CORDOVA, Alabama (BNC) — Zac Langley hopes the recent newspaper article about him encourages people to visit the Zion congregation he works with.

“Let us all pray that it does the story justice and does not bring shame to our Zion Church of Christ but instead give people a reason to visit,” he wrote May 7 on Facebook, the day before the feature article appeared in the area newspaper.

The Jasper-based “Daily Mountain Eagle” featured Zack as a “former drug addict,” a label which left him chagrined. In the interview, he praised the Zion congregation for their love.

I don’t believe any other church in the world would have given a has-been like myself, who had embarrassed them all to death, would have said, “Come on back to the pulpit.” If this was a judging type of church, a church that looked down on me, they would never have selected me. To me, the essence of Zion Church is that we teach the Bible with love.

Zac told BNC, “I hope the article gives hope to people with problems like I had.”

He especially wanted to focus on the Zion congregation’s plans and efforts.

I counsel anyone that wants it using the Bible for free, of course. We are big supporters of Indian Creek Youth Camp. We want to be the church you can go to and have a past without being judged or shunned. This is the only way the church will survive. It is the only attitude to have if we are going to reach not just people with drug problems, but also ex-cons, homeless people, those with mental illness, homosexuals—everybody that we pray for but don’t want to deal with.

Zac is pursuing a master’s degree at Heritage Christianity University.

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