KANSAS CITY, Kan. — When church members fill The New Bethel Church in Kansas City, Kansas, this Sunday, pastor A. Glenn Brady will encourage them to take action.
“We know faith without works is dead,” he said.
He plans to remind members about 6-year-old Sir-Antonio Brown, who died in a shooting about five miles from the church earlier this week. Brady wants members to pray and to also take a stand, to report information to the police.
The pastor doesn’t want the community to accept violence as a way of life.
“We cannot get to that point where we don’t have that feeling that this is wrong and we must do something about it,” Brady said.
Brady has spent nearly 50 years as a pastor. But in his role as the grandfather to a 4-year-old girl, he says he’s learned life is a blessing.
Now, he hopes others realize how valuable life is.
“That’s where my job comes in as a pastor, to encourage us to remember life is so precious. It is a gift, and we must maximize it,” he said.
Another group of pastors formed an organization called Churches United for Justice. The group is working with the KCK Police Department and Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK to create a group violence intervention program.
The idea is to connect violent offenders with resources to get them on a new track. Reverend Tony Carter, a member of the group, hopes to launch the intervention program by July 1.
