Maryland Pastor's Ministry Comes Full Circle

Having surrendered his hesitations and fears to the Lord in pursuit of faithfully following where God was leading him, Ed Michael is now seeing the fruit of his ministry come full circle.

After pastoring at New Life Assembly of God in Grand Ledge, Michigan, for seven years, Michael recalls feeling the Lord calling him to serve as the lead pastor for CityBeat Baltimore, an inner-city church located in the heart of Baltimore. However, Michael had reservations about moving his family and their ministry to a city with one of the highest rates of heroine usage and murder in the country.

“I was scared of what the inner city would do to my son,” says Michael, 64.

His reservations seemed validated when, on his first Sunday as the church’s senior pastor, a man who was under the influence of drugs burst into the building, threw himself against the wall, and began yelling various statements. He also recalls his son sleeping for periods of time in he and his wife’s room because of all that he was seeing and experiencing in the inner-city.

Yet despite his concerns, Michael couldn’t shake the feeling that he and his family were exactly where the Lord wanted them to be. So, with his late wife, Rhonda, serving as the children’s pastor and his son, Jared, serving in various volunteer roles to help his father, Michael pastored faithfully for six years.

In 2002, Michael felt released of his assignment at the church and followed the Lord’s leading to another nearby church, Eastern Assembly of God in a neighboring suburb. The move was significantly remarkable for Jared, who was in his early teenage years when the family transitioned to Eastern AG.

“The church environment was different, and the church culture was different,” recalls Jared, now 34 years old. “The more traditional style of church was exciting to me, but we still invested a lot of resources into CityBeat, such as sending teams down to help with the Friday night kids ministry events.”

After graduation, Jared went on to study at the James River Leadership College in Springfield, Missouri, ultimately moving back to Baltimore and discovering his own unique call to ministry.

His first position in full time ministry was as Eastern Assembly of God’s youth pastor, a role that his father says he was gifted in.

“Jared was used to seeing kids come to church whose parents didn’t attend and he knew what to do with that, so as a youth pastor, he attracted that and really grew the youth group,” recalls Michael.

From there, Jared took on a ministry role that was one only God could have ordained: senior pastor of CityBeat Baltimore, the church he had watched his father lead as a child.

“Having parents in the ministry and seeing how they loved people and had a heart for people, regardless of their background, really gave me a heart for the inner-city,” he says. “I saw that my parents’ attitudes never wavered or changed based on the status of the person, their socioeconomic status, and no matter who they were ministering to, their heart for ministry was still the same.”

“What I was afraid would negatively impact my son ended up giving him a heart for the down-and-outers,” says Michael.

Then, in January of 2025, as Michael began planning to take a step back from senior pastoring, Jared was elected as senior pastor of Eastern Assembly of God with a 98% affirmative vote. His current church, which has been such a big part of his life, will become a second campus to Eastern AG, bringing the fruit of Michael’s ministry and the blessing of his obedience amidst doubt full circle.

“During his time as a senior pastor, I have seen the church grow substantially and outreach has been a huge part of that,” says Jared, who has the same passion for outreach as his father. “We will stay committed to being outreach-minded, and bringing in the inner-city church as a second campus will be a huge part of that.”

When Jared and his wife, Ashley, step into their new role in 2026, Michael and his current wife, Rachel, will remain on staff to offer wisdom and council as needed.

“We will be carrying the baton together,” says Jared, “And I think that’s important because dad still has lots left to give.”