Churches respond, serve community after tragic Buffalo shooting



I am so proud of our brothers and sisters in the Frontier Baptist Association and for the ways we were able to respond over the last month to the tragedy here in Buffalo. This is an article that was published by the Alabama Baptist Convention.

Churches respond, serve community after tragic Buffalo shooting

On May 14, a shooting at Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York — that investigators have called a racially motivated hate crime targeting African Americans — left 10 dead and three others injured. Since that tragic day, the massacre has brought believers together across racial, generational, socio-economic and denominational lines to mourn the victims and love their neighbors in Jesus' name.

Delivering help

As a result of some inner-city stores closing due to copycat threats, Michael Flannery — director of missions for Frontier Baptist Association — worked to deliver food in partnership with Mark Hamiblton, pastor and elder of Faithful Stones Church, an evangelical congregation near the crime scene.

"This event has struck all of us in the deepest senses of the word of grief as we see what took place," Flannery lamented. "We need prayer relating to going forward and meeting the needs," he said, "but also to have a period of peace and serenity that takes place through the grieving process here in Buffalo."

The Baptist Convention of New York, The National African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention and Frontier Baptist Association leaders joined SBC Executive Committee interim president Willie McLaurin and local pastors as they prayed via Zoom. Those who gathered prayed for wisdom and unity among believers and for peace, safety, healing, hope and comfort for victims' families and the Buffalo community.

Eric Napoli, church planter at Sheridan Parkside Community Church in Tonawanda and co-pastor of Amherst Baptist Church in Buffalo, partnered with Pastor Hamilton at The Community Peace Market to provide fresh food, an evangelical message and fellowship on a corner a short distance from the shooting site on Jefferson Avenue.

Sheridan Parkside and Faithful Stones members also partnered to host "We Love You Jefferson Avenue" unity festivals featuring a barbeque dinner, games, a declaration of the gospel message and individual prayer and fellowship.

"[Faithful Stones] is right there in the middle of this and people are stimulated right now to hear the good news," Napoli declared."The gospel is the center point," he said. "Our model is to build unity within the community, to give dignity, value and joy-filled life to people and in doing so, to show people that we are a united force."

Some attempted to promote hatred after the shooting, Napoli noted, but his close relationship with Hamilton illustrates unity within the Body of Christ."Every time I walk into that parking lot or that church it's a sweet time of relationships," Napoli said. "We need to be stimulating relationships for all these churches that are outside the city to connect inside the city."

New opportunities

William "Bill" Smith, lead pastor of North Buffalo Community Church, said outreach events have motivated some of his members to step outside their comfort zone for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began limiting in-person gatherings. "We're all just going to go in and give what God would allow us to give so we can connect," Smith said.

Ministry efforts are focused on engaging the Body of Christ, at whatever level individuals are comfortable, Napoli noted. "We all need to be sharing the gospel," said. "My heart has been so broken in this past week or so. I've had so many more opportunities to pray with people and to share with people and to love people in an on-the-spot kind of counseling type of situation than I have for a long time."

Prayer requests

Believers can pray for churches involved in ministry efforts, Michael Flannery suggested — that they not move on to the "next thing" too quickly, but instead have wisdom for meeting long-term needs. Rev. Smith added, "Pray that our eyes would be open, that we would position ourselves in a way where we're not hunkered down inside of our comfort zone, but that God would [motivate us] to get busy doing the things that we've been called to do."

Terry Robertson, Baptist Convention of New York executive director-treasurer, requested prayer for ministry families impacted by the shooting."God has empowered them to deal with this situation," Robertson acknowledged. "[But] there are elements of what is going on in the spiritual battle in Buffalo right now that they're not going to be over for years to come."

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