An Octogenarian with a PhD in Poetry Changed a Dangerous Corner of a City

In the early 1990’s, I was the pastor of a midwest church full of people in their 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. My wife and I were in my early 30’s with three young children. Some years earlier, the church had suffered some body blows from internal conflict and lost most of its young families. The group that was left in the church had been in the church for dec…