Here are copies of two different e-mail with specific prayer requests from Wedgewood Baptist Church. Please pray. ( This is the prayer page. The home button will return you to the healing pages when you're done. ) 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. 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. 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. 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 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phil. 4:13 The senior pastor, Al Meredith, has called our people to forty days of concerted prayer for spiritual awakening in our nation. (Sept. 28 - Nov. 7). Please join with us. (Lamentations 2:19) Thank you again for your thoughtful prayers. We would ask youto continue your prayers for God's healing for the injured andtraumatized, for God's comfort to the families who have lostso much, for God's wisdom and humility to the church'sleadership, and for God only to be glorified in all that isdone. In His Love, Wedgwood Baptist Church http://www.wedgwoodbc.org thewedge@flash.net |
Here are copies of two different e-mail with specific prayer requests from Wedgewood Baptist Church. Please pray. ( This is the prayer page. The home button will return you to the healing pages when you're done. ) 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. 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. 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. 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 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phil. 4:13 The senior pastor, Al Meredith, has called our people to forty days of concerted prayer for spiritual awakening in our nation. (Sept. 28 - Nov. 7). Please join with us. (Lamentations 2:19) Thank you again for your thoughtful prayers. We would ask youto continue your prayers for God's healing for the injured andtraumatized, for God's comfort to the families who have lostso much, for God's wisdom and humility to the church'sleadership, and for God only to be glorified in all that isdone. In His Love, Wedgwood Baptist Church http://www.wedgwoodbc.org thewedge@flash.net |
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