2026 Expanded
Impact Report

Activities and plans as of September 2026

HELP • HEALING • HOPE

What Is STEPS Doing Now?

The Prevention Movement for Communities

We launched this comprehensive program in the Walker County area to share free prevention, life skills, parenting, and youth resources across the community. We will reach about 90,000 residents with social media messages and a link to the resources, and we will reach out to more than 1,000 organizations and the media as well.

• Prevention Movement landing page: Practical Help for a Better Life in the Walker Area

Continuing Growth on Social Media and YouTube

By year-end, we will have reached 2 million people with messages of help, healing, and hope. We will have 36,000 followers who regularly receive content on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, with about 1,000 videos viewed daily.

• Short montage of social videos: Videos Helping People Take the Next Right Step

Podcasts, Speaking, Teaching, and Webinars

These forums allow us to go deeper in a more personal setting. This year, we will have reached about 32,000 people on podcasts and more than 1,000 people in person, and we will be launching our webcasts in Q4 2026.

• Short speaking engagement example: Excerpt from ACRM Training Day Presentation

Onin STEPS to Wellness Corporate Program

STEPS supplied content portal resources for 700 employees, with a desire to reach their 15,000 temporary workers in the future. Based on employee input, our first webinar focused on anxiety. Participants reported a 24% improvement in areas of anxiety and rated how likely they are to use the resources in real life at 9.1 out of 10.

• Program launch 3-minute video: Onin STEPS to Wellness Program Launch

Our Guiding Principles

The Why

STEPS exists to bring help, healing, and hope to hurting people:

• The overwhelmed parent who wants to prepare their child for what’s ahead
• The teenager trying to find direction and purpose
• The employee quietly struggling with anxiety
• The person battling an alcohol issue who is trying to build a healthier life
• And the people around them who are willing to help

The What

STEPS meets people where they are and provides positive next steps to take. We create practical education to help people improve their lives and prevent problems, and we multiply its impact by delivering it directly and through organizations and communities.

Momentum is growing, and the future is exciting. We can reuse our timeless content for years, and we are building scalable, AI-enabled systems to help more people, more deeply, more efficiently.

The How

For the full story, read our official 2026 STEPS newsletter.

Where Will STEPS Be in Two Years?

Replicating what works — We plan to replicate the Prevention Movement in other communities and offer corporate wellness programs to more companies by reusing the content and systems being deployed now. These programs will multiply our impact through organizations as well as reach people directly.

Growing our reach — Social media will keep growing, reaching more people with awareness and encouragement, and along the way we will pass the historic mark of having reached 10 million people. In two years, we expect to have 70,000 followers who regularly receive our social media content.

Going deeper — We will deliver more long-form education by continuing to guest on about one podcast per week, speaking and teaching in person, and ramping up webinars. Much of that education will be captured on video that can be reused over and over and repurposed in many ways.

One Idea Can Keep Multiplying

Much of our video content starts with resources STEPS has already created. Longer videos can then become multiple short videos that reach people across social media.

We can also combine related short videos into themed playlists that take people deeper—for example, on helping parents prepare their kids for today’s challenges, managing anxiety, preventing addiction, or taking practical steps toward a healthier life.

Multiplying Our Impact Even More

Virtually everything STEPS is doing now will also increase our impact in the future. We are building scalable education platforms and replicable systems that can be used by individuals, communities, and organizations—often in an automated or highly efficient way.

STEPS content will be housed in an AI-enabled “Knowledge Repository,” and people will be able to use AI-powered “Advisor Apps” to get a helpful first step quickly, access deeper resources to learn more, and address significant issues in their lives.

AI Is a Breakthrough:
Opportunities to Multiply Our Impact

Content That Keeps Working

STEPS’ vast library of proven content will be captured in an AI-enabled Knowledge Repository.

STEPS has built a very large collection of practical, relevant, and reusable content that is created and then intentionally repurposed to reach more people—more effectively and efficiently. Much of this content can be used again and again for years to come.

• Written — 380 published articles, 2 books, and an extensive library of intellectual capital
• Audio — 170 podcast versions of STEPS articles
• Video — About 600 unique YouTube videos
• Social — 700 video shorts and 1,000+ posts
• Digital resources — 16 Online Toolkits, 4 STEPS Quick Guides (expanding to 16), dozens of downloadable resources, online courses, and 20+ reusable presentations

AI Is a Game-Changer for STEPS!

Artificial intelligence plays a major role in the STEPS strategy. We use AI to efficiently repurpose content into different formats for a variety of audiences. AI-enabled software tools help us edit video, adapt written content, create presentations, and more.

STEPS is organizing our vast library of content into a Knowledge Repository we can use for many years. In the next year, we will begin to test and pilot AI-enabled apps that make it easy for people to find and use content to address their issues and live life better, such as:

• “Behavioral Health Coach” app — So people can ask questions like “How can I deal with my anxiety?” or “What can I do to prevent my drinking from becoming a bigger problem?”
• “On-Demand Life Coach” app — So users can quickly get useful advice on questions such as “How can I be more productive at work?” or “What will help improve my relationships?”
• “Parenting & Family Coach” app — So people can find quick answers and deeper help for things like “How can I connect with my kids?” or “What do I do if my teen is struggling?”

This Knowledge Repository and these AI-enabled apps and systems will be usable by individuals, coaches and counselors, and organizations. They will provide a well-researched, trusted quick answer that is both useful and encouraging, along with links to STEPS resources so people can go deeper in finding steps for their problems and goals.

The Prevention Movement:
Starting with the Walker Area Counties

STEPS launched the Prevention Movement in Walker County and surrounding counties. Preparations to put the program into action are nearly complete, with plans that include:

• Provide a community content portal offering free resources to 134,000 people across 4 counties, including access to all 16 STEPS Online Toolkits and STEPS Quick Guides.
• Conduct social media outreach, starting in Walker County, to reach two-thirds of residents—touching many of them multiple times—to build awareness and offer access to resources.
• Use our newly built statewide database of 13,000 organizations to reach 1,000+ organizations in the Walker area, promoting awareness and offering Quick Guides and Content Portals.
• Reach out to digital influencers and traditional media to build prevention awareness.
• Promote a community-wide movement that encourages people to help others by sharing resources with them.

Learn more

• Watch the 3-minute summary video: The Prevention Movement: Changing Lives Before They’re Broken
• Prevention Movement landing page: Practical Help for a Better Life in the Walker Area

Onin STEPS to Wellness:
A Model to Help Companies Help Their People

On June 1, we launched a partnership with The Onin Group to help their 700 employees build practical life skills, enhance well-being, and address challenges before they become bigger problems. Future plans include offering resources to their 15,000 temporary workers.

The program includes a company content portal with online toolkits on living intentionally, being more productive, improving relationships, dealing with anxiety, enhancing emotional well-being, and preventing behavioral health issues from becoming bigger problems.

The program also includes Personal Wellness Check assessments, easy-to-use featured products, additional toolkits, employee communications, webinars, and other services. To date, 52 employees have enrolled and 47 have taken Personal Wellness Checks.

Learn more

• Onin corporate program landing page: Onin STEPS to Wellness
• Program launch 3-minute video: Onin STEPS to Wellness Program Launch

Adding Value in Multiple Ways

STEPS delivered a webinar on “How to Live Life Better in an Anxious World” with very positive outcomes: participants showed a 24% improvement across 5 aspects of anxiety. When asked how likely they were to use what they learned in everyday life, they responded with 9.1 out of 10.

• Watch the 3-minute anxiety webinar montage: Onin Anxiety Webinar Summary

“I’m excited we are putting STEPS in place at Onin. We are proud to be working with you.”

— Onin CEO

Proactive Parenting:
New Course and Full Suite of Resources

STEPS is delivering a 5-week parenting class at Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church. Feedback on the first class was very positive, with an average rating of 9.4 out of 10 and comments such as:

“These thoughts are so helpful. Parenting can be overwhelming, so this helps give us focus, goals, and intentional steps in laying those important foundational bricks.”

The material for this teaching series is also being used to build a new flagship in-person and video course that other churches and organizations will be able to use once it’s complete.

• Short example of a video clip on parenting teenagers: Preparing for the Teenage Years: Challenges and Opportunities

An Exciting Suite of Parenting Content

STEPS has continued to expand its proven suite of parenting resources, which includes a series of online toolkits, the PACES for Parents online learning center, a weekly blog for parents, speaking, and webinars. Partners such as Liberty Church and Raleigh’s Place are using STEPS resources to offer education and encouragement to their families.

• See the online toolkits for parents: Parents – STEPS Ministries

“STEPS gives parents practical, relevant, and grace-filled guidance they can actually use to prepare their kids for the challenges ahead and help them grow into healthy, grounded young adults. The Proactive Parenting class has been a tremendous resource for the families we serve.”

— Mark Long, Pastor to Families, Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church

Real Life Skills for Teens:
New Toolkit and “Lite” Curriculum

STEPS published a new online toolkit, “Helping Young People Live on Purpose,” with practical life skills to help young people improve their lives. Parents or mentors can use the material for meaningful conversations. It features videos, lessons, podcasts, and a workbook with reflection questions.

Explore the toolkit

• Online toolkit: Helping Young People – STEPS
• Video playlist: Helping Young People – YouTube
• Workbook: Helping Young People – Workbook (PDF)

For our flagship youth curriculum, we built Facilitator Guides for all 18 lessons of the “lite” version, designed for youth groups, classes, mentoring, or individuals. We also successfully piloted a video version designed to teach spiritual, emotional, social, mental, and personal life skills to teenagers.

The future of this curriculum is promising. Research showed that the material is a strong fit for several audiences who need life skills training:

• Underserved, at-risk youth (urban and rural)
• All teens open to mentoring (for example, through youth groups in churches or community organizations)
• Young adults coming out of disadvantaged backgrounds, recovery, or incarceration

Prevention Education:
A Well-Rated Course Expands to More Locations

Earlier this year, STEPS taught a prevention course to a workforce development class and built teaching materials the organization could reuse. Since then, they have run a second successful pilot at the original location and deployed the class across their other locations in Alabama.

“Our staff was very impressed with the quality and practical value of the training, and we believe it can make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. We were so pleased with the program that we expanded the education to our other locations.”

— John Bowman, Executive Director, Hope Inspired Ministries

The course was rated 9.6 out of 10 for relevance to real-life situations, with great feedback such as:

• “Take this course, it will change your life.”
• “It was perfect.”
• “It gives you a more positive outlook on making life decisions.”
• “These were lessons we could use during our daily lives. It gave us examples of how to get started and how to go through life with useful tips we could use.”

Helping Recovery Groups:
Extending the Continuum of Care

STEPS presented a two-hour workshop to the Association of Christian Recovery Ministries (ACRM), attended by dozens of Alabama organizations, and we will reach out to other states in the future.

Much of the talk focused on how STEPS material can help recovery organizations expand their “continuum of care” with support resources, teaching, small groups, coaching, self-study, family support, and virtual post-treatment support. Attendees rated the sessions 9.9 out of 10 for relevance and value and 9.7 out of 10 for organization and clarity.

What attendees said:

“It was great, and I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot. Making resources available can really help us, and I liked all the ‘10 Ways to Strengthen Your Recovery Ministry.’”

“The course toolkits would be amazing for us to use with residents but also with staff.”

“I loved the resources so that we can better serve others, and they seem like they are easy to navigate, learn, and even teach if needed.”

Social Media and Videos:
Exciting Growth Continues

The vast majority of people who are struggling don’t get help—so STEPS brings help to them!

We want help to get there before depression becomes a crisis, before experimenting becomes addiction, before a parent realizes something is wrong, and before a hurting teenager gives up—so that people are not alone, are no longer helpless, and know positive steps they can take.

This year, STEPS published 280 social media posts plus 78 YouTube videos. Highlights include:

• More social media views than there are people in the Birmingham metropolitan area
  • STEPS had 1.3 million views, moving toward a goal of 2 million views in 2026.
  • The equivalent of more than half a football stadium sees STEPS material every week.
  • Increasing awareness and providing help, healing, and hope.
• Tens of thousands of people have gone on to engage with deeper STEPS content
  • 30,000+ people took next steps to consume more content.
  • Almost 21,000 people chose to find out more about STEPS.
  • Going deeper and learning more to help improve their lives.
• Almost 31,000 people decided to follow STEPS content regularly in their social feeds
  • STEPS has 30,771 followers (63% more than in 2025), aiming for 40,000 this year.
  • Getting regular encouragement and practical steps they can take.

Videos Meet People Where They Are

Watch time on STEPS videos continues to be very high. Viewers watch an average of 85% of our videos, and the vast majority watch our short videos all the way to the end.

Here’s a 2-minute montage showing the variety of our videos:

• Short montage of social videos: Videos Helping People Take the Next Right Step

We also create playlists—collections of short videos on a common theme—such as:

• Finding Peace, Joy, and Purpose on a Journey of Spiritual Growth
• Enhancing Emotional Well-Being and Mental Health
• Helping Others When They’re Struggling

Social Media Posts Often Include Videos

Here are a few examples of what STEPS is posting on social media:

• Many high-achieving people face issues and addictions, but there are steps that can help
  • Watch: High Achievers Often Struggle Too
• PACES for Parents of teens offers practical guidance that aligns with biblical perspectives
  • Watch: Parents of Teens Must Be Intentional
• Simple changes in your daily life can build strong, healthy prevention habits
  • Watch: One Simple Change to Build Better Habits
• How companies can help their people build wellness life skills and prevent problems
  • Watch: Onin STEPS to Wellness Program Launch
• To be more productive, focus on the fundamentals and stop chasing control or perfection
  • Watch: Stop Chasing Perfection and Focus on the Process

Comments we’ve received on social media include:

“Thank you for such great advice.”

— Marilou

“Soothing thoughts for stressed parents.”

— Birdie

“I think the whole perspective is about the things we go through even though we don’t understand them at the time we were meant to. God was trying to teach us something. And only now do I see all the blessings that I never acknowledged.”

— Tom

Extending Our Education:
STEPS Serves People in Many Ways

STEPS delivers education in many ways to reach people how they prefer to learn:

• Content pathways — We increasingly offer progressions of content to help more people get more benefit in their lives. For example, a social media post or video leads someone to a STEPS Quick Guide, then to an Online Toolkit, and then to a Course.
• Organization partners — Companies, churches, and nonprofits can easily share resources to help their people with little staff involvement. For example, Grace Klein Community puts resource links in their food bags, and Cornerstone Coaching uses them to add more value for clients.
• Website — 34,802 visitors so far this year. That’s about 4,350 per month, or about 145 per day.
• Blog articles — 70 published, many with open rates over 40% (very good to excellent).
• STEPS Quick Guides — 4 built so far, for prevention, anxiety, parenting, and helping others.
  • We will build one for each of our 16 Online Toolkits to help more people get started.
  • See all 16 Online Toolkits: Example Content Portal for Organizations
  • See a Quick Guide example: 5 Practical Steps to Help Someone Who Is Struggling
• Courses — A new Prevention course, with 2 more in progress for Parenting and Teenagers.
• Podcasts — STEPS was a guest on 32 shows with 23,000 listeners, plus more on other channels.
  • Each one offers guidance that is real and personal to meet people where they are, provides practical hope, and encourages listeners to take their next right step.
  • Topics have included parenting, prevention and recovery, helping others who are hurting, living intentionally, relationships, faith, and emotional well-being.
• Events — 20 speaking, teaching, and webinar sessions reaching 1,000+ people, with very high ratings.
  • Short speaking engagement example: Excerpt from ACRM Training Day Presentation

There Are Hurting People Who Need Your Help

How you can help STEPS serve more people—more deeply

1. Help Us Serve People Today

One-time or monthly support for ongoing ministry (goal: $50,000)

• Help STEPS finish 2026 strong in providing practical resources to people who need help.
• Multiply the impact: By November 30, build on a $15,000 foundation gift launching the Prevention Movement in Walker County to help pilot and then extend this critical program.
• Your support immediately helps:
  • Bring Prevention and Life Skills education to more people and organizations
  • Build a flagship course and extend Proactive Parenting to more families
  • Finish the Real Life Skills for Teens course to deliver much-needed support to at-risk youth

2. Help Us Build What Comes Next

One-time or quarterly strategic ministry sponsorship (goal: $100,000)

• We want a quick start in 2027 to bring The Prevention Movement, Proactive Parenting, Real Life Skills for Teens, Life Improvement Skills for Adults, and Steps to Spiritual Growth programs to more individuals and to build partnerships with more organizations.
• A great way for organizations to support the ministry is to partner with us by getting your own Content Portal to help your people, similar to what The Onin Group has done.
• Support goes a long way, and we can reach many people efficiently. We have the content, AI helps repurpose it, digital outreach is scalable, and we multiply impact through organizations. For example, teen life skills education can help underserved and at-risk youth, church youth groups, and young people in recovery or incarceration—efficient, but it requires investment.
• Breakthrough-level impact will involve AI-enabled apps and systems and a Knowledge Repository—achievable projects that create sustainable, long-term, game-changing impact.