The below is from friend John Cannon, campus missionary with Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC).  He shares insights about the Virginia Tech situation.
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Dear Friends,

Please pray for our staff and students, and the student body at VA Tech. Yesterday, we began mobilizing both here in Orlando and on the ground at VT to begin ministering to hurting students, both ours and those who need the Lord.
 
Sadly, this morning I learned that 4 students involved in the CCC movement of 600 at VT were among the slain. Several other CCC students and staff are seeking to minister to the student body at this time and praying with and listening to other students who are asking questions about faith in God and all the questions about life, death and eternity you would expect to surface at a time like this.
 
Pray for me too and the others on the Emergency Response Team here in the National Campus Office. Myself along with several others have been jumping through some logistical hoops to be positioned to both help with grief processing at VT and also think strategically about using this window of opportunity to share about the hope that can be found in Christ. My part centers around communicating with the staff team at VT and helping to organize a comprehensive ministry response into a letter to ministry donors to help fund.
 
Some of the initiatives to be rolled out at VT are:

·         A “Prayer and Comfort” room––we plan to establish a “home base” where any student can walk in and be prayed with and cared for in Christ’s name.  Each visitor would be offered a Bible and/or other evangelistic literature.

·         “Grief Recovery Packs”––these would be offered as free gifts to thousands of students on the Virginia Tech campus.  They will include a Bible, a book like C.S. Lewis’ The Problem of Pain (which addresses the issue of why a good God would allow evil and suffering in the world), information on on-campus gatherings, staff contact number/e-mail addresses, and more.

·         Special Events/Speakers––In addition to the prayer vigil, we also plan to bring long-time staff member and internationally known evangelist Josh McDowell to speak at Virginia Tech in a few weeks, addressing students’ deepest questions about God.  A separate large-scale evangelistic event would feature Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, one of the Christian students killed at Columbine High School.  Darrell’s story will connect powerfully with this hurting community and he is an ideal person to explain how God can be found in the midst of tragedy.

·         Grief Recovery Groups­Christ-centered small groups offering grief processing, Biblical perspective and group prayer.
 
On the side, if you feel led to give to this special need to help minister to students at VA Tech, the designation is below. your check made payable to CCC with the designation below in the memo line will suffice, and mail to Campus Crusade for Christ, 100 Lake Hart Drive, 24-00, Orlando, FL 32832.
2798287
 
Thank you for your love, prayers and support, you guys, as we seek to trust God both the pain and confusion and also in how He will glorify His name through this tragedy.
 
In Him,
John
 

John L Cannon
Administrator
National Campus Ministry Development
Campus Crusade for Christ, International
www.campuscrusadeforchrist.com
office: 407-826-2131
cell: 407-443-7719
fax: 407-826-2611
Our Website
 

Currently the biggest prayer is for 2 freshman girls that we haven't heard from.  They are both involved in freshman bible studies and no one has heard from them today.  We are fearing the worst so pray for the students that know these girls well and for their families.  As far as I know both families are in Blacksburg but we haven't found out any information yet. 

Pray for another student.  She is a freshman involved in our movement and she lives next door to where the students were shot in the dorm.  I believe she was the first to find them so she will need lots of help. 

A young guy involved with the movement - who escaped the shootings.  He is with his family and has received some counseling but he will still need much prayer. 

Our movement.  I am sure that many of our students will know someone who was injured or killed so I suspect that the pain and grief will continue to come out over the next day or two as names of the victims are released.  Pray our students would be sharing their experiences and emotions and would come to us for help and not isolate themselves. 

We are asking our small groups to get together tomorrow night to share and pray so you all can pray that is a good time in community for our students. 

Finally, pray for our staff to be a comfort and have wisdom to deal with each student we come in contact with.  Also for me as I begin to think about what to say on Thursday night at our weekly meeting.