DECATUR - Anyone needing a smile, encouragement or a kind word only had to drop in Saturday afternoon at Love Fellowship Christian Church.

"Holiness in the Hood" spread out across the church parking lot, where a three-on-three basketball tournament was in progress; down the front steps, where a disc jockey blasted out rap music; and into the side yard, where hamburgers and hot dogs sizzled on a grill outside a huge tent erected to fend off sporadic rain.

The three-day event began Friday evening with praise services at the church, 1567 N. Clinton St. It continued Saturday with a gathering for fun and fellowship for neighborhood youth as well as young people from other churches, and it winds up at 11 a.m. today with a worship service.

"This is a community event," said Jamey Wills, daughter of Overseer James Wills, Love Fellowship's pastor. "We want to provide a safe environment for young people that gives them something to do. It gets young people to come together in love and unity. We're just trying to touch a young person."

The outreach aspect appeared to be working Saturday, as several hundred people had gathered by 2 p.m. to participate in the fun. It included an inflated jousting pit, free snow cones and popcorn, and musical chairs with boxes of snack cakes as prizes.

Assistant Pastor Vanessa Jones said the church had done a block party previously, but this weekend was the first time it had a major event geared to attract youth.

"We have the basketball without anger as a way of tending to the body, soul and spirit," Jones said. "We're trying to meet young people where they're at. Other churches helped us out. We had 11 sponsors who donated things."

Guest speaker at today's worship service will be Elder Dartanyan Jamerson of Flint, Mich., state youth pastor for the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship of Michigan. On Saturday, he was acting as a referee for the basketball tournament.

"What we hope to do is bridge between the church and the community," Jamerson said. "We want to re-establish the church as the community. The majority of people around this neighborhood don't attend any church. Events like this show people we can have a good relationship with Christ regardless of race. We can make our cities better places to live in."

Paul Smith, 16, was taking a break from the basketball tournament after his team won its initial game. Indicating Felicia Wills, the pastor's daughter-in-law who was acting as scorekeeper, Smith said he had gone to a church when younger but stopped until she persuaded him to try Love Fellowship.

"Now, I go to this church. I got saved," the teenager said. "The people here, when you get to know them, it's fun. Everybody has smiles on their faces. Everybody looks on the bright side of things."

Maria Reynolds, 15, came with a group of youth from the House of Miracles Pentecostal Church. She tried the musical chairs cake walk without success but still was smiling as she cooled off with a snow cone afterward.

Acknowledging she enjoyed being with the other young people present, Maria said events like Holiness in the Hood "get you ready for Jesus."

Ron Ingram can be reached at ringram@herald-review.com or 421-7973.