Freshman Alaina Housley died in Wednesday night’s mass shooting at a country music venue.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
“To Pepperdine: You are not alone in this tragedy.”
That’s the headline on a staff editorial in The Optimist, the student newspaper at Abilene Christian University in Texas.
As Pepperdine University grieves the death of freshman Alaina Housley in Wednesday night’s mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, Calif., its sister universities across the U.S. are offering their prayers and support.
“Father, we pray in a special way today for our friends at Pepperdine University. We pray for their students,” Bruce McLarty, president of Harding University in Searcy, Ark., said to God during Thursday’s daily chapel assembly.
“We pray for all the people that work there. I’m praying for my friend President Andy Benton as they maneuver their way through a very very difficult day,” said McLarty, as reported by The Bison, Harding’s student newspaper. “Father, we pray for the students. We pray for their safety. Father, we pray for healing in this world in midst of all the brokenness.”
Often, higher education institutions associated with Churches of Christ compete for the same dwindling pool of students.
But in a time such as this, their common faith in Jesus draws them together.
This story appears in the online edition of The Christian Chronicle.
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