Volunteers unload supplies for the Apison Baptist food ministry. Since 2020, the food pantry has operated as a drive-through service. – Screengrabs
APISON — The community food pantry at Apison Baptist Church saw an uptick in demand this past November when the government shutdown disrupted SNAP benefits, forcing families to seek emergency food assistance.
On one Friday in November, 61 new family units sought help after SNAP payments were held up, emptying the church’s dozen or so commercial refrigerators and freezers down to a few packets of hot dogs.
Some families arrived as early as 8 a.m., wrapped in blankets, waiting two hours in line to ensure they could get food for their households.
“But the shelves are full again,” said Macil Duncan, Apison Baptist’s senior pastor. “So I call it our small miracle. It’s like the feeding of the 5,000, and we don’t know how.”
The surge reflects broader growth at the pantry, which now serves more than 1,600 family units monthly — five years after the church assumed control from the Seventh-day Adventists, who had operated it as Heaven’s Bounty Run.
The church officially took over leadership in August 2019. Since then, demand has surged alongside the community’s rapid growth.
Apison Baptist pastor Macil Duncan stands in front of the facility that houses the church’s food ministry.
Apison ranks among Tennessee’s fastest-growing communities, with more than 2,000 homes built in recent years. But increased population has brought increased need.
“But I said, Christians and pastors, let’s pray because God’s leading people our way and we all need to just pray together,” Duncan said. “There are so many hungry people.”
The church’s purpose statement — “Taking Jesus as He is to people as they are” — guides the ministry. Families receive a prepacked box of food, a dairy and vegetable box, and bags of meat, eggs and milk when available.
According to Duncan, they now order 6,000 pounds of food weekly, supplementing donations from 16 local stores, area churches, and the Chattanooga Food Bank. Duncan added that Apison Baptist ranks as the third-largest food distributor among 250 food partners serving Bradley County, Cleveland, Hamilton County, and North Georgia.
The ministry operates seven days a week with 160 volunteers and daily team leaders.
Remarkably, the pantry never closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, Duncan said it was their “time to shine.”
The church launched a drive-through model during the pandemic that remains in use today.
Gideons International members distribute Bibles and pray with people waiting in line. The church also operates a homeless ministry, visiting tent cities in downtown Chattanooga twice monthly to distribute resource bags.
In fall 2019, the church also began offering optional chapel services and prayer time for families who “shop” at the pantry. Since then, between 115 and 120 people have been saved, Duncan said.
In many ways, Duncan is the right man for the job as he said planning community events and fundraisers is fun.
Through the feeding ministry at Apison Baptist Church, families receive a prepacked box of food, a dairy and vegetable box, and bags of meat, eggs and milk when available.
The church hosts additional ministries focused on feeding the hungry, including an annual Thanksgiving dinner.
An annual fundraising banquet held Nov. 23 featured the theme “Prayer is the key” and enlisted 250 prayer warriors who received keychains as reminders to pray for the pantry and its clients.
“I realized even more so you got to make sure no one ever doubts when they give money these days that it’s being spent” appropriately, Duncan said.
“My wife calls us Gideon’s Army because God gets all the glory,” Duncan said. “We serve a mega God. He doesn’t need a megachurch to do these things. I’d rather have people in the streets than butts in the seats.”
Duncan, who served as youth pastor at Apison Baptist at age 18, said the pantry’s growth has created challenges, but he’s excited to see how God will continue using the ministry.
Before returning to Apison, Duncan and his wife specialized in relaunching struggling churches, including First Baptist Erwin and a church in Sparta.
Even Apison Baptist was about to shut its doors before he arrived.
“It was down to 28 people when we came,” Duncan said. “But God has kept that covenant.
“We’ve always had three months of reserve on-hand finances. He’s been good to us because [for] a small church, money’s sometimes their biggest fear. And I tried to tell them, you can’t have fear. You got to have the faith that God provides.” B&R
