Pray for Seattle Pacific University.

Thursday afternoon:

Report 1 – 4:30pm. :

I am in a conference room here at Seattle Pacific University with the staff of University Communications — my coworkers — and with some of our amazing student interns, some of whom have been preparing for graduation.

Please pray for our community. Over the coming days, we will be in charge of communicating with the SPU community and the media.

Pray for the victims, the students, the staff, the faculty, the families. And for the shooter. Christ asks us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

But right now, we’re just following instructions to stay safe and to support one another.

Report 2 – 5:52pm :

The campus lockdown has been lifted. My team here is starting the engines necessary for informing our community and the public, and responding to the media… engines we had prayed we’d never have to start. I am here with them. My coworkers make an incredible team, responding with passion and excellence.

Even as we respond, our hearts break for the family of the student who died, and for the students at the hospital and their families.

Please… do not participate in the rush of online ranting about guns. Not yet. This is not the time. This is precious time. Join us in praying instead. We are praying as we work, and our work is a prayer. If we truly desire peace, we must manifest it. And what this community needs and asks right now is for your prayers.

There will be a prayer service at First Free Methodist Church, across the street from campus on 3rd Avenue West, at 7 p.m. tonight.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”