WINDER, Ga. (BP) — As the residents of Barrow County, and especially the students at Apalachee High School, deal with the aftermath of last week’s school shooting, Georgia Baptist churches are working together to provide support.

Mark Marshall, senior lead strategist of Church Strengthening for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board (GBMB), told a meeting of the state executive committee in Warner Robins on Tuesday that Georgia Baptists “were on the front lines” of the response effort.

From making counselors and chaplains available to students and grieving residents to simply providing labor to set up new facilities, Georgia Baptist churches and volunteers are working to meet the needs of Barrow County.

When students in other Barrow County schools returned to class Tuesday morning (Sept. 10), they were greeted by youth and student pastors from across the state. Stephen Crane, Next Gen pastor at River Hills Church in Winder, helped coordinate counselors for returning students. Crane said church member Scott Dakin was “uniquely placed as a former fire captain and director of the Ministry Village, a counseling ministry in Winder, to be the one coordinating counseling for our community.” Crane and Dakin agreed that ministers as well as trained counselors would be needed on site when students went back to school.

Crane collaborated with Chris Trent, GBMB’s NextGen catalyst, to provide two to three ministers at each school. “The school system graciously allowed us to be there,” Crane said. In addition to pastors from local churches such as River Hills, Bethlehem Church, Winder First Baptist Church and others, close to 40 people from churches as far as four hours away came to help. “We put out the ‘all call,’” Trent said, “and the response was awesome.”

Crane added that River Hills’ church family was impacted directly by the shooting, as some 10 students from the church attend Apalachee High School and endured the incident, from being locked down in the school to making it safely outside. Additionally, a number of first responders and teachers that work in the school system attend River Hills.

“Our community has really gathered around each other and had some huge God moments to celebrate,” Crane said. “Between first responders, the school system, local churches and businesses, there has been such an outpouring of love.” He added that counseling costs for people directly affected by the tragedy are significant and asked that people consider donating to the crisis fund through the Ministry Village webpage.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency has set up a Community Recovery Center in Winder to give residents a place to find support. Ricky Thrasher, chaplaincy ministry coordinator for Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief (GBDR), said the organization will have two chaplains available each day at the center “to help with any traumatic experiences that people are having, especially grief.” The goal, Thrasher said, is to “bring the hope and love of Jesus to those that are hurting.” GBDR Director Dwain Carter said chaplains on Tuesday shared the gospel with a young lady who responded with a profession of faith in Christ.

In addition, Carter said close to 60 volunteers worked in Winder on Wednesday (Sept. 11), moving desks and supplies as requested by the school to prepare new classrooms for returning Apalachee High School students. “As always,” Carter said, “GBDR volunteers fill in wherever and however needed. We train and respond with a ‘whatever it takes’ mindset. These volunteers are coming in from all around the state of Georgia in order to be but a small piece of the solution.”

Also on Wednesday, the GBMB’s next gen ministry facilitated a Zoom call with pastors, youth pastors and other church staff affected by the recent tragedy and Jay Fannin on guiding the community through a tragedy. Fannin, currently pastor of Shady Oaks Baptist Church in Hurst, Texas, has a profound and personal perspective on navigating tragedy. As the former youth pastor of Wedgwood Baptist Church, Fannin witnessed firsthand the shooting that took place on Sept.15, 1999, during a youth rally in Fort Worth, Texas. The tragic event claimed the lives of seven individuals — most of them teenagers — and left seven others wounded.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — This article originally appeared in the Christian Index.)