{"id":45157,"date":"2009-04-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/pastors-wife-forgives-gunman\/"},"modified":"2009-04-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:53:12","slug":"pastors-wife-forgives-gunman","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/pastors-wife-forgives-gunman\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastor’s Wife Forgives Gunman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fred Winters, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois, was shot and killed during a Sunday service on March 8, 2009, by a troubled young man. A week after the tragic event, his wife, Cindy Winters, was interviewed by Julie Chen of CBS's Early Show<\/em>. When asked about her husband's alleged killer, Terry Sedlacek, Winters spoke only a message of forgiveness—a message quite fitting for the Easter season:<\/p>\n\n

\n

I do not have any hatred, or even hard feelings towards him. We have been praying for him. One of the first things that my daughter said to me after this happened was, "You know, I hope that he comes to learn to love Jesus through all of this." We are not angry at all, and we really firmly believe that he can find hope and forgiveness and peace through this, by coming to know Jesus. And we hope that that happens for him.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[427],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3454,3507,3530,3569,3573,3621,3648,3718,3723,3839,3867,3903,4010,4085,4088,4271,4395,4425,4519,4615,4616,4633,4679,4777,4782,4886,4903,4905,4914,4931,4938,5191,5275,5283],"tax_ctp_topics":[378],"class_list":["post-45157","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-attitude","tax_ctp_tags-blood-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-burden-bearer","tax_ctp_tags-children","tax_ctp_tags-christ","tax_ctp_tags-circumstances","tax_ctp_tags-compassion","tax_ctp_tags-cross","tax_ctp_tags-crucifixion","tax_ctp_tags-easter","tax_ctp_tags-enemy","tax_ctp_tags-evil","tax_ctp_tags-forgiveness","tax_ctp_tags-gospel","tax_ctp_tags-grace","tax_ctp_tags-international-day-of-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-love","tax_ctp_tags-marriage","tax_ctp_tags-national-day-of-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-peace","tax_ctp_tags-peacemakers","tax_ctp_tags-perspective","tax_ctp_tags-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-reconciliation","tax_ctp_tags-redemption","tax_ctp_tags-savior","tax_ctp_tags-security-in-god","tax_ctp_tags-see-you-at-the-pole","tax_ctp_tags-self-denial","tax_ctp_tags-self-sacrifice","tax_ctp_tags-selflessness","tax_ctp_tags-trial","tax_ctp_tags-wife","tax_ctp_tags-witness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nPastor's Wife Forgives Gunman - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/pastors-wife-forgives-gunman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pastor's Wife Forgives Gunman - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fred Winters, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois, was shot and killed during a Sunday service on March 8, 2009, by a troubled young man. 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