Hundreds at prayer service after pastor slain

[March 09, 2009]  EDWARDSVILLE (AP) -- A colleague of the Illinois pastor slain while delivering a sermon at his church in a St. Louis suburb has urged mourners at a prayer service to be resilient after the "attack from the forces of hell."

Hundreds of people cried and cradled Bibles on Sunday while remembering First Baptist Church senior pastor Fred Winters.

Authorities say Winters was shot and killed while delivering a sermon at First Baptist in Maryville earlier in the day.

A crowd gathered in the Metro Community Church in Edwardsville to remember 45-year-old Winters.

During Sunday evening's prayer service, First Baptist pastor Mark Jones did not mention the gunman, whose name hasn't been released, but described the attack as from "the forces of hell."

[Associated Press]

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