Our Story

A Simple “Yes” That Changed Everything

More than 21 years ago, we were asked to take seven students to BigStuf Camp in Panama City Beach. At the time, we were teaching preschool Sunday School and had never led teenagers before, but we simply said yes.

That single decision changed our lives.

God used that week to give us a passion for investing in students. After returning home, we were asked to lead the youth ministry. As the ministry continued to grow, students from Thomas, Grady, and Leon counties began attending—including many who didn’t have a church home.

Eventually, we moved the ministry into our home to create a welcoming, family-style environment where students could feel known, loved, and encouraged.

Today, that same vision continues at Building 229.

Why We Are Called The Walk & 1NeedNow

When students were asked to name the ministry, they chose two names that continue to define who we are.

The Walk reflects our desire to follow Jesus—to walk the walk, not simply talk the talk.

1NeedNow expresses our desire to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of people through the love of Christ.

Together, these names remind us that following Jesus always leads us toward people.

What Our Gatherings Look Like

Throughout the school year, we gather on selected Sunday afternoons for worship, fellowship, biblical teaching, and small-group discussion. We also meet weekly for middle school and high school Bible studies.

Every gathering is designed to help students know God’s Word, ask honest questions, build authentic friendships, and discover how Scripture applies to everyday life.

Our teaching is centered on God’s Word. We regularly use trusted study resources, including the Blue Letter Bible and other reliable biblical resources, to help us understand Scripture in its historical and grammatical context and teach it faithfully.

Discipleship in Action

We believe discipleship has two parts.

First, students gather to worship, study God’s Word, pray, and grow in Christian community.

Then they go.

Throughout the year, students put their faith into practice through local outreach, mission trips, serving others, teaching, leading younger students, and sharing the Gospel.

We believe students grow most when they don’t simply hear biblical truth—they have opportunities to live it.

Learning by Following Jesus

One of the things we love most about the Gospels is that Jesus didn’t simply teach His disciples—He lived life with them.

As they traveled from town to town, they watched Him serve others, ask thoughtful questions, show compassion, solve problems, and faithfully do the work His Father had given Him. Then He invited them to do the same.

We strive to follow that same pattern.

Some of the greatest growth in our students doesn’t happen while sitting in a chair—it happens while serving together. Whether preparing meals, loading buses, teaching younger students, praying with strangers, or simply asking, “What else can I do?”, they are learning that following Jesus means serving others with humility and joy.

Along the way, they develop practical skills that will benefit them for years to come. They learn to communicate with people from different backgrounds, work as a team, solve problems, take initiative, accept responsibility, lead with humility, and serve without complaining.

More importantly, they learn what it looks like to reflect the character of Christ wherever God leads them.

Local Outreach

Outreach has always been at the heart of our ministry.

Throughout the school year, students regularly serve throughout the Thomasville area, and during the summer we often take teams to Tallahassee for additional outreach opportunities.

Whether visiting laundromats, bus stations, neighborhoods, apartment communities, restaurants, or simply meeting people along the way, our goal is to build genuine relationships, listen well, encourage others, pray with people, and share the hope of Jesus.

For many years, we have also helped provide Thanksgiving meals to families in our community because we believe serving others is a practical way to demonstrate the love of Christ.

We believe missions don’t begin across the country—they begin in our own community.

One Student’s Story

During one of our outreach days, a student sat down with a woman who admitted she had planned to take her own life the following day because she felt completely alone.

After spending time listening, encouraging her, and praying with her, she said,

“I think God sent you here today.”

That conversation reminded our students that simply taking time to listen can make an eternal difference.

Mission Trips

Mission trips are one of the defining parts of our ministry.

Each year, students have opportunities to serve in communities across the country while growing in their own faith and learning what it means to make disciples.

This year marked our:

21st year attending BigStuf
18th Annual New Orleans Mission Trip
6th Annual New York City–Brooklyn Mission Trip
6th Annual San Francisco Mission Trip
3rd Annual Los Angeles–Hollywood Mission Trip

Across BigStuf and our mission trips, more than 135 student opportunities were available this past year. In addition, approximately 12 student leaders helped disciple and invest in younger students.

The numbers are encouraging, but the stories matter even more.

Time after time, we have watched students step outside their comfort zones, pray with complete strangers, share the Gospel with confidence, discover compassion for people from every walk of life, and return home with a deeper love for Christ.

Many students tell us they leave believing they were going to change someone else’s life, only to discover that God changed their own.

A Mission Trip Moment

One student came home from a mission trip and said,

“I thought I was going to change someone else’s life. Instead, God changed mine.”

We hear that often.

As students step out in faith, pray with strangers, and share the hope of Jesus, they discover that God is growing them just as much as the people they’re serving.

How We Measure Success

While attendance and participation are encouraging, they are not how we measure success.

We celebrate when students:

Place their faith in Jesus Christ or grow deeper in their relationship with Him.
Build authentic, Christ-centered friendships.
Discover and use their God-given gifts through serving, teaching, leading, and sharing their faith.
Develop a lifelong love for God’s Word.
Become disciple-makers who influence others for Christ.

Our greatest joy is watching students continue walking with Jesus long after they graduate from our ministry.

Partnering with Families

We believe parents are the primary spiritual influence in the lives of their children, and we consider it a privilege to come alongside them—not replace them.

Our desire is to reinforce what parents are teaching at home by providing biblical teaching, trusted adult mentors, meaningful Christian friendships, leadership opportunities, local outreach, and mission experiences that help students put their faith into practice.

Together, we hope to help students become lifelong followers of Jesus Christ who love God, love people, and faithfully share the Gospel.

Adult Leadership & Support Team

Our ministry is supported by a team of trusted adult volunteers who help invest in the lives of our students.

Chris Cooper — Volunteer Leader & Coordinator
Amy Cooper, MD — Pediatrician
Rob Blodgett — Business Consultant
Lauren Strickland — First Grade Teacher
Gabrielle Norris, NP — Nurse Practitioner
Alaina Bradshaw — Homemaker

Creating a Safe & Intentional Environment

Our leaders seek to exercise wisdom and sound judgment as they plan and lead each gathering, event, and mission trip. We value open communication with parents and provide event-specific information whenever appropriate.

We are grateful for the trust families place in us and consider it a privilege to partner with them as we invest in the next generation.

Our Cell Phone Policy

For more than 21 years, we have maintained a no-cell-phone policy during mission trips, BigStuf, D-Now Weekend, retreats, and many larger events.

This policy is not about punishment. It is about creating intentional community.

Without phones, students are more likely to build friendships, participate fully, engage in meaningful conversations, focus during worship and Bible study, and be fully present in the moment.

Year after year, students tell us this becomes one of their favorite parts of the experience because of how much closer they grow to one another and to the Lord.

Financial Stewardship

The Walk Youth Group operates under 1NeedNow, Inc., a 501(c)(3) Christian nonprofit organization.

For more than 21 years, God has faithfully provided for every need of this ministry. Throughout that time, no one has received a salary, and by God’s grace we have remained debt-free. We don’t share this to draw attention to ourselves, but to testify to God’s faithfulness and to the generosity of the many individuals, families, churches, businesses, and volunteers He has used along the way.

Because Building 229 was generously provided without debt and our ministry is led by volunteers, more of every financial gift can be directed toward discipleship, outreach, mission trips, camps, ministry resources, maintaining Building 229, and helping students participate who might not otherwise be able to afford these opportunities.

Above all, we give God the glory for His faithfulness and provision.

Our Prayer

For more than 21 years, we have watched students place their faith in Christ, discover their gifts, build lifelong friendships, serve others, and boldly share the hope of Jesus.

Our prayer is that every student who walks through our doors leaves knowing God’s Word more deeply, loving people more intentionally, and faithfully following Jesus wherever He leads.

We are honored to partner with families in that mission and give God all the glory for everything He continues to do through The Walk Youth Group.