BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Now, a special report on a Chicago community in which thousands live amid poverty, hunger, and fear of crime. And where the pastor of a huge church has told his people that praise and worship aren't enough, that they must get out of the church and into the streets where their help is needed -- which is exactly what they're now doing.

Judy Valente reports.

UNIDENTIFIED STREET PREACHER: Jesus is coming again. I know the Bible is right. Jesus is coming again.

JUDY VALENTE: A lone preacher shouts his message to near-empty streets in a South Side Chicago community called Roseland. Long ago, the neighborhood was known for its beautiful flowers. Little of beauty grows here now. Fifty-nine thousand people live in Roseland, but there is practically no place to buy fresh produce because when whites moved out 30 years ago, the supermarkets went with them. The only restaurants: fast-food joints. Unemployment is high, job training scarce. And this past school year, five students from the neighborhood have been shot to death.

UNIDENTIFIED STREET PREACHER: Look around today: brothers and sisters killing one another.

DENISE ROGERS (Salem Baptist Church of Chicago): I think that people live as if they're afraid to come out of their homes. And it's really unfair because our communities -- that's our lifeline, that's where our children grow up. Why can't this be a community where people can walk down the street and you don't have to be afraid for your life?

Pastor JAMES MEEKS (Salem Baptist Church of Chicago) (Speaking at Rally): We're looking for the absolute, most troubled communities or blocks in this area. Raise your hands again if you think your block is the most troubled block of the whole zip code. All right.

VALENTE: Nine o'clock on a sweltering Saturday morning. Members of Salem Baptist Church of Chicago gather for worship. This army of volunteers is about to go to work for an ambitious and unusual community outreach program Pastor James Meeks calls Vision 2007.

The members of Salem Baptist Church say too many churchgoers have grown comfortable. They sit in the pews, they sing hymns and pray, but then they don't do what this church calls the "tough work of Christianity." In this neighborhood that means getting out into the streets and helping people in desperate need.

Pastor MEEKS: We never really ever, ever, put our faith on the field of play. That's all Vision 2007 is. It's saying, "Let's get out of the four walls of the church, let's leave the locker room and let's go actually play the game."

VALENTE: Salem Baptist has grown to 10,000 members. Now they worship in an arena-style church called The House of Hope. It's reportedly the largest African-American congregation in Illinois. Last April, Pastor Meeks began an experiment. He suspended all church activities on Saturdays, including choir practice, Bible study, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts. He asked church members to use every Saturday over the next six months for community service.

Boys and girls from Salem Baptist march through the neighborhood to alert residents that today, in this part of Roseland, the church will provide free produce and clothing. People began lining up an hour ahead of time.

Ms. ROGERS: When they first line up, you see sadness on their face. They look like they're embarrassed to be in line. They're embarrassed to have to take a handout from us. And our job is to show them that, but for the grace of God, it could be us standing in that line.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: It's a big help. It's a big help because I'm struggling. I'm a mom.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: I don't go to church. I just go and eat there.

VALENTE: On this day, the church gives away 250 boxes of food, 24 racks of clothing, and all kinds of shoes. Twenty-eight people receive free legal advice. Forty-two people are tested for high blood pressure or HIV. Sixty-eight children attend a mobile Sunday school.

Pastor MEEKS (Greeting the Crowd): Morning. How're you doing?

VALENTE: Meeks works the crowd like a politician. In fact, he was elected to the Illinois State Senate five years ago.

Pastor MEEKS: We see the people who actually had good jobs -- proud people but were laid off. What do those people do? Where do they go? All of us are just a few paychecks away from having to need some kind of assistance.

VALENTE: A few blocks away, at the church's offices, there is mentoring for those considered most at risk: boys and girls about to enter high school. Two thirds of the teens in this neighborhood will probably drop out before graduating.

MENTOR: What would you avoid doing to go to jail?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY #1: Mind my own business. Just keep your mouth shut.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY #2: Stay in school and don't hang around with the wrong people.

Pastor MEEKS (Speaking to Teenage Girls): How many of you know a girl in high school who got pregnant? Raise your hand. Once you're in high school and you get pregnant and you have a baby, your life changes from that point on.