The Corinth Baptist Church family began the long process of healing and mourning March 20, with counselors on hand to talk with children and adults after a miniature train crash in Spartanburg the day before killed a 6-year-old boy and injured 28 others.
Youth minister Nathan Ellis at Corinth Baptist Church in Gaffney introduces grief counselors who were on hand to help the congregation.Fifteen of those on the train at Cleveland Park were from Corinth, including Benjamin Samuel Easler, son of the church’s pastor, Dwight Easler, who was hospitalized after the accident and may require surgery for an ankle injury. His wife, eight months pregnant, was bruised, but their unborn baby girl is doing fine. She and their other two sons – each with broken arms – have been released from the hospital. The boys learned March 20 that Benji wouldn’t be coming with them.
The modest church on a narrow country road in rural Cherokee County packed about 250 people in at 10 a.m., when everyone in the sanctuary was divided into groups to meet with counselors. Nathan Ellis, the church’s youth pastor, wiped away tears as he went through a status report on everyone’s condition.
“This is not the service we planned to have this morning,” he said.
Jim Rentz, a pastoral counselor with WestGate Training and Consultation Network, delivered the sermon, which was on grief and the grieving process. Rentz, who served as an Army chaplain in the Vietnam War, said there are some things from the war that still haunt him to this day.
“The kind of trauma you have and the resultant grief that you have is going to be going on probably for the rest of your life,” Rentz told the congregation. “You just don’t get over things like this. You learn how to adjust to them. You learn how to live with them. You learn how to somehow get on about life – maybe as a testimony to little Benji, or someone else. You don’t let it destroy you.”
Rentz told the congregation it was okay to cry, and that a confluence of different feelings – anger, guilt, fear and pain – were all normal parts of the grieving process. He said people who have been traumatized before can find past feelings of grief reawakened by recent events.
“People tend to be in shock, not totally aware of all of their feelings, kind of like walking around in a daze,” he said afterward. “It’s important to talk to people they trust and not avoid it. It’s important, especially in church, to reach out to one another and not go at it Lone Ranger.”
Ellis said he was grateful for the support network that had developed for those involved in the tragedy. He opened the morning meeting and the 11 a.m. service, obviously still distraught. His emotional prayer included thanking God for the six years Benji lived and asking for support for the man driving the train.
“We’re going to have to watch the kids, help the kids. The kids will have needs,” Ellis said afterward. “They saw things, heard things, that most adults wouldn’t want to experience.”
Cathy Sparks, a counselor with Middle Tyger Community Center who specializes in children’s therapy, met with those who were on the ride, along with the parents and, in some cases, grandparents.
Children who have been traumatized won’t just be sad, Sparks said. Rather, they could be terrified. They could have nightmares. They could recreate the experience while playing. They may be hyper-vigilant, easily scared or have separation anxiety. They may want to start using a night light or sleep with their parents.
“Parents need to just let the children talk, and not ask a lot of questions – just reflect their feeling back to them,” Sparks said.
One of the most severely injured children is Bryson Ziegelheafer, who suffered a bruise on the brain that caused swelling.
“The only thing helping us now is the support we’ve got from family, friends and the church,” said his grandfather, Bob. “The support group is tremendous. The outpouring of love gets you through.”
During the invitation at the end of the sermon, entire families knelt at the altar to pray – so many that in some cases they formed a second row.
Bill Poore, a retired Lancaster County pastor, was to begin serving as interim pastor at Corinth on March 27.
– Reprinted with permission of the Spartanburg Herald Journal.