FUN OVER GUNS: The Future Is Bigger Than the Violence. Can Inner City Sports Help Turn the Tide on Youth Gun Violence? By Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr., Pastor, New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church, Fort Worth.

FUN OVER GUNS: The Future Is Bigger Than the Violence. Can Inner City Sports Help Turn the Tide on Youth Gun Violence? By Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr., Pastor, New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church, Fort Worth. Link: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/fun-over-guns-community-efforts-to-end-gun-violence-starting-with-fort-worths-future-leaders/

FORT WORTH, TEXAS — This past week, I received the kind of phone call that shakes a shepherd to his core.

One of my young sons from the community had been shot in the head and has now died (https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article314876243.html).

When I walked into the hospital room, machines were breathing for him. His body was still. Just weeks earlier he had been working at the church — serving, smiling, preparing for his future. Now he was fighting for his life, another victim of gun violence that continues to wound our city.

And in that moment of heartbreak, I was reminded of something sobering:

In Fort Worth, there are more suburban suicides than inner-city homicides.

That truth forces us to pause.

Pain does not respect zip codes.

Despair does not discriminate by income.

Brokenness wears many faces.

In suburban communities, it often manifests as isolation, anxiety, depression, and silent suffering.

In inner-city neighborhoods, it often erupts publicly — through conflict, retaliation, and street violence.

Both are tragedies.

Both are cries for help.

Both demand our attention.

The methods may differ. The headlines may read differently. But at the root, there is a common thread: young people searching for identity, belonging, and hope.

This conversation is not about comparing suffering.

It is about confronting despair — wherever it exists.

Turning Pain Into Purpose

In July 2023, we launched the Fun Over Guns Rube Foster Pitch, Hit & Run Invitational — not merely as a baseball event, but as a declaration that young lives matter.

Our children deserve options. We must provide more options for opportunities. 

Many of our youth navigate daily pressures shaped by trauma, economic insecurity, fractured relationships, and limited access to opportunity. When structured pathways are absent, negative influences often step in.

For the past three years, New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church of Fort Worth, alongside the Ministers Justice Coalition, the City of Fort Worth, the Texas Rangers, and RCX Sports, has worked intentionally to create safe spaces rooted in discipline, mentorship, and exposure.

From Rangers games…

To Pitch, Hit & Run competitions…

To All-Star Play Ball events…

To the HBCU Swingman Challenge…

To MLB Community Catch with the Players Alliance…

To All-Star Weekend youth development initiatives…

Fun Over Guns has already impacted hundreds of young people. https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/former-current-mlb-players-hold-camp-all-star-week-the-players-alliance/287-4c662028-a786-4f00-9dc2-a98af0d6e6f3

Not because sports magically erase

Add biography of pastor Tatum at the bottom 

Absolutely. Below is your revised editorial with tightened language, corrected flow, consistent tense, improved clarity, and polished structure — while preserving your heart and message.

FUN OVER GUNS: The Future Is Bigger Than the Violence

Can Inner City Sports Help Turn the Tide on Youth Gun Violence?

By Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr.

Pastor, New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church, Fort Worth

FORT WORTH, TEXAS — This past week, I received the kind of phone call that shakes a shepherd to his core.

One of my young sons from the community had been shot in the head.

When I walked into the hospital room, machines were breathing for him. His body was still. Just weeks earlier he had been working at the church — serving, smiling, preparing for his future. Now he was fighting for his life, another victim of gun violence that continues to wound our city.

And in that moment of heartbreak, I was reminded of something sobering:

In Fort Worth, there are more suburban suicides than inner-city homicides.

That truth forces us to pause.

Pain does not respect zip codes.

Despair does not discriminate by income.

Brokenness wears many faces.

In suburban communities, it often manifests as isolation, anxiety, depression, and silent suffering.

In inner-city neighborhoods, it often erupts publicly — through conflict, retaliation, and street violence.

Both are tragedies.

Both are cries for help.

Both demand our attention.

The methods may differ. The headlines may read differently. But at the root, there is a common thread: young people searching for identity, belonging, and hope.

This conversation is not about comparing suffering.

It is about confronting despair — wherever it exists.

Turning Pain Into Purpose

In July 2023, we launched the Fun Over Guns Rube Foster Pitch, Hit & Run Invitational — not merely as a baseball event, but as a declaration that young lives matter.

Our children deserve options.

Many of our youth navigate daily pressures shaped by trauma, economic insecurity, fractured relationships, and limited access to opportunity. When structured pathways are absent, negative influences often step in.

For the past three years, New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church of Fort Worth, alongside the Ministers Justice Coalition, the City of Fort Worth, the Texas Rangers, and RCX Sports, has worked intentionally to create safe spaces rooted in discipline, mentorship, and exposure.

From Rangers games…

To Pitch, Hit & Run competitions…

To All-Star Play Ball events…

To the HBCU Swingman Challenge…

To MLB Community Catch with the Players Alliance…

To All-Star Weekend youth development initiatives…

Fun Over Guns has already impacted hundreds of young people.

Not because sports magically erase