GLOBAL PRAYER NETWORK: Army vet with PTSD entered church with assault rifle, intending something ‘terrible’

Jumat, 08 Januari 2016

Army vet with PTSD entered church with assault rifle, intending something ‘terrible’

He accepted Christ and left a changed man

By Mark Ellis, Special to ASSIST News Service

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (ANS - January 8, 2016) -- Pastor Larry Wright was conducting a New Year’s Eve prayer service at his church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, when a man with a high-powered assault rifle entered at about 11:30 p.m.

Pastor Wright, who leads the Heal the Land Outreach Ministries, had just finished talking about senseless gun violence in their community.

The intruder had his gun in one hand and an ammo magazine with shiny rounds in the other.

Wright, a retired Army sergeant first class, initially wasn’t sure the weapon was real. “I’m the first person to see him and when I saw him, I thought it was a dummy gun, but then I saw the bullet clip in his hand and the bullets were shining,” he told CNN.

Immediately, panic set in and some of the 60 parishioners began to scream and run for the exits. Some church members thought the man was going to shoot up the church — another episode like the Charleston church shooting, according to Newsmax.

pastor-larry-wright copyIf he started to shoot, Pastor Wright planned to tackle him. Wright is fairly imposing himself, at 6-foot-2-inches and 230 pounds.

“Can I help you?'” Wright called out to the man, fearing the worst.

Photo captions: 1) Pastor Larry Wright preaching. 2) Dan Wooding welcomes Mark Ellis to "Windows on the World."

About the writer: Mark Ellis is senior correspondent for the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), and also founder of www.GodReports.com, a website that shares stories, testimonies and videos from the church around the world. He is also the co-host for “Windows on the World” with ANS founder, Dan Wooding, on the Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network (http://hsbn.tv).