Preacher Shot and Killed During Sermon

Isn't it odd to hear such a thing? That someone would enter a church and shoot the pastor during the sermon. It almost sounds like a bad joke preachers might tell -- I was getting up to preach and someone took a shot at me. Or, it could be that someone took Lloyd Rediger's book Clergy Killers just a bit too literally.

And yet the headlines today, from suburban St. Louis, tell the story of a preacher gunned down by an unknown assailant during the sermon. When you hear something like that, as a pastor, you have to wonder if such a thing could happen to you.

Today, however, we pray for the family of that slain pastor, the Rev. Fred Winters, and for his church, First Baptist Church of Maryville, Illinois, as they grieve their loss. And we wonder why such a thing might happen.