The Rev. Jay Baylor: "I never expected to end up in the city.”

I never expected to end up in the city. I’m the son of farmers and truck drivers from Central Pennsylvania. In 2006, I was challenged by Heidi Baker’s testimony to “go where only the Gospel could make a difference.” I felt the Lord guide us into East Baltimore, one of the most challenged neighborhoods in our region. 

My friends and I spent several years doing church in our house just outside the city line, while doing outreach into East Baltimore and learning about the city. We have done many prayer walks and block parties. We still go each week to a methadone clinic to give away coffee or iced tea and water and pray for folks coming for treatment for addiction.

We made some friends and built some trust in the neighborhood. One of those friends is Pastor Carletta Wright. She’s African-American and she grew up in East Baltimore, has lived most of her life there and most of her family lives there. She’s like a spiritual grandmother to the community. If there is a death in the community and they need a pastor, they call Carletta. If there’s a desperate need, they call Carletta. She became my person of peace in East Baltimore, connecting me to the community.

In 2014, Pastor Carletta Wright and I felt that the Lord was leading us to plant a church together. We wondered if we could establish a church that brought together people who are very different from one another to worship the Lord and work together to bring the light and love of the Gospel to our city with the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.  Could we tear down walls that separate people? Could we erase the lines that have divided and wounded our city? We found a beautiful old church building in a strategic neighborhood right on the old lines between historically white neighborhoods and black neighborhoods. 

We want to live out the Gospel of Jesus that is for everyone, everywhere in a real and tangible way. We wanted to see if we could plant a church that looked as diverse as Baltimore, as beautiful and rich as the Kingdom of God. We wanted to bring together—rich and middle class and poor, employed and unemployed, black and white, Pentecostal, Charismatic and Anglican. We want our worship to honor and host the presence of God in all that we do-—in our singing, reading and preaching of the Word, in our prayers and intercessions and in our celebration of the Eucharist together. The power of the Holy Spirit and the operation of the gifts of the Spirit among the people is also essential for us. We expect the prophetic gift to flow, we ask for words of knowledge and we see physical and inner healing in our church regularly.

After nearly three years at this, we have much to celebrate. Our worship is multiethnic, coming from very different parts of the city.  We are still small—averaging around 25 on most Sundays, but we are full of hope and we’re learning to love each other better. A few families have felt called to move to Baltimore to join us and more are on the way! The Lord has sent us dynamic top-quality worship leaders.  We have been able to live out our care for the poor by collecting and giving away school supplies, coats and Thanksgiving meals to families in need at Collington Square Elementary School in East Baltimore. One of the things that has consistently given me the most joy is praying for people on the streets-—we are always welcomed, people almost always welcome prayer and we see the Lord do miracles all the time!  

We would welcome your prayers in several areas. We are praying for more support of every kind—we need more money, people and prayer support. We have favor in the schools, so we would love to have a children’s pastor to come and reach the children and families of our neighborhoods with the Gospel. As a missional church, we desire to establish Missional Communities to reach deeply into our neighborhoods, so we are praying for leaders to be raised up, developed and sent to establish and lead MC’s.  Perhaps the Lord is speaking to you about moving. Would you consider moving to Baltimore to join what God is doing here? Would you like to come visit and experience the power of God moving through you in salvation, healing, or the prophetic out on the streets? Come for a day, the weekend, a week or the rest of your life. We would welcome you!

I’m honored to serve on the Great Commission Committee for the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic and I am committed to the Kingdom work of planting churches that plant churches. Our God is a God of mission and He is inviting us to join Him in declaring salvation to all creation. We have been rescued from our rebellion and failing so that we can become rescued rescuers. We have been healed and restored so that we can become healed healers. We have been reconciled with our Father through Christ Jesus and now we can serve as reconcilers, bringing others back into right relationship Him. We have been redeemed and restored as sons and daughters of the King of Kings and now we can take our place as co-heirs with Christ.

The Rev. Jay Baylor is vicar of Church of the Apostles in the City, Baltimore, MD. He serves as a member of the Great Commission Committee.

Adventures in Samaria

“I think that healing stuff is a bunch of bunk, but I’ll take a cup of coffee and a prayer.”  This is what Greg told me when I stopped him on the street outside a methadone clinic in East Baltimore (Methadone is synthetic heroin.  It is prescribed to treat chronic pain and heroin addiction).  We were there with students and leaders from a youth group that was staying with us for a week of Urban Missions.  The tailgate of my truck was the platform for giving away pastries, coffee, healing, freedom, blessing, peace and friendship-  the goodness of the Kingdom for free.

The cartilage in Greg’s knees was basically gone and he couldn’t stand for much more than a minute.  He certainly couldn’t walk.  So he was confined to getting around on a scooter.  A couple of students and I prayed briefly for Greg and asked him how he felt.  He was surprised when he flexed his knees that he didn’t have pain, so he got up to walk around!  He had no pain or stiffness.  He stood and walked around and talked with us for over an hour.  He was healed, praise God!  When he had to go, he got back on his scooter and said, “I thought that healing stuff was bunk, but now I believe.  I’m going home and put this scooter away!”

Since then I’ve seen Greg every week at the methadone clinic.  Since he’s no longer in pain he is coming down off of methadone and should be clean in another month.  Until then, he walks the 12 blocks to the clinic every day without any trouble!  A few weeks ago Greg told us that before he got healed he didn’t really have much faith in God, but now he knows God.  He reads his Bible daily and is praying with his wife.  His wife used to try to drag him to church, but now he really wants to go.  Greg’s life was completely changed in one encounter with Jesus!

As I celebrate this testimony with you I’m wondering why I don’t do this every day.  The goodness and kindness of God just never ceases to amaze me.  We’ve seen broken vertebrae healed, bullets disappear out of bodies, countless knees and backs healed, miraculous detoxing and addictions broken.  We often pray for places to live, peace in homes, restoration of relationships, jobs, favor with the courts, safety for family members in prison, you name it.  It’s such a privilege to give His love away.

My neighborhood, where I’m living and planting a church is only 2 miles away from the methadone clinic in East Baltimore.  Jesus told the disciples to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.  East Baltimore is my Samaria.  It is very close, just next door.  But the people and their culture are very different from mine.  I am determined to reach my own neighborhood.  But I cannot ignore those nearby who have such great need.  The intense desperation in East Baltimore is palpable.

My sense of justice is assaulted by the systemic problems of poverty, unemployment, poor education, drug addiction, violence and oppression.  I can’t stay in my neighborhood and pretend this isn’t happening right down the street.  The Lord has a dream to restore all the earth, Baltimore included, your city or region included.  I am convinced this is part of our call as a believing community to join with the Lord to do our part in transforming our city.  Where is your Samaria?

It would be easy to be overwhelmed by the scope of the problem.  I know that the gospel is answer.  So we just serve one cup of coffee at a time, taking time for each person who stops by, sharing the goodness and love that we have received with them.  The Lord is always faithful as He so miraculously displayed for Greg.  Go find your Greg.

To find out more about what Burning Heart is doing, or to come join us in an Urban Mission, visit www.burningheartforthecity.com  or you can contact me at 410-459-5404, jaysbaylor@gmail.com