First Priority of St. Louis Metro East
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Students often feel unequipped, embarrassed, and alone when it comes to sharing their faith with their peers. We believe students should view their schools as a mission field that they are capable of reaching through their relationships and influence. First Priority serves students by equipping, resourcing, and providing a platform for them to reach their friends with the Gospel through campus clubs.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Campus Clubs
Students lead a campus club to share their faith story, share the gospel message, and serve their school.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
To educate, train, and provide resources for Christian students to legally form clubs and share the gospel with unbelieving students on the public school campus.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The 1984 Equal Access Act gives students the right to initiate and lead a Christian club on campus. When students start a club, we send them one of our church-approved youth workers to coach them on how to reach their campus for Christ. The success of First Priority begins and ends with the local church. The students, youth pastors & faculty sponsors that partner with us all belong to a local congregation. Once a student receives Christ on campus, they are encouraged to connect to the body of Christ where they can grow in their new faith.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We walk alongside students as they take the steps needed to get a club approved by the administration at their school. We form relationships with local churches so that we can provide a church leader as a "Campus Coach" for each club that will help train and equip the students. We find connections in area schools so a "Teacher Sponsor" can be found that is willing to host the club each week in their classroom. We train students how to run /lead a club and how to effectively and relevantly share the gospel as well as resource them with everything they need for a successful club.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
As of the Spring of 2019, we have 13 clubs at 12 different schools across the Metro East, united 55 local churches, and trained 185 student leaders. We have a number of schools that are in the process of starting a club by Fall of 2019 and even more that we are making connections with and praying for that process to begin.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
First Priority of St. Louis Metro East
Board of directorsas of 03/09/2023
Corwin Pauly
Steve Entrekin
Josh Mehrle
Art Hayhurst
Angie Thomason
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Not applicable
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data