UPDATED Sunday, July 5, 2009 -- 3:45 p.m.

Here in Madison, there is a call for community members to help curb gun violence. Several shootings in a matter of months have plagued our streets.

The biggest issue, of course, is how to stop it. The city's latest plan involves a lot more than stepping up police patrols. Now, they're turning to the church for help.

You'll find a lot of familiar things at Faith Christian Community Church in Madison. Praise, worship, and prayer. But Madison leaders are hoping to find something else: a solution to gun violence.

"We have to try to save our kids, save our youth." David Smith is the pastor at Faith Christian. For weeks Smith has watched the number of shootings in Madison skyrocket.

This life-long Madison native says he's never seen anything like it. " Not to this extent. No." Soon, Smith, could find himself on the front line.

Last month in a press release, Mayor Dave said the police and city government can offer resources, but, "it will be the community that solves these problems."

Now, Smith and others have teamed up with the city to curb the violence. "It's going to take a team effort of politicians, non-profits, school systems, police departments, churches...really to rectify this issue and get guns off of our streets."

Late last week, Smith met with Chief Noble Wray to talk about what the community can do to help. Smith says you may see clergy members riding along with cops to learn what they do and offering assistance to families and victims of gun violence in the near future.

"We're trained to work with families and individuals in crisis. So we should be out there working with them and praying with them and trying to calm them down and offering resources."

For now Smith continues his work in the church. But, soon he may find himself playing a new role.

Young African American males seem to be at the center of this violence. Smith is hoping his outreach will be two fold. Serve the victims and their families and act as a role model for others considering gun violence.

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Posted Sunday, July 5, 2009 -- 1:40 p.m.

David Smith is the pastor at Faith Community Christian Church in Madison. He's also one of the people battling the increasing gun violence in Madison.

Recently, city officials, including Police Chief Noble Wray, met with Smith and other leaders to talk about what community leaders can do to slow the spread of gun violence on the city's south and west sides.

Smith says right now they're in the early stages of planning. But some ideas that have been discussed include clergy members riding along with police, making members of the clergy available for emergency counseling and inviting police to churches to get the word out about gun violence.