A Letter for Dayton and El Paso

As I’m sure is the case with all of you, Jeff and I have been struggling these last few days with the heartbreak coming out of El Paso and Dayton. We have spent significant amounts of time in both communities, for many speaking trips and a major research trip to El Paso last year for our current book project.

To those in those communities we want to say: we are so, so sorry. Our hearts are with you, and they are broken. We are watching the news hoping and praying we do not see names we know. And we know that is only a tiny, tiny taste of what you all are experiencing right now.

As we have been in your churches and many others, Jeff has often leaned over and said to me, as we stand worshiping together, “This really is the hope of the world. Right here. All these people have different stories, different views and they all look so different from one another…but they have one thing in common: they love Jesus and as a result they love each other.” We need the right policies and the right actions, but most of all we need Jesus. As Jeff has often added, “If hard-bitten types on the left or the right could experience what we are experiencing right now, they would change.  Maybe not in their views on politics, but in their ability to love one another.”

We are only going to be able to come together if we love one another.

We want the people of Dayton and El Paso to know: we love you. And we are praying for you.

— Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn