BY KRISTEN DELGUZZI
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Spiritual leaders from all walks of life assembled Friday in Bond Hill to pray, sing and break down barriers - racial, cultural and denominational - that divide them.

The four-hour session at the Embassy Center was the first of what organizers hope will be many meetings of Hope 2001, a coalition of area church leaders who are creating unity among themselves as they pray for Greater Cincinnati.

''We want to make it known to Cincinnati that it is being prayed for, prayed for continuously,'' said the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr., one of the founders of the group and master of ceremonies at Friday's gathering.

''There's so much going on in our city,'' he continued. ''The politicians do what they can. The business leaders do what they can. The civic leaders do what they can. But the Lord needs to be in our city.''

The event, attended by more than 80 clergymen and women, coincided with the day most denominations observe as the World Day of Prayer.

Hope 2001 was formed by eight ministers to ''bring together various denominations ... and break down some of the ethnic barriers and create unanimity among ourselves,'' said the Rev. Dale Arendt, pastor of Christ Emmanuel Christian Fellowship Church in Bond Hill.

As participants prayed for their churches, repentence and the community, they also reflected on flooding in the Tristate - noting that while the water has destroyed lives, it also has brought the community together.

''Man has built all kinds of barriers to keep water out, but when the water gets so high, you can't keep the water out,'' said the Rev. Michael A. Boys, pastor of New Life Christian Church in Sharonville. He called the flooding the ''Lord's work. He is mowing barriers down.''

The Rev. Lynch, pastor of New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Carthage and president of the Baptist Ministers Conference, said he thinks the coalition will remain intact, despite the failure of similar groups in the past. ''The reason this is going to work is because we have endeavored to leave this in the hands of the Holy Spirit,'' he said.