33 Stones

A sign in the parking lot of the small church at 1713 North Main Street prominently displays a maroon and orange number 33 over a VT logo. I called up Denny Clark, the pastor of the Church of the New River Valley to ask him about the meaning behind his church's sign.

DW: I'm interested in specifically understanding how your church has interacted with the events of last April. Was there something specific that your congregation did in response?

DC: First of all we had a number of students that attend our church who were enrolled at that time. In fact we had one young man who was held up because of some circumstance who was supposed to be in that building that day. And we give God credit for that because he very well could have been a victim. And so we felt a very strong connection. We are about our community. Our purpose of being in the valley is to be here for the purpose that God has for the population of this valley. We truly believe that God is in the process of totally restoring the church and once that is completed the church will exist in a greater depth of power and influence in the lives of the community.

DW: What other specific things did you do?

DC: We made ourselves available for counsel for anyone who would need help dealing with the event. As you've seen, we put up the sign as a memorial. We had periods of specific prayer for the folks and families and so on. Interestingly enough, when we first erected the sign, someone came along with spray paint and changed the number to 32. We left it for a day or two and we went back and cleaned it up and changed the number back to 33.

We were not trying to incite anyone by including Mr. Cho in that number. As you see underneath the sign it says "remembering friends and family." Each and every one of those people who died that day are out of my hands. They are in the hands of God and there's no changing whatever that status happens to be. But there are folks who are alive today who have pain and hurt and suffering because of this horrible tragedy so our memorial is in remembrance of them and their families.

This is a horrible act. Evil is undoubtedly involved, and by that I mean the enemy. It can't be undone but there are folks who are alive who can still be affected in a very negative way so we offered ourselves from the standpoint of counsel, prayer, and remembrance for these folks. And we were saying to the community by our sign: join us, remember these folks, pray for them, ask God's help in their lives. I know there are some folks who would not care whatsoever about Cho's family but we look at them as innocent. They did not pull the trigger and they did not have the feelings, the problem, the voices, or whatever you might want to subscribe to that might have caused Mr. Cho to do these acts. I'm certain that they've suffered in a way not identical to the other students, but I know without any doubt that they have suffered. You know, Jesus didn't just come for select ones. He didn't come for those who were perfect. He says "them that are whole need no physician". You understand what I'm saying?

DW: Definitely.

DC: He came for the downcast, the trodden, the hurting, the lame, the blind. And that's what we're supposed to be doing as Christians today, we must truly go the distance. If it's not just a social thing, if we're not doing it for our own conscience sake, if we're truly trying to be an ambassador, as the scripture refers to us as, then we have to be willing to sacrifice. Sometimes what is most necessary to do in that respect is not going to be the most popular thing.

DW: Obviously, Jesus wasn't doing the most popular thing going to the cross.

DC: Exactly.

DW: Tell me, if you had happened to run into that person that night who was doing the spray paint, what would you have said to him or her?

DC: I don't know, I don't want to sound like some formal perfect individual. I'd have probably said, first off, hey, that's not your sign! [chuckle] You have the right to disagree and so you can go put your own sign up and do whatever you want. This is how we feel, we put the sign up, it's on our property, we spent the money. It's not about the man who did this act, it's about family and friends. As I said, we were not trying to incite anyone. We gave it consideration when we did it and felt it would be wrong to exclude his family.

DW: Have there been many others who have asked about the sign?

DC: Well it's been on national TV before one of the football games. They made a few small comments about it in reference to the community still remembering. The one incident with the spray paint was the only negative. I felt like perhaps we'd experience some other opposition after that, but it's been that way since and we have no plans to take it down.

DW: How do you feel about the campus administration only mentioning 32?

DC: Anything I say here is an opinion, let me preface it with that. I think probably they are trying to echo the sentiment of the larger part of the community. Unfortunately that cannot be our sentiment. I think they were not willing to risk any backlash. But there is a difference in what they're saying since it is a memorial to the slain students and our memorial is in reference to those who are alive and remain. See the difference?

DW: Definitely. Do you feel like the spiritual climate in Blacksburg has changed?

DC: Well let me go way out here. About three years ago, I was preaching in the way we recognize as the anointing—not a message I've studied all week long or I got from my headquarters, but by inspiration, so anything I bring to the pulpit is, what you'd say, really fresh. I was preaching a message about God's purpose for the Blacksburg community and I saw in my inner man a view of the Drillfield covered with hundreds of thousands of people all praying. And so I spoke it. I said there is a day coming when people will be on the campus by the thousands giving honor and prayer to God. God is going to bring that day. And you know, I had completely forgotten about it until one of the church members called me after the candlelight vigil and reminded me I had preached it. What I'm saying is that there are evil events on the earth but that God will use them to touch peoples' hearts to consider him in their lives. Don't you imagine that there are any number of students who thought that could have been me? Who of us had a guarantee about tomorrow? When we're young we don't have a tendency to think so much about God but as we get a little older and find out how uncertain life is, it has a way of beginning to speak to us and speaks even louder to us. And God uses these events to get our attention.

DW: What might you say to someone who, as a result of this event, would say that there can't be a God because of what happened here?

DC: I'm certain there are folks out there who feel that way. That's a common thing. People make those kinds of statements from much lesser cases. In my business, I've heard people make those statements because they did not get a job. I don't say this coldly, but there are atheists who do not believe in God whatsoever but a) that does not make God go away, b) does not make him not care, and c) he even cares about them. So sometimes mentalities that we embrace can affect what we say and do but they are not always permanent. Sometimes we say things we don't really mean. Sometimes statements we make are just relative to the anger and the moment.

DW: It's so common, too, in our culture to say of the folks who were killed, and it's hard to even express this, but to say "Well, they're all in a better place now". How do you say a statement like that, or how do you respond when people say statements like that, when theologically that might not be true?

DC: I appreciate what you're saying there, because it is exactly correct. However, me making a statement in regard to that is obviously of no effect on the ones who are not here. So a statement that's made to that effect is actually going to have an impact on people who are here. One would be wise to be careful that you did not trod on a hope or feeling a person has to hold in their heart about someone who has gone. There's no benefit to make a statement like, "Probably, most of these people are in a better place today, but there's a possibility that a few of them might not be." There's nothing to gain from that except an enemy. So the better thing to say is that "They are now in the hands of a loving and caring God. And I'm not that God so I'm not going to try to assess where this one is or where that one is."

DW: It seems like maybe that individual who spray painted your sign was deliberately wanting to forget about the shooter and not forgive. Do you feel like there's an effort on the campus to forget that he ever existed rather than remember him in order to forgive him?

DC: I will say it this way David, it's impossible for me to know who changed our sign or why they did it. I'm sure they had some greater connection than the average person. I'm assuming that, but you never know. Some people get emotional and give themselves to anger, but if I could have spoken with the person, I would have explained our reasoning. It doesn't do me or anyone else any good to remember Mr. Cho, it's not going to change him. It's OK to memorialize and remember the ones who are gone, but it doesn't change them. They're who they were and he's who he was.