For over a decade Search for Common Grounds (SFCG) has been conferring this award to honor achievements in conflict resolution, negotiation, community building, and Peacebuilding.

Works, Banks-Young and Westerinen will be recognized at 7:30 pm on Nov. 11 in the Grosvenor Auditorium of the National Geographic Society in Washington D.C., for their work in bridging racial divides by nurturing relationships among descendants of Thomas (Martha) Jefferson, and Sally Hemmings.

Works and Banks-Young have done much of their collaborative work under the auspices of , a program of the at 91短视频. Westeriner and Banks-Young have filled many auditoriums across the country sharing their stories and exploring how the legacy of slavery continues to have an impact on U.S. society.

For more information about this event please contact, Rachel Lyn Okun 202.777.2230 or聽 cgawards@sfcg.org. For more information about Coming to the Table, please contact Sha Jackson 540 432 4491 or聽cttt@emu.edu.

Works, who is white, learned that he has black cousins, and he wanted to meet them.

That sent him and his family on a years-long journey of mending race relations.

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By Tom Mitchell, Daily News-Record

David Works speaks in university chapel Friday, Sept. 18, on his decision not to pursue revenge for his daughters’ murders but to work toward reconciliation and healing. (Photo by Lindsey Grosh)

The catastrophe that brought unimaginable grief to David Works and his family less than two years ago left him at an emotional fork in the road.

On Dec. 9, 2007, a former church worker shot two of Works’ daughters to death in a vengeful hail of gunfire while leaving a worship service.

“I had a choice to forgive or not forgive,” Works said Wednesday while speaking at 91短视频’s campus center. “I decided that I did not want to go down the road of unforgiveness.”

Works came to Harrisonburg for 91短视频’s Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience program. 91短视频 created STAR in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

He credits a similar seminar with helping him forgive Matthew Murray, 24, the man who killed Works’ daughters in the parking lot of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Works attended a clinic titled “Coming to the Table,” a gathering of black and white descendants of Thomas Jefferson at 91短视频 in January 2006. “Coming to the Table” used the topic of slavery to focus on forgiveness and reconciliation.

Works and his wife, Marie, have recounted their tragedy to the media numerous times, speaking on such venues as TV’s “Good Morning America.” The couple’s recent book, “Gone in a Heartbeat: Our Daughters Died, Our Faith Endures,” describes the attack and the grief they and their two surviving daughters endured.

In A Flash

David Works speaks during a trauma awareness training program Wednesday at 91短视频 in Harrisonburg. (Photo by Michael Reilly)

The trouble began as Works and his family were getting into their minivan after a service at New Hope, a megachurch of 10,000 members.

“I heard a loud crack,” Works said. “We were evidently the first people [Murray] saw. We were caught off guard. It was sheer terror.”

Armed with a 1,000-round AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, Murray fired into the van, hitting Works’ 18-year-old daughter, Stephanie. Works didn’t see that because he was already bolting from the van to protect daughter Rachel, 16, who was in easy range of Murray, who then shot her.

The entire shooting lasted seven minutes, Works said, adding that Murray fired 40 to 50 shots.

Bullets whizzed by and then two shots struck him, one above the belt and another in his leg. It could have been worse.

“I was turned sideways to the shots, or I probably would have been killed, too,” Works said.

Stephanie died at the scene while Rachel succumbed nine hours later. Unharmed were Works’ wife and two other daughters, Stephanie’s twin, Laurie, and 11-year-old Grace.

Minutes later, Murray charged into the church, spraying gunfire there. He wounded one person before the church’s security guard, Jeanne Assam, shot Murray several times. Murray then fatally shot himself.

Works said he and his family wrestled with grief for months.

“Christmas was especially hard,” he said. “We almost didn’t have one.”

Making The ‘Right’ Choice

But Works has worked to come to terms with the tragedy, and along the way maybe help others.

Attending 91短视频’s “Coming to the Table” event, he said, helped him make the right decision about how to handle his rage.

“It helped me break out of my anger,” Works said.

In the months since the shootings, the Works family has met with and grown close to Murray’s family.

Elaine Zook Barge, director of the STAR program, commends Works’ will to conquer hate.

“David is the first person I’ve known to choose to use the cycle of violence preventively, to make a deliberate choice not to continue the cycle,” Barge said. “His response to this incredible tragedy might have been so different had he not been aware of trauma and what can happen.”

The Rev. Luke Schrock-Hurst, who with wife Carmen co-pastors Immanuel Mennonite Church, called Works’ story “gripping.” Works spoke Sunday at Immanuel Mennonite Church’s worship service, sparing few details about the attack.

“David showed us the rawness of dealing with his loss,” Schrock-Hurst said. “It was a tremendous testimony to the power of God’s spirit, enabling a family to get beyond their grief and sorrow and forgive.”

Works and his wife Marie suffered the ultimate loss when their daughters – 18-year-old Stephanie and 16-year-old Rachel – were shot by a gunman in the parking lot of their New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Author David Works (photo by Jon Styer)

Works was also shot twice in the Dec. 9, 2007 attack, but survived the ordeal.

As a result of a peacebuilding seminar that Works attended the previous year at 91短视频, he decided not to continue the cycle of violence by seeking revenge. Instead, he and Marie chose to work toward forgiveness and restoration. They share their story in the book Gone in a Heartbeat: Our Daughters Died… Our Faith Endures (Focus on the Family).

Works is returning to Harrisonburg to participate in a week-long STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilence) training program at 91短视频. While here, will speak in several settings on the family’s journey of grief, loss and reconciliation.

He will speak at a pastor’s and local leaders breakfast 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 in room 123 at Eastern Mennonite Seminary on the 91短视频 campus. A light breakfast will be served; admission is free.

Works will do book signings 2-3:30 p.m. at Family Christian Bookstore, 1621 E Market St., and from 7-8:30 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, 289 Burgess Rd., Harrisonburg. Works will speak at the opening of the signing and be available to interact with customers.

He will share in two public presentations on Sunday, Sept. 13. He will speak at Immanuel Mennonite Church, 400 Kelley Street, at 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning. The service will be followed by a potluck. All are welcome. Phone 746-8844 with questions. Sunday evening he will speak at 7 p.m. at Park View Mennonite Church, 1600 Park Road. The following Friday, Sept. 18, he will speak in a university chapel at 91短视频’s Lehman Auditorium. All are welcome.

"We are grateful that David has been a part of our Center for Peacebuilding community here at 91短视频," said Lynn R. Roth, CJP executive director, "and we hope persons will take advantage of the opportunity to hear his story. He is an inspiration as he and Marie have sought restoration and healing from the tragic family experience," Roth added.

For more information on any of these events, contact 91短视频 church relations at (540) 432-4589.

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