Their vehicles filled the sprawling asphalt parking lot and spilled onto the grass, and the overflow crowd watched the moving service on closed-circuit televisions set up in the church vestibule.

“Lord, allow this event to transform our community,” proclaimed the Rev. Duane Britton, one of nearly a dozen speakers in the emotional service.

“Let the words said here go forth, the transformation begin with us,” he said firmly, his words drawing loud “alleluias” and “amens” from the crowd.

Britton, pastor of Dove Christian Fellowship — Westgate in Ephrata, joined other county clergy in proclaiming words of comfort and hope to the crowd gathered in the vast Worship Center gathering space to mourn Monday’s shooting at the Bart Township Amish school.

Their sober faces revealed the emotion of the moment, but they also responded with applause when a speaker’s words touched their hearts.

The crowd, mostly young, included babes in arms and children with books and toys.

During the service, which lasted just over an hour, heads were bowed and tears flowed for the loss of schoolgirls’ tender lives and for their killer, a man described as a loving husband and father of three young children.

“We come here tonight as a grieving community,” said Sam Smucker, a pastor and founder of The Worship Center and himself a former Amish man.

“We’ve come here to pray and proclaim the lordship of Christ and to put our arms around each other and the community ... God hears our prayers,” he assured his listeners.

Among them was Naomi Glick of Leola, who had gone to the service after spending the day at her cousin’s home, next to the school that was the scene of the shootings.

Glick, also formerly of the Amish faith, was a cousin of three of the boys Charles Carl Roberts IV sent running from the school Monday morning before he shot 10 female students, killing five and seriously injuring five. Police say the gunman shot himself to death moments later.

Glick said she went to the home of Aaron and Anna Mary Esh to show support and talk.

“I’m so glad they realize the importance of talking,” she said.

She said she came to the service “to fine some closure.”

“That’s part of dealing with the tragedy,” she said.

Besides Smucker, who opened and closed the community service, 10 guest speakers — eight pastors, a Christian counselor and contemporary musician Michael W. Smith — offered hope and reassurance of God’s enduring love to worshippers.

Two large screens projected the scene on stage — a podium, a grand piano with six glowing candles and six tall vases of flowers on pedestals — for all to see in the mammoth hall that doubles during the day as a gymnasium for students at Living Word Academy.

Speakers included the Rev. Dwight Lefever, a friend of the Roberts family who is ministering to them during their crisis.

Earlier in the day, he said, stood with members of the family in the Roberts family kitchen.

“God met us in that kitchen,” he said.

While he was there, an Amish neighbor came to the house and wrapped his arms around the father of the dead gunman.

“We will forgive you,” the man said.

The Rev. Elmer Fisher of Spring Garden Church in Kinzers told worshippers he attended a viewing for one of the victims of the shooting.

“The parents said pray for the community and those who lost young ones,” he said, sobbing.

“I have a little girl and boy,” he added as if talking out loud to himself. “Am I spending enough time with them?”

Smith sang his new song, “See You on the Other Side,” which he dedicated to the deceased school girls: Naomi Rose Ebersol, Anna Mae Stoltzfus, Marian Fisher and sisters Mary Liz and Lena Miller.

The crowd burst into applause when Smith mentioned the media and the wide attention that has been focused on the community by Monday’s shootings.

“Lancaster County may have a bad mark from this,” he said. “But some day they will be here not to report a tragedy but to report the power of God.”

The Rev. Phil Hernandez, of In the Light Ministries, spoke the loudest.

The crowd again responded with resounding applause as he declared, “We shall be a people that will reveal your power, your glory, your goodness.”

“We in Lancaster are going to be standing firm because this is the land of Christ,” he said.

To reach the service, worshippers passed by a long line of media trucks. But the church also provided a media tent, with tables and chairs and coffee.

A community prayer service for the victims of Monday’s school shooting will be held at the Lord’s House of Prayer, 300 Hideaway Drive, Quarryville, tonight at 7.

Also tonight, the Lancaster Conference of the Evanglical Lutheran Church in America plans a service of prayer and remembrance at 7 at Grace Lutheran Church, Queen and James streets, and Calvary Monument Bible Church, 1600 Mine Road, Paradise, will open its doors to mourners as well.

Lancaster’s Downtown Ministerium will hold prayer services for mourners Thursday at noon and 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 140 E. Orange St.

The Most Rev. Kevin C. Rhoades, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, will celebrate a Mass at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, 955 Robert Fulton Highway, at 7 p.m. Thursday.

And, Bart Mennonite Church, 742 Vintage Road, will hold a meeting for pastors and Christian leaders at 7 p.m. Thursday, to pray for and support those assisting the community and provide stress management.