Gadsden Co.

"[O]ne of the deepest cycles of violence, poverty and incarceration in the state" described his jurisdiction in 2004 when Morris A. Young became the new sheriff in town. Fortunately, he didn't share the hostility toward Christianity often found among academic and government elites. 

Sheriff Young collaborates with community faith leaders. Church members come to jail to teach scripture and life skills. He recognizes that inmates have a spiritual nature that can be reached so he hired a chaplain, Jimmy Salters, who says, "I teach, preach, and pray . . and when they are ready to confess their sins before God, I baptize them." 

The churches are not doing it all, but are part of the official county effort to change things. That's the way it should be.

Read the NYTimes article to see what the school superintendent and a judge are doing. In Gadsden County, Florida, "a sheriff, a chaplain, a judge, and lots of good church folk are together offering hope and transforming lives in their own community."