Born to a 17-year-old unwed mother, Pastor Tally Wilgis was raised in poverty in Baltimore City. The first person in his family to graduate high school, college (pre-law) and go on to a master’s program (religion), his life experience spans from welfare lines to graduation ceremonies.

After leading successful church planting efforts in Texas and Virginia, the North American Mission Board invited Pastor Tally and his family to return to his native Baltimore to start a new church. In 2009, Captivate Church was born. Captivate now exists in three locations (Towson, Dundalk, East Baltimore) as a healthy and vibrant multicultural church community that is diverse in every way.  In recent years he has served as a church planting assessor and coach.

In January of 2017, Pastor Tally was named the Executive Director of the Baltimore Baptist Association where he and the leadership team have transformed the organization in every conceivable way.  The association is now experiencing the highest level of church membership, the highest level of partner participation, and the most local financial investment into missions in the last 15 years.

In addition to work here in the United States, Pastor Tally has a heart for the people of East Africa. Serving as a founder and president of Captivate Global, he has led an effort to provide education, food, jobs, and clean drinking water to thousands of people in Kenya. The Captivate Christian Academy is home to 140 students and 12 full-time staff.

Pastor Tally has been married to Kristy for 16 years and they have two children: Caleb (12) and Ainsley (8).