Billy Graham Chaplains Report On Las Vegas Shooting And Their Rapid Response Team
Billy Graham chaplains returned to their headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, to report on their response to the Las Vegas shooting. Jeff Naber was one of 17 members of Graham’s rapid response team dispatched to the shooting site. Naber spoke to WSOCTV News about the tremendous impact of the shooting.
The Las Vegas shooting took the lives of 58 people, and physically wounded 546 individuals at the Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, explained Jeff Naber of the Billy Graham rapid response team. The shooting also deeply impacted all of the 21,000 people who attended the outdoor concert in Las Vegas, and the first responders on the scene, explained Nabor.
Chaplain Jeff Naber described his experience with hotel staff, upon his arrival in Las Vegas, to WSOCTV News. Hotel employees were concerned about younger co-workers who may have attended the Harvest concert. Those within the community surrounding the Las Vegas shooting were frightened for their friends and relatives.
Billy Graham chaplains spent eight days in Las Vegas, counseling many of the 21,000 attendees, event staff, first responders, those injured, and their families. Jeff Naber related that while victims were reluctant to speak with them immediately after the shootings, in the days that followed, the shooting victims were increasingly eager to tell their stories and receive comfort from the Billy Graham chaplains.
“These same people that we saw three or four days later were wanting to get it out, wanting to tell their story.”
The Las Vegas shooting made a heavy “spiritual” and “emotional” impact on the Las Vegas crowd, and first responders, Jeff Naber said. It was the worst he has ever seen, in his five years as a Billy Graham chaplain.
“This was the heaviest as far as the emotional spiritual impact.”
Naber told WSOCTV he has over five years of experience with the Billy Graham rapid response team. He has been dispatched to many natural disasters and other tragedies globally in his time with the Billy Graham chaplains, but says Las Vegas left the most extreme impact.
The Las Vegas shooting was a calling, according to Jeff Naber, who explained the responsibility of the church to go out and seek those in need of help.
“Jesus didn’t tell people that they needed to go to church. He told the Church that they needed to go to the people.”
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[Featured Image by Jim Lytle/AP Images]
