FollowBy Larry Short, Community Ministry Director
You may not recognize this wonderful couple, but they are your brother and sister in Christ, Bryan and Karla Holcombe. They and seven other members of their immediate family lost their lives Sunday in the mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.
Joe and Claryce Holcombe are retired schoolteachers, now in their 80s, and are living in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Sunday they hosted a prayer meeting of nearby pastors and churchgoers at their home as they awaited details about the tragic shooting at the First Baptist Church nearby.
The news wasn’t good. The Holcombes’ only son, Bryan, was Associate Pastor there and was filling in for the church’s pastor that fateful day. As he walked up onto the stage to lead worship, a deranged gunman named Devin Kelley burst into the church sanctuary and began spraying automatic-weapon fire.
Bryan was killed, along with 26 other members of the small congregation. One of them was Bryan’s wife, the Holcombes’ daughter-in-law, Karla. The couple had been married nearly 40 years.
And the bad news didn’t end there. Bryan and Karla had two children (the Holcombes’ grandchildren), Marc Daniel and John. Marc Daniel was also killed. John, who was recording the service from the back, took shrapnel to the leg but survived.
But John’s wife, Crystal—who was pregnant with their sixth child—also died in the hail of bullets, along with her unborn child.
John and Crystal’s other five children were also in the service. Three of them—Emily, Megan, and Greg—were killed in the spree.
Marc Daniel and his wife had one child, Joe and Claryce’s sixth great-grandchild, one-year-old Noah. She, too, was killed in the gunfire, alongside her dad.
Joe and Claryce, a couple who love and trust the Lord, lost nine members of their immediate family in Sunday’s massacre: their only child and his wife; a grandson and the wife of another grandson; and five great-grandchildren, including one yet to be born.
The “family tree” below dramatically illustrates what I have just shared.
The enormity of Joe and Claryce’s loss is truly difficult, if not impossible, to grasp. I was therefore very interested to read what this couple—living a nightmare reminiscent of the heartbreaking tragedy that befell Job’s family thousands of years ago—had to share about their personal loss and tragedy.
“It’s of course going to be difficult,” Joe Holcombe said about the days ahead, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune.
But he said, “we are Christians, we have read the book. We know the ending, and it’s good.
“They’re in heaven,” he added. “And they’re a lot better off than we are.”
It Could Happen Here
As I reflected on this tragedy, I was confronted with the stark reality that something like this could easily happen in our own church. The First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs was really no different than we are, and only slightly smaller. They are a church where people learned about Jesus together, worshipped the Lord together, and simply lived life together, much as we do. None of them could have ever foreseen or anticipated the seemingly random violence that would tear through their congregation on this particular Sunday in November.
So, what should our response to all this be? Should we stay home, cower in fear?
Absolutely not! Like the Holcombes, we are Christian. We have read the book. We know how the story ends!
And we also know the Author of the book. He is the one who has told us, “Do not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another; and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” And, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
We are called to be the light of the world, a city on a hill, shining God’s glory for all the world to see. And the world is seeing that glory, today, shining through the lives of people such as Joe and Claryce Holcombe and their surviving family members, who have suffered such unspeakable loss but still choose to trust God regardless.
They are truly our brothers and sisters, and we must pray for them—and for one another—during these dark days. For, as the author of Hebrews says, another Day is drawing near!
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In light of recent events and this Last Word post, some folks have been asking about our security precautions. You may already know that we have a great team of ushers who assign security detail to rove our parking lot and buildings during all services. They have a protocol for alerting one another if there’s a potential problem. And they tell me they are also going to be consulting with security experts (law enforcement officers) already a part of our church body about how they can tighten things up further. While our ultimate “security” is securely in the hands of God, our top priority as leaders is to ensure the safety of you and your family to the best of our ability! We are committed to doing so in all seriousness, and also transparently, so we will keep you fully apprised of all new developments as appropriate. But please don’t hesitate to ask any elder you know any safety-related question that you might have, or to share your ideas. We appreciate it!