by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Rev. Eugene Rivers came to Jacksonville from Boston, and Friday morning he delivered a fiery sermon to more than 150 people who came to the Main Library to be part of “The Jacksonville Journey: Take a Step,” the City’s initiative to reduce violence and crime in neighborhoods.
Rivers wasn’t preaching to the choir, however, he was preaching directly to the pulpit. Specifically, he was calling out Jacksonville’s African-American church leaders.
“We have a generation of young people who are drowning in their own blood,” said Rivers. “Young people are more fatalistic in 2008 than they were in 1908, and there is more violence in our cities now than there was during slavery.”
Co-chair of the National Ten Point Leadership Foundation, Rivers travels the country sharing concepts to reduce violent crime in inner-city neighborhoods, concepts developed on some of the toughest streets in Boston, where he is pastor of Azusa Christian Community Church.
The foundation of Rivers’ strategy is the coordination of churches in at-risk communities in an effort to unite and aggressively target violent behavior and the people committing such behavior. Any city’s police department can only do so much, he said.
“Prevention and intervention are more important than enforcement. The only way to reduce crime is for the faith community to step up and I’m not talking about one or two preachers showboating. You’ve all got to do it,” said Rivers.
One national trend he said he finds disturbing is that “Geographically, where there is the most hell in a city is also where there are the most churches.”
Rivers encouraged churches to “adopt gangs” and said, “You have to be the shepherd. You have to be the father figure. If you’ve got the Holy Ghost power, go out and put that power on the thugs.”
Also, he said Jacksonville’s clergy must commission missionaries or community organizers because “Leaders can put troops on the ground.”
Rivers also advocates one-on-one outreach to drug dealers, establishing relationships with health care providers and developing viable economic opportunities for youth in high-crime neighborhoods.
Rivers said Jacksonville is in a unique position because there “is great leadership here, but you need a movement of churches. All denominations must check their egos at the door and play team ball. It doesn’t matter who gets the credit.
“You have right now what is called in theology a ‘chiros moment’ – an intersection of crisis and opportunity,” he continued. “God has given you an opportunity to resurrect faith and hope for a generation of youth.”
Former State Sen. Betty Holzendorf is co-chair of The Jacksonville Journey. She said “It’s time to change the attitude in this community as it relates to right and wrong. Problems just repeat themselves if they’re not solved.”
As he was introducing Rivers, Mayor John Peyton said Jacksonville’s most important issue is finding a way to change the City’s culture “from one of violence and bloodshed to one of peace and prosperity” and added, “The faith-based community can be the strongest aspect of The Jacksonville Journey.”
Peyton also thanked the Jessie Ball duPont Fund for its grant that made Rivers’ visit to Jacksonville possible.
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