Chad and Hallie Scruggs 2019 Facebook
Park Cities Presbyterian Church Tuesday held a prayer service for Covenant Presbyterian Church and School in Nashville, where a shooter on Monday killed six people, including three children.
According to a Facebook post, Park Cities Presbyterian, which is attended by many Preston Hollow residents, has “deep and dear connections” to the Nashville church and its members, including former Park Cities Presbyterian associate pastor Chad Scruggs, pastor of Covenant Presbyterian, whose 9-year-old daughter Hallie was killed in Monday’s attack.
Scruggs, who serves as lead pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville, served for several years as associate pastor at PCPC.
“We love the Scruggs family and mourn with them over their precious daughter Hallie,” senior pastor Mark Davis says. “Together, we trust in the power of Christ to draw near and give us the comfort and hope we desperately need.”
Covenant Presbyterian Church is a sister church of PCPC, said church leaders in a statement. Many PCPC church members have deep friendships and family connections there.
Davis told NBC 5 that another victim was related to a Park Cities church member.
“We realized that the substitute teacher there, Cindy Peak, who was killed, is the sister of one of our members as well. And so that just added another layer of heartbreak for our community,” Davis told the news station.
Along with Hallie Scruggs and Cindy Peak, 61, the shooting victims included children Evelyn Dieckhaus and William Kinney and Katherine Koonce, 60, and Michael Hill, 61.
Police said they did not believe any of the victims had been specifically targeted.
“We weep deeply for the unimaginable sorrow that our friends at Covenant Presbyterian Church and School are suffering and will continue to suffer,” says Paul Goebel, associate pastor at Park Cities Presbyterian. “As brothers and sisters in Christ, we will suffer alongside our friends and grieve together, but not as those without the hope of Jesus.”
