'Is there anyone I'm not forgiving?'

Killer's parents hug, cry with parents of 2 slain teens

Excerpt:

Pastor Brady Boyd calls it the "highlight of my ministry" -- seeing the parents of the man who shot up his church be embraced by the parents of two teenage sisters who were killed in the attack.

"The four of them met and hugged and cried," said Boyd, the senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

"It made me evaluate my own life and think, 'Is there anyone I'm not forgiving?'"


Comment: Touching and powerful

Tiff taught me that

Slain Colo. missionary mourned in Minn

Excerpts:

"She always told me, 'Dad, you think you can control things, but you can't. The Lord controls things,'" her father, Tom Johnson, told mourners. "I'd like to ask all of you to—instead of saying 'I love you' on the telephone to your children—to look them in the eye and say 'I love you'—because Tiff taught me that."


Johnson was born in nearby Hibbing and graduated from Hibbing High School and Normandale Community College in Bloomington, near Minneapolis.


One of Johnson's goals had been to help needy children in developing countries. John Mark, a missionary leader at Cedar Valley Church in Bloomington, called her a "beautiful and extraordinary lady."


"She was the type of person who would do anything you asked her to do," Mark said. "If you don't have love for Tiffany, something is wrong with your heart."


The Rev. Dave Oler of First Assembly of God Church in Hibbing officiated at the funeral.


"Jesus took Tiffany's life and blessed it and transformed it, and spread it out to the entire world," said Oler. "This world needs more Tiffany Johnsons—more people that would let God love them."


Comment: My thoughts and prayers are with the families touched by the church shootings in Colorado. Not mentioned in this article: The Work family lost 2 young daughters in the Colorado Springs' killings.

More from the Star Tribune: Praise for Chisholm woman killed by gunman in Colorado

Grandmother, Betty Holmquist of Little Canada, said Johnson gave her life to Jesus at an evangelistic event at the Target Center. “It was powerful,” she said. “They weren’t cheering for the Timberwolves, they were cheering for Jesus. We were sitting in the balcony, and when they were done speaking, we asked her if she wanted to go down to the floor. She said, 'I’ll go with you if you go with me.’ ”

God raised up a defender!

Image By David Zalubowski, Associated Press

Diatribe foretold horror

Excerpt:

"You christians brought this on yourselves," Murray writes in his 452-word harangue. "I'm coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the @#%$ teeth and I WILL shoot to kill.

Security Guard: 'God Guided Me And Protected Me'

Excerpt:

Assam said she was ending three days of fasting on Sunday when fate put her in the path of the gunman.

"I was praying to God that he direct me" in what to do in life, Assam said. "God made me strong."


Comment: We had a brief discussion at the home front last night about self-defense. I believe that it is Biblical to defend oneself. I see this in Luke 22:36, "Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one". What do you think?

Minneapolis connection (from the Star Tribune today):

Ex-Minneapolis cop hailed as hero in Colorado shootings


The guard -- former Minneapolis police officer Jeanne Assam -- said Monday that she prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide her, and that her hands never shook.

"It seemed like it was me, the gunman and God," she said.

New Life Pastor Brady Boyd called Assam, who is normally his personal security guard, a "hero" whose actions averted further bloodshed.

"There could have been a great loss of life ... and she probably saved over 100 lives," he said.

Assam, a church member, said she took cover as Murray opened fire at New Life, a 14,000-member evangelical megachurch, about 1 p.m. Sunday, while hundreds of worshipers were leaving. She said she leaped up and identified herself, and when Murray did not respond, fired.

Assam, who moved to Colorado in 2000 after being fired from the Minneapolis police department in the late 1990s, said she had been on the third day of a three-day fast, praying to God to provide direction for her life. "I knew I was given the assignment to end this," she said. "I give the credit to God."

Though the shooter had more firepower -- Assam had a handgun, while Murray wielded a high-powered rifle -- God kept her safe, she said.

Before she went to church, Assam read on the Internet about the shootings earlier at the Youth With a Mission Center in the Denver suburb of Arvada. There, two people were killed, including Tiffany Johnson of Chisholm, Minn. Two, including Charles Blanch, 22, of Burnsville, were wounded.

She prayed for the safety of her own church family. Hours later, she confronted Murray.

Cool heroism

Vietnam vet among Springs wounded

Excerpts:

A Vietnam veteran is among the survivors, hit by gunfire at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Larry Bourbannais, 59, was eating a hamburger in the cafeteria on the church campus when he heard gunfire, said his daughter, Sherry Smith. Bourbannais headed in the direction of the shots as frightened people ran past him looking to escape to safety. "Where's the shooter, where's the shooter," my dad kept yelling, Smith said.

....

Bourbannais came upon the gunman near an entry way in a building and yelled at him to draw his attention, Smith said. That's when the shooter pointed a handgun at Bourbannais and fired, she said. Bourbannais had ducked behind a hollow, decorative pillar and was hit in the arm by the bullet and fragments of the pillar.

At about that moment, a woman with a drawn handgun turned a corner and walked toward the gunman and yelled "Surrender," Smith said. When the gunman pointed his weapon at the woman, she fired at him and kept walking toward him as she continued firing, Smith said.

"My dad said it was the bravest thing he had ever seen," Smith said.

The woman fired off about 10 to 12 shots as she kept walking toward the shooter.

Comment: The Pastor of New Life Church claims that this heroism "probably saved over 100 lives"!

Updated with more below:

Guard's hands "didn't even shake" as she shot gunman

Excerpts:


The guard who saved untold lives at New Life Church gives credit to God for giving her cover, and boosting her firepower as she shot a heavily-armed gunman.

"I give credit to God. I say that very humbly," said Jeanne Assam. "God was with me, the whole time I was behind cover. Based on the firepower he had, compared to mine."

"It seemed like it was me, the gunman and God," Assam said.
....
"I heard shots fired, there was chaos," she said. "There was a lot of people in the church. People were running away from shots fired.

"I saw him coming through the doors, and I took cover, and I waited for him to get closer...I identified myself, engaged him, and took him down."

She spoke unemotionally, but the first words she said were in tribute to the victims.

"I just want you to know it's an honor to be here and I want to extend my sympathy to the families of the victims and of the gunman. And I mean that very sincerely," she said.

"I just prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide me my hands weren't even shaking."

Comment: The shooter had multiple weapons and 1,000 rounds of ammunition: Details on the shooter