3.7.2008 LCMS News
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH Missouri Synod
March 7, 2008 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 17
Synod reaches out after NIU, Kirkwood City Hall shootings
By Paula Schlueter Ross
Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod pastors, congregations, and related agencies are reaching out to comfort students at Northern Illinois University (NIU), DeKalb, and residents of Kirkwood, Mo., after two shootings a week apart in those cities.
In DeKalb, LCMS Pastor Marty Marks was ministering to students within minutes of the Feb. 14 shootings there that left six people, including the gunman, dead and 16 wounded. None of the victims are known to be members of LCMS congregations.
Marks, senior pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, DeKalb, and NIU campus pastor, ran from his church office to Neptune Hall, a residence hall next to Cole Hall, where the shootings took place, when he heard about the incident and saw rescue vehicles arriving.
Immanuel Lutheran is located "right in the heart of the campus," said Marks, who graduated from NIU in 1992.
The pastor found himself in the midst of students who had fled Cole Hall, some of them bleeding, and "did a lot of counseling, praying, sitting, talking" with about half of the 60 to 70 students who had taken refuge in Neptune, assuring them that "we're going to get through this together" and "you're not alone."
But he dispensed more hugs than words, he said.
"We don't have to be defined by this event," but rather, "our response can really be the definition of who we are," said Marks. One way God is present on campus, he said, "is through us -- are we going to be His presence to love and care for this community?"
Marks and nearly a dozen fellow alumni and current students continued to reach out to the campus community by offering "free hugs" as classes resumed Feb. 25. The group enjoyed a "very positive" reception, according to Marks, and plan to resume the activity in about a month, "when people may need a reminder that they are loved," he said.
The mood on campus seems "good," now that classes are back in session, Marks said, although "some students are still struggling," particularly those who lost friends in the shooting.
While "being around each other and familiar things on campus" has been "very therapeutic," Marks says he expects to see more people struggling in the weeks to come, particularly caregivers who have taken on "lots of extra work and stress."
"We need to be in this for the long haul," he said, "aware that a Christ-like presence and His love shows through in how we respond to each other day in and day out, not only when under crisis conditions."
In a message posted on the Web site of the Synod's Northern Illinois District, President Dan Gilbert thanked those "who have been praying for the wounded and their families and for the families of those who lost their lives in this tragedy."
Gilbert acknowledged the response of Marks and DCE Tim Hetzner, president of Lutheran Church Charities, Addison, Ill., who coordinated a team of crisis counselors, and Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois, which provided an online resource guide for pastors and arranged to have counselors at several area Lutheran congregations to assist NIU students and their families.
Lutherans also offered comfort in Kirkwood, Mo., where a gunman killed five people, wounded two, and was himself shot dead by police Feb. 7. The Synod's International Center headquarters is located about a mile from Kirkwood City Hall, where the shootings took place.
Several LCMS pastors visited Kirkwood police headquarters Feb. 19 to distribute copies of God's Word for Peace Officers, a Bible with an introduction written especially for police officers.
Leading the delegation was LCMS Chaplain Steve Lee, director of Peace Officer Ministries, an organization that ministers to law-enforcement officers and their families. Lee said the group handed out dozens of the special-edition Bibles and listened to -- and prayed with -- officers and staff there. Two Kirkwood police officers were killed during the city hall shootings.
"The opportunity to support spiritually those who tend to our physical safety was a wonderful privilege," said Rev. Scott Seidler, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Kirkwood, who joined Lee and the others.
The evening after the shootings, Seidler and some 125 members of his congregation marched several blocks from their church to the city hall for a candlelight vigil, joining about 100 more Concordia members and several thousand area residents who gathered to share their grief and pray for healing.
Concordia members also distributed hundreds of candles and Portals of Prayer devotional booklets -- a special edition for "times of crisis" -- provided by Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis.
More than a dozen counselors and staff members from Lutheran Family and Children's Services (LFCS) of Missouri, St. Louis, also attended the candlelight vigil to show their support for area residents.
The agency is offering up to four free sessions to anyone who wants to meet with a counselor to talk about the shootings, according to Paulette Foerster, LFCS vice president of programs. Several people have made appointments, she said.
Foerster added that LFCS also is working with four other St. Louis-area mental-health organizations as the Family Mental Health Collaborative to provide care to caregivers, such as pastors and other parish workers, in the wake of the city hall shootings.
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If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release, contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org <mailto:joe.isenhower@lcms.org> or (314) 996-1231, or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org <mailto:paula.ross@lcms.org> or (314) 996-1230.
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