Transforming Lives Through Faith: The Impact of First Priority on Community and Ministry (feat. Larry Franks):

During my middle and high school years, First Priority was one of the most prevalent clubs at our school, and being a part of that club was something special. In my senior year, I was blessed to have the opportunity to serve as a club leader at one of the elementary schools in my community, and the high school I attended. Not by my own accord, but through the work of the Spirit.

For this blog post, I reached out to Larry Franks, who is the area director of First Priority in Decatur and the surrounding region, to share his story, how First Priority got started in the Decatur area and its surroundings, and how the Holy Spirit has worked through this ministry. I have known Larry for practically my entire life, Larry has been a positive influence in my life since the day I met him; his love for Christ is evident in the way he loves others.

So, enough from me. I will let Larry take it from here. What you are about to read comes straight from him.

"I was born and raised in a pastor's home and went to church every time the doors were open. I actually grew up being a great kid because I saw my siblings put my mom and dad through some things that I never wanted to do to hurt them. At the age of nine, convicted of my sin, and knowing I needed a savior, I gave my heart and life to Christ. Growing up in a pastor's home, I saw the dark side of church and Christians. I had always told the Lord that I would do anything He wanted me to do, EXCEPT be in the ministry. Be careful when you tell the Lord what you will and won't do, because He will show you who is God and who is not. After surrendering my life to full-time gospel ministry, God began to put me in some of the greatest churches around. The crazy part about that was I was a high school dropout with no seminary and no college experience at all. I just simply put myself in a position to say, "God, if you'll use me, I will surrender fully to you." He has and continued to use me in ways that are far beyond anything I could do on my own, and I am eternally grateful. I lead a student ministry with over 37,000 students in it, so I’m pretty blessed.

First Priority Campus Ministries began in Decatur in 2009. A bunch of student pastors were sitting around a lunch table discussing how to reach more students with the Gospel. Notice that I didn’t say we were discussing how to get more kids to attend our student ministries. First Priority was brought up in that conversation. As we began to pray and ask God to open doors for us to do this ministry on a few campuses, we met with the local superintendent and asked if they would allow us to try First Priority. They agreed, and the race was on. As one principal agreed to let us try it on their campus, that number rapidly grew as principals told other principals, "You should have them try it at your school also." As the excitement grew, so did the number of school campuses willing to let us pilot this ministry to their students. What we "hoped" and honestly "prayed for" was that we could do it on 3-4 campuses that first year. As God continually does, He blew our doors off and the very first year we started on 18 campuses. Today, this ministry has grown to over 70 campuses with over 6,400 students making decisions for Christ right here in our local community, and we have the opportunity to minister to over 37,000 students on these campuses. So why First Priority? Why Campus Ministry? Barna Research says that 87% of students will never darken the doors of an evangelical church. Confronted with that statistic, I had to ask myself, "What am I willing to do about it?" At that time, I was the student pastor of an incredible ministry and God was doing an amazing work there. But, I found myself being comfortable with having church but not going and being the church. As I looked out the door of my church, I saw a school full of students who needed Jesus and my heart broke to the point that I made the choice to do something about it. Our ministry is committed to taking the HOPE of Christ to every student by connecting the local church with the campus for Christ. We train students to be missionaries on their public school campus by teaching them to share their faith and the Gospel with their peers. We know there is nobody better to reach a 13-year-old than another 13-year-old. We believe to change a generation, you have to raise a generation. We are seeing God raise up leaders on these campuses who are making a difference for the Kingdom. I’m excited to see what God will do with the next 15 years of ministry with First Priority as we press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

I thank God for Larry. The Lord has taught me so much about faith and obedience through him. Friends, I want us to consider the things that can happen, the lives that can be changed for the better, when a person puts themselves aside and turns their attention fully on Jesus Christ.