Our Story
Our Story
As with many organizations and companies, and even products, the beginning of our story is quite simple. It started with an opportunity and an idea.
Back in 2007, two businessmen decided to work together in joint venture ownership of five billboards in Northeast Georgia and Western North Carolina. Business was thriving initially but in 2010, feeling the effects of the recession, billboard leases began to to lag and previously leased space became available. While posting an “Available for Rent” graphic would be the customary thing to do in such a situation, one of the partners suggested putting up a “Jesus” billboard graphic instead. With many individuals and families in the area hurting from the recession, it seemed especially helpful to point people toward the answer to life’s deepest problems and the source of life’s deepest joy – Jesus Himself. For some the board would be a reminder, for others, perhaps, a seed or first step in considering Jesus and discovering who He is.
Both partners, followers of Jesus, agreed and printed the first “Jesus” board in June 2010 and installed it along a busy highway in Western North Carolina. A handful of other designs were commissioned and over the following years various board graphics were installed throughout Northeast Georgia and Western North Carolina as billboard space became available.
The idea then, as it is today, was to point people’s attention directly toward Jesus – not a church, not a denomination, nor an organization. There are many great churches, denominations, and organizations, but the shared vision and mission of these businessmen was to get passersby to focus on God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Later, in 2016, an opportunity became available for sign space at the very high traffic intersection of Interstate 85 and Pleasant Hill Road in Metro Atlanta. The partners signed a long term contract on the location and a Jesus board has been there continuously since that time. Future permanent Jesus billboards are now planned for NE Georgia and Western North Carolina areas as well.
During the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in 2020, more billboard vinyls were printed and installed because of the widespread awareness of the need for hope and the opportunity to direct people’s attention to the True Hope. In July of that year, when a billboard vinyl was moved from a location where it had been to a location in another town, a local couple from the area of the first location figured out how to contact one of the partners and inquired about the removal of the billboard message. Informed that the graphic had simply been moved to another area for exposure in a different town, the couple (who felt strongly about the encouragement the board offered in their community), decided to sponsor the printing of a new billboard vinyl graphic so the message could be returned to it’s previous location.
Seeing the couple’s response to the message, and the opportunity for other like-minded people to have a role in spreading the message, the seed idea of a non-profit organization called “Pass the Message” began to sprout. In 2021that idea became a reality when Pass the Message officially became a 501(c)(3) organization.
As this story unfolds, our deepest hope is that more and more people will be pointed toward, reminded of, and even introduced to Jesus!