Coffee shop slayings hit close to home
TACOMA, WASH. - On a recent reporting trip to the Pacific Northwest, I was blessed to worship with the Lakeview Church of Christ on a Sunday night.
About 35 miles south of Seattle, the Lakeview church is a 450-member congregation not far from the Fort Lewis Army post and McChord Air Force Base.
My main reason for visiting Lakeview was to interview couples involved with the church’s military outreach ministry. That story is posted here.
But while at Lakeview, I enjoyed meeting minister Glenn Newton and learning about the congregation’s inspirational response to a terrible tragedy.
As you may recall, the execution-style slayings of four police officers at a Forza Coffee Co. shop in nearby Parkland made national headlines two months ago.
For the Lakeview church, the ambush on a Sunday morning in late November hit close to home — way too close to home.
At my request, Glenn gave this account of the church’s ties to the coffee shop:
The expression “It hits close to home” could have never been truer. Forza is only a few blocks from our building, and we get our coffee from them every week. One of our members went to pick it up and could not get to the coffee shop for all of the police cars. We did not know what was going on. One of our members who is an officer got word during Bible class what had happened, and our hearts sunk. We were also in fear because the killer was still on the loose. Once the killer was caught, we knew we had to do something.
The Wednesday night after the murders, we had a prayer vigil for the community. Over 250 were in attendance. We signed books and cards for the family. We also had a collection and were able to provide each family with a substantial gift card for a local store. We realized that many people were giving to the officers’ guild through local banks and stores, but we did not know how quickly they would receive that money. We knew with family coming in town for a funeral, they would have unexpected expenses, and we wanted to help. We were also able do gift cards for the children for Christmas from the additional monies that came in. We had a substantial amount come in from Pierre, S.D. My Brother Mark Newton is the minister for the Church of Christ there and also serves as a police chaplain. Many agencies in that area gave, and they were able to send a check for over $1,000.
We also did not want to leave out the girls that worked at Forza. Wednesday night, while cards were being signed, we also signed one for the girls. When Forza reopened, there were hundreds of people in line on that cold Saturday morning. Over 50 of them were from the Lakeview congregation. We also sent them a dozen roses just to let them know that we care about them too. I know that many of our members have dropped by in the last month to offer words on encouragement to the workers.
Thank you, Glenn, for sharing that.
May God keep blessing the Lakeview church in its efforts to show love and concern to those directly affected by this tragedy.
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About 35 miles south of Seattle, the Lakeview church is a 450-member congregation not far from the Fort Lewis Army post and McChord Air Force Base.
My main reason for visiting Lakeview was to interview couples involved with the church’s military outreach ministry. That story is posted here.
But while at Lakeview, I enjoyed meeting minister Glenn Newton and learning about the congregation’s inspirational response to a terrible tragedy.
As you may recall, the execution-style slayings of four police officers at a Forza Coffee Co. shop in nearby Parkland made national headlines two months ago.
For the Lakeview church, the ambush on a Sunday morning in late November hit close to home — way too close to home.
At my request, Glenn gave this account of the church’s ties to the coffee shop:
The expression “It hits close to home” could have never been truer. Forza is only a few blocks from our building, and we get our coffee from them every week. One of our members went to pick it up and could not get to the coffee shop for all of the police cars. We did not know what was going on. One of our members who is an officer got word during Bible class what had happened, and our hearts sunk. We were also in fear because the killer was still on the loose. Once the killer was caught, we knew we had to do something.
The Wednesday night after the murders, we had a prayer vigil for the community. Over 250 were in attendance. We signed books and cards for the family. We also had a collection and were able to provide each family with a substantial gift card for a local store. We realized that many people were giving to the officers’ guild through local banks and stores, but we did not know how quickly they would receive that money. We knew with family coming in town for a funeral, they would have unexpected expenses, and we wanted to help. We were also able do gift cards for the children for Christmas from the additional monies that came in. We had a substantial amount come in from Pierre, S.D. My Brother Mark Newton is the minister for the Church of Christ there and also serves as a police chaplain. Many agencies in that area gave, and they were able to send a check for over $1,000.
We also did not want to leave out the girls that worked at Forza. Wednesday night, while cards were being signed, we also signed one for the girls. When Forza reopened, there were hundreds of people in line on that cold Saturday morning. Over 50 of them were from the Lakeview congregation. We also sent them a dozen roses just to let them know that we care about them too. I know that many of our members have dropped by in the last month to offer words on encouragement to the workers.
Thank you, Glenn, for sharing that.
May God keep blessing the Lakeview church in its efforts to show love and concern to those directly affected by this tragedy.
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