April 28, 1999
Pastor views shooting scene as like a war
___By Art Toalston
___Baptist Press
___LITTLETON, Colo. (BP)--Denver-area pastor Butch Caner never has seen the horrors of war, "but I assume it would have been something like this," he said last week after ministering to victims of the massacre at Columbine High School.
___Caner, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Aurora, was among several ministers brought to the suburban Denver high School as the nation's worst-ever school shooting unfolded April 20, taking 15 lives.
___"It was a gruesome scene," he said. "Blood was everywhere, students were being carted off on gurneys and stretchers, parents were weeping.
___"Some people kept asking, 'Why, God, why?' It was specifically to these families we ministered most. They needed someone to assure them God is not the author of sin and that he wanted to bring them peace.
___"We had amazing opportunities to share Christ," Caner said of his ministry at the scene. "With the media swarming and secular counselors giving no hope, we really had the chance to share Jesus.
___"It was ministry on the front lines, which is exactly where the church should be."
___Rob Norris, interim pastor of Littleton's Ken Caryl Baptist Church, located less than two miles from Columbine High, said 13 of the school's 1,800 students are members of that congregation.
___All the church's youth were safe, but surely traumatized, Norris said.
___Deacons of the church visited each of the families the night of April 20, as did the church's bivocational youth minister, Steve Lee.
___The tragedy surely will yield opportunities to point people to faith, especially those asking, "Why?" Norris said.
___"Although we may never be able to understand why, we do have some answers," he said, "and those answers are in Jesus Christ. That's a vital message to get out to people."Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!