Adventists Respond to Mass Shooting in Florida

“Seventh-day Adventist congregations in Florida and California have reached out to LGBT+ communities in the wake of yesterday’s massacre at the Pulse gay club in Orlando, Florida. The shooting claimed the lives of fifty people and wounded fifty-three more,” reports Jared Wright for Spectrum.

Wright continues: “The Forest Lake Seventh-day Adventist Church in Apopka, Florida, under the leadership of Senior Pastor Geoff Paterson, announced on Facebook that it would hold free funeral services for any of the victims of the shooting.”

Image above is a screenshot taken from Facebook

“On the opposite coast, the Glendale City Adventist Church in Glendale, California will host a community vigil to honor the victims tomorrow (Tuesday, June 14). From 11:00 am to 7:30 pm, the doors of the sanctuary will be open for mourning and reflection. At 7:30 pm, the church will host a service of remembrance.” Read Spectrum’s full article here.

The Glendale City Adventist Church is a member of the Adventist Peace Fellowship Peace Church Network.

Additionally, pastor Dan Jackson, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, released a statement about the mass shooting.
This is an excerpt from his statement:

We strongly denounce the hate that led to this mass shooting. This type of senseless violence has no place in this country or in this world. It is appalling that these lives were tragically cut short because of hate. We pray that God’s love will comfort and console the victims’ loved ones whose lives have become a nightmare overnight.

As Christians, we strongly believe that hate, for anyone, brother, sister, friend or enemy, comes not from God, but from the father of evil himself, the devil. We must condemn all expressions of hate, from speech to deadly violence. All of the women, children, and men in this world, regardless of whether they worship, live, or love like us, are children of God.”

Jackson’s complete statement can be read on the NAD website.