GRAND BLANC, Mich. (WXYZ) — Nearly 200 people packed the pews of Grand Blanc United Methodist Church Tuesday night for a joint prayer service, reflecting and grieving for their neighbors who witnessed tragedy just three days earlier when a gunman drove a truck through the doors of the Grand Blanc Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, opened fire and set the building ablaze.
Churches across the Grand Blanc area have hosted prayer services and vigils, while nonprofits team up to offer mental health crisis support to those in need.
Watch Brett Kast's video report below:
"We were finishing our service and I was out greeting members of our church and someone let me know what had happened," said Brian West, pastor of Grand Blanc United Methodist Church.
West says they quickly began working with other nearby churches to plan the joint service.
"Tonight was an incredible experience. It was emotional for me. I think it was emotional for just about everybody," West said. "It was a reminder to us the importance of community, being together, whether we know everybody or not."
Church members felt called to help their community heal.
"I don't know what good comes out of the tragedy, but for us to be able to do something like this tonight, we're just called to do it," said Melinda Elmore-Hajek, a member of Grand Blanc United Methodist Church.
Also in attendance were therapy dogs from Mid-Michigan Therapy Dogs, including Peppa, who have been visiting churches and local elementary schools throughout the week.
"There's something magical about dogs that just makes you smile," said Pam Bennett with Mid Michigan Therapy Dogs.
Bennett says some children expressed feeling unsafe after the incident.
"Some of the kids were saying they didn't feel safe, and we were there to reassure them that they are safe," Bennett said.
Hear from leader of the Grand Blanc Township church attacked below:
Jamie Ayers and her dog Wiley are with Common Ground, a nonprofit providing mental health crisis services. They've responded to past tragedies in Oxford, East Lansing and Rochester Hills, and were called in by local officials to help at the Family Assistance Center.
"It's been pretty steady with traffic, and the nice thing is we have a lot of resources so people can come and take something and if they don't need something right now, they can take the resources and at another time, at least they'll have them," Ayers said.
Hear from doctors who helped treat the victims below:
As the community begins a long healing journey, West is asking for prayers, support and solutions.
"Prayer is remarkably important, but we also know prayer by itself without action is empty," West said. "God calls us in our prayers to then respond and act and to reach out in care and concern to our community, but also to advocate to make sure we no longer have to have these kinds of services where we're responding to mass violence like this."
The Family Assistance Center is open at the Genysys Conference and Banquet Center through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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