Abstract
Ethnographic research on Pentecostal youth in a Honduran colonia reveals the ways in which they maneuver through the violence in their community. They maintain an uneasy relationship with gang members in which they claim exemption from everyday violence because of their belief in being saved. Drawing on Pentecostalism's doctrine of separation from community life, they exclude themselves from violent retribution by appealing to their rights to the sanctuary of the church. A call to the sanctuary of Pentecostalism also allows many gang members to escape the violence of street life. Pentecostal conversion is thus one way for young men to present a reformed persona that the larger community affirms.
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