Hope Service Held For Haleigh

Over the past week, family and friends of Haleigh have come together to pray for the child's safe return during candlelight vigils. On Tuesday afternoon, instead of gathering for an outdoor candlelight vigil, they met a church a few miles from the Cummings' home.

Hundreds of people, some who do not know Haleigh or her family personally, gathered at Dunns Creek Baptist Church to pray for the missing 5-year-old girl.

"It's horrible that sometimes it takes tragedies to pull people together to wake them up and make them realize what's really important in this life," said Nancy Mann, who attended the hope service.

Haleigh's father, Ronald Cummings, and her mother, Crystal Sheffield, sat side-by-side throughout the service as they held their son and listened to words of encouragement. Croslin was also at the service, sitting on Cummings' other side.

Pastor Terry Wright said although some would argue that Tuesday's service was pointless because too many days have passed in the search for Haleigh, he said he's choosing not to adopt an attitude of despair.

"We're choosing to have hope because we believe in a God bigger than the statistics," Wright said.

The pastor ended the hope service by asking everyone to pray for Haleigh and for her family before they left.