God Belongs in My City – Baltimore

It was a beautiful spring day in Baltimore. The air was fresh and crisp and the sky perfectly clear, giving the War Memorial Plaza right in front of City Hall a very peaceful and calm atmosphere. To those passing by nothing seemed strange or unusual. Yet for some reason a pleasant serenity abounded, rather than the constant hustle, bustle, and crowded streets of the city. Something was different about this day.

Then, about mid afternoon, hundreds of people started pouring in from all corners of the city, each humbly clad with a t-shirt resounding their heart cry, “God Belongs in My City.” They flooded into the plaza not with chants or shouting, course gestures or angry fists, but only a silent prayer on their hearts – for God to end the violence that has pillaged their city year after year.

Baltimore – one of the top murdertroplises of the nation, with a high percentage of those crimes involving teens and young adults. But the news on this day will ring of not another young person dying on the streets, but of hundreds of young people standing up for their God, believing in His power to turn the tide of the violence in their generation.

The beauty of the moment reached its climax as nearly no one was left standing on the plaza. Everyone had fallen to their knees in desperate prayer for their city. Could God really move in a city like this? Their answer would be a unanimous, “yes.”

And He is moving-even now, as they each left that plaza changed, on fire, and excited about taking this prayer back to their homes, schools, churches, and places of work. While they begin to lay hold of their newfound call to prayer, a tide will shift and the prayers will become greater than the violence in this city.

God belongs in Baltimore and He will come in response to our prayers. Join the movement and see a city known for its violence become a city known for its change.