“Collateral damage is any incidental and undesired death, injury or other damage inflicted, especially on civilians, as the result of an activity. Originally coined to describe military operations,^[1] it is now also used in non-military contexts to refer to any unwanted fallout from an action.^[2][3]”*

A suicide bomber walks into a cafe and hits a button that decimates anything within a 2 block radius. Everywhere you look there is carnage. People,wounded and damaged, buildings and cars set ablaze. Collateral Damage.

Do we blame the injured? Is it their fault they were hurt because they went to a cafe and had the expectation of safety?

I won’t beat around the bush. What has unfolded at Gateway Church over the last week has been devastating to members and staff. We are collateral damage. The actions of another person(s) set off a bomb that has thrown shrapnel literally around the world.

Adding insult to injury is the soap boxing on social media that puts 1970’s street preachers to shame. And the people caught in the crosshairs of “I saw this coming” (did you really?) and “This is why mega churches are bad” (they’re not, but people can be) are the wounded, the disoriented and the dazed.

Rather than being asked “How can we pray for you” many of the injured are berated or made fun of for attending a mega church, asked for the “insider details”, given the proverbial “I told you so” and worst of all being made to feel they are the criminal.

I am not defending the actions of Robert Morris. I am not defending those who knew the victims age and covered it up. Their actions are just as criminal as his. It is absolutely deplorable. But it was not the congregation or staff that did those things. It was the actions of one man, and silience of other men who are to blame.

And now, each congregant and staff member will have to decide for themselves if they are going to stay at Gateway or find another place of worship and work.

I do have a request for those of you outside the blast radius; please pray for those of us that are the collateral damage.

Pray for those who choose to leave, that they find a place to heal and that God comforts them.

Pray for those who choose to stay, that they heal and are able to continue helping the community around them. Their choice to continue to worship at Gateway is not loyalty for a man or a condoning of his or others actions.

Pray for the ministers who will fill the pulpit and help guide the services. Know that their stepping in is not a show of support for the actions of Robert Morris, or the other men who covered up what he did, but a love for the global Church and for hurting people.

Please pray for the next generation who are watching this happen and who are trying to understand it. Pray they don’t become bitter and that we don’t lose them to apathy or anger.

What he did is not more powerful than the cross. His actions do not negate the fact that lives have been changed (our kids are a testament to that) missions have been supported, the poor, orphans and widows (like my mom) have been ministered to. His sin does not cancel nor taint eternity. Those who accepted Jesus as their Savior while attending Gateway will not be denied access to heaven. Robert Morris. or any other man for that matter, did not die on the cross for humanities sins. Jesus did.

Most of all I beg you, please do not wound us more or blame us for the injuries we have sustained.

It’s not a cafe where coffee lovers expected to enjoy a cappuccino in safety but it is a church where safety was expected.

Psalms 34:18

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

*Source:Wikipedia