A first since its planting by two families, CityView Baptist Church has its own space in Downtown Cleveland. Securing this space took 13 months from first call to receipt of keys. Downtown realtors had proven that leasing property to a church was undesirable, but CityView found favor with realtor Sue and the CMHA landlord.

With a pandemic perspective, it is not lost on the leadership how God went before them to provide this space. “Only our good and gracious God could work in advance to provide us this new and better location after our rented hotel space closed during the pandemic,” commented Pastor Bill Taylor. “Only God would give us space but have us not maximize it. Only God would say ‘Go’ to a large financial commitment when the economy says ‘Wait’ or ‘What if?’. Our unconstrained God is working mightily. We strive to keep pace with what He is doing here.”

Cleveland is a city hungry for prosperity, for peace, for racial unity, for life, for justice. God positions His local church to provide the answer to this hunger. As the gospel goes forward in power from this new place, sinners will repent, hearts will change, and servants will grow into the likeness of Christ. A body of unified believers—a peculiar conglomeration of rich and poor, young and old, Black and White, educated and uneducated, American and international—will be known by love for one another. This spectacle of love, God-willing, will draw others in the city to Jesus.