In the dead of winter, Bishop Steven G. Thompson at Leonard Missionary Baptist Church told his team to set up a tent and a grill outside — they were going to start grilling hot dogs and serving chili on Saturday afternoons.
That first Saturday, they had three people come by. Now, a year and a half later, the North St. Louis church — located in the middle of one of the highest-crime neighborhoods in the region — breaks bread with about 200 to 300 people every Saturday. And it’s way more than hot dogs now — there are cakes, cookies, snow cones, bread, as well as clothes and social services.
The power of Thompson’s idea was in its simplicity — show the community you care and the crime rate will naturally decrease. In fact, St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden told the church that its efforts had helped lower crime in the area by 30 percent.
“We spend a lot of time working in the church, but it’s high time we start doing the work of the church,” Thompson said. “And that is to get out into the highways and byways, because we have people who are not going to show up at our Bible study.”
Leonard Missionary Baptist teamed up with social-service organization Better Family Life Inc. to make this a model for all the 112 churches in an area in North city where 67 percent of the city’s violent crime occurs, dubbed “Hayden’s rectangle.” The area is bounded by West Florissant Avenue to the north, Dr. Martin Luther King Drive to the south, Vandeventer Avenue to the east, and Goodfellow Boulevard to the west.
The St. Louis American reached out to Hayden about the effort and did not receive a response by press time.
On Saturday, May 4, more than 40 North St. Louis churches participated in the kick-off of Grill to Glory, where churches have committed to grill hot dogs outside for the community every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. And more churches are expected to start this weekend.
The initiative’s first weekend was a success, said James Clark, vice president of community outreach for Better Family Life.
“It has done exactly what it was intended to do, which was to begin to usher in the era of the neighborhood church,” Clark said. “This can restore St. Louis neighborhoods. The police department, they can’t do it. Elected officials, they have a role to play. But the best-positioned and the last pillar standing is the neighborhood church.”
Grill to Glory helps to build trust between the church and the community, he said, so people can turn to the church for services. Better Family Life has been “very intentional” about helping these churches create gun violence de-escalation centers and trauma centers within their walls, so the churches can be the ones to address the community’s needs. The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis is teaming up to equip the churches with services as well.
“These people out here need us,” said Deacon Timothy Watson, who runs Leonard Missionary Baptist’s Saturday fellowships. “They got something to say; they need someone to say it to. Where are they going to go if they can’t come to the church? So we have to get outside and let them know they’re welcome.”
Every Saturday, Watson said, they attract a lot of children — hence the snow cone machine. But they have also been getting more and more young adults.
“We get them tattooed-up, gold in their mouths, pants sagging,” Watson said. “One will come, and they’ll bring six more. They will fellowship every Saturday.”
He has noticed that their conversations have started to change, and they smile more when they come.
“These kids, no one’s talking to them,” Watson said. “They’ve been written off. That’s there mindset, ‘Ain’t nobody care about me.’ The more that you show that you care about them, the more they’ll put their guns down.”
When Pastor Michael Franks of New Salem Baptist Church heard about the Grill to Glory initiative a month ago, he said his church got started right away.
“We thought it was so important that some things just can’t wait,” Franks said. “We found out that our neighbors said, ‘Thank you,’ because people want to know somebody cares. We don’t just want to be a building in the neighborhood. We want to be part of the community. How do you become part of the community? You got to go outside and meet and eat and break bread.”
Better Family Life is also helping the churches to host a job fair series. On Thursday, May 9, Fountain Temple Church of God in Christ will host a neighborhood employment event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1138 Bayard Ave.
