By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

MORE than 100 “at risk” young men gathered at Praise and Fellowship Church over the weekend as a part of an Urban Renewal initiative aimed at “reaching gang members” not only morally, but also “spiritually”, according to Urban Renewal Co-Chair Cynthia “Mother” Pratt.

Mrs Pratt told The Tribune that leaders in urban communities decided to come together and gather young men to hear the word of God in hopes that they would change their lives for the better.

“Most of these young men are unemployed and hang around the blocks all day, doing only God knows what. So we got these community leaders to come together and gather these young men who look up to them and encourage them to go to church,” she said.

“We talked to them about their plight and let them know we understand where they are but we also see where they can be. If we could just reach one of those young men and get them to change their lives, that is a good thing. At the end of the service the pastor did an altar call – about 30 of those young men gave their lives to the Lord.

“That is a powerful thing. Most times people reach out to these young men by offering them money or assistance with food, but we wanted to change their souls, change their morals and in the end make them better people.

“We feel like we did this with these young men and we will continue to do it, until we have saved as many lives as we can.”