"Though we cannot understand the depth of their pain or the magnitude of the loss they suffered this weekend, our thoughts and prayers go out to them in this tumultuous time," the statement said.

CTI says: "This tragedy reminds us that gun violence, though infrequent, remains a reality churches must be prepared to face. While there is little that can be done to predict and prevent the actions of a determined gunman, there are some practical steps all churches can take to ensure that they know how to respond in the event of the unthinkable.

To help all of the churches around the country who are facing the fear and uncertainty of the possibility of violence in their ministries, Christianity Today International is providing a free copy of its 'Protecting Your Church from Crime and Violence' download from www.ChurchSafety.com .

Follow this link ttp://www.churchsafety.com/topics/emergencies/violence/protectingyourchurchfromcrimeviolence/cs26.html to download your free copy.

For additional information, please visit www.YourChurch.net  for a free article, "Shooter in the Church." Also, the March/April edition of 'Your Church' magazine focuses on "Drawing the Line on Danger: What to do When Someone Scary Enters Your Church." This pertinent content is available anytime in the free digital edition of Your Church magazine at www.YourChurch.net .

Christianity Today International is a Christian communications ministry committed to engage, encourage, and equip the church worldwide, sharing the depth and transforming power of the Gospel as it permeates all spheres of life. Find out more about the ministries of Christianity Today International at www.ChristianityToday.com .

Meanwhile, FOXNews.com reports the man suspected of killing the pastor and injuring two others at a suburban St. Louis church on Sunday has been charged with first-degree murder.

FOXNews.com says Terry Sedlacek, 27, was also charged with aggravated battery in the shooting, acording to Stephanee Smith of the Madison County state's attorney's office, who said prosecutors aren't commenting on a motive.

Sedlacek is accused of killing the Rev. Fred Winters, who was shot through the heart during his sermon at the sprawling First Baptist Church in Maryville on Sunday. Smith says Sedlacek also is accused of wounding two worshippers who fought to subdue him after he allegedly pulled a knife.

Chief Judge Ann Callis on Monday also ordered Sedlacek held without bond. He remains hospitalized in St. Louis with self-inflicted knife wound, FOXNews.com reported.

One of the parishioners also remains hospitalized in serious condition, FOXNews.com said.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported late Sunday that Sedlacek had developed mental illness while suffering from Lyme disease, according to his family. FOX News could not immediately confirm the report.
According to the newspaper, the man's mother, Ruth Abernathy, said he contracted the disease after he was bitten by a tick on a family farm in the late 1990s. She described him as an avid outdoorsman and hunter.

The man was taking several medications to combat the disease and seizures, which nearly killed him in 2003, the newspaper reported.

Neighbors, who believed Sedlacek was mentally ill, told a reporter he would sometimes wander into the middle of the road and shout obscenities for no reason, the FOXNews.com story stated.

Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent said Monday morning on CBS's "The Early Show" that authorities are "hopeful" the suspect, whom authorities did not name and described only as a 27-year-old from Troy, can be charged sometime Monday.

FOXNews.com said the gunman strode toward Winters shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday in the church, exchanged words with him, then fired a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol until it jammed. Churchgoers then wrestled him to the ground as he brandished a knife, State Police Director Trent said.

Worshippers at the sprawling First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois, initially weren't alarmed when the young man walked up the church's center aisle during the early morning sermon -- until he opened fire, the FOXNews.com story explained.

None of the about 150 worshippers attending the early morning service seemed to recognize the gunman, and investigators did not know details of Winters' conversation with him, Trent said, but they planned to review an audio recording of the service.

Winters later died of his injuries.

FOXNews.com said Sedlacek was ordered held without bond even as he remained hospitalized Monday in serious condition. Authorities said after the shooting, he pulled out a knife and stabbed himself in the throat while being wrestled to the ground by two worshippers, who also were wounded.

A 39-year-old congregant, Terry Bullard, was also in serious condition Monday. The third victim, Keith Melton, was treated and released, FOXNews.com reported.

"I would call it heroic," Trent said. "While many understandably were stuck to their seats, they took to action."

But Melton said he was struggling with whether he acted quickly enough, FOXNews.com said.

"It's very hard to see when I had to see my pastor murdered," Melton told St. Louis station KDSK-TV. "A half second more, might that have made a difference?"

The mystery leaves church members wondering why anyone would want to hurt the man who was their pastor for 22 years -- and why, FOXNews.com said.

Authorities didn't know whether Winters, a married father of two, knew the gunman, the website says.
Winters deflected the first of the gunman's four rounds with a Bible, sending a confetti-like spray of paper into the air in a horrifying scene worshippers initially thought was a skit, police said.

"We just sat there waiting for what comes next not realizing that he had wounded the pastor," said Linda Cunningham, whose husband is a minister of adult education at the 1,200-member church.

According to FOXNews.com, Winters had stood on an elevated platform to deliver his sermon about finding happiness in the workplace -- titled "Come On, Get Happy" -- and managed to run halfway down the sanctuary's side aisle before collapsing after the attack, Cunningham said.

The Rev. Mark Jones, another First Baptist pastor, said he briefly saw the gun an before the gun was pulled. Jones then walked to an adjacent room and did not see the shooting, though he heard a sound like miniature fire crackers, the FOXNews.com website states.

"We have no idea what this guy's motives were," Jones said outside the church.

FOXNews.com also says Jones later urged a Sunday evening prayer service attended by hundreds at nearby Metro Community Church in Edwardsville to be resilient after "this attack from the forces of hell."

The standing-room-only crowd cried, cradled Bibles and stretched their hands skyward as they packed into the church, many watching the service on large television monitors in overflow areas, the FOXNews.com story states..

"We need to reassure our hearts and reinforce our minds that Pastor Fred is in that place that we call heaven," Jones said. "Church, evil does exist. Today, we saw the visible results of evil and its influence."

First Baptist had an average attendance of 32 people when Winters became senior pastor in 1987; it now has about 1,200 members and three Sunday services, according to the church's Web site.

Winters was former president of the Illinois Baptist State Association and an adjunct professor for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to the site.

FOXNews.com states that the church sits along a busy two-lane highway on the east side of Maryville, a fast-growing village of more than 7,000 about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis. A farm sits directly across from the church, but subdivisions of newer homes can be easily seen from every side.

"Things like this just don't happen in Maryville," Mayor Larry Gulledge said. "We've lost one the pillars of our community, one of our leaders."

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael has traveled to Albania and the former Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany and the former Czechoslovakia, Israel,and Canada. He has reported for ANS from Jordan, China, Russia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- Michael Ireland Media Missionary (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International.

Source: Assist News