other leaders to be judges. Finally, he talked to Moses about management by exception. To only hear only the major disputes.

He told Moses to pray and seek God’s direction for the people. Isn’t it interesting a nonbeliever is telling a prophet to spend less time” doing” and more time “seeking” God through prayer. When is the last time you thought about balancing your time between doing things versus seeking God’s direction?

In this example we see the pagan and the prophet working together. We see how the spiritual and natural work together. Scripture says Moses was the most humble man who ever lived. He certainly showed humility in being able to take his father-in-law’s good advice. We should not forget that his father-in-law became a believer on the same visit.

Perhaps your advice to this point has come from a Jethro. Maybe because they’re not a believer you have failed to follow good practical advice. This could be your opportunity to show some humility and lead someone to Christ. It can also be an opportunity for you to learn and further develop your leadership skills. How are you like Moses? What skills do you need to develop further?

To hear more about what FP Tri-States is doing, click the link below

www.fpts.org

Our very first meeting was the “See You at The Pole” on Sept. 28th. We had about 50 students attend the first meeting. We have met once a week since then, and normally have an attendance of 60-70 students each time. As of date, we have seen four students make decisions for Christ during our meetings. Those salvations came after two separate testimonial services. Next to God, the student leaders are the strength and success of this club. Never have I seen such zeal and excitement in serving the Lord as these have shown. They lead our meetings with strength and courage. Serving one another through prayer, testimony, and more. They have truly grasped what it means to be the Body of Christ on our school campus.

Yet, loving people and being deeply spiritual did not make Moses a good leader/manager. He was lacking in several key areas. Because you find yourself in a leadership position doesn’t mean you don’t have much to learn about leadership/management. What do you struggle with—hiring people, delegation, maintaining morale?

In next week’s blog, we will talk about areas of leadership where Moses needed to grow and where he got his advice. As you reflect on your own style, what are some areas of leadership where you may need to grow?

Having worked in the business world for over 30 years with hundreds and even thousands of people and studying Scripture, I believe the answer is that leaders are “called”. Scripture says before you were formed in your mother’s belly I knew you. Even before birth, God had a plan and purpose for your life that I refer to as a “calling”. We tend to think of people in ministry as the only ones who were called by God for a particular purpose. The rest of us are free to do whatever. Yet, Scripture says Esther was “called” for such a time as this.

Throughout Scripture, Old and New Testament, you see people called to leadership roles. Our society is very specialized and people tend to compartmentalize. Business leaders go lead in a secular world and use secular ways to get things done and they go to church on Sunday to be spiritual. Scripture makes no such distinction. It neither teaches nor supports a view where the spiritual and the natural are separated. It teaches that it works together. Scripture further teaches that no one is in a leadership position unless God puts them there (see Romans 13:1 + 1 Peter 2:13-17) .

So the real question to start of 2012 with is not “are you called”, instead lets assume that is true since you are here at Vision Leadership. We must then ask “what are you called to?”, from there real thinking and progress can begin.

Leon Drennan – Director of Vision Leadership, Inc

So thankful for the reporting that each local FP Community is doing with Kah-riss 10.11

This week is our first Major Week of Hook/Mission/Share events at schools all over the US.  We will actually be in the midst of two more weeks of this before we get our final #’s for this years Kah-riss

With that said, we have had over 30 FP Club Movements report already this year, and i will have some “praise God!” numbers for you later this week.

However, i wanted to share one story with you that is too cool.  It comes from Brody Howell, one of FP Staffers in South Florida.

New River Middle School in Northeast Broward county is a FP Club Movement that just started in January of this year.  It averages about 15 students each week, even during hook weeks. However yesterday the place went crazy.  As always they provided Pizza and drink at their Hook week, and then 120 students showed up.  At first they were frantic, there is no way there is enough pizza, so they went up front to the office to order more, and what was waiting there for them but more pizza. Their student leaders are calling it their “pizza miracle.”  But here is the best part, of those 120 students, when the gospel was shared, 75 of them made decisions for Christ.  WHAT??? 75 students, that’s revival!!  Thought you all would enjoy.  We don’t witness many crazy moments like these, but when they happen all we can all do is say Praise God!

Thanks to each of you for sharing the Good News faithfully and for your faithfulness to the National FP Movement to report

www.facebook.com/kahriss5daysofgrace

Twitter hashtag #kahriss

I was talking with another mom the other day about how much we both enjoy Mission Week and how much we get back from it. Perhaps it’s kinda like the mission trips we hear about at church. Those that go always seem to say that they were more changed and grew more in their faith then probably all the people they ministered to. But they best part is you don’t have to fly to a foreign country, get a bunch of shots and have everything you say translated. So, here’s your chance to go to the mission field…and be blessed beyond what you would expect! By His Grace.

Donna
Tampa, FL