SAMSON, Ala. (ABP) — Baptists are reaching out in Samson, Ala., a normally sleepy town marred by violence March 10 when 28-year-old Michael McLendon allegedly went on a 10-victim killing spree before turning a gun on himself.
"For this small town to have that type of trauma, it's devastating and overwhelming for people," said Alisha Lewis, a counselor with Pathways Professional Counseling of the Alabama Baptist Children's Homes & Family Ministries.
Lewis said a tragedy like the shooting "hits even closer to home when you have a tight-knit community like this."
Lewis and her family live an hour away, but said Samson is like a second home to them. Her two kindergarten- and preschool-age daughters attend Samson Baptist Academy, where their father, Wade Lewis, is principal and minister of music at First Baptist Church.
In the hours and days after the shooting, Lewis made herself available to the community, offering counseling time to the local high school where one of the victims was a student and walking from local business to local business handing out her card.
She's talked with children, teens and adults who are carrying a lot of grief, fear and questions. "Here everybody knows everybody," she said. "They are really dealing hard with the killings. There are mixed emotions, anger and tears."
While there's not much physical evidence left of the shootings in the town of 2,000, where six of the 10 victims resided, Lewis said emotional scars will last for a long time.
"In terms of counseling, there will be a great need to follow up," she said. "Other people who are coming in to offer things now, it's so appreciated. But when they drive away, there will still be a lot of people who need help who are hurting."
When that happens, Lewis hopes they will pick up her Pathways card, see the Alabama Baptist Children's Homes logo and think, "I need to call this lady and get help."
That's the whole goal of the ministry, said Steve Sellers, church-relations manager for the chidren's homes. "Alabama Baptist Children's Homes responds to people in crises, whether that be a child or through Pathways," he said.
Sellers, along with ABCH Southeastern Regional Director Kim McGainey, also responded after the shootings, assisting First Baptist Church in Samson with a prayer service held March 11 for the broken community.
Wade Lewis led the crowd of about 300 in a "very worshipful, very moving song that brought peace to a lot of people," Sellers said. When an invitation was given at the end of the service, people flooded the altar.
Area pastors — including First Baptist Pastor Sam Totten — and counselors were there to minister to and talk with the people, too, and "just did an awesome job," Sellers said. He noted, "First Baptist Church, all the churches in the area and the [Geneva Baptist Association] director of missions responded in a tremendous way."
Other churches in the area, such as Ino Baptist Church in Kinston, Ala., held services and sought ways to minister to grieving families.
Brent Gay, pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Samson, planned a prayer walk March 14 for people from his church and the Baptist College of Florida in nearby Graceville, Fla., to knock on doors and pray with the community. "We want to offer them a shoulder to cry on," said Gay, a senior at the college.
Lewis said it's a group effort that will continue. In the coming days, "We hope to keep helping hurting people to take care of themselves."
Police say McLendon, armed with an assault rifle, burned his mother's house down around her, shot his grandparents, aunt and uncle dead and then killed five more people, apparently at random, during a 24-mile shooting spree through the small towns of Kinston, Samson and Geneva, Ala. He then apparently killed himself at a factory where he used to work.
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley declared March 20, as a "Day of Prayer and Remembrance" for victims, families and South Alabama communities hurt by the deadly rampage.
The area is in the far southeast part of the state, near the Alabama-Florida border.
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Grace Thornton is assistant editor of The Alabama Baptist, where this story originally appeared. Associated Baptist Press Senior Writer Bob Allen contributed to this story.