Ben Hayes, pastor of Dadeville’s First Baptist Church and chaplain for the local football team and police department, got a call early on the morning of April 16th. The night before, several gunmen opened fire at a birthday party.
Four young people were killed, and 32 others injured.
Hayes found a sea of hundreds of their family and friends when he got to the hospital 15 minutes after that phone call.
Hayes said, “There were so many people (at the hospital) all waiting to hear something about their child — they didn’t know if their child was there or if they had been injured.”
He talked with the families, hugged them and prayed with them.
The mass shooting set a lot of things in motion ministry-wise for Hayes, starting with the families and friends of the victims at the hospital and progressing to the police department.
After about an hour of sleep the night of the shooting, Hayes got up and prayed with everyone arriving early for the church service that morning. After the service, which he said God orchestrated from beginning to end, he led a funeral that was planned before the shooting.
He asked for prayer for the four students who are still in critical condition, for comfort for the families and for strength and peace for the first responders.
He also asked for prayer for his church to be able to continue ministry to the community and “for those relationships that were created to enable us to do more things than we’ve ever done before.”