A Tale of Two Churches

Last I told you about trail angels and trail magic. Thru hikers are men and women in need of a cold drink. When someone offers that drink, they are seen as angels. There are some other things hikers are in need of. Many times they just need a place out of the rain to dry off. At times they need a ride, either to town, to the trail, or to a store. They almost always need a shower, and usually need a laundry. All along the trail there are those that help with those needs.

One hot day on the trail we exited the woods at this road crossing. Directly across the street was this church. You cannot see the sign, but it is a Baptist Church, not unusual seeing as how we were in Tennessee. As you can see it is a well maintained church, had a nice sign of identification, a neat lawn, and a good parking lot. I was totally not impressed. While all of those things are good, what I needed was a cold drink.

I told Jen, “I think if I was the pastor of this church I would make sure that not a single hiker could pass this way without being offered at least a cold drink of water, if I had to move my office out here and do it myself.” We talked about the ministry opportunity lost. Some 2 to 3 thousand people begin a thru hike each year, and those that make it to Tennessee have to pass right by this church.


A couple of weeks later we came to the town of Troutdale, Virginia. The story was quite different. Troutdale Baptist Church is 2 ½ miles off of the trail but that doesn’t stop them from ministry to hikers. They offer every hiker a dry place to sleep, a shower with towel, and a cold drink of water. They used to offer free laundry facilities until the county closed down the laundry because they didn’t have proper permits. We knew about this church before we arrived because they are mentioned in the Thru-hikers handbook. The pastor’s phone number is in the handbook in case a hiker has an emergency and needs help. They charge nothing for their kindness and hikers very much appreciate them.

We stayed in their hostel on a Saturday night and on Sunday morning the Pastor came by and invited us to church. We were planning to attend even before the invitation and we enjoyed the service. After the service the Pastor and his wife invited us to their home for lunch after which he drove us back to the trail to continue our hike.

As we hiked out of Troutdale I thought back to the church right on the trail in Tennessee.
What a contrast. I am sure both churches had great ministries for their own members, Senior Adult ministries, Youth Ministries, Children’s ministries, and preschool ministry as well. But one church was reaching out to a community of people with no thought of gain, except a heavenly reward. Hikers are not prospects for their church, but they do represent a people with an identifiable need who could be prospects for the good news.

I know that I am making some assumptions about the Tennessee church I know very little about. They may hand out cold water on every day but the day I passed for all I know. To me they represent the large section of Christianity concerned with themselves while neglecting ministry to the culture around them. The other church represents those who go out of their way and are willing to be inconvenienced in order to reach people.

“Lord help our churches see the opportunities around us.”