On Sunday, March 8, 2009, Pastor Fred Winters was concluding the early service message in his St. Louis, MO, area First Baptist Church of Maryville, IL. As a church drama had just taken place, some assumed that the man walking toward the pulpit was a continuation of that drama. Instead it was a gunman who shot Pastor Fred dead, in the heart, while he was preaching. An early quote by his wife, Cindy, was, “He died doing what he loved to do.” The tragic and shocking story made national and international news. It became intensely personal as I recalled that eight members of my larger family on three different occasions had personal and warm contacts with Fred within two weeks of his death. Dave Powell, longtime staff member of our radio station, was a friend to Fred and Cindy since teen-age days before the Winters married. Through Dave we requested an interview. As it turned out, the day after she made a quiet but impacting appearance on CBS Morning News, (an international telecast), Cindy Winters and her brother offered to make the nearly one hour trip in traffic to be interviewed by us on Bott Radio Network station 1320 AM in St. Louis. You will be stirred as you hear Cindy Winters speak of this “bombshell” experience soon after it occurred. Her story and dialogue about it is a compelling mix of faith, victory, comfort, and, yes, even points of laugh-out-loud humor. — Hebrews 11 says of Old Testament Able that “…he being dead, yet speaks” So does pastor Fred Winters. Hear and see Fred’s quiet and clear five-minute presentation on “Why do we Exist?,” – on how to be forgiven and receive eternal life — at www.fbmaryville.org.
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