Encouraging First Responders to Build Their Lives Around Jesus Christ
Tailboard Meetings with Jesus is a Christian Ministry based in Randolph County, NC with a focus toward 1st Responders
Meet the Team
Bernard Needham bernard@tailboardmeetingswithjesus.com
Bernard Needham bernard@tailboardmeetingswithjesus.com
Bernard Needham bernard@tailboardmeetingswithjesus.com
My name is Bernard Needham, and I have been involved in emergency services for over 30 years. I started as a junior firefighter at the Seagrove Fire Department and eventually worked my way up to fire chief. I recently stepped down as the chief to spend more time focusing on God and ministry. My career choice began at the Asheboro Fire D
My name is Bernard Needham, and I have been involved in emergency services for over 30 years. I started as a junior firefighter at the Seagrove Fire Department and eventually worked my way up to fire chief. I recently stepped down as the chief to spend more time focusing on God and ministry. My career choice began at the Asheboro Fire Department in September of 1995. I remained at Asheboro until May of 2015 when I accepted a job at the Randolph County Fire Marshal's Office as a fire inspector/investigator, where I am currently employed. Emergency Services have always been near and dear to my heart hence beginning this ministry. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior in May of 2001. Shortly after, I began to feel that God was calling me into the ministry. I finally accepted that call around September of 2003. Fast-forwarding some ten years, I was approached by the leadership of Asheboro Fire about starting a chaplain program. In late 2013, I launched the Asheboro Fire Department's first official chaplain program, which is continuing today. I am currently serving as the assistant pastor at Cornerstone Church in Seagrove. I am an ordained minister through the Wesleyan Church.
All of this would have never been possible without my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. About a year ago, I began to feel God's call again, this time to start a ministry for Firefighters / First Responders.
I accepted that call and began to do the "behind the scenes" work. I realized that I could not do it alone, so I contacted Pastor Derrick Britt and proposed my vision. He was totally on board and committed to going alongside me on this adventure. He will introduce himself in another post on here. We met and began the ministry's planning process and were ready to launch it when the COVID pandemic hit. We continued to work on the planning stages, and God then started to reveal to me that we needed to go ahead and get the ministry started via social media / online. This is a quick overview of how "Tailboard Meetings with Jesus" come to pass. Our goal is to go alongside other first responders and assist them with their spiritual and emotional needs and anything else we can help with.
Derrick Britt derrick@tailboardmeetingswithjesus.com
Bernard Needham bernard@tailboardmeetingswithjesus.com
Bernard Needham bernard@tailboardmeetingswithjesus.com
My name is Derrick Britt I've been in the fire service for 25 years. I started in the fire service many years ago at New Hope Fire Department. I began training and fell in Love with the Fire Service. After several years I felt the call to become a full time firefighter. I applied at several departments and after a short time I got my fi
My name is Derrick Britt I've been in the fire service for 25 years. I started in the fire service many years ago at New Hope Fire Department. I began training and fell in Love with the Fire Service. After several years I felt the call to become a full time firefighter. I applied at several departments and after a short time I got my first firefighter job at Guil Rand Fire. I enjoyed the friends I meet and the experience I gained from working with some good people. After 4 years I felt God was telling me it was time to move. I had the opportunity to go to Asheboro Fire Department. A dream come true. I grew up in Asheboro and had remembered being a little kid going g to the Fire house for tours of the station. My grandfather knew some of the firefighters and would take me to the station so I could look at and play on the fire trucks. So when the opportunity to make a childhood dream come true I was ready to go. I meet a great group of people and learned a great deal during my time at AFD. One of the people I meet was Bernard Needham. One day a few years back we meet after shift to eat breakfast. Bernard told me how God had opened the door for him to begin a Chaplain program at Asheboro and asked if I would come along and assist him. It began a journey that changed my life. After 10 years with Asheboro Fire God began to work and call me to something new. He stirred my heart to go into ministry. God opened doors and called me to ministry full time. I left AFD and went to Mt Zion Wesleyan in Seagrove. I still have a heart for the Fire Service and still serve as Deputy Chief at Farmer Fire Department. When Bernard meet with me and told me about the ministry God was calling him to I told him I was completely on board with him. I'm thankful to be used by God and want to help and encourage others. The same Drive and Call that moved me to the fire service is the same call that moved me to help others. We pray that we can come along side and help you when you are hurting and walk through this journey together. Just as in the fire service we are not meant to go through this journey of life alone we are to walk through it together with God and other believers. I'm looking forward to what God will do with this ministry.