1 post tagged “massacre”

GCM does have a church at Virginia Tech (VT), one of our biggest, and one of the biggest on campus. There are well over 1,000 students that are a part of the New Life Christian Fellowship [nlcf] in one form or another - about 1 in 25 VT students.

So, I had mixed feelings when I really began to understand the scope of what had happened. On one side, because of it's size, I knew there was a good chance that some of the students or GCM staff in the church could have been involved. On the other hand, I also knew the quality of this church and it's members would allow them to minister in a powerful way to the students and greater community in the aftermath.

This video is an excerpt from the Larry King Live tv show the evening of the shootings. It includes a brief conversation between Larry King and Jim Pace, a GCM staffer and one of the Pastors of [nlcf].

My first thought, unfortunately, became reality when a couple days later we learned that three of the 32 people killed had in fact been a part of the [nlcf] church:

Lauren McCain had been in an [nlcf] homegroup (a smaller subgroup of the church) and in a lifegroup (an even smaller subgroup of the homegroup).




Nicole White attended an [nlcf] homegroup.






Caitlin Hammaren came to [nlcf] for the first time this Spring semester.





In addition to these three, there are reported connections with 8 of the other victims and two of the survivors. Many lost boy/girl friends, teachers, co-workers, room mates, dorm mates and class mates. 

I just got the following email from my supervisor, GCM's Director of Campus Ministries, Greg Van Nada:

"Our pastor and staff team are running on empty and are overwhelmed.  They are laying down their lives for the Lord’s sheep and those not yet of His flock.  They just need someone to be there for them.  I plan on canceling my trip to Colorado at the end of next week but still am not sure if I will be at the [Pastor's] retreat [next week].  I made myself available to Jim [Pace] and their student leaders for as soon as he tells me when they need me.  Please pray that his team has wisdom to know what is best.  Right now they have a guy from Columbine coming to help.  Jim is going to see if that meets the immediate need and if so, have me come later in the week or, if not, to have me come earlier in the week."

As you can see, there's still a tremendous amount of work to be done, and the Pastors, Staff, and students of [nlcf] are doing their best to represent the love and concern of Jesus Christ to these hurting students, faculty, and families.

Please keep them regularly in your prayers!

-Dave