Pray for family to be closer to God

In this weekly column, "Pray Culpeper" will feature a particular leader or group and ask the community to support the individual or group in prayer. Please post this article in a prominent location and pray this week for:

Pray for: Sgt. J. C. Welch and the Gang Awareness Group
Birthplace: Charlottesville

Education: graduated from Rappahannock High School, received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Radford University.

Family: a 4-year old daughter

Job: In his fourth year with the Culpeper town police, previously was a deputy in Rappahannock County for four years. Serves as head of the Gang Awareness Group and receives much assistance from Sgt. Richard Brooking, Detective Dan Art, and Officer Tim Sisk. The group works in cooperation with the Sheriff's Office and the Department of Social Services, and it has conducted at least a dozen Gang Awareness programs this past year.

Hopes and dreams: "Everybody has put a huge step forward to deal with an up-and- coming issue-gangs. Since Culpeper is growing rapidly we are beginning to experience the crime problems of larger cities. It's important for people to understand that established gangs want to expand here. Our goal is to help educate the community as to what police consider a gang. We hope the community will be our eyes and ears and report to us so we can stay a step ahead of the problem.  I dream that we will work together to develop preventative programs like providing worthwhile after-school activities and safe places students can receive help with homework. It's also important to educate our youth about gang symbols. Our legislature is constantly updating laws related to gangs and I hope they will continue to gives us the necessary resources to do our job."

Prayer requests: "Please pray for the community to come together to address this issue. Our goal and our prayer is that we can educate our citizens to help us. Sadly, in this modern era of cell phones and computers we seem to have lost our connectedness, our community spirit and togetherness. Pray our community unity will be restored and that our churches will take a leadership role in providing inspiring activities for at risk kids. Pray that every church will educate their members by hosting a Gang Awareness program. We can customize our programs to suit the needs of each group. Just call me at 727-3444, ext. 331 or Officer Tim Sisk at ext. 644."

Let Sgt. Welch know that you are praying for him and the Gang Awareness Group by sending an email .

If you have a prayer request send an e-mail to answers@ PrayCulpeper.org or visit PrayCulpeper.org.