Following the riots that led to the looting and burning of a CVS Pharmacy in West Baltimore, a team from the Mid- Atlantic Baptist Network (MABN) responded by feeding hundreds of people lunch at the site. It was the same day Maryland State Attorney Marilyn Mosby charged six police officers with the death of African American Freddie Gray.
The day before, Michael Crawford, a local pastor and team strategist for the network’s church multiplication, and Joel Rainey, team strategist for evangelism and missions engagement, brainstormed during a lunch meeting about what the network could do to help the community affected by the recent rioting.
As they ate their lunch, the idea hit them: Why not feed cheesesteak sandwiches to 1,000 people? The owner of the restaurant, a personal friend of Crawford’s, agreed. He would close down his restaurant, “The Real Thing,” to make and deliver the sandwiches.
Rainey called an MABN pastor whose wife worked for Maryland’s lieutenant governor. He asked if it would be possible to get a permit to feed 1,000 people at the site of the riots the next day.
Permission to serve
Within a few hours Rainey received a call from the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives. After Rainey explained they had enough food and needed the permission to serve it, the office granted it.
Rainey also contacted the church office of Jamal Bryant, pastor of the Empowerment Temple, who preached Gray’s funeral. Bryant agreed to help secure the site for the ministry.
As the MABN team drove to West Baltimore, the state attorney’s office announced the charges against the officers. As a result the team arrived to a jubilant crowd and began to set up tables for lunch.
As Rainey waved to the growing crowd, he said, “Oftentimes in our churches we ask the question, ‘What would Jesus do?’ And sometimes in scenarios like this we ask, ‘Where would He be?’
“Let me tell you where He is,” Rainey said. “He is here. God is at work here through His people bringing reconciliation to this city and He’s doing it through the greatest reconciliation story that has ever been told in humanity.”
Within the hour, Rainey and Will McRaney, executive missional strategist for MABN, served the demonstrators and law enforcement officers. Among those serving were Bryant; Kevin Moore, the man who captured the video of Freddie Gray’s arrest; Juan Grant, who said Gray was his best friend; and Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, whose tragic death in 2012 sparked racial tensions and protests throughout the nation. Also serving was Ron Larson, church planting catalyst for the North American Mission Board, and Charlie Brown, church planter for East Baltimore’s Graffiti Church.
McRaney, who handed out water to individuals, said, “It’s a great day of unity for the Church here in Baltimore and for the people here coming together.
“This is a great way to display who we are as some 560 churches just coming together to advance God’s kingdom — together with ourselves and with the city and our fellow sister churches. … We’re just excited for the future kinds of things that can happen here as a result of us pulling together.”
McRaney added, “We know the hope of the world really is Jesus Christ and so we want to spread that message and we look forward to those opportunities in the days and years ahead.”
McRaney credits the 560-plus MABN churches for the opportunity. “Since the network represents so many churches, city officials take notice,” he said. “We can do so much more together.”
(BP)
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