WELS in the news: Crandon congregation coping with mass murder
Filed Under: National News
St. Paul Lutheran Church, a WELS congregation in Crandon, Wis., is dealing with the emotional impact of the murder of six young people in the community on Oct. 7. The gunman apparently killed himself.
None of those killed was a member of St. Paul—the closest relative was a nephew of the church organist. But in a community of about 2,000 people, Pastor Eric Vertein says “there’s not a father, mother, or child, that hasn’t felt the hurt.”
Among St. Paul’s members are the police chief and five public school teachers—each had taught at least one of the victims in elementary school. In addition, the EMT responders to the scene were a married couple from the neighboring WELS congregation.
“We’re still at the stage of shock and denial,” says Vertien. He says he has no plans to change the theme of his next sermon, which was planned long before the shootings: God our protector and preserver. “That truth hasn’t changed, no matter what tragedy has come.”
In a column in the local paper after the shootings, Vertein expressed the gift of sympathy God has given to those not directly impacted: “God went beyond just feeling our pain—he experienced it to the full so we wouldn’t have to.”
