Boyd: ‘We will not be governed by fear'

Doris West has been coming to New Life Church for 20 years — but she still had to circle the building for an hour Wednesday night before finding the nerve to come in.

“This is the first time I’ve been out of my home since Sunday,” said West, still shaky three days after a gunman killed two sisters and wounded three others at the northern Colorado Springs church.

She came to find some calm and some healing after a very dark day for this Colorado Springs church. So did thousands of other members, who gathered for the first time since the tragedy.

Through songs, prayer and inspiration, they came together to say they won’t let the actions of one young man drive them away or crush their spirits.

“We will not be governed by fear,” senior pastor Brady Boyd said to loud applause. “We are a people of faith. Faith brings hope. Faith brings peace.”

There were 7,000 people in the church Sunday when Matthew Murray stormed in, gun blazing. There were that many stories Wednesday night, shared among members before and after the standingroom-only service.

Stories like West’s. She was just down the hall when Murray opened fire. She fell and was nearly trampled, then took cover outside.

“I noticed a Dumpster and prayed to God, ‘If you let me behind that Dumpster, I’ll make it,’” she said.

But it wasn’t just stories of the fear and violence that were remembered. Members remembered the loss. Stephanie Works, 18, died at the scene; 16-year-old Rachael Works died later at Penrose-St. Francis Hospital.

“They were not just casual followers of Christ. They were devoted followers of Christ, and while we suffer their loss, I can tell you this: They are in Heaven tonight,” Boyd said.

There were rousing ovations for police, firefighters and paramedics, and Jeanne Assam, the church security guard who wounded Murray before he took his own life.

Murray drove to New Life about 12 hours after killing two staff members at Youth With A Mission in Arvada, apparently in retaliation for his being kicked out of their missionary training program years ago.

Online rantings attributed to Murray reveal a searing hatred for Christians.

Several state and local elected officials spoke at Wednesday night’s gathering, praising the New Life congregation for its durability and its will to survive.

“I have seen the church endure through many triumphs and a few tribulations,” Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said. “New Life Church will continue to prosper because of the enduring and inspiring faith of its members.”

While the church canceled the remaining performances of its Wonderland Christmas celebration, Sunday services will go on as scheduled.

“Let me tell you what’s going to happen this Sunday. We will have service at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. We will sing and make music for the Lord,” Boyd said.

Boyd encouraged members to talk to spiritual counselors on hand. For many, just being there was enough.

“We’re not going to let evil prevail here. We’re here to take it back,” member Madeleine Lockhart said.

She and her husband walked the hallway Murray walked down, which was left riddled with bullet holes, to reclaim that part of their church.

“We have to break the ice and come back,” Lockhart said. “This is our spiritual home, and we’re not going to be chased away.”

“We’re a family at New Life, and when bad things happen families come together,” member Patricia Hulsey said.