Chris Battle.Photo:Mike Belleme
Mike Belleme
On a Sunday morning, Chris Battle, clad in dirt-smudged overalls, sits on a lawn chair under a box elder tree in a vacant lot in East Knoxville, Tenn. As he puffs on his pipe while reading from the Bible, members of his congregation warm themselves beside a small fire.
Four years have passed since Battle, 62, left his job as senior pastor at the Tabernacle Baptist Church — one of Knoxville’s oldest Black Baptist congregations — to grow and deliver fresh produce to residents of acity neighborhood where healthy food is scarce.
“I’m doing something that’s meeting a significant need in our community,” says Battle, who lives with wife Tomma, 58, and four of the 19 children he has raised over the years. “I think it’s literally saving people’s lives.”
Chris Battle (center) on his Battlefield Farm with (L-R) Kelly Sauskojus, Isaac Goodson, Lady Tiara Wilson and JoVaughn Carmichael.Mike Belleme
Battle’s decision to step down from the pulpit and focus on feeding others comes at a time when church attendance across the nation has declined — about half of Americans now say they are members of a congregation, down from 70 percent in 2000, according toGallup.
“His ministry now,” says Dasha Lundy, a Knox County commissioner, “is gathering people together and feeding a community where the poverty rate among Blacks is 42 percent.
Adults teaching local kids about planting vegetables at Battlefield Farm & Garden.Courtesy Chris Battle
Courtesy Chris Battle
Battle’s journey from clergy tofood activiststarted in college, when he first felt a calling to preach.
“My life goal was to pastor, to be of service to others, and then retire,” he says. But after nearly 30 years at churches in several states, he became convinced that he could do more for the struggling community in East Knoxville, which had no grocery store, where he’d been working since 2008.
“Learning that people here could not get access to food to nourish their bodies felt ridiculous to me,” he says. He’s describing the phenomenon known as a “food desert,” where whole neighborhoods have limited access to affordable fresh foods and instead rely on processed foods that can lead to high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
“It started messing with my head,” he adds.
For more on Battle’s journey, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribehere.
“That’s when it dawned on me that they won’t come to my church, but they will come to my garden,” says Battle. “I knew we needed to find a way to merge the two.”
Battle makes weekly drop-offs at housing units around Knoxville in his “veggie van.” “We’re meeting a need,” he says.Courtesy Lydia Taylor
Courtesy Lydia Taylor
Battle insists that his crusade to transform his neighborhood with collard greens, sweet potatoes and beets is just getting started.
“I’ve never been happier,” he says. “I don’t miss pastoring. I tell people, ‘I pastor okra now—okra doesn’t give me as many problems as some people do.’ ”
source: people.com
