If you’ve been listening to the news this week you probably heard the story of the Maxwell family of Fayetteville, N.C.
If not, here’s the basics: Sometime in the early evening on Monday Billy Maxwell shot and killed his wife, his son and his daughter, then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. It’s been reported that the daughter hid in her closet, in fear of her father, no doubt.
The community has been reeling in the wake of the murder-suicide.
Billy Maxwell was a well-respected and beloved businessman. A developer, like his father before him. He was also a devoted Christian. He and wife Kathryn were active members at Snyder Memorial Baptist Church, one of the largest in Fayetteville. The couple’s children — Connor, 17, and Cameron, 15 — attended Village Christian Academy.
I have been planning for sometime now to introduce you to Hugh Hollowell who heads up Love Wins Ministry in Raleigh, N.C. I’d planned an interview with Hugh and I will get around to that, but he’s been swamped with a wedding — his own, which is taking place this coming weekend.I met Hugh during the course of conducting research for the forthcoming Doublewide book.
I’m not going to say any more about that here, you can read all about it come 2010. But Hugh sent out a letter the other day and I asked him if I could share it with you all.
Hugh asks some important questions in this letter. I’d like for you to consider those questions — the ones he asks outright — and the unspoken ones. Then tell me what you think.It’s not a matter of what would Jesus do, but rather, what would you do, if you were Hugh? If you were one of these pastors
Do you know this song? Blessed be Your Name? The song was written by Matt and Beth Redmond in the aftermath of 9-11. Matt said that the song is meant to convey an abiding faith.
“Trust is a beautiful act of worship,” Matt says. “It says to God, ‘I believe in You—in Your unfailing goodness and greatness—no matter what season of life I find myself in.’”
Matt noted that the song came from a place of woundedness: “Blessed Be Your Name’ stems from the story of our lives,” Matt explains. “Both Beth and I had tough upbringings—a lot of different issues to do with fathers—and over the years we’ve come to realize that worshiping God is a choice, and the best choice we’ll ever make.”
Before I left Fayetteville I was looking into the issue of the high incident of violent crimes among the troops at Fort Bragg. There had been several high-profile murders involving male/female relationships. Domestic violence and child abuse rates were above average. There was talk of how hard it was for returning soldiers to get help because of the stigma attached to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The offical stance from the military is that they want their charges to get help, but as I’ve stated many times on this very blog the problem with PTSD is that it is left up to the individual to self-report. That’s like telling a child in the Sudan that there’s plenty of water and food and shelter in the US if only they’d find a way to cross the ocean and get some. And can I say this here? The men and women who go off to battle are not the only ones who suffer from PTSD. It’s traumatic to have men in shiny shoes show up at your front door carrying a death announcement. Now comes this report out of Fort Carson, Colorado confirming that lo and behold the stresses we subject our soldiers to do indeed make them more violent.
Chris Coleman is an innocent man, at least until a jury decides otherwise. But it’s not looking good for him. The 32-year old has been arrested in the triple-slaying of his wife and two sons. Prosecutors say the evidence against Coleman is overwhelming.
Popular TV Evangelist Joyce Meyer is likely combating a mega-migraine as a result.
Coleman worked on Meyer’s security staff. Meyer is probably longing for the day when her worst nightmare was an investigation by Senator Grassley into financial misconduct. The Better Business Bureau maintains that Meyer’s ministry violates the standard for Charitable Accountability.
Not that Meyer is in any way responsible for the deaths of 31-year-old Sheri Coleman or her sons Garrett, 11, and Gavin, 9.
Karen Spears Zacharias had her first kiss in a trailer, smoked her first and last cigarette in a trailer, asked Jesus into her heart on bended knee in a trailer, fell madly in love in a trailer (a couple of different times), and gave birth to her firstborn child in a trailer. More...
Comments (12) 
If you’ve been listening to the news this week you probably heard the story of the Maxwell family of Fayetteville, N.C.
I have been planning for sometime now to introduce you to Hugh Hollowell who heads up
Before I left Fayetteville I was looking into the issue of the high incident of violent crimes among the troops at Fort Bragg. There had been several high-profile murders involving male/female relationships. Domestic violence and child abuse rates were above average. There was talk of how hard it was for returning soldiers to get help because of the stigma attached to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
