wfn.org | Saving stations take God to Baltimore's streets

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 23, 2001      News media contact: Joretta Purdue ·(202)
546-8722·Washington  10-71B{327}

NOTE:  Photographs are available with this article.

By Melissa Lauber*

BALTIMORE (UMNS)--A large tent, set up in five vacant lots, decked with
balloons and equipped with a powerful sound system, represents the latest
effort of the churches of the Baltimore-Washington Annual (regional)
Conference to move beyond their walls and into the streets of the city.

The tent houses one of five saving stations being held at different
locations and times in the city this summer. A concept initiated by
Baltimore-Washington Conference Bishop Felton Edwin May to combat drugs and
violence in the city, saving stations in some ways resemble the camp
meetings of early Methodism.

"The yoke of the bondage of drug addiction is going to be broken by the Holy
Spirit this summer," said Tim Warner, the conference's Holy Boldness
coordinator. "We want to be the vehicle, the catalyst, for spiritual renewal
in the communities of Baltimore and change the city one soul at a time."
Holy Boldness is an effort to do unconventional ministry in urban and rural
settings.

May called on people throughout the conference to work in partnership with
the city to address the fact that Baltimore now has the dubious distinction
of being the "heroin capital of the nation." According to the U.S.
Department of Drug Enforcement, more than 60,000 people, or one in 10
residents, are addicted to drugs. 

In response to this ongoing crisis, the saving stations are using a
three-prong approach: a "Jesus Circus" to get attention, street evangelism
and a ministry of love

Jesus Circuses use marching bands, clowns, a man on stilts, people dressed
in all kinds of costumes, live music, a fire-eater, magic and bright lights
and colors to draw the community, especially children, to the tent.

Parades kick off the event as it begins at each location and people stream
out of their homes to witness the spectacle. At one parade in east
Baltimore, young boys became so excited they began doing flips in the street
and joined the parade as performers.

"It's joy with a message," said the circus' creator and ringmaster, the Rev.
Mark Waddell. "It stirs the wonder."

A second focus of the saving stations is evangelism. A team of evangelists
goes forth from stoop to marble stoop, sharing Jesus with the residents of
some of Baltimore's poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods. "Seeds are
being planted," said the Rev. Brian Jackson, who heads the evangelism
efforts. 

More importantly, United Methodists are asking people what they most need
and are working to see that they get it. "People will meet Jesus through the
actions we do," Jackson said. "That's how people meet Jesus."

Social services agencies also provide information to those who visit the
saving stations and Vacation Bible Schools draw large numbers of curious
neighborhood children.

The third focus of the saving stations is "hessed" ministry. Hessed is the
Hebrew word for God's tenacious and steadfast love.

The ministers meet drug addicts as they come to the tent and work with them
on an extremely personal basis, assisting them with whatever needs they may
have so that they can be enrolled in detox and recovery programs.

According to Warner, more than 40 people have come forward for help. 

Two of these addicts sought deliverance from drugs while the tent was still
being raised for the first time in East Baltimore. Some of the pastors were
driving the stakes with sledgehammers, others were walking around the site,
asking God's blessing on the ground. "What started as a tent-raising turned
into a prayer meeting," Warner said. "I'm convinced that if we just show up
and offer Christ, God will honor what we're doing."

However, in the city, the number of addiction recovery beds is extremely
limited so the ministers are scrambling to find any slots available, working
through red tape and helping addicts wind their way through what can be a
discouraging bureaucracy.

The process is a frustrating one, admits Charlene Williams, who leads the
"hessed" ministry program.  However, the alternative of staying inside
church walls while addicts suffer on the street is unacceptable, she said.

Williams was delivered from her own heroin addiction two years ago at a
saving station. It was the simple, unconditional love that won her over and
that she wants to share with the people who turn to the saving stations for
help, she said.

"It's about hope," said Michael Carter, who works with Williams as one of
the 35 ministers in the program.

"I've seen things happen under that saving station tent that let me know
that God is real," he said. "Hopefully, by the life I'm living and by
reaching out I can be a vision of hope for somebody. God lives in me."

On July 10, the bishops and council of ministries directors of the Northeast
Jurisdiction experienced God's presence when they visited the saving station
that was hosted by Unity United Methodist Church in the Harlem Park
neighborhood. 

The bishops served communion to the community, which streamed forward like
Methodists at an old-fashioned camp meeting, and the church leaders prayed
and laid hands on the children who were called forward.

When the Unity Saving Station began, the guest preacher, the Rev. Lloyd
Marcus, asked God to "save the soul that is nearest hell." Those gathered
then went out into the community to pray. They were startled at how many
people welcomed their prayers. "I got the feeling they were waiting for
someone to come to them," one person said.

One night, the tent was vandalized, with tent straps burned and stakes
uprooted.

"We have stirred up the stuff in the hood," said the Rev. Norman Handy,
pastor of Unity United Methodist Church.

For more information on saving stations, visit www.savingstations.org
online.

# # #

*Lauber is a staff member of the UM Connection, the newspaper of the
Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org