Another Killing in Grand Rapids

Sometimes ministry can be depressing. The cousin of Greg, one of my students that I mentor, was shot and killed Friday night. Here is the link to the story.

http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/02/police_say_slain_man_suffered.html


It will be interesting how my church, Berean Baptist, handles the situation. The murder took place in the house next door to the church, which it owns. In the past several years, Berean has developed a very positive reputation in the Creston neighborhood by loving the community in a variety of ways. However, it has not had to deal with some of the crime and violence that UTM has experienced. I am praying that the violence will not cause them to waver from reaching its community, even if it is dangerous. I remember a line from, Living Dangerously in the Hands of God," a song that Steve Camp penned almost twenty years ago. In the middle of the song he proclaims,

"There is safety in complacency. But God is calling us out of our comfort zones into a life of complete surrender to the cross. To live dangerously is not to live recklessly, but righteously. And it is because of God's radical grace for us, that we can live radically obedient for Him."

Another reason not to waver is because people are hurting from the violence. For example, as I was taking one of my students (Derek) home from the ROCK, he shared with me that his Dad had died (not sure from what), three of his brothers had been shot and killed, and his other two brothers were serving life prison sentences. Now his mom is fighting cancer. He tells me, "If she dies, than I am the only one left in my immediate family. And I just turned 18. " Thursday Night Hype and the ROCK has become his extended family where several of our students and staff show him constant love and support. Many of the students can comfort him because they too have gone through the same loss as Derek.

Berean Baptist can use this incident to embrace the neighborhood people who suffer from pain that violent crimes produce. I pray that their love will help turn a horrible situation into something good and redemptive.