Frisco church offers trauma seminar for members reeling from teen's fatal stabbing at track meet

Before counselors for The Seeds of Hope brought their services to a couch on the stage of Hope Fellowship East, Lead Pastor John McKinzie spoke with CBS News Texas about the need for the trauma workshop and his membership.
A number of those impacted by the
recent murder of Austin Metcalf
attend his church, including the victim's family. In a large church, McKinzie said he didn't get to know the family personally.
Metcalf's funeral is on April 12, with a youth pastor who knew the teen better presiding at the service. Before the day before Palm Sunday for the Christian faith, McKinzie said members aren't dealing with the joy of the Easter season.
Below are excerpts from their conversation, edited for clarity.
CBS News Texas
: Why did you think you needed this?
McKinzie
:
There were so many involved
in this because [the stabbing] was at a track meet. I don't know how many kids were there, but a lot were there. The assistant athletic director, Chris, who goes to our church, was on the scene. Many teachers that I know in our church were on the scene, kids in our church who were on the scene, first responders in our church who were on the scene.
It's bigger than just our church or our families. It's
the whole community
that is trying to make sense of this. The Seeds of Hope counseling agency that's helping us, they just said, 'hey, would you like to do something?' And then we said, 'hey, how about a trauma workshop at our church?'
CBS News Texas
: So let's talk about navigation on Sunday. You ended service by saying what?
McKinzie
: I read a scripture from Psalm 34. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. And then I felt it was important as a church family, I can't speak for the whole community, but I certainly speak to our church. And I just felt like it was important to help us focus in the right direction.
Many times,
in a tragedy or a trauma
like this, we pull away from God because of questions like Why? Why me? Why this? This isn't fair. You know, normal, normal questions. And I just felt like it's so important for us to focus in and draw near to him in the scripture.
I also felt like social media is a great tool, but it can also be a thorn in the flesh because it's used in so many instances in a negative way, whether that's false information or reposting things that may or may not be true. And I just instructed the people as much as I can, I can't control sometimes, I wish I could, but just instructed, hey, let's be careful what we're posting.
There are two families here that are hurting, and we're praying for all involved. And if you know the details of something, hey, why don't we post? And if we feel the need to post – post Scripture – something positive to point us in the right direction rather than divide us with things that we don't really know the details of.
Of course, pray for the family,
the Metcalf family
for Jeff and Meghan and Hunter, who are obviously the closest and most affected by this, and then
the Anthony family
, Karmelo's family, and I don't know them either, but felt like was important to pray for him and for his family. This is a hard thing.
CBS News Texas
: You make it a point to pray for him.
McKinzie
: Well, you know, to the core of my being and to the core of our church's culture and mission. Every person matters to God. Everyone matters to God. And if they matter to God, they matter to me. They matter to us. And I'm praying for him daily, praying for his family, praying for my friends, the Metcalf family, praying for our students, praying for our community.
CBS News Texas
: What is the takeaway here?
McKinzie
: The first thing that comes to my mind is what the book of James says, that this life is a vapor. It's here today, and it's gone tomorrow. So, what can we do to make the most of the life that we have? We can choose to look at the challenges, whether that be financial, physical, relational, or even physical, as in anxiety or depression.
We can choose to look at that and focus on that, or we can choose to make the most of what we have and what we've been given. And so, the takeaway for me is: let's not waste time. And too, in our community with this particular tragedy, what can we do to come together rather than divide, whether that be racial, whether that be in faith denominations, whether that be in anger or whatever?

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