California pastor talks tragedy

Rob McCoy, pastor of Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks, California, and a family from his church patiently waited in the Alex Fiore Teen Center while the coroner identified bodies from a bar shooting Wednesday, Nov. 7, that claimed the lives of 12 and injured 18 others.

The waiting was tortuous for the family members. 

“The longer they wait, the more inevitable the news is going to be (bad),” McCoy said.

McCoy, also the mayor pro tempore of the southern California town, lost two members from his congregation in the shooting. 

The New York Post reported that there is an average of 123 violent crimes per 100,000 citizens annually in Thousand Oaks. These statistics marked Thousand Oaks as one of the safest towns in the U.S. before the shooting, according to a study by Niche, a website that analyzes      crime data.

“When you have a police officer who is so well trained that he puts his life on the line to go in and stop a shooter and takes bullets and dies … that’s a safe city,” McCoy said, referring to Sgt. Ron Helus of the Venture County Sheriff’s Office. 

Helus, who was one year away from retirement, was killed trying to stop the shooter.

The mass shooting was not the only catastrophe that devastated Thousand Oaks during the last week. By Friday, Nov. 9, California wildfires surrounded the town and caused some residents to evacuate their homes. Since then, wild fires in the state have burned more than 100,000 acres, 7,000 buildings — mostly homes — and killed more than 31 people across the state, according to various news reports. More than 200 remain missing.

The death toll continues to steadily rise as officials identify more bodies, some reduced to either bone or bone fragments, according to the Butte
Sheriff’s Office. 

The wild blaze left Paradise, a town about 500 miles north of Thousand Oaks, in complete ruins. The bone-dry climate and unforgiving winds helped scorch the entire business district, and it transformed thousands of structures — mostly homes — into rubble and ash.  

East of Thousand Oaks, a fire threatens to encroach the town as it steadily grows larger. For McCoy, this second tragedy afforded him an opportunity to share the gospel.

“A faith not tested isn’t a faith worth having,” McCoy said, who has leaned heavily on his faith for guidance through California’s moment of turmoil. 

As a pastor, McCoy counseled grieving parents, but he said the community has received tremendous encouragement. To top it off, McCoy vacated his house because of impending wildfires. During all of this, McCoy acquired little sleep and even experienced a period of 57 hours with no sleep.  

Despite hardships, McCoy reflected on Proverbs 11:25, which says, “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (NIV).

“If you’ve ever doubted the existence of God, then try serving somebody… then you’ll realize it’s all there,” McCoy said.

McCoy, whose daughter attends Liberty University, said he appreciated all the prayer and support from Lynchburg, Virginia, and around the nation.

It’s not trivial. It’s profound. There’s hundreds of thousands, if not over a million people … across the country praying. And we’re just coming together as a community, and we just have this peace.

— Rob McCoy

“It’s not trivial. It’s profound,” McCoy said. “There’s hundreds of thousands, if not over a million people … across the country praying. And we’re just coming together as a community, and we just have this peace.”