410-433-4006  //  A Baltimore native, the Rev. Alvin J. Gwynn Sr. has a doctorate from Eastern Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, Va. He has been on staff at Friendship Baptist Church in northeast Baltimore since 1989 and senior pastor since 2002. He is also president of Baltimore’s Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance. He made headlines this past spring when he refused to close the doors of his 800-member church in spite of Baltimore Mayor Bernard Young’s stay-at-home order for all houses of worship. He is the only known pastor in his state to have done so. On March 29, when he had only 10 people in his church, nine police officers showed up to stop the service. Gwynn refused to let them in the building.