"Every time I see a man put down his bottle, there's a resurrection goin' on. Every time I see a man go back to school, there's a resurrection goin' on," proclaims the Reverend Johnny Ray Youngblood in a sermon at Saint Paul Community Baptist Church in a crime-ridden section of Brooklyn, New York. Samuel Freedman profiles this charismatic leader in this hopeful book.

The Holy Spirit has worked mightily in this place. Since Youngblood became pastor 15 years ago the congregation has grown from 84 to 5000 members with a staff of 51. Black males have been particularly active. Freedman presents vivid vignettes of lay leaders who have been involved in Wounded Healers, a drug prevention program, and in a low-cost housing project known as Nehemiah.

Freedman conveys the life-and-death struggles in the blighted Brooklyn neighborhood where the church has made a big difference. Then in a surprise finale, he describes Youngblood's trip to a village in Ghana where a new school will be built with $15,000 from Saint Paul's charity. It's just another example of a resurrection goin' on.