COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) – Pastor Darryl Baker thought it might be best to cancel the outreach. Days before a scheduled sports camp in a Columbus neighborhood, a husband shot and stabbed multiple times his estranged wife and preteen stepdaughter, murdering them.
Baker, a North American Mission Board Send City catalyst and founding pastor of Change City Church, had met with community leaders months earlier, deciding a free summer camp would be an effective outreach in the closeknit, far east Columbus neighborhood including several young families. The church had honed its skills at hosting sports camps, and would hold four camps simultaneously June 1-4, including onsite at the church and within two neighborhoods.
A makeshift community memorial and prayer gathering honored 33-year-old Shalimar Green and her 11-year-old daughter Aliv’eyah Chandler (no relation to the author of this report.) Police arrested the alleged killer Derrick Green, 35, and charged him with multiple crimes. He later admitted to the crimes, including the postmortem sexual assault of Aliv’eyah evidenced by wounds, the Franklin County prosecuting attorney’s office said in charging him with multiple counts of murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse. He remains in the Franklin County jail on a $5 million bond.
“When that happened in the community, I said to myself, man, how can we touch that community? And we actually have some of our members who live in that community as well,” Baker said. When he reached out to a community representative to discuss whether to continue with plans, she said the event would be a blessing.
“The youth in our community are hurting,” the woman told Baker, “because a lot of those kids in the area went to school with the little girl who was killed.” The outreach would be comforting, the community representative said, and would alleviate their worry. Change City held the camp the week following the murders.
“It really, really helped that community because they were grieving so hard. Those kids needed a distraction from what was going on,” Baker said. “So we got a chance to host a sports camp and talk to the kids about Christ, pray with some of the kids and just really be a blessing in the community. Dozens attended the camp.”
The camp was one of four simultaneous camps Change City held, including two camps at the church – including one serving adults with special needs, and a camp for an apartment complex where most of the residents are Muslims.
The young church plant of about 150 members, launched in February 2025, did the outreaches with the support of a small grant from the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio (SCBO), and a volunteer missions teams from the multisite Upstate Church based in Simpsonville, S.C.
Jeremy Westbrook, SCBO executive director and treasurer, said the grant was one of several Cooperative Program-funded grants SCBO gives to assist churches with evangelism.
“The SCBO strives to create value and prioritize the pastors here in the Buckeye State,” Westbrook said. “One way we achieve this is through providing evangelism grants to cooperating churches who are on mission to share the Gospel in their neighborhoods.
“As they contribute through the Cooperative Program, we use those dollars to send them right back into the mission field of Ohio.”
Change City’s camps led to a handful of salvations, Baker said, and initiated relationships that have seen many community members visit the church, including the church’s family fest June 7 following the camps.
“We believe that we’re called to get outside the four walls and make an impact in the community,” Baker said. “We believe if we take the Gospel out, Jesus is going to touch peoples’ lives.”
Beneficial to Change City’s efforts was the volunteer mission work of Upstate Church, whose leaders were connected to Change City through SCBO Send City missionary Aaron Taylor.
Brandon Shiley, Upstate Church’s student director, said the Change City camps were among about 10 sites on the South Carolina students’ mission trip. The students gained confidence and skills they can replicate at their home church and elsewhere, and also benefitted from Baker’s encouragement.
“I’ve truly never met an encourager like Pastor Baker. Our students loved him. He loved on our students so well this past week,” Shiley said. “Some of the reason they had confidence going home is just some of the encouraging, lifegiving words that Pastor Baker spoke back into them throughout the week.”
The students ministered to diverse demographic groups including Somali Muslims.
“That’s just something that’s so foreign to us down here (in South Carolina.) But there is just a different community. Even to watch them share the Gospel with them like they would anybody else was super awesome, and I think gave them a lot of confidence,” Shiley said. Students surmised if they could share the Gospel with Muslims, they could share the Gospel with others at home.
“I think that part was probably the most unique,” Shiley said, “even hearing Pastor Baker talk about what it looks like to reach them where he’s at. It was cool to partner with him for the week.”
Camps included basketball, flag football, soccer, cheerleading and other activities, with daily Bible studies and discussions, cookouts and refreshments.
“We just wanted to love richly on our communities,” Baker said, “and by doing those things, it opened doors to share the Gospel.”
Muslims also listened to the Gospel.
“Many of the parents would actually sit with their kids,” he said of Muslim community members, “and hear the stories. They listened. They wouldn’t ask questions, but they wouldn’t take their kids away.”
Through the camp, Change City established a relationship with the apartment complex that will usher in other outreaches to the Muslim community, Baker said.
Baker is also planning additional outreaches, including a summer social, in the east Columbus community grieving the homicides.
“That’s part of our moniker, Change City,” Baker said. “We say this. Our mission is to change hearts, change homes, change cities through the power of the Gospel. We believe the Gospel is the only thing that will bring healing.”
