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'Our youth have value' | Faith leaders heartbroken by recent homicides share a message of hope with the community

While some have different ideas on how to get there, they all agree saving lives needs to start now.

TOLEDO, Ohio — With all the killing in Toledo, there's been a call to faith leaders, hoping they can do something to stop the violence. 

While some have different ideas on how to get there, they all agree saving lives needs to start now.

Two pastors who have been in the community for decades say they're just as heartbroken as anyone else hearing about kids losing their lives to gun violence.

RELATED: Homicides in city make big jump, children latest victims

And on Monday, they talked about reality and shared a message of hope. 

Otis Gordon, a senior pastor at Warren AME Church, blames Toledo's increasing homicides and the loss of young lives on today's society. 

"One of the basic issues if you talk to these young people, they have no sense of desire of hope for the future. When they don't expect to live to see age of 21 and they don't fear death because they feel that they're already dead," Gordon said. 

"Bam, bam, bam. You know it's sad, that there's all this happening," Cedrick Brock, the pastor for Mount Nebo Baptist Church, said.

He and some of his church members visit the sites of these homicides to pray and listen to their community.

"Some of them are saying it's gang-related. Some of them are saying this, some of them are saying that. But it's something," Brock said. "And I know we want the community to speak. But the community can't speak on what it doesn't know, because a lot of this is drive-by."

RELATED: 7-month-old girl killed in west Toledo drive-by shooting; police seeking information on suspects

Although there isn't one solution to the problem, Gordon says he would like to see more services to help families, particularly poor families and those without hope. 

"You have to give them hope. You have a reason to live. You have to give them the possibility of upward mobility, the possibility of an education, the possibility of earning a living," Gordon said.

Both pastors say they know their communities are hurting, but they also say everybody from kids, parents, teachers and faith leaders, has a role to play.

"We got to take the initiative and make the first step toward them to remind them of their value," Brock said. "Our youth have value. They can live a lot better than we can if we show them the road."

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