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This is a e-mail I recieved on the Wedgwood Church Shootings in Texas |
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Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 18:01:58 -0600
From:(email addresses removed for privacy reasons)
To:(email addresses removed for privacy reasons)
-----Original Message-----
From: John Pritchard [(email addresses removed for privacy reasons)]
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 1999 11:34 AM
To: (email addresses removed for privacy reasons)
Subject: Letter from Wedgewood
For those receiving copies of this, I am Walter H. Norvell. I am the
Dean of the Weekend College at Dallas Baptist University, Dallas Texas.
I am also a PhD student at Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary. My
family and I are members at Wedgwood Baptist Church and were in the
services Wednesday night as this tragedy occurred. This is written in
response to a request for specific prayer needs. I don't know many of
you except through e-mail contacts or through my dissertation work or my
denominational writing.
It is so kind of you to ask for specific prayer requests for our family
and church. Assure your youth that our family and our church family are
sensing God's presence in powerful ways because of the prayers of our
Christian brothers and sisters. Because of the great response and the
great need for support I am also going to send this list on to others as
well. Please feel free to distribute this to every praying Christian
you can find.
Here are some prayer requests:
Pray for Justin Laird. He is a football player at Brewer High School
and a member at First Baptist Church, White Settlement. He took a
bullet in his spine and is paralyzed at this time. Pray that God will
do a miracle so he will fully recover.
Pray for our church staff: Dr. Al Meredith, pastor; Mike Holton,
Minister of
Education/Administration; Jonathan Gardner, our brand new Minister of
Music;
Chris Shirley, our Minister of Adult Education and Singles; Dax Hughes,
Minister to Students; Jay Fannin, Youth Minister; Kim Heron, Minister to
Children; and Kevin Galey, counselor. Kevin is among the wounded.
Pray for Jay Fannin, our youth minister. Jay, along with several other
youth ministers, planned this event.
Pray for the Christian band Forty Days. They were leading the youth in
the praise, actually singing "Alleluia" when the gunman burst in. Pray
God will give them a new power and focus in their music ministry because
of this event.
Pray for Mike Smith. Mike is the 11th grade boys Sunday School teacher
(David's class). Mike enlisted Kim Jones to help with the rally and she
was killed doing the job she volunteered for. Mike is having a hard
time dealing with this.
Pray for Tim Hood. Tim is the technology teacher at Southwest High
School and leads the media team in our church. He had just succeeded in
interesting Justin Ray in the youth group because Justin enjoyed video
work.
Tim assigned Justin to his videotaping position in the sanctuary.
Justin was killed. Tim is having a hard time dealing with this.
Pray for youth who brought visitors to this event. Our son invited and
brought a friend from school. These kids feel anguished and troubled
because they brought visitors, yet they were doing just what all
Christians should be doing.
Pray for Mary Beth Talley. We have a sweet, physically and mentally
challenged youth named Heather MacDonald. Mary Beth shielded Heather
and was shot in the back. Her wound was not serious, but she will face
surgery in a couple weeks to have the bullet removed. Mary Beth will
not accept the title, but she is a real hero.
Pray for Jeff Laster, our building maintenance worker, the first person
shot . Jeff is a student at SWBTS and is preparing for ministry. His
condition is improving.
Kevin Galey, our counselor, is wounded and recovering. I helped pull
Kevin to safety right after he was shot. Kevin is the father of three
wonderful little boys. Pray for his wife, Leslie, as well.
One of the dead is Sydney Browning. She was our children's choir
coordinator and deeply loved by every child who has been in her choirs.
Pray for those children. Sydney was also a teacher in the city's
alternative education program for problem kids. She loved her students,
many of whom were kids that others have given up on. Many Saturdays,
Sydney would go down to the park and meet her students on their turf to
play basketball and just hang out. Her students were excelling because
of her commitment to them and her witness. Pray for her students.
Pray for the Clark family-Larry, our church organist, Glenda, who worked
with Sydney in the children's choir, and their sons Aaron and Andy. The
Clarks invited Sydney to live in their home while she was struggling
financially with seminary studies and before she could find a job.
Sydney was like a second mom to the Clark brothers. Glenda and Larry
were sitting in the church lobby with Sydney when the shooter attacked
and killed her.
They were unharmed.
Many former church members are traveling to Fort Worth to be with us as
we go back into that sanctuary on Sunday morning. Pray for traveling
protection as they come and leave.
Many of the youth present, from our church and other churches, are
struggling with fear, sleeplessness, depression, guilt, and other
serious emotions and symptoms. Pray for their emotional healing. In
particular, pray that God will bless people with sleep. So many kids
are telling me they can't sleep.
Pray for the police officers, EMTs, city workers, fire fighters,
counselors, and many other caregivers who came to our aid. Every one
has shown great respect and love to our people. Several more would have
died if not for their work. Their work has a special stress, too. Many
are mothers and fathers of teenagers themselves and they feel our hurt
very keenly.
The media people are just surrounding us. As bad as that sounds, it is
providing us a way to share the gospel with thousands of people. Pray that
our staff and people will graciously share their testimonies and the plan
of salvation in these interviews. Pray for God's power will be on us to
share our faith.
Pray for the families of the deceased: Justin Ray, Cassie Griffin,
Sydney Browning, Sean Brown, Kim Jones, Kristi Beckel, Joseph Ennis.
Pray for our youth as they share their faith in Christ Jesus with their
families and school friends.
Pray for parents of youth. It's really hard to rejoice your youth is
alive and the parents next to you are grieving because their youth is
not alive.
It's hard to let them out of your sight. It's hard to realize that
there really is very little you can do to protect them in such a crisis.
Pray for my Sunday School class. Our teacher is Chip Gillette. Chip
just lives across the street from the church building. He is a police
officer.
He was off-duty and home, making him the first officer on the scene.
Chip is another hero in our church. Our class is made up entirely of
parents of youth.
Pray for this entire generation of teenagers. God was something in store
for this generation. Satan is throwing all he can at this group. Pray
that more teens will come to know the Lord and that Christian teens will
stand up for the Lord.
There are many things to praise God for in all this:
Many youth and others have renewed their faith and strengthened their
faith in this tragedy.
This could have been worse. I firmly believe it was the desparate prayers
going up that prevented the gunman from using the 60 addition bullets he
had on his person. He could have killed nearly half the people in the
sanctuary.
Praise God for the support these hurting brothers and sisters in Christ are
getting. The support and encouragement is phenomenal. Every little word
that people say to you is an encouragement and help. You would not think
it so, but it is true.
As tragic as it is, God's good news of salvation is being proclaimed
like never before. God is working miracles and opening doors like never
before.
I was asked to speak at DBU yesterday morning and I led those students
and faculty in prayer. Mary, my wife, was asked to e-mail everyone in
Early Childhood Intervention where she works for the Tarrant County and
she testified to the Lord's power. Her e-mail was read in every office
staff meeting across the county. That's just us. Our members are on
the news programs all over the country.
I want to praise God for the media. As intrusive as it was, my older
son, Jonathan, studying at Baylor University, was beside himself with
fear and worry until he saw me on the TV screen. He could tell by my
body language that our family was safe.
If some of you would like to send notes, letters, or cards, you can send
them to
Any Youth or Any Member
Wedgway Baptist Church
5522 Whitman
Fort Worth, Texas 76133
Our people will gratefully receive them. We also have a website you can
reach at www.wedgwoodbc.org.The Baptist General Convention of Texas is
asking people everywhere to wear simple Wedgwood blue ribbons on their
clothing or attach them to their car antennas to remember them to pray
and to show their solidarity with our church.
Today, Saturday is going to be a long day. My son and I are going to the
high school this morning to hear youth from Columbine share about their
healing process over the last eight months. Only youth who were in the
sancturay and their parents will be admitted. Then we have four funerals
to attend later in the day. I am going to carry a note pad with me and
list prayer requests as I can. I will forward these to you as I have
time. I want you to tell your youth that when all you have is your
faith in Jesus that it is also all you need. It is enough. God bless
each and every one of you. Keep the faith.
Sincerely,
Walter H. Norvell
Karen N. Zondlo/ACCESS Medical Information Services
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phil. 4:13
Pages Related To Wedgewood:
Wedgwood's Web page
Candles For Wedgewood Church
Go Back To The Archives Page -or- Go Back To The Columbine Memorial Page |
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Yhis page and images (c) 1999 - 2009 James K
