‘Reach Baltimore 2025’

Editorial by Jerry Lutz

We are barely into 2024 and already preparing for a major evangelism outreach initiative next year. Actually, plans for evangelism in 2025 were already well underway in 2023, as a result of a conversation I had with David Klinedinst, conference evangelism director, way back in 2021. We discovered that the Lord had concurrently, and independently, placed on our hearts a burden for unreached souls in the largest city in the Chesapeake Conference—Baltimore. In this major Maryland city of more than 560,000 people, and another 2 million living in the greater metro area, there is much to be done to reach people with the Good News and the timely, relevant message of God’s movement in these waning days of Earth’s history.

With such a large population, and disproportionately small Seventh-day Adventist presence in the city, we are impressed that it is time to answer His call and focus our God-given, spiritual energy and resources on the people of “Charm City.” Hence, the “Reach Baltimore 2025” initiative was officially launched in Fall 2023. This outreach program will partner with It Is Written and collaborate with our sister conference, Allegheny East, because Baltimore resides in both conference territories.

On Oct. 25, 2023, more than 30 representatives from both conferences met at the Columbia Union Conference office as follow-up to several visioning meetings earlier in the year. Attendees at the joint meeting included both conference presidents, executive secretaries, treasurers, evangelism directors, Baltimore area pastors and representatives from It Is Written to share the vision of the initiative and adopt a roadmap to the city-wide evangelistic meetings that will be held in Fall 2025. It was agreed among all three entities of this unprecedented collaboration that, between now and then, there will be several planning and training sessions for church members in the greater Baltimore area, rallies held at various church locations, and prayer vigils for the people of Baltimore to open their hearts to the impressions of the Holy Spirit and accept Jesus as their Savior and the messages of the three angels of Revelation.

So, 2024 is going to be very busy for Chesapeake as preparations are made for 2025, because, while we are planning for this exciting initiative, there will be many evangelistic series held in churches around the conference this year. I invite you to pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into the field. Will you be one of them?

Jerry Lutz serves as the president of the Chesapeake Conference.