THORSBY
A DECADE OF
SERVING STUDENTS
W
STORY AND PHOTOS BY JERRETT POSEY
hiteflag Student Ministry at Thorsby First Baptist Church (TFBC) has seen significant growth over the past two years, and that is not by chance. Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions 2021 Youth Pastor of the Year Justin Caton and 2021 Youth Ministry Spouse of the Year Bridget Caton have been serving TFBC’s youth ministry for nearly a decade now, and while change is a constant in youth ministry some things have remained the same. “Consistency, prioritizing 24
FACES AND PLACES 2021
the Word and fervent prayer is why God is allowing this ministry to grow,” Justin Caton said. “It’s definitely not because of me. That isn’t me trying to be humble or anything, I don’t believe I could do something like this without God’s help.” To remain consistent at the peak of a pandemic was no small task, and it took some out of the box thinking to achieve it. The consistency came from the church allowing them to meet in-person again sooner than other places did, and the creation of the program Whiteflag
Plus, Justin Caton said. “I had just finished meeting with our small groups, and I was so frustrated,” Justin Caton said. “I was telling Bridget that I had three guys that were new believers, three guys that were ready and wanting to be discipled, and I had three guys who just came for the snacks and to hang out. All the groups are great to have, but I didn’t have the time or the help to give all of them what they needed.” Bridget Caton, who is also a teacher at Thorsby High School, thought of Google Classroom. “When we were talking about people learning in differ-
ent stages, it reminded me of Google Classroom at school,” Bridget Caton said. “You can’t start someone new in a discipleship group and expect them to be on the same level as the other students, so we came up with four different stages. Justin will come up with different ideas, and I will type them out for everyone.” This became Whiteflag Plus, an online discipleship program distributed through Google Classroom. The program was such a success that the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions has created a similar program based off of Whiteflag Plus,
