“This type of support for one another is so important during these times. Because it is out of the norm, it’s not what we expect in Brookhaven. It doesn’t reflect our values or our care for one another and our family; the image that we have. So it’s important that we come together and say again who we are. This is a community that wants to support one another, especially during difficult times.”

Those words from First Baptist Church Pastor Greg Warnock before the community prayer and praise service held Thursday evening foreshadowed the event that followed. The community came together in response to the murders of Kelcay Humphrey on Sunday night and Bridget London Hall on Monday night.

Spearheaded by Rev. Philip Sterling, the gathering drew several hundred to the auditorium at Alexander Junior High with the purpose of attending to the spiritual needs of the community.

Spiritual and community leaders from all corners of Brookhaven and Lincoln County took to the stage one after another to lead the service in prayer or with inspirational messages. Themes of unity, loving neighbors and faith in God surrounded the moving display of solidarity for the London, Hall and Humphrey families.

Minister Sean Blackwell followed Sterling as one of the most rousing speakers of the evening.

“I thank you for giving the vision for us to come together as brothers and sisters and putting denomination aside, color aside, gender aside and just coming out to praise you Lord,” Blackwell said. “You’re needed right now more than ever. There’s tragedy in our town, father, in our community, in our county. But right now God we call on you because of Brookhaven. There are some things that we’re not proud of and we know the devil is the author of it.”

The service saw overwhelming support between neighbors, and towards the end of the event the feeling of unity and love for one another and for God was palpable.

Quinn Jordan, manager of the Lincoln Civic Center and a well-known face in the community, was another stirring speaker whose prayer sparked a response in the crowd.

“This community doesn’t stop on the other side of Star town, it doesn’t stop at the end of the Boulevard,” Jordan said. “This community is county to county, it’s Southwest Mississippi, it’s Mississippi, and then it’s this nation. Let us pray. We need to pull together. In your word it says where one or two gather, so will he be there. Well I know there are a lot that are gathered here today. He’s here.”

Singing, clapping, joining hands and hugging occurred throughout and seemed to spur a genuine and visceral response from a community so desperately united in the desire to become more so. After the service, Sterling reflected on the event that he believes has started a healing process within the community.

“Brookhaven is separated. Regardless of what anyone says, we are separated,” Sterling said. “But it’s not with dissention, it’s not with racism. We’re separated because it’s the way things have always been.

“You don’t have those who say ‘I don’t want to go to the black community’ or those who say ‘I don’t want to stay with the white community.’ It’s just the way things have been. Sometimes tragic things have to happen to make us realize that what we have become comfortable with is not acceptable to God.

“As uncomfortable and heartbreaking as these recent deaths have been, it’s bringing Brookhaven together,” Sterling said. “And I think more than anything God applied a spiritual mood […] over Brookhaven tonight. And I don’t know where it’s going, but it’s the beginning of something great.”

Claudis D. Montgomery, 40, of 4208 Highway 550, was charged with murder early Tuesday morning in connection with Humphrey’s death. Montgomery’s brother, Claude, was Hall’s boyfriend.

Hall was shot to death in her home on Vivian Merritt Street. Humphrey was fatally shot in the back on Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Drive.

Police have neither confirmed or ruled out that the two cases are connected.