ST. PETERSBURG — John-John, a boy living in the neighborhood surrounding Lealman United Methodist Church here, bears the physical and emotional scars from an accident in his home, said the Rev. Paul Kelly, pastor of the church. But thanks to a program provided cooperatively by the church and the St. Petersburg YMCA, John-John is rediscovering joy in his life.

When Kelly met John-John, the first thing he noticed was the child’s emotional state. “He was burned a couple of years ago,” he said, “and he had some anger in him. He was an angry child.”

Last January, John-John got involved in the Lealman YMCA Community Center, which is housed in a two-story building owned by the Lealman church. John-John was the first child at the center, according to Kelly. “He was the first kid from the neighborhood to get involved,” he said. “We started with one kid…At last count we had 22.”

Now, because of John-John’s involvement in the community center and the church, Kelly and his wife Jane have noticed a change in him. “His whole demeanor has changed,” Kelly said. “I’ve never seen him this joyful. My wife said, ‘It’s all worth it to see the smile on his face.’ ”

Christopher Allen, community outreach coordinator with the St. Petersburg YMCA and director of the Lealman center, said the center’s goal is to give John-John and other kids in the neighborhood a positive influence in their lives. “If you can give kids a place to go and constructive things to do, a majority of the time they will be more than happy to stay out of trouble.”

Reaching out to the children of the community is not a new concept for the Lealman church, Kelly says. The church was founded 77 years ago by a couple who saw that the neighborhood’s children didn’t know anything about the Bible. “The church started with two people here sharing the Bible and starting a Sunday school class,” he said, adding that now, children from the YMCA regularly fill two pews at Sunday worship.

Kelly says that spirit of outreach has grown, especially in recent years, and the church is now opening it doors to the entire community. It has served as the meeting place for neighborhood associations, civic organizations and law enforcement agencies. The church has also provided office space for a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department substation.

“We’re trying to be the community church,” Kelly said. “We are here for the community.”

The idea for the YMCA Community Center was born at a community meeting last year when residents were discussing ways to help the children, according to Kelly. “The guy from the YMCA said, ‘I have 10 computers. I could start a program for the kids if I had the room,’ ” he said.

The church had room in a two-story house it owns that had previously been used as a rental property. It was converted to a community center, with the upstairs used by the YMCA on Tuesday and Thursday evenings to provide a computer lab, athletic equipment and video games. The ground floor is currently being renovated as a Family Service Center, Kelly said, which the sheriff’s department has already used to teach a class for teens on building healthy relationships.

Kelly, who served as pastor of the church from 1988-1991 and returned in 1996, said he is pleased to see the community starting to accomplish things for itself. “The community is coming together as a community,” he said. “I’ve never seen that here before. It’s not necessarily because of the church, but we’re a part of that.”