FAIRHOPE, Ala.— A prayer group led by students, First Priority at Fairhope High School meets weekly every Monday at 7:25 a.m. This club focuses on building a support group for students to discuss, pray and learn about their shared faith.
The statewide organization First Priority Alabama gives students in Alabama schools the opportunity to share their faith in schools and build a group that seeks a relationship with God.
The curriculum, a four-part strategy, dives deep into learning more about what Jesus preaches. This strategy includes the read it, see it, live it and tell it process in which students read and learn what Jesus said, they see how his teachings have affected them, experience ways to live out the truth and encourage each other to tell others about Jesus.
This program assists local churches within Alabama to encourage faith support in Alabama public schools. FHS assists with Fairhope Baptist Church pastor Ryan Smith and teacher sponsor Jonathon Ivy to spread the word.
“Our goal is to provide the opportunity for students to grow their faith by meeting up with other christians and sharing their ideas, achievements, pains and failures. It’s a network, one in which they can lean on each other for good or bad. It makes a huge difference in one’s experience because it provides the support network from which to go out and share the word with others,” Ivy said.
The non-profit organization seeks to make a difference in the community by advocating for students to explore their relationship with God and expand their faith to others. With the goal to expand Christ to students in schools so they can carry their faith through high school and after graduation.
Sophomore Isabella Casolaro re-introduced the program last year to create a Christ-centered support group through FHS.
“First Priority helps students grow their faith by hearing other people speak about what the Lord has placed on their heart. It also helps with a support system in that we pray together at the end of each meeting with anything we need prayer about and have Pastor Ryan and Coach Ivy who are there for wisdom,” Casolaro said.
The group’s most recent meeting took place this past Monday and they learned about Galatians 6, verses 1-7. This lesson focused on how one harvests what they plant and the importance of planting the fruits of the spirit into one’s life to act according to God’s word.
“We learned the importance of helping those around us so we can walk in step with Christ,” said Katelynn Horne, sophomore.
First Priority helps students learn by putting lessons into perspective for each individual. This allows the students to learn from one another’s experiences, encouraging all students interested in christian leadership to join.
