Last week I had the privilege of spending three days in Baltimore, MD. It was my first trip to “Birdland” as the Orioles fans like to call it. Baltimore is much like a number of cities in the industrial northeast. In some ways its a city who’s greatest days seem to have passed, yet in so many ways a city that is struggling to find itself and it’s future.
My purpose for visiting Baltimore was to determine if our church should be involved in a new church plant. I traveled with Mark Henley a seasoned member of our Great Commission Leadership Team. We had the privilege so spending three days touring Baltimore and learning about the needs in the metro area of nearly 2.5 million. We saw the beauty of the inner harbor with its high rises and sports complexes. But we also saw the less traveled to areas where poverty is a daily reality and drugs and gangs rule.
Baltimore is so like so many of our cities, the middle class have fled to the “safe”suburbs and have let the city to the drug dealers, prostitutes, and the folks who can’t afford to flee. And as is so often the case the churches have fled with them, following the money to the “burbs” leaving a trapped population without any genuine gospel witness.
The highlight of the trip was not the Orioles game, although I must say that was a wonderful evening. Or the trip to the top of Baltimore’s World Trade Center. It was getting to meet and growing to love a young church planter named Aaron. Aaron is a godly, young pastor who has successfully planted a growing church in Baltimore’s southern suburbs. Yet now he, along with a number of his members feel lead, no compelled, to plant a gospel preaching church in the area near Morgan State University. In three days two things became evident to me. One, the Morgan State area desperately needs a solid gospel preaching church. Two, Aaron is well suited and I believe sovereignly called to plant the church.
All this brings me to this, who will join him? Who among us will move our families to this great city and seek to carry the gospel to this dark and hurting place? Don’t look around, look inside, then look up and say as Isaiah of old, “here am I, send me!”