The Worship Center, 2384 New Holland Pike, will host its community prayer vigil at 5:30 tonight.

"Everyone is welcome," assistant pastor Tim Keller said.

Keller said his church is hosting the vigil in part because of the connections the church has to the Amish community. Pastor Sam Smucker was raised Amish, as were a number of congregation members.

In addition to Smucker, the service will include the Rev. Mark King, senior pastor of Lord's House of Prayer, Lancaster; the Rev. Phil Hernandez, senior pastor of In the Light Ministries Lancaster; Elmer Fisher, Spring Garden Church, east of Intercourse; the Rev. Duane Britton, senior pastor of Dove Christian Fellowship, Ephrata; and the Rev. Merrill Smucker, Gap Community Church.

Contemporary Christian recording artist Michael W. Smith also is scheduled to attend the vigil. Smith originally was to perform at a rally for U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum at the Farm & Home Center tonight, but the rally has been canceled.

Hershey's Mennonite Church, 401 Hershey Church Road, Kinzers, is opening its church at 6 p.m. for a time of prayer and reflection.

Pastor Toshi Imchen said the community is invited to the service for prayer, singing and Scripture reading. Coffee also will be available.

"There is a lot of Amish in this community. We want to do something to benefit the community," Imchen said.

An Amish school is being planned near the church's parking lot, so the incident really hit home, he said.

Calvary Monument Bible Church, 1600 Mine Road, Paradise, and New Hope Bible Fellowship, 9 Eisenhower Blvd., will spend time in prayer and reflection on the shooting and its aftermath at their normal Wednesday evening prayer services.

Besides dedicating its prayer service Wednesday to the shooting, Calvary Monument Bible Church also hosted Lancaster County Mental Health/Mental Retardation's disaster counseling, outreach and referral team Monday.

Glenn McCarty, director of crisis intervention with MH/MR, said team members are available through 8 p.m. Monday for anyone to come talk or vent about the situation.

"We were there to get an idea of where people stand," McCarty said, "giving them an opportunity to talk or vent their feelings. If anyone needed ongoing therapy, we would refer them." No one came to the church while they were there, however, he said.

MH/MR plans to return to Calvary Monument today to hand out information packets. They also will be on-call if needed, McCarty said. blog comments powered by Disqus