Pastor Larry Wright, an Army sergeant, a man of God, and now a local hero, according to the members of Heal the Land Outreach Ministries. A heavily armed man entered the church on New Year’s Eve and instead of a bloodshed, he accepted Pastor’s Wright invitation to put down his weapons and give his life to Christ.
Pastor Larry Wright may have saved the lives of parishioners from a distraught gunman, who entered his North Carolina church last week. On New Year’s Eve, many gathered at the Heal the Land Outreach Ministries in Fayetteville for a long service, which mainly focused on gun violence. According to Wright, he was preaching about the senseless deaths of young men and women in the streets of American cities when a man in his early 20s or late 30s calmly walked in the church.
Larry Wright, who is a former Army sergeant first class, said he knew right away that the weapons were real, but told himself that at 6 feet, 2 inches, and 230 pounds, he was ready to tackle him and save the congregation. The pastor said he approached the man, who was carrying a gun and an ammo magazine, and said:
“I asked him ‘can I help you’. His next words were ‘can you pray for me.’ When he said that, then I knew everything was going to be alright.”
What happened next is nothing short of a miracle – the unnamed man told the pastor that he needed help. Mr. Wright took the gun from the individual, gave him a hug, and asked his scared deacons to do the same. The pastor explained:
“And then I began to minister to him and pray to him and talk with him.”
The preacher asked the man to sit down as he concluded his sermon and he obliged. At midnight, he had an altar call, and to everyone’s surprise, the man came up and asked for prayers and forgiveness. The pastor claimed:
“I finished the message, I did the altar call and he stood right up, came up to the altar, and gave his life to Christ. I came down and prayed with him and we embraced. It was like a father embracing a son.”
After receiving Jesus Christ in his heart, he was taken away by police to a mental institution and has not been charged with any crime. On Sunday, the man came back to the church and apologized for his actions, and explained what pushed him to the point of desperation.
The man, a vet battling PTSD, who was recently released from the hospital, said his wife was just diagnosed with an illness, which may leave her paralyzed. Moreover, they are struggling financially and can not pay for their medications. Wright said:
“[There was] financial stress. I haven’t been on my medicine for a while.” I saw in his eyes hopelessness, hurt, pain, despair. “
The man, who is also a convicted felon, said he came to the church hoping that he would find the courage to get rid of his weapons without being arrested. He is now an official member of the church and will be baptized by Pastor Larry Wright next week. Church members are proud of their pastor and are very happy to have a new follower of Christ.
