Needle’s Eye Ministries
Needle’s Eye Ministries, located on Berrington Court is a non-profit that receives its support from the local community. The ministry serves as a means for business and professional people to express their faith. The organization defines its mission as “connecting business and professional men and women to life-changing faith in Jesus encouraging them to impact our community with His values, ethics and love.”
In 1976, Judson E. "Buddy" Childress, Jr., a former businessman,and three local pastors from different denominations, along with a local business leader, came together to form the initial Board of Directors for what became Needle’s Eye Ministries. The following year the organization was formally established. The name Needle’s Eye came from the New Testament passage in Matthew 19:16-30 (NIV), where a rich young man asks Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life. Jesus tells him, in part, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the disappointed young man does not accept Jesus' challenge, Jesus has the following exchange with his disciples: Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
The unique ministry of Needle's Eye has helped thousands of men and women find greater meaning in their lives through real, ongoing faith for nearly thirty years. The ministry has programs such as workshops and conferences, monthly luncheons, mission trips, women’s ministry, spiritual shots (a discussion forum held in a restaurant) and many group events. Needle’s Eye Ministries also has small groups where men and women from the business community experience weekly opportunities for Bible study, prayer, sharing, mutual support, accountability, and spiritual growth in a community of peers. The women’s ministry of Needle’s Eye, reflecting the ever-increasing number of women in the business world, features specially designed small groups and other programs to address the unique needs and challenges particular to women in the workplace. Needle’s Eye Ministries sponsors mission trips that take businessmen and businesswomen to foreign countries to do hands-on work. Participants report that they arrive with open hearts and depart with deepened faith. In recent years, groups have traveled to Kazakhstan, to help local business people learn how to start and or maintain businesses and "do capitalism," and to Haiti, where a medical team provided critically needed care and a construction team finished the roof on a school building. Needle’s Eye also offers workshops and conferences to address the unique needs and challenges of integrating faith, work, family, and community. The ministry also has a newsletter which is made available to everyone either in print or online.
Needle’s Eye Ministries Incorporated
104 Berrington Court
Richmond, VA 23221
(804)-358-1283
Sources:
Director of Women’s Ministry, Needle’s Eye Ministries
Needle’s Eye Ministry website
Profile prepared by Adwoa Yeboah
March, 2008
