Here we are, one week away from the day that none of us will ever forget- the day God saved us from an attempted mass shooting during our worship service. Glory be to God!!

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The key word in that sentence is “attempted.” We have already discussed the heroes of June 22nd and I am grateful for the way God used every last one of them to achieve His purpose of granting us a literal, physical salvation. They too are worthy of receiving honor for their individual actions. But rather than recounting those events once more, we want to report some of the things that have been an additional outpouring of God’s love. 

 

First, it was about 90 degrees that day and a neighbor came out and immediately offered us cold water as we waited on the east lawn of our building. They even allowed some members to use their bathroom because we were not allowed back into the church for several hours as police investigated. Then buses took us to Hype Community Center so that we can cool off and just regroup. Little Caesars sent pizzas to feed us. Grief counselors were present and left a ton of information for ongoing care. Merriman Road Baptist Church sent cars to help take members home as our cars were all left at the church since the whole property was now a crime scene. And that was all on Sunday. 

 

We also knew we needed to gather soon to share what we had learned about the incident, but mainly to come together, worship, and begin healing. Hillcrest Bible Church offered us a space to have a gathering on Tuesday, at which multiple grief counselors were present. We announced that one of them offered to give free group therapy sessions for our children and teens. Many of our members have reached out and made connections to get help wading through the trauma that is still present as our brains wrestle with what just happened. Connection Church even sent enough food for about 200 people, giving us time to fellowship when the service was all over. 

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We made the decision to worship God in the same place where the incident occurred the following Sunday—today. We thank the well over a hundred brothers and sisters in Christ who showed up to worship at our side. HOPE even came with therapy dogs to help lower the anxiety of our little ones. The motto of the moment is “Walk forward, slowly.” We are still figuring out how it all will look, but we do know that we are changed which means that likely some other things will change as well. And all change for God is good.