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Quick to Listen

Ministering in a Mass Shooting’s Wake

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3622 Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2017

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

David Uth learned about the Pulse nightclub massacre after he woke up and saw the news push-notifications on his phone. “I sat down on the side of the bed and I said, “Lord, help me and help us to look like you right now,’” said Uth, the pastor of the 16,000-person First Baptist Orlando. “I knew anger was my first feeling.” With no playbook about how to respond to a tragedy of this scale, Uth reached out to other megachurch leaders. First Baptist opened their doors for a prayer vigil that was attended by the governor and mayor. Uth told his congregation to actively solicit the victims’ needs so that the church could assist with them. “We need to go out there and find out as many needs as we can,” Uth told them. This week, Uth spoke with a friend of his who pastors a church in Las Vegas, a community currently grieving the mass shooting that left 59 dead. “He asked me, ‘What do we need to do?’” said Uth. “I was thankful to give help and guidance. Immediately, we sent him $10,000 overnight because I said, ‘You’re going to run into needs that you never dreamed you would run into. I want you to be able to do it without thinking about your budget.’” Uth joined assistant editor Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli to discuss how the Orlando massacre changed his approach to ministry, how the tragedy changed his church’s relationship with the LGBT community, and the lasting trauma his community still suffers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.

0:11.0

Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.

0:14.5

Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at apologeticsky.com.

0:29.3

Music Michael Del Rosario at apologetics guy.com. You're listening to Quick to Listen. Each week we go beyond hashtags and hot takes to discuss a major cultural event.

0:36.3

I'm Morgan Lee. I'm an assistant editor here at Christianity

0:38.8

today, and I am joined as usual by our editor-in-chief, Mark Galley. Good afternoon. Likewise,

0:45.1

Mark. It's good to have you here. Good to be here on a rainy day. We've had our first rain in

0:49.7

weeks here. October rain. October rain, yep. All right, who's our guest today? Well, our guest is David Youth. He's the pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida, a congregation of

1:02.0

particularly to our podcast today, a congregation that stepped into the messy aftermath of the Orlando nightclub shootings that took place about a year ago to express the love of Jesus Christ

1:11.5

to all affected by the shootings. And you'll hear why that, why he's a perfect guest for us. Welcome,

1:16.6

David. Hey, great to be with you guys. Anything interesting going on in Orlando right now?

1:21.4

Yeah, well, you know, it's amazing. Our mayor, I was with the mayor yesterday, and he's been

1:25.9

having conversation with the mayor of Vegas,

1:28.2

and just so much of our people right now, our hearts are really, really touched by what's happening there.

1:33.7

And so it's almost like this community has been joined to the Las Vegas community through tragedy.

1:39.8

And so I kind of sense it. It's almost like we're reliving some of the pain we went through

1:44.7

after the pulse shooting. Yeah, I can imagine you are. So let's just get into the conversation

1:49.9

right now so we can begin kind of exploring that in greater detail. As most listeners know,

1:55.6

59 people are dead and hundreds more wounded after a gunman opened fire from his hotel room

2:00.7

onto an outdoor

2:01.5

music festival in Las Vegas at the beginning of this week. The massacre is the deadliest shooting

2:06.0

in modern American history. Prior to this shooting earning this ugly distinction, last year's

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