A New Orleans pastor has spent the last 23 years serving his church and community members, but when his son was shot and killed, he was given a redefined purpose to stop the violence that's plagued his home city as one of the nation's murder capitals.

"Something precious was taken from me and this world," St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church senior pastor the Rev. Orin D. Grant Sr. told Fox News.

"But we're going to keep his memory alive," Grant said. "We're keeping his message alive and we're keeping this ministry alive."

Grant, who has lived in Gretna, Louisiana all his life, has led seminars on peer mediation to teach conflict resolution and avoid resorting to violence. The pastor also organized a rally calling on church leaders, public officials, law enforcement and community members to work together to prevent gun violence after his own son and namesake, Orin D. Grant Jr., was shot and killed on Aug. 2, 2022, amid the citywide homicide surge.

"My church is not just a church in a city," Grant said. "It's a church for the city."

It will take a long time to reduce the violence, but the pastor said he will do his best to "stop other parents from going through what we're going through."

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New Orleans recorded 266 homicides in 2022 — a 116% increase from 2019, according to the New Orleans City Council crime database. The city recorded the most homicides per capita among major U.S. cities in September, but Jackson, Mississippi, unseated it as the murder capital by the end of the year. Yet violent crime continued to soar across the city and carjackings rose 165% over the last two years.

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"We recognize we are in a dark place in society," Grant said. "But there are people that are resilient and bring hope to our children so that they can have a great future."

"He was my prince," Grant said. "He had a lot of promise."

Grant Jr. was in college and planned to follow in his dad's footsteps at the church. He loved preaching by his dad's side since he was a kid, running out in the aisles to join him during worship services, the pastor told Fox News.

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"Every move I made, he made," Grant said while chuckling. "He just brought a lot of joy to the family."

Grant Jr., the youngest of the pastor's three sons, played percussion in the church since he was a toddler.

"It was just in him," Grant said. "He was born to beat the drums."

"Therefore, in light of his debt, his beat goes on," Grant continued.

The pastor told Fox News that his son was at his girlfriend's house the night he was shot and killed. The shooting happened just blocks away from his church.

"It's a tough pill to swallow," Grant said. "I wake up with him on my mind. I go to sleep with him on my mind."

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On Feb. 19, the pastor hosted a worship service, brunch and balloon release commemorating what would have been Grant Jr.'s 21st birthday. The pastor channeled his grief into a sermon in honor of his son.

The message was "love, unity and peace," Grant said. "Stop the violence."

"I was an advocate before, but when Orin was murdered, it just accelerated my advocacy," Grant told Fox News.

Grant said he's recruited community members to visit crime hotspots across the Big Easy to make their presence known and promote gun violence prevention. 

"This has not weakened me," Grant said. "This has strengthened me."

"And like the crime dog McGruff, we're going to take a bit out of crime," Grant said.

To hear from more Grant on the gun violence surge that took his son, click here.

The beloved Cuban sandwich is a delicious all-American culinary creation first served in Tampa, Florida, more than a century ago, according to proud local lore.

It’s a savory, mouthwatering mix — often called a "mixto" — of three kinds of pork, paired with cheese, pickles and mustard, on fresh-baked local bread. 

It's flavored by an array of cultures that helped build Tampa into a jewel of the Gulf of Mexico. 

The sandwiches reportedly fueled the hard-working, and often Cuban-born, cigar factory workers in Tampa’s historic neighborhood of Ybor City in decades past. 

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Cuban sandwiches are now served in takeout shops, delis, pubs and restaurants from coast to coast.

"There is a debate over who invented it first, Tampa or Miami," Tampa food Instagram influencer Kiera Andrews (@thisbabeeats) told Fox News Digital. 

Others claim it originated in Havana or Key West. Cubans traditionally ate "mixto" sandwiches, but the version known today is in fact a Tampa creation, according to experts.

"I will tell you this," said Andrews. "I’ve had Cuban sandwiches in other cities. And there’s nothing that compares to a Cuban sandwich in Tampa."

One of the secrets, she said, is the traditional Cuban bread baked at La Segunda Central Bakery, which opened in Ybor City in 1915. 

It supplies restaurants and retailers throughout the region. 

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Bakeries, restaurants — even the museum of longtime Ybor City cigar-maker J.C. Newman — sport murals and billboards highlighting the global inspirations that make Tampa's Cuban sandwiches a delicious example of America's unique culinary melting pot. 

They boast Cuban pork, Spanish ham, Italian salami, German pickles and mustard and Swiss cheese — all cultures that had a historic presence together in Tampa — served on soft, airy Cuban bread.

"It represents all the different cultures that make Ybor City such a great place," said Casey Gonzmart Jr., the fourth-generation owner of Tampa dining landmark Columbia Restaurant. 

The eatery was founded by his Spanish-Cuban immigrant great-grandfather Casimiro Hernandez Sr. in 1905. 

Ybor City is best known for its Cuban-Spanish culture and cigar-making history. 

But it’s also the traditional home of Tampa’s Italian community. 

The L’Unione Italiana, the Italian Club of Tampa, traces its roots to 1894 and sits just three blocks from Columbia Restaurant. 

"We can't tell the true history of the Ybor City without paying homage to the Italians," said Gonzmart.

Columbia Restaurant features colorful murals of the sailing ships of Christopher Columbus — the Italian mariner who ventured to the New World on behalf of the Spanish crown. 

Food & Wine Magazine named Columbia Restaurant's Original Cuban the best sandwich in Florida. It even credits Columbia Restaurant founder Hernandez Sr. for inventing the multicultural American delicacy.

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"He hoped it would honor the contributions of the many immigrants who breathed life into the Ybor City neighborhood, where the restaurant was located, and the city of Tampa in general," Food & Wine wrote in its coronation of the Columbia Cuban.

The restaurant still makes its Cuban sandwich the same way it did at least since 1915, including using bread from nearby La Segunda Central Bakery, a company spokesman told Fox News Digital. 

Tampa Instagram foodie Andrews cites several other can’t-miss Cuban sandwiches in Tampa. 

No-frills, cash-only West Sandwich Tampa Shop "feels like one of the first places that would have served the Cuban," she said. 

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La Segunda, Tampa’s landmark bakery, has a take-out sandwich shop at its original Ybor City location.

Here, guests can order original Cubans and various versions of the original, along with amazing traditional Cuban pastries and sweets.

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The Boozy Pig boasts a delicious Cuban breakfast sandwich served with eggs, while Wicked Oak Barbeque offers a "Que-ban" sandwich made with slow-smoked pulled pork and housemade mustard barbeque. 

"Miami, for its part, added an innovation: the iron press, which gives the Cubano a thin look and crunchy feel that a lot of people now recognize it for," NPR wrote in 2022 in an interview with the authors of the book, "The Cuban Sandwich: A History In Layers."

Cuban sandwiches in Tampa traditionally come only on fresh bread — unpressed yet impressive in flavor and in American culinary lore. 

The Tampa City Council named the Cuban the city’s "signature sandwich" in a 2012 proclamation.