Saint John the Baptist Orthodox Church began as a small mission in the Charismatic Episcopal Church (called Lamb of God Church) on Christmas Eve, 2005 under the pastoral leadership of Father James K. Hamrick, a CEC priest and a former United Methodist pastor. The congregation, initially made up mostly of former Methodists, found a historic chapel for lease in Lewistown, Maryland, the old Mount Prospect Church, just north of Frederick, Maryland, an hour west of Baltimore and an hour northwest of D.C. The chapel, originally built in 1833 and rebuilt in 1886 as a Methodist Church, was home for the congregation for two decades.

In August 2006, Fr. James met Fr. Gregory MacGregor, an Orthodox priest in southeastern Virginia, which prompted Fr. James to begin examining the claims of Orthodoxy. Two years later, in the summer of 2008, the congregation's bishop retired, causing the people to search in earnest for where God was leading them next. Fr. James and the people of Lamb of God Church examined a number of continuing Anglican groups, but only with limited enthusiasm. Finally, at a clericus gathering in Towson, Maryland on September 17, 2008, Fr. James heard a compelling presentation given by Fr. Patrick Cardine and Fr. Alban Waggener on the Orthodox Church. Father James presented the congregation with this invitation to consider the Orthodox Church, and in short order the people began to discern that the Holy Orthodox Church was where God was indeed directing them. At the request of Fr. James, Bishop THOMAS visited the congregation in October 2008 in order to answer questions and to encourage the people as they discerned their call. With strong consensus among the people, Lamb of God Church officially became a catechumenate mission of the Orthodox Church on November 30, 2008, with Fr. Patrick Cardine and Fr. Nicholas Alford as the assigned catechists.

In coming into Holy Orthodoxy, the people requested a new name for their mission to represent a whole new beginning, and since St. John the Baptist had been their patron saint, they requested to bear his name. Metropolitan PHILIP agreed and blessed the new mission as St. John the Baptist Mission on March 20, 2009. On April 11^th, 2009 (Lazarus Saturday), 26 people were chrismated by Fr. Nicholas Alford at Saints Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Potomac, Maryland. Saint John the Baptist became the only Western Rite mission in Maryland, and until Fr. James’ ordination, the mission was served by Fr. Peter Jacobsen, a retired Western Rite priest from New York. Bishop THOMAS ordained Fr. James a deacon on July 15, 2009 at St. Ignatius Chapel in Bolivar, PA, and a priest on August 23, 2009 at Saint Basil the Great Church in Poquoson, VA.

Other milestone events include the ordination of Subdeacon Stephen Kerr to the Holy Diaconate by His Grace Bishop JOHN on December 11, 2016, allowing Deacon Stephen to partner with Father James in the pastoral life of the mission.  And on January 1, 2018, St. John the Baptist Orthodox Mission was granted parish status by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, becoming St. John the Baptist Antiochian Orthodox Parish.

On March 2, 2025, His Grace Bishop JOHN elevated Father James to Archpriest, and just three months later, on June 8, 2025, His Grace Bishop JOHN ordained Deacon Stephen Kerr to the Holy Priesthood to become Father Joseph Kerr.  Father Joseph was subsequesntly assigned by the Archdiocese to remain at St. John the Baptist Parish to serve as the Assistant Pastor to Father James.

The beginning of 2025 also marked the official blessing of the St. Ambrose Chapel.  What began as a small home group meeting every Friday evening in the home of Subdeacon Michael and Norma Brecht under the leadership of Subdeacon Michael and spiritual direction of Father James, after two years, outgrew the Brecht's home.  The group then began meeting for Saturday Vespers for a year in a rented room at Chapel Church in Red Lion, PA before outgrowing the room and moving into the main worship space.  His Grace Bishop JOHN formally blessed the St. Ambrose Chapel ministry and outreach to the people of southern York County, PA by giving Father James a blessing to celebrate Mass one Saturday per month.  Bishop JOHN made his first episcopal visitation to St. Ambrose Chapel with the Very Rev. Father Peter Pier on March 8, 2025.

On November 30, 2025, Father James retired from secular work to devote his fulltime and attention to the work and ministyr of the parish and St. Ambrose Chapel.  After 20 years of renting the Mount Prospect Church in Lewistown, Maryland, St. John the Baptist Parish was blessed to purchase its own facility, the former Myersville Church of the Brethren, built in 1913, which officially closed after it had held its last service on September 29, 2024.  After nearly two years of negotiating with the Mid-Atlantic District of the Church of the Brethren ahead of and after the church's closure, and with the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan SABA, St. John the Baptist Parish settled on the purchase of the facility for $280,000 on December 30, 2025.  The first Mass in the new facility was held on February 1, 2026.  It should be noted that the following items, donated over the years, were moved from the old facility into the new:

• The large cross mounted behind the altar hand constructed in 2006 by Mr. Gerald Haines of Brownsville, MD (now reposed), the former Lay Leader at Shenandoah Memorial United Methodist Church in Millville, WV when Father James was pastor there in 1998 through 2004
• The corpus and icons on the cross, and the icon of Christ on the altar created by our parish iconographer, Mr. Richard Christin
• The vintage Italian hand-carved Stations of the Cross (circa 1930's from a church in New York City) purchased in 2006 from Kh. Pamela (Piama) Hamrick's business, Heart & Hands Decorator's Workroom in an online auction
• The mounted icons of the 12 major feasts donated by Mr. Jeffrey (Joseph) Hueg (now reposed) and wife, Christina (Felicity) Hueg
• The large mounted All Saints icon donated by Mrs. Nancy Grivas, Niskayuna, NY, in 2024 in memory of her late husband, Dimitri Grivas who reposed on February 27, 2021

Since its birth in March 2009, St. John the Baptist Parish has continued to see slow, yet steady growth, drawing new catechumens each year from various denominations, and establishing an array of ministries which serve the parish members, the local community, the diocese, and beyond.  Our presence in Myersville, MD has already drawn a number of visitors and new catechumens preparing to enter the Church.  With the blessing of having been able to purchase the facility, we also wish to honor the generations of the families that built and maintained the church, and made manifest the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God in the Myersville community in the more than 100 years that it operated as the Church of the Brethren.  May the Lord continue to bless our work in bringing others into the healing grace and salvation available in the Holy Mysteries of His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church to His honor and glory!  Amen.