Take a deeper look.

Needle's Eye is an interdenominational Christian ministry that exists to present Jesus Christ to the Greater Richmond business and professional community.

We are dedicated to helping working and retired professionals integrate their Christian faith into their day-to-day lives.

In 1977, Buddy Childress founded Needle’s Eye with a vision to turn the work week into a place of care, ethics, and ministry. 

In 2021, Jordan Maroon became our 2nd Executive Director and worked tirelessly to reach the next generation of professionals and helped us move into our new location.

In April 2026, Lee Mitchell became our 3rd Executive Director. As we approach 50 years in ministry we have seen God’s continued faithfulness to the Greater Richmond marketplace and how He used Needle’s Eye to change lives and equip professionals to integrate their faith in their work.

We are a faith and work community who:

• Presents Christ to the business and professional community of Richmond

• Desires deep, authentic relationships with Christ and one another

• Shares individual testimonies of transformation through Christ redemption

• Encourages a life of prayer and obedience to the Holy Spirit

• Reflect the diversity of the Kingdom of God and the marketplace of Richmond

• Collaborates with the local church for greater impact

• Pursues excellence understanding our work is unto Christ

Since its inception in 1977, Needle’s Eye has had a Board of Directors that provides spiritual direction and leadership.

Chair — Mike Patterson, President at MP Capital Group, Managing Partner at Kingdom Consulting

Chip Buehler, Owner, Integrity Landscaping

Lisa Hampson Butler, Senior Director Business Development, JLL

Lisa Pumpelly, Director, IMB

Susan Daniel, Supply Chain Expert, ECR Software

Bill Davis, Owner & Managing Director, Supporting Strategies

Sarah Hale, Executive Director, Urban Hope

Lee Mitchell, President & Executive Director, Needle’s Eye Ministries, Inc.

Marc Thompson, President, Sovereign Capital Vantage, Inc.

Chris White, Insurance Advisor, AssuredPartners

Roy Wood, retired, representative of Second Half ministry

Jonathan Yost, Chaplain, U.S. Air Force

Ex officio & Treasurer — Franklin Y. Goare, CPA, Senior Pastor, Hunton Baptist Church

We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Needle’s Eye Ministries is a member of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). Needle’s Eye subscribes to the NAE Statement of Faith and embraces it as our own.

We deeply value the role of the church and work to create ongoing partnerships with churches who are interested in expanding discipleship for marketplace people in their congregation. LEARN MORE