By Savannah Morgan 

intern@salisburypost.com

The In My Father’s House ministry held its first community awareness meeting Thursday afternoon.

The Rev. Roosevelt Jenkins has hosted his ministry at Rowan Public Library for the past four years and plans to continue well into the future. He says he decided to add the community awareness aspect to his ministry based on the “violence in neighborhoods” he has seen.

Roosevelt extended an invitation to pastors, City Council members, firefighters, first responders, community advocates, the mayor, widows and widowers, parents and the elderly.

“My mission is to create awareness of a purpose in the community,” Jenkins said. “I want to put love in places where the hurt is.”

Jenkins’ son, Abraham Iman Jenkins, was shot and killed in September 2013. Jenkins cites his death as a driving force behind his ministry.

The meeting opened with a discussion led by Jenkins about troubled people, such as the one who was charged with the murder of his son.

“If someone had shown these people that they have a purpose, maybe they would have gone down a different path,” Jenkins said.

The discussion then turned to Spencer Police Chief Michael James. James asked the community to “do their part” by locking car doors at night. He said he has seen a recent string of nighttime car break-ins in Spencer.

“If we’re going to change the world for the better, the community has to get involved,” James said. “Evil prevails when good people do nothing.”

After more conversation about the importance of community awareness, Jenkins distributed copies of the book upon which he bases his ministry — “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. Jenkins shared a message of community cultivation and ended with a hopeful prayer: “We must learn to treat each other right. That’s all.”