COVER STORY 28 OCTOBER 2022 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition In school, at home and on the field, three important South Florida ministries have been reaching kids with the love of Christ for 25 Years. First Priority of South Florida shares the gospel with students at public school clubs, then equips them to reach their campuses for Christ. 4KIDS began in response to the foster care crisis, providing hope for kids in crisis with the vision of a home for every child. And Saints Homeschool P.E., founded by Coach Rick Andreassen, ministers to the heart of the child through sports, embodying the slogan “Where Jesus is Lord and Every Child is a Winner.” While their approaches differ, each teamshares a deep concern for children during these turbulent times and a desire tomobilize the church tomeet real needs. Here’s how it all developed. First Priority of South Florida Chris Lane, founder and president of First Priority, said a youth conference held at First Baptist Church Fort Lauderdale, where he was a youth pastor, set the wheels in motion for the establishment of First Priority of South Florida. “All the youth pastors started to build relationships and wanted to do more, so we started having quarterly events. Then we said, ‘Look at all these kids we have that go to different schools. Let’s start bringing them together and infiltrate the campus.’ Familiar with the national organization, Lane reached out to the founder of First Priority in his college town of Birmingham, Alabama, for information. Soon the Lord opened doors for funding, and they were launching their first clubs. The Mission Statement of First Priority is to take the hope of Christ to every student. They do this by Connecting the Church to Reach the Campus for Christ through student led clubs. What is the model? First Priority clubs must be student initiated and student led, so we’re organizing students. We bring them together through the churches, equip them with strategies and give them the resources, so they can go do it. Clubs in public middle schools and high schools deploy the EPIC strategy, which stands for Equip, Prepare, Invite and Connect. In a revolving 4-week cycle, they EQUIP students to share and live out the gospel. PREPARE students’ hearts to hear about Jesus. INVITE friends to hear the gospel. ThenCONNECT students to each other and to local churches. The invitation usually involves free donuts or pizza. What is the impact? First Priority of South Florida finished Last school year with 228 campus clubs, over 3,000 kidsmade decisions for Christ and 476 church connections were made fromMiami to Titusville. Over 25 years, Fred Revell, associate director of First Priority, estimates about 80,000 kids have responded to the gospel through their involvement with First Priority of South Florida. What was the biggest challenge or darkest moment you’ve had to overcome? We are an in-person, on-campus large group gathering, so when COVID hit, the brakes were put on hard. That was the biggest challenge we’ve ever had. You lost so much momentum, so much traction and then you’re just waiting. So, we did some creative things. We took time to revamp our guides the students use on campus. We built amobile app and also began holdingmeetings on ZOOM, whichwas a new challenge for us. The Lord gave us opportunities to stay engaged the best we could. Then there’s the everyday challenges. Scripture tells us there's this arch enemy Satan that doesn’t like the advancement of the kingdom of God and the gospel. The enemy tries to discourage us and give us doubts. In our prayer today, we were reminded of Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” What is your greatest accomplishment or joy? It never gets old to hear that it worked. After school the roomwas full of kids. We brought in 10 pizzas. The gospel was preached, and kids said yes to Jesus. We gave them a Bible and now they’re coming back. That happens all the time, but it’s exciting! We have this reporting system that gives us updates and it never gets old for the “one.” That’s a real 14-year-old boy that came to Jesus. I don’t know what his life could have been, but I know this: He’s no longer dead in his sins. He’s alive in Christ. I don’t know what he’ll become one day, but it doesn’t matter. He’s gone from death to life. God is moving and there is fruit every day. Where is First Priority planning in the future? Game Day is huge for us at the elementary campuses. We started Game Day in 2019 and it meets once every week in elementary schools. Their parents know its Christian, teaching the Bible. They have a Bible memory verse. We do Bible Character stories, share the gospel and then have games outside on the field. This initiative fits directly into the 4-14 Window, recognized as the key age range for churches to introduce the gospel to children for the greatest impact, and we know that Billy Graham shared stats that 85% of people make a decision for Christ before the age of 18. So, we feel we’re right in the prime of where people come to Christ. Right now, we’re taking Game Day to maybe 40 elementary schools, but there are over 500 elementary schools in our area, so we’ve got a long way to go. Now we’re building the infrastructure, so it's scalable in the foreseeable future. Then the challenge is trying to raise two more million dollars a year to fund it. So, there could be a lot of really big things happening in the next few years with elementary schools. Testimonial: When Danny Somers was 16 years old, he went to the First Priority Club at Coral Springs Charter High School looking for free pizza. “I’d show up, eat my free pizza and leave until someone came up and asked my name. I was dumbfounded because they actually cared about me. They got to know me, asked me my story and invited me to church.” Somers became president of the club, came back as an adult sponsor, was hired at First Priority and is now the youth pastor at First Baptist Fort Lauderdale. “Because of First Priority I got invited to church and at church I gave my life to Jesus. Now Jesus is my everything. He gave me hope. Life completely changed. I have my career and a purpose. I met my wife at church. I wouldn’t be where I am without it.” How will you celebrate? Planning is now in the works for a 25th Anniversary Celebration in the spring of 2023 near the end of the school year. Details to be announced. How can people help? Pray! It’s because of your prayers that miracles happen. Provide: It costs $1,200 to sponsor a First Priority club for one year in a school. $75 covers an Invite Week pizza party. Promote: Whether it is volunteering for aGameDay Club, investing in a campus or getting your local church involved, there are many opportunities to serve. To learn more, visit firstpriority.cc or email [email protected] 4KIDS 4KIDS was founded in 1997 with the mission to provide hope for kids in crisis and a vision of providing a home for every child. This was a time when Florida’s child welfare system was ranked 49th in the country and some children were being abused and even died within the system intended to keep them safe. It all started when one woman, Irene Garbowski Smith, who was serving as a Guardian ad Litem, saw her kids had a revolving door of case workers and were bouncing from home to home, causing even more trauma. It was heartbreaking, so she began asking, “Where is the church?” She approached her pastors at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, and they be-lieved they could be a part of ending this crisis, so they began Child S.H.A.R.E. to recruit Chris-tian families, which would evolve into 4KIDS. First Priority, 4KIDS and Saints Celebrate 25 Years of Ministry Chris Lane, Kevin Enders and Coach Rick Andreassen Photo Credit: Justus Martin
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