Texas Church Lifts up Christ Amidst Tragedy
11-07-2017
For Pastor Frank Pomeroy and his wife Sherri, it was hard to talk without crying.
"We've had a long night with our children and our grand babies that we have left," the pastor told reporters.
Their church has been shattered by senseless violence, and friends and family members are gone.
Their 14-year-old daughter Annabelle was among the dead. Her mother Sherri said, "As senseless as this tragedy was, our sweet Belle would not have been able to deal with losing so much family yesterday. Belle was surrounded by her church family that she loved fiercely."
Other victims included Joann Ward, who died as she used her body to shield her four young children. Two of her children died, girls ages five and seven. Another is in critical condition, shot five times.
And eight members of the Holcombe family were killed – three generations, including Associate Pastor Bryan Holcombe, who was preaching Sunday, and his wife Crystal, who was eight months pregnant, and three of her children.
But despite this terrible tragedy, people in the small town are standing firm in their faith. Before the country, and the national media, the church and its pastor are lifting up the name of Jesus, even as they know their friends and family are in heaven.
"We were a very close family. We ate together, we laughed together, we cried together and we worshipped together, Sherri Pomeroy said. Now, most of our church family is gone."
Pastor Dimas Salaberrios, who has been ministering to the church, said on CBN News' Prayer Link, "This was a church that glorified Jesus. This was a church of prayer. This is a church that is uniting around their pastor, as the great example right now of a true shepherd."
Pastor Pomeroy was not in church Sunday. But his sermon the week before the tragedy was that even if things happen you don't understand, you still need to do what God is calling you to do, and to trust the Lord with all your heart, no matter what.
"We serve a God who is in the miracle-working business, guys," Pomeroy told his congregation, many of whom are now with the Lord.
"He can heal. He can bring forth all kinds of incredible fruit. The thing is, trust Him, and not your own understanding."
