Y'all,
I got this from a Sister in Christ from another e-mail list I am on. I
belive this is important to share
John
---
LittleJohn FCF July 10th 99, Hudson bay group
Royal Ranger Straight Arrow Lt. Cmdr
Maryville 7
Royal Rangers May 96
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DATE: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 21:52:44
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bonnie Burton)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
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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. Please pray for our church. Please forgive
typos, etc. It is hard to type through the tears. --W
Richard,
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 my 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
______________________________________________
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