School of Divinity staff member turns tragedy into testimony of God’s love and faithfulness

June 25, 2019, was a beautiful morning in Lynchburg, Va. The sun was shining and Claudia Dempsey (’94), online chair of operations for Liberty University’s John W. Rawlings School of Divinity, was beginning her day when her phone rang at 7:30 a.m.

“A woman was on the other end of the line and all she told me was that she was with Lynchburg General Hospital’s Surgical Intensive Care unit,” Dempsey said. “She proceeded to tell me that my mom was there but would not give me any more information.”

Alarmed and anxious, Dempsey called her husband, Dave, who was working as a detective with the Lynchburg Police Department at the time, and asked him to meet her at the hospital. Upon arriving, Dempsey ran to the hospital entrance where her husband stopped her and told her that the night prior, her 74-year-old mother and 92-year-old grandmother residing in Amherst, Va., had both been shot in their home. Her grandmother had passed away at the scene. Her mother was alive but her condition was unknown.

“I couldn’t believe what it was that I was hearing,” Dempsey said. “My mom lived a quiet and simple life in a small, rural town. This was unfathomable.”

Later she learned that Dempsey’s mother was sitting in the living room playing Sudoku and watching television when she heard six pops from outside the house and immediately felt pain in her chest. She looked down to see blood on her shirt, making her rush to the next room to call 911.

When police arrived, they discovered that Dempsey’s grandmother had been hit once fatally and her mother three times, including one shot that ricocheted off a rib and nicked her lung. According to police, the shooter, a stranger, stood right outside their front window as he fired eight rounds at the women.

While Dempsey stayed by her mother’s side in the hospital with police protection both outside the hospital room and outside her home, Dave joined Lynchburg and Amherst detectives to determine if this crime was linked to one of his own cases.

“As the days passed, the reality of what happened continued to defy comprehension,” Dempsey said. “I still wasn’t able to believe that something like this would happen to our family.”

Two weeks after the incident, detectives were alerted to a troubled teenager with a lengthy criminal record who lived nearby. The murder weapon was found in the suspect’s home, and he was arrested and charged with first degree murder, felony malicious wounding, and two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The case is still in the process of court trials after having been slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite having traveled through this painful season of her life, Dempsey said that she does not harbor any hatred toward the gunman.

“I think what helps in a situation like this is to recognize that the situation was pure evil,” she said. “I almost look at it like it was Satan at work and not the individual. I don’t feel any hatred or disgust toward the young man, although I certainly believe he deserves serious consequences and I’ll be very happy when he is put into an environment where he can’t harm anyone again.”

Dempsey said that before the tragedy, she sensed the Lord preparing her heart for the hardship that was to come.

“The shooting happened on a Tuesday night, but the day before in my devotion time I sensed the Lord asking me if I was ready for a test,” Dempsey said.

She told the Lord that she was not ready but as long as He carried her through, her heart was willing to undergo whatever was in store.

“In the days following the shooting, we as a family just determined that we were not going to be victims. We were going to give God the glory and do whatever we could to speak of his faithfulness,” she said.

Dempsey’s path to spiritual maturity and mental well-being during times of trial can be traced back to her days of walking campus as a Liberty student studying health sciences.

“I really had an amazing experience here,” Dempsey said. “It was so transformative and really a life-changing experience.”

Soon after graduating, Dempsey received news that her father, who she never truly had the chance to know, had passed away. This tragic news sent her into a season of discouragement that prompted her to talk with a counselor. Having always been interested in physical health, this unexpected season of her life reminded Dempsey of the importance of emotional health.

“Counseling helped set me free in a way,” she said. “Through counseling, I learned that while brokenness and dysfunction may result from seasons of pain and hardship, remaining in a state of brokenness is simply not part of God’s plan. Life is full of tragic moments, but disappointment and despair do not have to be one’s final destination. God always provides a pathway for healing and restoration.”

Inspired by her counselor, she set out to learn more about how combining a relationship with Christ, service in the church, and physical wellness can result in healthy individual living.

“Targeting just one dimension doesn’t help an individual reach their full potential for growth,” she said. “People are so complex, and we have to be mindful of the whole person as we help them walk with Christ and journey toward maturity.”

After receiving a master’s degree in Christian counseling and a doctorate in church and Christian leadership from Regent University, Dempsey moved back to Lynchburg in 2009.

After so many years away, she said that if the Lord opened the door, she wanted to be a part of the university that had such a tremendous impact on her life.

In 2010, she was hired as an adjunct professor at the School of Divinity and became an instructional mentor in 2012. She has taught courses in evangelism, leadership, and Christian ministry. Since 2017, she has served as the online chair of operations, where she helps manage the faculty and operational elements of the School of Divinity’s online courses.

“It has been an incredible honor to serve at the institution that was so pivotal to my own spiritual journey,” Dempsey said. “There is no place else I would rather be.”