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Salvation in an unlikely forum, and in a more likely one, inspires pastors to seek solutions for a place where drugs and fast dollars are often the comforting escape from a hopeless reality.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 24, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- Jacobie "Cobie" Spradley was buried Saturday, a 24-year-old father of three boys and three girls and a baby on the way. He had been fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting on April 8.
More than 600 people attended his funeral, among them the five mothers of his six children. A phalanx of young men, eyes shaded with dark glasses and wearing T-shirts with Spradley's likeness, also were there.
Then something happened. An altar call. After one young man's testimony, dozens of mourners moved toward the altar, begging for forgiveness and pledging repentance.
Under a tent a few blocks away and a few hours later, ministers at a different gathering saw in that altar call a spark for a better future.
The rousing weeklong tent revival, at 12th Street and 12th Avenue S -- close to where Spradley had been gunned down in a spray of bullets -- had been two years in the making, said the Rev. Louis Murphy, pastor of Mount Zion Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, at 955 20th St. S.
The series of spiritual meetings, he is certain, is a plan inspired by God to staunch the flow of blood and drugs in this neighborhood.
"Two years ago, I claimed that area, that somehow, some way, that I would change that area," he said. "But I did not know what God had in mind. I just continued to pray."
The answer, he said, was the tent revival that ran nightly from April 14 to Saturday. It marks his first effort to produce "effective change" in the community and others like it, he said.
"Where do we go from here? ... What God showed me was not only was he doing a revival at 12th Avenue and 12th Street, he wanted to bring pastors, righteous pastors, together to do revivals in these drug-infested areas," said Murphy, who does not live in the Melrose neighborhood but believes his ministry can make a difference there.
On Saturday morning, he and several African-American pastors will meet to plan an ongoing strategy, Murphy said. They are aware that prayers alone are too little, that action must follow, he said. Habitual criminals need education and jobs, and mothers and fathers need to be taught parenting skills. He and his fellow preachers hope to provide a holistic solution to problems in the community, the Mount Zion pastor said.
Problems in the Melrose neighborhood have received widespread notice in recent months. Foremost have been the murders of several young men. Early last year, Nathaniel Stone, 33, was shot to death in an alley at 991 Melrose Ave. S. In June, it was Joshua Jones, 19, who was shot to death at 932 Newton Ave. S. Spradley was the most recent casualty. He was shot in the 1200 block of Melrose after a group of men drove up in a red car and opened fire with an assault weapon.
According to state records, Spradley had been released from state prison a little more than a year ago after serving a year for possession of cocaine and sale, manufacture or delivery of cocaine. He also had been in and out of prison since he was 15 for auto theft, burglary and grand theft.
At the time of his death, said his father, Alton Spradley, "He was trying to straighten his life out, just working and staying with his girlfriend."
Murphy, the pastor, said poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods hurt everyone, but especially naive young people who are seduced by easy money and those who make it.
"The drug dealers are driving the fancy cars. They have the money. A lot of young girls are having babies by these boys. They don't see the danger, because they are captivated by the material things," he said.
The recent turning to Christ at Spradley's funeral gives him hope, the pastor said.
"It was unbelievable. It was a continuation of the revival," he said of the funeral service that was held at the Rev. Ellis Hodge's Word of Life Fellowship Church, 1045 16th St. S.
"These drug dealers were lined up in the back of the church, wearing dark shades. Pastor Hodge told them to take a seat. A guy was in a wheelchair. He asked to speak," Murphy said.
The young man said he had broken his leg while trying to get a gun to avenge the killing of his friend Cobie.
Then, said Murphy: "He said, 'God allowed me to break my leg to save my life.' He looked back at the other drug dealers and said, 'I've given my life to the Lord.' He started getting emotional and crying. He said, 'I'm going to start living for the Lord. When he started saying that, people just started coming up. ...
"In that group, 64 people, drug dealers, prostitutes, drug users ... all of them came up to the altar. We got everybody's name and address and telephone number to follow up. Some of these boys broke down crying, like mama's boys. At the end of the service, more people gave their lives to God."
"It was a great day," said Hodge, who added that God had given him a "vision" of what would take place that morning.
"Out of something tragic, something great happened," he said.
On Saturday, the final night of the tent revival that had drawn 300 to 400 people a night, a crowd of mostly women and children gathered early under and around the red-striped tent.
Carla Macon of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church praised those who organized the revival. "They're trying to clean the neighborhood up," she said.
The Rev. Jon Matthews, pastor of administration at Mount Zion, once lived in the neighborhood. As a student at Florida State University, he had had his own trouble with drugs and alcohol. He turned his life around after attending a Bible study, he said.
That was Nov. 10, 1976.
"It was a Wednesday night. I remember it as if it was yesterday," said Matthews, 45.
"That's my motivation for being ... under that tent. I know where those people are. I know what they are going through. I know the pain they feel. Because I have lived in that neighborhood, I can take to them the same solution that worked for me."