Staff photo / Raymond Smith Michael Emery, 34, of Austintown takes part in the Men’s Rally in the Valley on Saturday at the Covelli Centre in downtown Youngstown. Hundreds of men attended the 12th annual event for prayer, testimonies and entertainment.

YOUNGSTOWN — Hundreds of Valley men supported one another while listening to testimonies about growth in the word of Jesus Christ during the 12th annual Men’s Rally In The Valley.

Michael Emery, 34, of Austintown, attended the rally at the Covelli Centre on Saturday, and said too often men do not have opportunities to engage with other men of faith.

“It is good to be able share common concerns,” he said. “Too often we are busy with our jobs and supporting our families. We need to be able to have fellowship.”

Phil “PJ” Davis, 68, and Joe DeMine, both members of Grace Fellowship Church in Niles, attended the rally because they felt a need to provide a sense of unity with others of the Christian faith.

“It is united we stand, not being divided,” Davis said.

Michael J. Brooks, 29, of Youngstown, was at the rally for his second year in a row.

“It is very impactful when you have so many people with the same common beliefs,” Brooks said. “This has been a blessing — to get the word and message to the glory of God.”

A member of Greenford Christian Church in Salem, Brooks said he accepted Jesus as his savior in 2019. “Always put your faith in Jesus, he will never let you down,” he said.

Bing Newton, 87, of Leetonia, one of the rally founders, said he and others began working on Men’s Rally in the Valley a dozen years ago when 96 believers intended to attend a Promise Keepers program — but they learned it would no longer be in the area.

“We prayed on it,” Newton said. “God whispered in my ears: Why couldn’t we do one on our own? God taught us how to pull something like this together.

“Men need to step up and be the men God created us to be,” he said. “Our country simply needs God. When you have 50 percent of the people not going to church, there is a need.”

“I was one of them,” Newton said. “My wife was praying for me. On Feb. 10, 1971, I was born again,” he said.

“These rallies are contagious. When people are committed to Jesus Christ, it is powerful.”

Newton said the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t stop the rally last year and wasn’t expected to affect this year’s program.

“God is moving like never before,” he said. “He is blowing the top off this whole Valley. What makes this different is we live here, worship here, and the fire stays here. We are not trying to steal on sheep from a shepherd. The shepherds bring their flock with them.”

Brian Chartreuse, 46, of Homeworth, was invited to attend a Men’s Rally in the Valley meeting two years ago by a friend, but was not able to attend at the time.

“It stayed on my mind,” Chartreuse said. “I decided this was the year.”

He invited Tony Hoopes, 46, of Salem, who feels it is important to be around those with similar views and has supported him during difficult times.

“I love being around my brothers in Christ,” he said.

This weekend’s program featured several former athletes, including Markus McFolling, a former running back at Malone University; Joel Penton, a former Ohio State University defensive specialist; and Vance Johnson, a former member of the Denver Broncos teams in the 1980s that kept the Cleveland Brown out of the Super Bowl.

Vance was part of three Denver Broncos Super Bowl teams.

He, however, did not emphasize the highlights of his pro football career, but the pain of growing up with an abusive father who constantly beat and cheated on his mother — and a man who gambled and allowed his young son to read his collection of pornographic magazines.

As a teen, Vance vowed he would not be like his father and would one day the rich and famous. He threw himself into sports, primarily football and track. He did not drink or take drugs.

He became a high school and then a college athlete in Arizona. But he then began deteriorating — drinking, doing drugs, gambling and chasing women.

Over the years, after being drafted by the Broncos, Johnson lost hundreds of thousands of dollars through gambling and had eight children with different women, lost a child in an auto accident and nearly died.

Johnson warned that he achieved all of the physical goals that he desired, but lost his way spiritually.

He has since begun turning his life around after becoming born again.

rsmith@tribtoday.com