CHICAGO — Michael Allen could have been the guy who comes to
install or repair your computer. Originally, that was what he was trained to
do.
Instead, his work today takes place in uptown Chicago, about
a mile northeast of Wrigley Field’s ivy-covered outfield fence. The church he
serves as senior pastor, Uptown Baptist, is close to the corner of Sunnyside
and Sheridan or “Blood Alley” — famous locally for its unsolved murders, rapes,
gangs and prostitution.
NAMB photo Michael Allen, pastor of Uptown Baptist Church in Chicago and a North American Mission Board missionary, prays with Denise Davis, chief of staff for a Chicago city alderman. |
None of this deters Allen, who also has served as a North
American Mission Board (NAMB) missionary the past three years.
“I like it here because it fits who I am, fits my journey
and fits the vision that God has given me for my life,” Allen said. “It allows
me to be Jesus to so many different kinds of people.”
It’s hard to say what’s more diverse in Allen’s life — his
ministry or his congregation.
When Allen is not preaching sermons and shepherding his
multicultural flock of 180 at Uptown, he’s leading a “Men’s Fraternity”
discipleship group for businessmen in downtown Chicago; overseeing a Monday
night meal for up to 350 homeless men, women and children; directing a shelter
for 50 women; managing a church staff of six; counseling; serving on the board
of Pacific Garden Mission; and serving as moderator of the Baptist association
of which Uptown is a member. And in his spare time, he and his wife Marla
homeschool their four children.
“As pastor of Uptown, one day I can be in a suit and tie at
a press conference with the mayor of Chicago and other movers and shakers, and
later that day be on the street talking to somebody who just gave his
girlfriend AIDS or to a drunk,” Allen said.
“It’s a powerful thing and an amazing thing,” he said,
getting choked up. “It’s God at work changing people’s lives, and I feel like a
pawn on God’s chess board. It’s just remarkable to be His piece being moved
into position wherever He wills, and being available wherever He wants you on
that board.”
NAMB photo Michael Allen, a North American Mission Board missionary, preaches at the multicultural church he leads in Chicago, Uptown Baptist. |
The Uptown area of the Windy City, like the church Allen
leads, is diverse by any measure: ethnically, economically, educationally,
gender, age.
“There must be at least 80 or 90 languages spoken in the
public schools here in Uptown, so it’s a fun place,” Allen said. “There’s not a
dull or boring day in ministry, in business, in school or in government because
of that diversity.
“There are still so many more ethnic groups out there that
are not represented in our church right now. We might have 10 or 15 different
ethnic groups in church on a Sunday morning,” he said. “But there is much more
to be done and we’re just beginning.”
Born in Jamaica, Allen grew up in a Christian home and
accepted Christ in a Nazarene church at age 9. After earning a computer
electronics degree and working as a technician in south Florida, he was called
to the ministry as a member of First Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,
in 1989. Allen holds a Bible degree from Trinity College in Miami, Fla., and a
master of divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in
Deerfield, Ill. He also has served on the staffs of Moody Church in Chicago and
Sagemont Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in Houston.
Allen is one of more than 5,600 North American Missionaries
supported by Southern Baptist gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for
North American Missions and the Cooperative Program.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Noah is a writer at NAMB. To learn more
about the Annie Armstrong Offering, go to www.anniearmstrong.com; to learn more
about the Cooperative Program, go to www.sbc.net/cp.)