Photo by Ross Gallabrese Azland Thompson was the first person to carry the cross during Friday's Christ Walk.

STEUBENVILLE — An annual tradition was renewed Friday, one that brought area residents from all Christian denominations together to remember the sacrifice that is central to their faith.

Around 100 participants in this year’s Christ Walk, which has been held on Good Friday for almost two decades, made the seven-mile trip from the Sycamore Youth Center at the corner of North and Fourth streets in downtown Steubenville to Crossroads Christian Church on Springdale Avenue in Wintersville, taking turns carrying a wooden cross.

It serves as a way for Christians to remember the journey they believe Jesus Christ made before his crucifixion and death and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

“We’ve been doing this for the last 19 years, and this started because whenever I would try to explain to people about Jesus, oftentimes they would say, ‘Well, all of the churches don’t agree, so why should I?'” said Amanda Thompson, the organizer of the walk who runs the Sycamore Corps program for special needs and at-risk youth.

“So, one of the things that as I was praying and asking God to do was to show me a way to make it so whenever people saw the church, they would see us united instead of split. That’s how this started,” she added.

What made this year’s event different, she explained, was that organizers created a youth takeover. Thompson explained that youth corps members were involved in the project from the beginning, from designing the T-shirts to helping with the worship service.

“All of these kids really do love God,” Thompson said. “They are leading in their schools, they are leading in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, they’re leading home Bible studies — they’re all doing this, so let’s give them a chance to do it together.”

Tiffany Beckwith, a member of the center’s staff who helps with the Sycamore Corps, said she was excited to be participating in her first Christ Walk. She added that allowing young people to be involved is important.

“It passes the torch to the next generation,” she said. “These are kids who are willing and able, willing and ready to serve. It’s an opportunity for them to be able to step up and be ready to serve and to be examples to their community and their peers.”

Thompson explained the walk was one component of an overall experience that included a service at the Sycamore Center held before the walk, prayer stops along the way and a service at the end of the event at Crossroads church that included communion and baptisms. Rest stops were included at Grace Lutheran Church and Starkdale Presbyterian Church, and a van followed along the path to offer assistance if needed.

“The whole day is centered on Christ and Christ’s sacrifice,” she said. “We try to make sure that’s the focus of the entire thing. That’s one of the reasons why if someone says along the way, ‘Let’s stop at McDonald’s,’ we say no — we can’t do that, it’s supposed to be hard.”

This year’s pre-walk service included singing and preaching by Pastor Jason Cline of Refocus Church and Aaron Ashby.

A pupil at Harding Middle School, Ashby’s message was “He Got Up So We Can Get Up.”

“This is the part I need every young person to hear — he didn’t just get up — he got up for you,” said Ashby, the son of LaTosha Jenkins and Montell Ashby of Steubenville. “So, that means you can get up from depression, you can get up from mistakes, you can get up from what people said about you.”

Bobbyjon Bauman, executive director of the Sycamore Center, said an event like the Christ Walk offers an important reminder about the significance of the day.

“It allows people in a tangible way to understand the suffering of Christ and what he went through,” Bauman explained. “It’s very appropriate on Good Friday for people to reflect on the cross. It’s seen in the way that a lot of pilgrims from the past and even today walk the path on which Christ walked with the cross before he was crucified.

“A lot of people can’t go to Israel, but they can take the pilgrimage locally by walking with the cross,” Bauman added. “So, it’s a way to honor the Lord for his suffering on our behalf for our salvation.”

The first person to carry the cross Friday was Azland Thompson. The 18-year-old son of Amanda and Chad Thompson said the Good Friday tradition was something he had participated in his entire life — he said his parents pushed his stroller along the route the year he was born.

“It means a lot, getting the opportunity to lead everyone through this,” Azland explained.

The event, he added, brings people from across the globe together to do the same thing on the same day at the same time.

“Even if everyone here does not agree on the exact same thing, they are still brought together and are talking with each other,” he added.

For Bauman, an event like the Christ Walk helps to ensure the message behind it stays fresh.

“It’s a great visual reminder on a yearly basis to retell the story,” he explained. “It’s important to have passion plays, to have a Christ Walk — those once-a-year remembrances to carry the story on. That’s the way the legacy of the story is passed on, in an oral way, which is the way it was originally passed on.

“This is a visual way that people can enter into the story of what happened 2,000 years ago,” he explained.