November 6, 2000
Carrollton church aids in crisis
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___CARROLLTON--First Baptist Church in Carrollton was a refuge in the midst of a storm of fear last week, while a student at a nearby high school held his teacher and 18 classmates hostage with a 9-mm handgun.
___Between 400 and 500 parents gathered at the church's building during the brief hostage crisis and the tense moments afterward.
___Pastor Brent Taylor said he was unsure who directed parents to the church, but he was glad the church could be of service to the community in a time of distress.
___"Opening up our facilities was, of course, ministry driven," he said. "But also, on a practical level, we're right across the street from the high school and have a great relationship with the school."
___Most of the parents arrived at the church not knowing anything more than that a student with a gun was holding other students hostage, Taylor said. They did not know if their children were involved.
___"Most were in a frantic state, just parking their cars wherever they could find a place and running into the building," he reported. Once there, parents were given information as soon as it was available, and many fears were allayed. A former staff member of the church also arrived to help communicate information in Spanish for some parents.
___Despite the tragic reason for the gathering, the church's ministry to the community was "a very positive experience all the way around," Taylor said. That especially was true since the situation was defused without injuries.
___The students held by the gunmen eventually were reunited with their parents in one of the church's educational classrooms, with ministers on hand to help as needed.
___One of the most interesting ministry opportunities started with a visit by one of the church's FAITH evangelism teams two nights earlier. The team was "cold-calling" that evening, just knocking on doors. A woman who was soon saying the prayer of salvation answered one door they knocked on. The next night, that mother brought her entire family to the church for its Fall Festival.
___Then the next morning, "that lady was coming through our doors crying because one of her children was a student at the high school and she was frightened," Taylor recounted. "We were able to minister to that family three days in a row, and before that we hadn't had any contact with them at all."
___Carrollton Police Chief David James attended the church's prayer meeting Wednesday evening, after the hostage crisis, to thank the church for coming to the parents' and community's aid.
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