Tending to the flock

With its high ceilings, black leather chairs, and personal 15-inch flat-screen televisions with satellite link for each customer, it's the kind of hair salon more often run by swanky yuppies on Newbury Street than by a tiny church located on a bumpy road in south Dorchester.

But the high-gloss oak floors, master hair stylists, and piped-in jazz music of PTAC Styling are the new calling cards of the Prayer Tower Apostolic Church near Codman Square. The salon, which opened last week in a building attached to the church, is to be a Gospel-friendly place where anyone can get a hairstyling and where some might come to God.

''You come to the salon, you might come to church," said Pastor Antoine Montgomery, 35, whose church and adjacent hair salon are on Norfolk Street.

The salon is Prayer Tower's first foray into business, and it is hoping for profits to supplement church finances. It is also the beginning of a plan to buy $1 million in properties along a stretch of abandoned, trash-laden land between Milton and Woodrow avenues and convert them into what Montgomery describes as a well-landscaped Christian zone. Plans call for a children's gym, a shelter for pregnant teens and battered women, a teen center, a children's mentor program, an upscale banquet hall, a fitness center, and a new church.

''You have to have other things to go along with your worship," Montgomery said.

In Montgomery's view, the zone would be a safe haven where residents could go for healthy activities. He doesn't envision evangelizing, but people could attend to their spiritual development if they chose. The banquet hall would provide a place for Dorchester residents to host wedding receptions and ''sweet 16" parties, without having to go all the way downtown, Montgomery said. The teen center would provide a safe place to hang out and play video games, while also giving the church a chance to mentor to young people who might be headed in the wrong direction, he added.

The salon is to provide an atmosphere free of some of the elements found in some urban salons -- raunchy music, unsavory movies, and street peddlers who offer the likes of bootleg movies and lace underwear. The salon's musical selections float from smooth jazz to Top 40 to gospel. The table near the hair dryer holds traditional reading fare like Essence and O, the Oprah Magazine, along with Christian magazines like Spirit Led Woman. Patrons can choose what to watch on the televisions, as long as it doesn't cross a boundary of taste.

''If you come in and want to watch Jerry Springer, we're not having that," Montgomery said.

The salon wants to foster a welcoming, yet neutral environment, no matter the religion of the patron.

''It's the kind of place where you would be welcome to come in and read your Bible," said Sharonda Lesley, head stylist and the salon manager.

Prices range from $25 for a pedicure to upwards of $60 for a perm. All profits go to the church, which owns the building in which PTAC Styling is located.

''I was passing by and thought that I'd stop in," said Sonie Cyprien, 41, of Dorchester, who visited this week.

Cyprien said she is a member of the local Seventh-day Adventist Church, not Prayer Tower, but she wanted to get her hair done before her birthday dinner and liked the notion of her money going to a good cause.

''You don't tend to see salons like this around here," she said. ''We need something in this environment to share our beauty. Plus, this brings money to the church. People are going to get their hair done no matter what. It's better to invest in the church."

Prayer Tower Apostolic Church, with 35 members, used tithes and offerings from the roughly 125 people who attend Sunday services each week to finance the purchase of the salon property.

The church got discounts from electricians and contractors to aid in construction, Montgomery said.

In August, church leaders hope to close a deal to buy a clapboard building next door that would house a youth mentoring program. On weekends, it would be used as a Christian-centered club for teens. The church is also looking into buying two empty lots and two rundown buildings across the street.

Some Norfolk Avenue residents and businesses say Prayer Tower's efforts are much needed.

''I think it'd be a plus if the church was going to buy the land and commit to keeping the community clean," said day-care owner Cloria Bethea, who lives off Norfolk Street and has complained to the city about trash-filled empty lots. ''This is great because there are all homeowners here and all this trash and stuff is not helping us to raise our property values."

Roger Auguste of Mattapan echoed those thoughts.

''It would be good for the community because hopefully it would result in less crimes," said Auguste, who recently shut down his barbershop on the block.

Adrienne P. Samuels can be reached at asamuels@globe.com