This past Halloween AKA Harvest Day AKA Reformation Day, my church hosted a free Halloween Festival for the local community. It was a pretty rocking event, as we saw probably hundreds of people come through our building for popcorn, cotton candy, games, and crafts. It was the first time most of the people had ever been to our church, and it was also the first time serving the church for many of our volunteers.

Do you see how it’s super bright above the main doors? That’s because we hooked up these huge halogen lights. I found them a few weeks ago collecting dust in the church. And they were dusty!

Just to rewind a little bit, in the past month or so, I’ve been uncovering all sorts of buried treasure in my church, and it has been very exciting. Maybe it’s the fact that I grew up in California, so I never really lived in a historically rich neighborhood before, but I feel a little bit like I’m Indiana Jones.

For starters, I discovered that we have one of these signs. I got a chance to live out a childhood dream of mine (my inspiration was from Captain Underpants) by putting this together.

I also discovered this old bass drum that says “Hampden Baptist Band” on it.

I also discovered these hymnals printed in 1911. No joke.

And I also discovered this book titled History of the Hampden Baptist Church in Honor of her 100th Anniversary (as you’ll soon find out, the building that we meet in used to be owned by Hampden Baptist Church). I just read through the book today, and my love for history was reignited.

So in 1873, about thirty people started having regular prayer meetings in modern day Hampden, a neighborhood of Baltimore. Within a few decades of growth, they had built a building, maxed it out, built a new building, maxed that out, and added new balconies (this is the building we meet in today). Additionally, the pastor would regularly drive around in a “Gospel Wagon”, proclaiming the gospel on the streets by word and song. During the fall of 1921, there were a series of revival services, kicked off by this huge parade that included 500 people, 50 cars, 12 trucks, and a float. Church membership peaked in 1939 with 831 members.

In the second half of the 20th century, as many conservative churches in American cities declined or even closed down, the “dead churches” era in Baltimore began. Churches that were once full became empty, and they were bought and renovated for secular businesses. Eventually, Hampden Baptist had dwindled down enough that they realized they could end up in a similar situation, so they started praying for something to happen.

Fast forward to the 21st century, and along comes Pastor Dan looking to plant a church in the Hampden area. He was put in touch with Hampden Baptist, and the leaders decided to allow him to use their building free of charge until this new church became self-sufficient. What an amazing sacrifice. And what an amazing picture of John 12:24, where Jesus says, “[U]nless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” And so the Village Church was born within the walls of Hampden Baptist. Today, Hampden Baptist has folded, but The Village Church remains, and they are growing slowly but steadily.

It’s an interesting setup. We have a huge building, and we don’t use half of the rooms. We also have an abandoned parsonage next door. There are dozens of choir robes. There are at least five pianos. There are hundreds of chairs. There’s a big bin of puppets. There’s a baby Jesus in a manger. There’s a ton of Christmas garland. And for so long, all of these things were unused. Maybe some of the things, like the hundred-year-old hymnals, won’t ever be used again, but some of the other things, like the halogen lights, are making a slow comeback.

It reminds me of Ezekiel 37:4-6, where God says of Israel, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

I love that our God is a God of restoration. He takes what has been lost, forgotten, and abandoned, and He brings it to life. As Michael Gungor sings, “You make beautiful things out of the dust.” I never really interpreted that literally, but I think it’s actually very literal here. There are some heavy layers of dust in the church. But God took this pile of dry bones, this church building that was dying, and He is bringing it to life.

Larry