Several prayers went up to God for his rescue and embrace of the community and its youngest citizens during the fourth annual prayer breakfast, sponsored by the Orangeburg-Calhoun Association of Clergy and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Clinton Way was among the young people who converged on the First Baptist Church Family Life Center Thursday morning. Youths were joined by community members and clergy, government and education officials for the fall prayer breakfast, which was held under the theme, "Rescuing and embracing our youth and our community through character."

Way, a 17-year-old junior at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School, attended the event with O-W Principal Gregory McCord and fellow members of the school's Gentleman's Club. Way said he took away a positive message from the multitude of prayers and encouraging words brought forth from several local pastors.

"I think the youth today should pay more attention to what's good and more positive in life instead of going out trying to follow the wrong crowd and getting into trouble all the time," Way said. "Prayer is important with everybody. With prayer, a lot of things would be a whole lot different today in life."

Way said it is important for youths to think for themselves to help ward off negative pressure from peers and others.

"We try to teach them more than anything else that life is not so much about where you are currently, but where you're going," McCord said of The Gentleman's Club's mission. "Your actions carry you far greater than your words or any of the things that we find now to be so superficial with kids."

McCord said the prayer breakfast provided a positive and, for some members, unique outlet through which they could develop good character.

"We're just happy and blessed to have the opportunity to bring the students here," he said. "We want to introduce them to something different at every opportunity we get."

The Rev. Cary Hilliard, pastor of First Baptist Church, said the fellowship of believers from across all denominations helped to foster the unity needed for youth character development.

"This is the calling of Christ and, I believe, the greater calling even still of the church in this age. We are co-laborers with Christ and one another," Hilliard said.

Self-discipline must be partnered with fellowship, said the Rev. Jud Jordon, pastor of First Presbyterian Church. "We want to help empower our young people to get that," he said. "It must be a self-discipline that walks in faith ... where our young people really come together ... and make an impact for Jesus Christ in their community to change their community."

St. Paul Baptist Church's pastor, the Rev. Charcey Priester, said a relationship with Christ is essential for youths to maintain a sense of character and purpose in life. "The God that we serve is a God of purpose and destiny," he said. "Your gifts can take you places, but it's only your character that can keep you there."

The Rev. Earl Humes II is director of the Midlands 4 Office of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, serving Orangeburg, Bamberg, Calhoun, Sumter and Clarendon counties. Humes has worked with student athletes from across the state to help them develop the principles necessary for physical and spiritual growth.

The Orangeburg County Community of Character initiative recognized Humes as a model of respect in June 2007. He said the prayer breakfast was evidence that the community was concerned about its youths, who he said were encouraged that they could develop the character God intended them to have.

"Coming here today to pray for our youth is such an awesome thing," he said. "I am so optimistic about this generation. I think the church can really impact our youth and that we're headed in the right direction."

The Rev. Kristen Richardson-Frick, pastor of St. Paul's United Methodist Church, said the church has a mandate to reach beyond its four walls to offer the hope and love of Christ to youths and others. Frick said it was the church that helped her past the suicidal depression into which she sunk as a preteen.

"Hope does not disappoint us," she said. "We have the solution ... and we have a mandate."

The Rev. Ceasar Richburg, pastor of Williams Chapel AME Church, said while it once took a village to raise a child, societal ills have slightly changed that dynamic.

"I believe now it takes the church to raise the village," he said. "I believe that this is the day of the church."

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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