On Woodlawn Drive in the Gwynn Oak section of Baltimore County, Morning Star Baptist Church fills its 1,500-seat worship center three times each Sunday morning. The congregation dates back to 1896, when members first gathered in a brick meetinghouse at 48 1/2 Winters Lane, but the present ministry campus on Woodlawn Drive was dedicated only in December 2017, with the adjoining Family Life Center opening the following September. Under the leadership of Bishop Dwayne C. Debnam, who became the church's tenth pastor in August 1996, Morning Star has grown into a congregation of more than 3,000 members with ministries that reach well beyond the walls of its worship center.
Three Sunday Mornings on Woodlawn Drive
Morning Star gathers for worship on Sundays at 7:15 a.m., 9:15 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. Each service is held in person and livestreamed, so members who travel or are homebound can participate alongside those in the room. The 11:30 a.m. hour is bracketed by Children's Church School, which runs from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. for children from PreK through sixth grade, and by the Royalty Ministry, an extension of Sunday School that meets the same hour with middle and high school students. Adults gather for Adult Church School on Sunday mornings as well, studying the Word together in classes that span the full range of ages and stages.
On the first Sunday of every month at 3:00 p.m., the church holds a Communion Worship Service. Baptists view the Lord's Supper as a symbolic ordinance, an act commanded by Jesus in which the bread and the fruit of the vine represent His broken body and shed blood, and any baptized believer is welcome to partake. The service is currently offered virtually. Just before it, at 3:30 p.m., baptisms take place at the Woodlawn Drive campus. Baptism is by full immersion, drawn from the Greek "baptizo," and is presented as a confession of faith and a willingness to follow Christ.
Faith Formation on Wednesdays
Mid-week teaching is built around two Faith Formation sessions each Wednesday, led by Bishop Debnam himself. The noon session meets in person and virtually, and the 6:30 p.m. session does the same. The Bible-study hour once known as "Wednesday in the Word" now carries the name Faith Formation, and study sheets are posted weekly so anyone who misses a session can prepare or catch up. Recordings of past teachings are available on the church's YouTube channel.
A Three-Year Discipleship Journey
The Spiritual Development Ministry organizes the church's long-form teaching around a model that mirrors the three years Jesus spent with His disciples. The first year, "Growing in Christ," runs thirteen weeks and walks new disciples through lessons on the assurance of salvation, the assurance of answered prayer, victory, forgiveness, guidance, and Christian living. The second year, "Experiencing God," is built on seven scriptural realities that teach believers how to discern where God is at work and join Him there. The third year, "The Mind of Christ," based on Philippians 2:5, examines how the Spirit renews the mind over a lifetime. After these three foundational years, the Spiritual Formation class invites participants to go deeper into the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, study, and meditation. Classes are gender-based, small group, and currently meeting virtually, with new registrations opening in late July and August for the fall term and again in December and January for the spring term.
Personal Growth and Royalty on Sunday Evenings
Alongside the discipleship track, Morning Star runs a rotating set of Personal Growth classes open to members and non-members and offered at no cost. Past and current offerings have included "How to Take Control of Your Finances," a three-week course taught by Kathy Evans; "SoulPrint," a four-week class on the Myers-Briggs personality types from a spiritual and biblical angle, led by Minister Lisa M. Garry; "Plan Time for Him," a six-week study that walks participants through a daily YouVersion Bible plan; and "A Praying Man," a six-week men's study led by Minister John Bumbray. "Sports Talk with K.O." with Deacon Kevin Orange, the MSBC information systems class taught by Deaconess Lisa Nettles, and seasonal Growing in Christ cohorts for both women and men round out the slate. Sessions are posted in late November for the winter and spring terms and are advertised with full registration instructions.
The Renaissance Center and Christian Counseling
Dr. Carla J. Debnam, the church's First Lady and a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, founded The Renaissance Christian Counseling Center in July 2001 as an outreach ministry of Morning Star. The center is housed within the Family Life Center at 1600 Whitehead Court, and Dr. Debnam serves as its Executive Director. She holds a Master of Science in Pastoral Counseling from Loyola University Maryland and a Doctor of Ministry in Transformational Leadership from Ashland Theological Seminary, and her articles on mental health topics are presented at workshops and conferences throughout the region. The center is a recognized mission of any counseling and is open to the wider Gwynn Oak community regardless of church membership. Dr. Debnam is also the founder of the Leading Ladies Ministry, started in November 2005 with two other pastors' wives to encourage, embrace, restore, and refresh pastors' wives around the scriptural image of a three-stranded cord from Ecclesiastes 4:12.
The Center for Excellence and Career Training
Out of the same outreach vision, Morning Star operates a Center for Excellence offering GED preparation, computer training, and career-readiness programs. The center shares the Family Life Center campus and is one of the pieces that Bishop Debnam's leadership has put in place since 1996, alongside the Renaissance Counseling Center and the expanded worship campus on Woodlawn Drive. Together these ministries embody the church's stated goal of "empowering communities" beyond Sunday morning.
Outreach Beyond the Walls
Heading the Outreach Ministry are Elder Joseph Sanders and Minister Helen Carpenter. Their teams run a Food Pantry that has, to date, served thousands of individuals and families. Donations can be brought on Sundays and placed in designated bins in the worship center or delivered directly to 1600 Whitehead Court. Those who need food assistance can schedule a pickup appointment through the church office. The church has also held Community Baby Showers that provided essential baby items to expectant mothers, Essential Needs Giveaways that have supported more than 300 families with small appliances and clothing, and Job and Resource Fairs that have connected over a thousand individuals with employment opportunities. Globally, Morning Star partners with Compassion International and has sponsored over 100 children through that program, while also supporting a new location in the Nakuru community in Kenya. The food pantry and global sponsorship efforts together have made the Outreach Ministry one of the most visible arms of the church.
Congregational Care and the Diaconate
Every member of Morning Star is paired with a Diaconate team through the Congregational Care initiative, launched to make sure no one in such a large congregation slips through the cracks. The diaconate is divided into teams organized alphabetically by last name, from "A-BA" through "WILLIAMS-Z," each led by named deacons and deaconesses-in-training who can be reached by a shared email address. Above the teams sits the Diaconate Leadership Team, and after select Sunday services a "Connect and Share" table is set up so members can speak directly with church leadership and get guidance on ministries and personal concerns. The stated mission of Congregational Care is that every member of MSBC feels connected, supported, and aware of the resources available in any season of need.
Children, Youth, and Families
Beyond Sunday School, children and youth have a place at the center of congregational life. The Youth Ministry Coordinator, Mya Hodge, oversees ministry to teenagers, and the Royalty Ministry continues the work begun in Children's Church School with middle and high schoolers. Family Ministry is listed as a distinct track in the Ministry Directory, and Personal Growth classes routinely include offerings such as Family Matters and singles' gatherings. The Ministry Directory also lists a Wedding Ministry that supports couples preparing for marriage at Morning Star, and a Wellness Ministry track that touches on the church's health and wholeness vision.
Worship and the Arts
Worship is coordinated through a Worship and Arts ministry with an Executive Director, a Director, a Musical Director, an Audio Video Director, and a Worship and Arts Administrator on the team. The presence of these roles, alongside three Sunday services and a livestream feed, signals the priority that music and the arts hold at Morning Star. The worship style is traditional Baptist, grounded in preaching, congregational singing, and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, with a strong gospel music expression that flows out of the Baltimore African American church tradition.
What Morning Star Believes
The church holds to a set of twenty numbered beliefs, beginning with the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the only sufficient, certain, and authoritative rule of saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. There is one God who is Maker, Preserver, and Ruler of all things, revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons sharing one essence. The church confesses the historic Baptist doctrines of the Fall of Man, Regeneration by the Holy Spirit, Justification by faith, Sanctification as a progressive work, the Perseverance of the Saints, the Church under Christ as its head, the Resurrection of the body, and a final Judgment. Two ordinances are kept: Baptism, by immersion of the believer in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a sign of fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ, and the Lord's Supper, observed in bread and wine as a memorial of Christ's death until His return. Liberty of conscience, the priesthood of all believers before God, and the Lord's Day as a day set apart for worship and rest round out the confession.
A Legacy of Resilience on Winters Lane and Woodlawn Drive
The story of Morning Star is told in brick, mortar, and reinvention. On the very first day of worship in 1896, members arrived to find their benches smashed by an angry contractor over an unpaid debt, a faith-testing beginning that only steeled the new congregation. In 1929 they laid a cornerstone; the next year they sold the Winters Lane building to the Masons and bought land on Roberts Avenue from Macedonia Baptist Church. The church was incorporated in 1930, a sanctuary on Roberts Avenue was built in 1945, and the property grew over the decades with added halls and parking. In 1979, under Rev. Jentry McDonald Sr., Morning Star moved to a larger building at 154 Winters Lane, paying off a thirty-year mortgage in just eleven years. By 2016 the church had outgrown even that space. Ground was broken for a new Ministry Campus in Woodlawn, the 1,500-seat Worship Center was dedicated in December 2017, and the Family Life Center opened in September 2018. Ten pastors have shepherded the church from its founding to today, with Bishop Debnam the tenth. His three decades of leadership are being celebrated in 2026 as a Year of Grand Celebrations, including a black-tie Pastoral Anniversary Gala set for October 4, 2026, at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center in Baltimore.
Getting Connected
Visitors are welcomed at any of the three Sunday services, and a Connection Card on the church's online portal is the simplest way to express interest in joining, receiving prayer, signing up for Bible study, or learning more about ministries. The New Member Class meets on the fourth Saturday of each month via Zoom, with connection information available from Deaconess Lisa Nettles. The InFellowship online portal lets members track giving, print year-end giving statements, and access the church directory. Those interested in serving can complete a Ministry Interest Form online, and the Ministry Directory offers an overview of every ministry with contact information for its leaders. The main phone number for the church is (410) 747-3417, and the Family Life Center can be reached at (410) 265-7460.