“When it was my tragedy that made the headlines, I had to determine one thing: Was knowing Jesus enough?” she said. “It is.”

Friends wanted to tell her. Even strangers felt like they had to share where they were and how they found out her husband — a pastor — was gunned down while giving a sermon.

After experiencing a major event, people have a human instinct to tell others of the impact, Cindy Winters came to understand. It is healing. It connects them with others.

At a remembrance service Sunday marking the one-year anniversary of her husband’s murder, Winters did the same. She didn’t read verses of Scripture. She didn’t preach. She simply shared her story of March 8, 2009.

“I have no great words of wisdom to share with you,” she said from the pulpit where her husband once stood. “I’m just going to open up my heart and allow you to see all its cracks and crevices.”

Nearly 2,500 people packed the pews and a gymnasium at First Baptist Church of Maryville, a fast-growing church whose white steeple towers over surrounding cornfields. Winters spoke during two special morning services.

Three services usually are held. It was during the 8:15 a.m. service that Terry Joe Sedlacek, a stranger to the church, walked down the aisle to the edge of the stage where the Rev. Fred Winters, 45, was preaching and began shooting.

Worshippers grabbed the shooter, but it was too late.

Read More: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/11EA68427DE00631862576E0000CA68D?OpenDocument [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]