On April 15, David Freeman, of Spartanburg, a fourth-year engineering student at Virginia Tech, delivered his first sermon during college day services at Cambria Baptist Church, located just outside Blacksburg, Va.
The communities of two South Carolina Baptist institutions expressed condolences to the families and friends of the Virginia Tech victims. Anderson University designed this banner, which was transported by an employee of AU and displayed prominently in front of Burruss Hall on the Va. Tech campus. Also, Baptist Courier readers expressed their condolences online. (To read their comments, click here.)Less than 24 hours later, he found himself trapped with two others in a darkened student lounge on the second floor of Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus. Over the next 30 minutes, as the three huddled together and prayed, they heard “a lot of gunshots – methodical gunshots.”
“I was very nervous,” said Freeman. “(Another student) had his laptop, and an email came out saying there was a shooter in Norris. We knew basically what was going on. I was concerned about my classmates. We’re a very small, tight group.”
“We locked the door and turned out the lights and prayed. We called the police, and they told us to wait there. After about an hour and a half – the police escorted us out, and we were patted down and taken to an adjacent building.”
When the carnage was over, 32 people, including two victims from an earlier shooting that morning, lay dead in the worst episode of gun violence in American history. Neither Freeman nor those with him were injured.
Freeman, an engineering science mechanics major, missed his 9 a.m. class in solid mechanics because he woke up and didn’t feel well. Many of his friends in the class were either shot or seriously injured when they tried to escape the massacre by jumping from a second-floor window.
Professor Liviu Librescu, who was teaching the class, attempted to block the door with his body and was killed by the gunman. Freeman described Librescu as “a very nice guy” who “definitely cared about the students.”
“I hope people will keep the families and victims in their prayers,” said Freeman. “We will grieve, but we will press on.”
David Blanton, pastor of Southside Baptist Church, Spartanburg, where Freeman and his parents are members, described Freeman as “a very mature Christian young man” who started an RA program at his church near Blacksburg and was a counselor at Camp McCall in South Carolina. “He is very committed to the church, very committed to missions.”
“This is an example of providence in the midst of great tragedy,” said Blanton.
Freeman’s father, Rick Freeman, who was able to talk briefly with his son by telephone in the midst of the crisis, offered a similar sentiment: “I know David’s faith, so I knew the Lord was going to take care of him. I truly believe that God had a reason for him not being in that class that morning. I don’t know what it is; only he and God will determine that.”
The day before the mass murder at Virginia Tech, Freeman had driven the four hours to the Blacksburg area to hear his son preach his first sermon. The title of the message was “Heroes of Faith,” and the scripture was Hebrews 11, a chapter sometimes referred to as the “honor roll of faith.”
With the many stories of faith and heroism that have come out of the Virginia Tech community in recent days, Rick Freeman said his son’s sermon was “a special sort of message that seemed really appropriate.”
Related story: Courier readers express sympathies to Va. Tech community