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22 Dead And 26 Injured In Mass Shooting At Shopping Center In El Paso

Source: Mario Tama / Getty

Churches in El Paso, Texas are offering prayers, blood and counseling to victims of the recent mass shooting at Walmart that left 22 people dead and several others injured. 

Christian Post talked with local pastors to inquire about what they were doing in response to the shooting and it seems they’re banning together in love.  

“It will be a long term process where we will have Christian licensed counselors getting with those impacted in this meaningless violence. There are some that were not injured but were at the location and have asked for counseling,” J.C. Rico, lead pastor of Immanuel Church in El Paso, told Christian Post. “Love will bind and hold us together. There is no greater love than the one our Father in Heaven gives us. This tragedy was about hate, racism, ignorance and fear from a young man.” 

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On August 3, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius entered the Texas Walmart and fired shots believed to be a part of his beliefs in white nationalism. According to CNN, Crusius allegedly posted a four-page document that blamed Hispanics and immigrants for taking away jobs and blending cultures in America just moments before the tragedy. He has since been charged with capital murder and is being held without bond at the El Paso County Detention Facility.

“Our church is about a mile away from the Walmart where the shooting took place, so we are very aware that our neighbors are suffering, and we grieve with them and are here to support them,” Reverend Amy Wilson Feltz, pastor of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in El Paso, said. “Many church members have given blood and are seeking other ways to reach out in love and kindness to the families of the victims and to the survivors.”

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Above all, the community has encouraged a lot of prayer— prayers for strength, prayers for broken families, prayers for healing and more. 

“As a church, obviously, we are praying,” Maribel Valdivia and Pastor Eric Paul of Beth El Bible Church in El Paso said in a statement. “Our Sunday gathering was very focused on praying for the victims and families, emergency responders and our city as a whole.” 

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El Paso Churches Assist In Community’s Recovery After Mass Shooting  was originally published on getuperica.com