{"id":3480,"date":"2024-09-22T08:31:38","date_gmt":"2024-09-22T12:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/?p=3480"},"modified":"2024-09-23T10:45:19","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T14:45:19","slug":"tennessee-church-pays-off-8m-of-medical-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/latestnews\/2024\/09\/22\/tennessee-church-pays-off-8m-of-medical-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Church Pays Off $8M of Medical Debt for Neighboring Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In Johnson City, Tennessee, near the northeastern tip of the state, Altar Fellowship Church<\/a> paid off $8 million debt for their community. The divine catch is the non-denominational church was able to do it for only $50,000.<\/p>\n

Partnering with Undue Medical Debt<\/a> (formerly known as RIP Medical Debt), Pastor Mattie Montgomery lived out a dream he had to remove the burden of medical debt for people. He did it in the most significant way possible–buying medical debt from six surrounding counties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want people to know that, in a moment of crisis, the place they need to get to is to be with a group of people who follow Jesus\u2026That\u2019s my hope: that the church can be the hands, feet, and wallet of Jesus to the world around us,\u201d Montgomery said in an interview with The Christian Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The arrangement was a bulk purchase of 3,921 households in seven Tennessee counties. With Undue Medical Debt’s assistance, all medical debt was purchased, consolidated, and cleared for a remarkable price.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, we became the collection agency for $8 million of medical debt,\u201d Pastor Montgomery said in a media interview. \u201cAnd then instead of pursuing it any further, we just sent a letter to everyone whose debt we had taken, and we just said, \u2019Hey, Jesus loves you, we love you. And it\u2019s our privilege to cancel this debt entirely.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now that Montgomery got the wallet part out of the way, the hands and feet were about to show up as well.<\/p>\n

Medical Debt Becomes a Gateway to Salvation<\/h2>\n
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Pastor Mattie Montgomery of The Altar Fellowship in Johnson City, Tennessee praying over medical debt recently paid off. (Image Credit: TheAltar.org\/Debt)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pastor Montgomery did indeed live out a dream, but it wasn’t\u00a0his\u00a0<\/em>dream. It belonged to a member of his church named Carl Smith. As\u00a0The Washington Times<\/em> shares<\/a>, Smith “was desperate” for a way to share the Gospel with his parents.<\/p>\n

That’s when Altar Fellowship sent the Smith household a letter. The letter shared some thrilling news–his medical debt was paid off. Smith’s dad came to his room and said, “Hey, The Altar, your church, just paid off all my medical debt.”<\/p>\n

That was the open door Carl was waiting to walk through and witness to his father about the Good News of Jesus Christ. In the letter was a link to a personal message provided to all recipients of the financial blessing.
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