Baptist and Reflector
Members of East LaFollette Baptist Church, called Zach’s Prayer Warriors, gather for photo in support of their pastor, Zach Lloyd, who spent 175 days in the hospital while battling COVID-19 and undergoing a double lung transplant.
NASHVILLE — As Zach Lloyd looks back on his seven month journey with COVID-19, he realizes he and his family have been extremely blessed.
“God has moved in ways I could never imagine,” said Lloyd, pastor of East LaFollette Baptist Church, LaFollette. “So many people and churches have reached out with monetary donations and other acts of kindness in addition to countless prayers lifted up on his behalf.”
One church reached out in a special way.
Red Bank Baptist Church in Chattanooga found out about Lloyd’s unique situation from Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, and reached out to the Lloyd family and offered to pay the mortgage on their home for nine months.
Gregg Hauss, missions pastor for Red Bank Baptist, which encompasses four campuses, said Red Bank pastor Sam Greer expressed a desire to help a pastor who had been affected by COVID-19.
“We wanted to bless a pastor and his family,” said Hauss.
After being away from his children for months, Zach Lloyd was able to spend time with his wife, Sara, and children, Lily and Titus, on April 23-24.
“Pastors are not immune to what everybody faces in life. We just wanted to come alongside another Southern Baptist church and pastor who was in need to help,” added Hauss, who also is the campus pastor at The Point Church at Signal, on Signal Mountain.
Hauss expressed appreciation to Red Bank Baptist members.
“One of the things we have seen during the pandemic is that our people have been so generous in giving above their tithes to our benevolence offering. We used that to help meet needs both inside our church but primarily outside the church.
“It’s been amazing at the needs that have been met and the number of needs that still need to be met,” Hauss said.
“It was a huge blessing,” Lloyd said of the gift from Red Bank. “I was floored. We sent the church a thank you letter and my wife, Sara, spoke with someone personally.
“How can you ever pay that back?” he asked.
His answer is to constantly be on the lookout for ministry opportunities in the future.
“I want to look for ways I can be a blessing to someone else, the way people have been a blessing to me and my family,” he said. B&R
