11:22 PM EST on Sunday, November 23, 2003

By Tony Hyatt / WHAS 11 News

Louisville, Ky -- Many times churches make a special effort to send a holiday message. In the case of Highland Baptist Church, members of the congregation have their own way of saying "Peace on Earth." This year, Forest Baptist Church of Newburg will help them.

Both churches will place white crosses near their churches. A cross for each life that has been taken by violence in the Louisville area in 2003.

"At this date, we are set to put up 41 crosses," says Pastor Joe Phelps of Highland Baptist. "Hopefully, that will be all for the year but you never know." When Highland first began this effort in 1997, 89 crosses were displayed.The number grew to 102 before the year was over.

"Violence has no boundaries, it can be anywhere," says Reverend John Crittenden of Forest Baptist. "We are praying for the families who have lost someone and we are praying that people who cause this heartbreak are caught."

On Sunday afternoon, teenagers and adults from both churches took two pieces of wood and decided to make a statement. They glued the wood together, bolted each with a screw and painted the crosses white.

"Our community and everybody is getting a little wild," Doug Ealy of Forest Baptist told WHAS News. The Newburg teenager was among about 25 from his church on hand to start this year's project. "We hope that when people see these crosses they will know, we do care about people being killed and hurt in our community."

11 year old Josh Davis of Forest Baptist felt the same way. He says he worries about many things in Newburg. "People just driving around in driveby shootings and going into chruches of all places and killing people, maybe this will help."

Many groups have marched over the last few months to take back the streets in Newburg after a series of violence shootings and crime. This year, Highland Baptist found itself touched by violence. In October, a young man was gunned down in the early morning at the intersection of Cherokee Parkway and Longest Avenue. That is less than two blocks away from the church.

"I can stand right here and almost see the spot," says Phelps. "It doesn't matter if it is a block away, a mile away or on the other side of the count, every life counts. And we will keep working until we are placing one or no crosses on the grounds."

The crosses will be put on display the first weekend in December and will stay up until the end of the year.