University UMC Responds to Neighborhood Shooting with Prayer Vigil, Hope and Care

January 25, 2023

One of the methods the people of University United Methodist Church in Fort Worth use to help keep their focus on God and how The Spirit is leading the church is something they call Star Words – Listen, Seek and Respond. So, when two Fort Worth ISD teenagers from Paschal High were shot Friday, Jan. 20 in a Whataburger parking lot directly across the street from the church and school, Rev. Beth Evers, Sr. Pastor of University UMC knew exactly what the community-minded church would want to do – respond.
 
On Monday, Jan. 23, University UMC reached out to the surrounding community, opened their sanctuary for prayer and hosted an interdenominational prayer service and candlelight vigil for the families of the teens, the Paschal High school students and faculty, the Whataburger staff and the surrounding community.
 
Please check out the following short video to hear more from Rev. Evers on how the simple acts of just being present and available to the community and bathing them in prayer are working to shine a light of hope and defiance into the darkness of gun violence and remind that violence does not have to be the normal way of life.