PRAYERS & ACTION SPOKESPERSONS REV. DR. ROB SCHENCK, DR. JAMIE ATEN, REV. PAT MAHONEY AND REV. DR. LORENZO HONOR PARKLAND VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS
As the one-year mark of the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas nears, faith leaders urge Christians to respond to the nation’s gun violence epidemic with prayers and action

(NASHVILLE, TN) Feb. 13, 2019 — February 14 will mark one year since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 students and educators were killed and dozens more wounded. This year, faith leaders from across the country will honor the lives cut short in Parkland with both prayers and action. Prayers & Action spokespeople, pastors, and faith leaders will gather tomorrow for a public event at the lower western terrace of the United States Capitol Building at 11:00 AM for prayer and to remember the lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year.

Long-time Christian minister to top government officials in Washington, DC, president of The Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute, Rev. Dr. Rob Schenck, along with pastor of New Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jackson, Mississippi, Rev. Dr. Lorenzo T. Neal, founder and executive director of The Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College and disaster psychologist, Dr. Jamie Aten, and Director of the Christian Defense Coalition in Washington, D.C., Rev. Pat Mahoney released the following statement:

STATEMENT FROM REV. DR ROB SCHENCK:
“This week as we mark another year of unspeakable tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School,
there must be an awakening of the conscience on the part of spiritual, civic, business, and political leaders. There must be a moral resolve not to allow any more children, women, or men to be mowed down at school, in church, or at concerts. The voices of moral leadership, especially in the pulpit, need to be heard—and their actions need to be seen. I ask my fellow Americans, especially those who name the Lord of Life and the Prince of Peace as their final authority in all matters of faith and practice, whether they will choose the path of virtuousness or viciousness. This week we would all do well to remember the command of the Lord we claim as our own, ‘In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven’ (Matthew 5:16). Virtue demands our action.”

STATEMENT FROM REV. DR. LORENZO T. NEAL:
“One year ago, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, walked into the school and opened fire, killing 17 students and staff members, injuring dozens, and changing the lives of an entire community. Those student survivors took their grief and turned it into advocacy forming the March For Our Lives event that became the largest call to action for students against gun violence. Those parents and family members turned their grief into action by forming Stand with Parkland The National Association of Families for Safe Schools. I’ve had the honor of sharing in moments of advocacy with students and family member survivors of the Parkland school shooting. It is a reminder that we as Christians must act in response to the gun violence plaguing our country. We are the good Samaritan Jesus spoke of and we must lift up those directly impacted by gun violence to be healed and restored.”

STATEMENT FROM DR. JAMIE ATEN:
“Nearing the one-year anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, we lift up our prayers in remembrance and mourning of all those who were affected. May we also come together to take action and do what we can to prevent this sort of tragic and senseless mass gun violence from happening again.”

STATEMENT FROM REV. PAT MAHONEY:
“On the year memorial of the tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida our hearts break for the families and friends who lost loved ones on that dreadful day. We also stand shoulder to shoulder in support and prayer with those students who survived that still deal, on a daily basis, with loss, grief and fear. Sadly, our hearts continued to break as the loss of lives spread to places like the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the Borderline Bar in Thousand Oaks, California this past year. As we remember the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School today, let us a people now determine in our hearts to be a loud and prophetic voice for ending gun violence. We must continue to march, educate, lobby our political leaders, speak out, pray and organize until the horror of gun violence ends up on the scrapheap of American history.”