By Carrie Brown McWhorter
The Alabama Baptist
Following the Dec. 6 shooting at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, churches in the area are responding with a message of hope and urging continued prayers for those affected.
“In moments like this, there’s a lot of confusion and a lot of anger, but the responsibility of the church is to be salt and light in a world that’s broken,” said Wade Rials, pastor of East Brent Baptist Church in Pensacola. “We have to be the ones to proclaim the hope that is in the gospel of Christ.”
East Brent took time during its Dec. 8 worship service to reflect on the shooting and remember the three victims who died. Kaleb Watson, 23, of Enterprise, a recent graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and an aspiring Navy pilot, was one of them.
“He died a hero and we are beyond proud, but there is a hole in our hearts that can never be filled,” his brother, Adam Watson, wrote on Facebook.
At least eight others were injured by the shooter, a 2nd lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force who also was training at the base. The shooter was killed by sheriff’s deputies responding to the scene.
The FBI is calling the shooting an act of terrorism. When the word “terrorism” is involved, emotions run high, Rials said.
Multiple churches in the area held prayer vigils Saturday, and the victims and first responders were on the minds of everyone in the city, where NAS Pensacola is part of most families’ lives.
“I’d venture to say nearly a third of our church has military connections and then there are many civil contractors on base,” said Rials.
Rials, a native of Samson, Alabama, who formerly served as pastor of Thorington Road Baptist Church in Montgomery, was in a Bible study with several other men when news of the shooting broke. He said their phones “exploded” with messages as rumors began to spread but official word from Navy officials came much later in the day.
In the interim Rials said he got messages from church members asking for prayer for husbands, brothers and others working on the base.
“We were shepherding the immediate moment, calling to check on our people,” Rials said.
No one from East Brent was injured in the shooting, but Rials said many in the church were part of the emergency response teams, which included local police officers, sheriff’s deputies, emergency medical personnel and hospital staff who treated the wounded.
During Sunday’s service, Rials and East Brent associate pastor James Kerr, a former army chaplain, thanked the first responders for their service during the crisis.
“The officers, the trauma nurses, the folks driving the ambulances — often they don’t get remembered,” he said. “So we are praying for them, and I challenged our folks to find ways to show them kindness.”
Rials reminded his congregation that the military personnel “defend our right to preach the gospel” and doing that, he said, “is the greatest act of gratitude.”
“We can’t allow the distractions of our culture to confuse us,” Rials said. “Our community needs us to be gospel people because the gospel is our hope.”
In a video statement following the shooting, Brian Nall, executive director of the Pensacola Bay Baptist Association, called for a day of prayer and encouraged ongoing prayer for those involved in the response to the tragedy.
Nall said the association’s Faith and Hope counseling ministry would be available to anyone in the community needing trauma-related counseling related to the shooting.
And as the investigation into the shooting and the healing process continues, Rials said his prayer is that followers of Jesus in Pensacola and elsewhere will remember their purpose.
“I want our people to live missionally, to recognize that we’re ambassadors for Christ whose citizenship is in heaven,” he said. “The answer to the divisions in our world is not ideological. The answer is the gospel.”
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