Derrick DeWitt - 'Lifted Up'

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DERRICK DEWITT : LIFTED UP

Baltimore’s Western District is typical of many seen-better-times American inner-city neighborhoods.  It is dangerous and downtrodden. The district has suffered more than 150 homicides since the beginning of 2007.  A drive through the streets of the community reveals an abundance of boarded-up homes and businesses.  It almost seems that the only things thriving in this environment are dueling symbols of despair and hope – liquor stores and churches.

A bright oasis among the islands of optimism is the First Mount Calvary Baptist Church on North Fulton Avenue.  The church is presided over by Pastor Derrick DeWitt, a large man with a passionate voice.  DeWitt is a product of the neighborhood.  He was born in West Baltimore in 1967 to Carolyn DeWitt and Steward Koger. First Mount Calvary was one of the churches he attended regularly as a child.  He lived in an apartment with his mom, two older brothers and younger sister until he was 10.  That’s when his mom met William Marshall and the family moved to his house in East Baltimore, a side of town that offered safety and comfort rarely found on the west side of town.  The east side was also home to his other childhood church, Southern Baptist Church.

Discipline has always played a major role in DeWitt’s life.  Self sufficient from an early age and influenced by the leadership exhibited by the men of the churches, it’s not surprising he was drawn to a career in the military.

DeWitt’s time in the Army and National Guard was distinguished, with time served in Korea, Iraq and an assignment at the Pentagon.  It was during his time in the military that he answered his call to the ministry.  It was also where he met his wife, Cassandra, a woman who was literally the answer to his prayers.

A hallmark of DeWitt’s pastoral career has been turning around struggling churches.  His first success story was rescuing the Garment of Praise Baptist Church outside of Washington, D.C.  Most recently, it has been the remarkable turnaround of First Mount Calvary.  Although he’s had success with both suburban and urban ministries, he notes they offer vastly different challenges. And he sums up those differences with a story.  “When I got to my current church in the city I was praying for the people in the church.  I said, ‘If you need prayer, come up.  I want to pray for you individually.’  So a gentleman comes up in the prayer line and says, ‘I need you to pray for my hearing.’  I oiled my hands and laid them on his ears and began to pray for his hearing.  I said, ‘Young man, I hope this helps you.  Please let me know if it does.’  He said, ‘Yeah, I’ll let you know.  My hearing is on Tuesday.’” 

While DeWitt can use humor to make a point, he knows that the problems facing his inner-city congregation are serious.  He has pulled First Mount Calvary from near financial ruin.  And one of the pillars on which the church currently operates is a commitment to community outreach.  First Mount Calvary has a drug rehab ministry, free youth summer day camp, food pantry and fresh produce distribution, and a senior health program.  The church also participates with the city of Baltimore and other organizations on a community rehab program that fixes up abandoned properties, turning them into temporary housing for displaced families. He and others in the church are also actively involved in the Western Police District Council.  I first met Pastor DeWitt a week before Christmas in 2011 when that group was preparing a holiday meal at the church to thank the police officers and fire fighters who protect the community.

DeWitt is working on his own book about his ministry.  In it he plans to detail his guide to answering God’s call.

The following excerpt details a vivid dream DeWitt experienced while serving in Korea that turned his life around.

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LIFTED UP

I had a very wonderful and successful career in the military.  My last 10 years in the military I was promoted five times.  But when I first joined the military, I fell into the life a lot of young men fall into, hanging out at the club.  Just going to church occasionally as many of us young men do when we get away from home, when we get away from grandmom. 

But I had an experience that brought me back and sealed it for me.  At one point I was living with a young lady.  Even though I had a room at the barracks, I spent most nights there at her home.  And I had this tremendous guilt all the time about doing that, about living with her.  One night I’m lying in bed and it appears to me that I’m fully awake.  I’m just lying there, and then I begin to levitate off the bed.  I go up through the ceiling, through the trees in the front yard, all the way up to the clouds in the sky.  When I get up in the clouds in the sky, the winds begin to blow, the clouds begin to move and it’s raining.  I mean it’s really pouring down rain.  And the clouds begin to form words, and the words said, “Last chance!!!”  And I began to fall back down.  Everything I saw going up, I saw coming back down.  I fell back through the trees, I fell back through the roof of the house and I landed on the bed softly. But when I landed on the bed, I was soaking wet.  I mean I was soaking wet from head to toe as if I had really been in a rainstorm.  The young lady said, “Did you have a bad dream?  Why are your clothes wet?”  I mean I was soaked from head to toe.  I got up out of the bed, dried myself off, changed my clothes, packed up all my stuff and I went back to the barracks.  When I got there, I got on my knees and I prayed.  I said, “Lord, from this day forward I will preach your Word.”  And I’ve been preaching ever since.