All-night service addresses violence

The church may host more all-night prayer services.

By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The Rev. Larry Alexander and members of the Phillips Memorial Missionary Baptist Church are no longer waiting for Sunday morning to offer prayer to those in need.

The church had an all-night prayer that started at 7 p.m. Friday and ended at 7 a.m. today. The Rev. Mr. Alexander said the prayer service was meant to address the variety of needs faced by those in the Youngstown area.

“We opened the doors for everyone, wherever there is a need. Whatever is in your heart to pray for, we opened the doors for that,” he said.

Friday evening started with a devotional service, then those in attendance broke off into individual and group prayer. Those seeking prayer were encouraged to enter the church throughout the night and stay as long as they needed. Some were in attendance to facilitate group prayer.

Mr. Alexander and his wife, the Rev. Gwen Alexander, are hoping the prayer service will bring a calm over the immediate area, which they say has been under a dark cloud of desperation, despair and violence for years.

Mr. Alexander points to the high murder rate and recent murders of children to show how desperately the area is in need of prayer.

The Rev. Mrs. Alexander said the violent events in recent years have left many parents of murder victims hurting. The prayer service, she hopes, worked as a means of easing that pain and preventing more parents from suffering the same experience.

“When we give birth to our children, we don’t expect them to die before we do, but with so much crime in the city, too many kids are dying before their parents,” she said. “We need to encourage those parents, but also offer hope to those still raising their kids.”

Those at the prayer service were encouraged to bring photos of family members and loved ones who lost their lives in violent episodes. Those photos were placed in a memorial during the prayer service.

The Alexanders said the memorial would help those in attendance to remember the individuals and facilitate the process of healing for those in mourning.

Mr. Alexander said the all-night prayer was a first-time experience for the church, but it likely won’t be the last time it is offered.