The Gates of Zion

Bearing witness to the provision of God through the means of his church.

I've always hated the entrance to our church building. Our front door is on the side, and our side door is in the front. The side/main door that everyone uses sits under an old, bent awning jutting out from a plain-looking metal building. (From some angles you would hardly know we are even a church if not for the sign.) But this week our humble little entrance has become in my eyes the beautiful gates of Zion.

Psalm 87 sings of the glory of God's mountain dwelling place (the Temple), and the beauty of the City of God (Jerusalem). In Verse 2 we sing “the Lord loves the gates of Zion.” Out of those gates proceeded the heralds of God's law and gospel, and into those gates streamed his elect of every nation. The ebb and flow of spiritual life through the gates of Jerusalem continues today in the sowing and harvesting ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ. Week-by-week I stand at our humble doors to welcome in weary pilgrims to worship and to send out renewed salt and light into the world. But these past two weeks I have witnessed a different parade of grace, and I want to bear witness so that you too might see meager church doors in a new light as the beloved gates of Zion.

Flowing In

After the Friday hurricane hit, supplies began to trickle in as soon as Saturday under the tireless efforts of Jim and Madeline Curtis and their home church, Huntersville ARP. Jim brought back a few carloads that we slowly gave out during and after our little worship service on Sunday, September 29. That little trickle soon became a tidal wave when the Joe Gibbs Racing Team (another Curtis connection) arrived Tuesday afternoon with a two-level, race team semi-truck full of supplies. It took dozens of members and neighbors working together over ninety minutes to unload all the donated supplies. But that was just the beginning. The next day began a continuous stream of trucks unloading supplies. First was an F3 group from Waxhaw, NC. (F3 is an organization that plants, grows and serves small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.) They unloaded a whole moving truck of water, then another one of food. Next came a truck of ice from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Their original drop-off location had fallen through, and when they heard what we were doing they headed our way. They unloaded two pallets of bags of ice, which we quickly gave out to grateful neighbors. The final load of the day was a member’s friend from Wilmington who brought his own moving truck full of supplies. By rough estimate, our volunteers unloaded at least twenty-five pallets of water, and that same amount in other various supplies. Amid all this Evan Linton brought daily truckloads of water from his well in Burnsville to fill jugs, buckets, tubs, and whatever containers our neighbors could find and carry. Since that first week the volume of supplies may have decreased, but the flow has not. More has come in from Huntersville ARP, F3 connections, friends from outside churches, family members, neighbors, etc. People keep thanking me, and I keep telling folks that all we did was open the doors and the Lord has filled our church to the brim! I simply have the joy of bearing witness to what God has done through so many.

Flowing Out

With every arriving truckload I kept thinking, “What are going to do with all of this stuff?” Well, the Lord had a plan even when we did not. First and foremost, the supplies have gone to our needy church members. Each Sunday, and during the week, members have taken boxes of food and jugs of water for themselves and their neighbors. Next, the supplies have gone to our neighbors who live near the church. The apartments across the street, UNCA students (before campus closed), and the neighbors in this community have made up a steady flow to our church doors for their daily needs. Many of them have become dependent on the water supply and have pleaded with us to keep it coming – which our deacons will gladly do until it is no longer needed. During that first week we saw daily car lines and supply distribution to not only our immediate neighbors, but to those who heard on the radio and could reach us in a vehicle. Many of those folks filled up cars to take to other spots for distribution within Asheville: the Oakley fire department, the Highland Christian Church at the Grant Community Center, the Asheville Buncombe County Christian Ministry locations at the Costello House and Transformation Village, Hillcrest Apartments, the Weaverville Community Center, the Burnsville fire department, etc. And finally, we had a group of young men that we began to affectionally refer to as the Cajun Navy (named after the Katrina boat rescuers) running supplies to needy locations outside of Asheville. On their own initiative these guys assembled a fleet of cars and trucks, showed up at our church to fill their tanks and load up on as many supplies as they could carry, and head out of the county to distribute in the less populated regions. When I asked one of them how far they were going, he simply replied, “we go until the road ends.” What a joy for our church to be a passive conduit of such blessings! We offer so little, yet get to witness God do so much. Indeed, I have come to love the gates of Zion, and I hope you do as well.

More Gates Than One

Just as Jerusalem had many gates, so too does the church in these WNC mountains. Our church is not unique; I have witnessed other wonderful churches doing amazing ministry. I have heard of Redeemer Anglican welcoming Anglican Relief in West Asheville, of Grace Baptist down the street giving out supplies, of City Church feeding hundreds downtown. Grace Point is staging supplies and sharpening chainsaws, Grace and Peace worshipped with Fairview Christian Fellowship after their pastor’s home was destroyed, Trinity and Grace Community have been collecting and distributing supplies, Arden Presbyterian is hosting the MNA Disaster Response effort. The list goes on. And not to mention the churches and Christians from around the country who have poured in supplies, donations, and volunteers – so much that local ministries have had to start turning help away because we have too much!

Sometimes in my low moments I wonder if the church is doing anything. I wonder if our lampstands are even noticeable, if our presence is even felt. But a tragedy like this strangely renews my hope and strengthens my confidence that the Lord is still at work. And God works as God always works, through the weak and foolish! I will never look at our humble church doors the same way again, and maybe I will never look at our humble sister churches the same away again either. He is building his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.