‘Healing and comfort’ offered to those affected by the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history

A number of Christian artists and authors have offered support, prayers and commentary in the aftermath of the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, behind only the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech that left 32 people dead.

TobyMac, Chris Tomlin, Mandisa, Laura Story, Casting Crowns, Steven Curtis Chapman and Building 429 were to present a free concert on Jan. 15 honoring the victims and families impacted in Newtown, Conn., where a masked gunman killed more than 26 people—including 20 children—Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. 

Authors and speakers Louie Giglio, Max Lucado and Mary Beth Chapman were also scheduled to share during “a night of prayer and music” to pay tribute to the victims of the tragedy. 

Author Clive Calver, senior pastor of Walnut Hill Community Church, a network of five charismatic churches in western Connecticut, lives in Newtown, Conn.

“We prayed for the families of those who perished—including two mothers who attend our weekday women’s ministry and lost children,” said Calver, who wrote Alive in the Spirit (Charisma House) and Dying to Live (Authentic Media). “We prayed for those who were in that school and saw horrible things; we prayed for the greater Newtown community.

“Our prayer is that this evil, this unspeakable horror, would be the turning point for what God is doing in New England,” he added. “We’ve spent the last nearly eight years here, breaking up the land and laying seed for a harvest—or revival in New England. Maybe, just maybe, this is the wake-up call. Maybe, just maybe, this is when the church springs into action, being the hands and feet of Jesus and shining His light in this darkness.”

Philip Yancey, best-selling author of Where Is God When It Hurts? (Zondervan), visited those affected by the shooting.

Addressing the question posed in the title of his book, Yancey participated in a free, open-to-the-public weekend event Dec. 28-30 at Walnut Hill Community Church’s Bethel campus just outside Newtown. He and Calver met with the community’s families, teachers, first responders, parents and students who have been deeply affected by the tragedy.

“Healing and comfort—that’s what I want most for those dear people,” Yancey said. “Words can only do so much, and certainly cannot take away the pain, yet I hope that this event could be a place of safety and honesty where people can bring their grief and come away with a new appreciation for why the gospel is good news—even now, especially now.”

Attendees will be able to participate in a question-and-answer session as well.

“I am humbled to know that a member of our Zondervan author family has been asked to help comfort the community of Newtown,” said Mark Schoenwald, president and CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. “Asking ‘Where is God in all of this?’ is something many people in our nation are currently doing.”

Zondervan provided free copies of Where Is God When It Hurts? for individuals who attended the event. In addition, the e-book edition was made available in the U.S. for free download in early January on various websites—Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Christian Book Distributors, Google and Kobo.

“We are eager to help and show our support for this community,” Schoenwald added. “Newtown is in the hearts and minds of everyone at Zondervan and all of the HarperCollins Christian Publishing division. We hope that by providing this resource, some comfort will be found and emotional wounds can begin to mend.”

Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., and author of Lost Boy (Regal Books), wrote a blog in which he called the shooting the “worst imaginable scenario.”

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