Chris Battle

Founder, Battlefield Farms

Keynote Presentation: Turning A Food Desert into an Oasis, Friday, December 7th, 1:00 PM, Main Hall

Chris Battle is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He did his undergraduate studies at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. He furthered his education with a Master of Divinity at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He would later do a Master of Arts in Hebrew Bible at Cincinnati Bible College. He has pastored congregations in Bowling Green, KY, Hackensack, NJ, Cincinnati, OH, and Knoxville, TN.

Pastor Battle has served as President of the Congress of Christian Education for the Tennessee Baptist Missionary & Education Convention. He has served as an adjunct professor of Old Testament History, and African American Religious Experience at Cincinnati Bible College, The College of Mt. Saint Joseph, and Northern Kentucky University. He was also a visiting professor at the International Christian College of Manilla in Antipolo City, Philippines. He’s presently a Lecturer in the School of Arts and Sciences at Johnson University. His heart was to spread the Gospel of the Kingdom through his missionary efforts in Jamaica, Kenya, and Ghana.

In 2018, his life trajectory changed when he began a community garden across the street from Tabernacle Baptist Church where he served as pastor. With that garden, he started understanding the effect of food disparity in his community. The next year, he had the opportunity to farm on two acres which had been the site of the Abby Field urban garden, renaming it Battlefield Farm. Battlefield Farm addresses food disparity issues in communities where access to local fresh food is limited. The community the farm focused on is the 37915 zip code. Battlefield Farm is about fighting food disparity but also creating community. Pastor Battle also started a farmers’ market at Tabernacle Baptist Church in 2018. The Eastside Sunday Market then moved to nearby Dr. Walter Hardy Park. Battle works with other churches and organizations seeking to establish gardens on their grounds and has recently begun utilizing a food truck to distribute fresh produce to underserved communities.

Presently, he serves as the CEO of the Knox County Community Gardens & Growers Alliance. He is a founding member of Rooted East, and the Lead Pastor of The CUT (Church Under the Tree). He has been featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and People Magazine. He recently authored a book entitled, I Ain’t Coming to Your D@#! Church But, I Will Come to Your Garden. He and his wife, Tomma, are the parents of 19 children.