By Brett Hoffman
The Charleston Gazette
FORT WORTH, Texas — When the Rev. W.G. Daniels preached his last sermon at Pilgrim Valley Missionary Baptist Church, there were no gangs on the property to pose a threat during the Sunday service.
And Daniels didn’t have to request police protection before driving to the house of worship.
Those days are long gone, partially because Daniels, who retired Sept. 9 after serving as the southeast Fort Worth, Texas, congregation’s senior pastor for more than three decades, was a zealous founding father of Ministers Against Crime, an organization that helped clean up some very troubled neighborhoods in the 1990s.
Though Daniels, 74, was the typical evangelical preacher who relished winning converts to the Christian faith, he’ll probably be best remembered in Fort Worth for rallying a troop of ministers who worked with local law enforcement to curb rampant crime and violence.
“At times, we were thought of as spies for the police, and we were shot at,” Daniels said. “But we were determined, even when our lives were in jeopardy.”
Ministers intervene to bring a truce
In the early 1990s, Fort Worth suffered a rapidly increasing crime trend. The more troubled areas included Polytechnic Heights, Stop Six and southeast neighborhoods rife with gang warfare, violent crimes and crack dealers openly operating drug markets. But the Fort Worth Police Department and the local ministers stepped in and organized a coalition.
“You had gangs like the Crips and the Bloods fighting against each other,” Daniels said. “But after we conducted a survey, we found that there just needed to be somebody to bring a truce to stop the madness and no better people to do it than pastors who meet every Sunday. We needed to send a message that it would not be tolerated, and by the help of God and Christ we were able to bring about peace.”
By the mid-1990s, Daniels was among more than 40 Ministers Against Crime members who had completed a three-month course on police operations and investigation of offenses. The ministers, in turn, voiced the concerns of the inner city from members of their congregations to the police. The ministers also assisted police in calming crowds before they escalated to violence and helped with domestic situations, said Luther Perry, a former community-liaison officer who wrote reports about the success of Ministers in Crime.
“If something was out of control, they would be there in a New York minute,” said Perry. He and Daniels made two trips to Washington to make presentations about the success of Ministers Against Crime so other cities could receive federal funding for an effort.
Daniels never wavered despite threats
But Daniels’ deeds did not come without threats to him and his congregation. At times, he had to request police protection at his home and at the church.
“They learned that [Daniels] was spearheading the effort to curb crime, and they retaliated by an effort to intimidate him from withdrawing from the effort or not pursue it with a lot of passion,” said Eli Madison, a church member. “But he never wavered from his very public and outspoken position. There was no visual withdrawal of his efforts.”
Daniels’ wife of 20 years, Krista, said the police protection was a godsend during turbulent times.
“We had police protection outside our home, inside our home and at the church around the clock,” she said. “At the time, I was a newlywed and didn’t really understand the work and what was going on.
"[Rev. Daniels] asked me if I wanted to go home to my parents, and I told him no, because I decided that I would be with him in times of either for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer,” she said.
Pat Hill, another church member, said the congregation continually prayed for divine protection.
“The gangs were threatening our church, but Pastor Daniels stood tall and told them that we are not going to shut down our services,” Hill said. “Even though some of us were shaky, we followed our pastor. It was like we were both listening to our pastor and watching the door. But our pastor determined that we were going to continue to praise God, and if they did come in, God would be more than enough for us.”
Pastors connect community, police
Fort Worth Deputy Police Chief Larry Curtis remembers just how rampant crime was 15 years ago in the city and how the force benefited from the support of Ministers Against Crime.
“There were many incidents and gang shootings that the MAC group helped the PD with in terms of calming the community and gang members to allow the PD to handle these incidents,” Curtis said.
The pastors knew the parents and many of the kids, enabling a more accurate exchange of information between the police department and the community, he said.
“MAC volunteered to help, placing themselves in harm’s way at times, and is still working with the PD,” Curtis said. “The crime rate dropped over 50 percent in east Fort Worth and has remained low. Rev. Daniels and his MAC group were effective because they cared and were willing to do what was necessary to help the PD get control of the crime issues so all citizens could feel safe in their homes and communities.”
Copyright 2007 Charleston Gazette