Video: West Point Church Praying for Peace After Brutal Beating

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WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI) — The brutal beating of a West Point man this past weekend has the entire community searching for understanding. Now a local church group in West Point says they’re praying for peace and unity for all those involved in the incident.

Members of the Third Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church gather every Wednesday at noon to pray and show the West Point community that someone cares.

“Prayer Warriors is a great thing to be in, I finally learned that. You can go there and sing and pray. It’ll touch somebody’s heart,” says Pauline Gardner, who’s been a member of Mount Olive M.BC. for over 40 years.

Every third Wednesday of the month, the group also goes to West Point Community Living Center to visit residents. In addition to prayer, the warriors read scripture and sing at the nursing home. The Warriors say the recent beating incident at the Huddle House in West Point does not represent their city.

“West Point is a small little town but there’s still a lot of backbiting, don’t like one another, grudge one another. I was sorry to hear about this incident at the Huddle House because you know we don’t usually have nothing like that in West Point,” says Gardner.

Prayer leader Alma Brown thinks recent events in Ferguson, Missouri and the Mike Brown shooting has some people in this area also on edge.

“I do believe that the incident that happened, it was racism. With all that confusion going on in St. Louis. All of that is backing up,” says Brown.

Still, the Prayer Warriors believe that through prayer and community outreach, changes can be made for the better.

“God loves everybody. He wants us to come together. White and the black. Love one another and I’m so glad it’s not in my heart,” says Brown.

The Prayer Warriors also deliver meals to West Point residents once a month.

The West Point Police Department and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are still pursuing other suspects in the beating incident.