Sign outside the YWAM based in Arvada, Colorado

ARVADA, CO/TYLER, TX (ANS) -- Two of the leaders of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) have spoken out about the terrible shootings in Colorado, on Sunday which took the lives of two staff members at the YWAM base in Arvada and two sisters at New Life Church in Colorado Springs and resulted in the death of the gunman.

They were talking about the gunman who was reported to have killed four people at the megachurch and at the YWAM missionary training school. According to media reports, he had been thrown out of the school a few years ago and had been sending it hate mail, police said in court papers on Monday.

The gunman was identified as Matthew Murray, 24, who was home-schooled in what a friend said was a deeply religious Christian household. Murray's father is a neurologist and a leading multiple-sclerosis researcher.

Five people — including Murray — were killed, and five others wounded Sunday in the two eruptions of violence 12 hours and 65 miles apart.

The first attack took place at Youth With A Mission, a training center for missionaries in the Denver suburb of Arvada; the other occurred at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, where Murray was shot by a security guard, though investigators said he may have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“Through both investigations it has been determined that most likely the suspect in both shootings are one in the same,” police said in court papers.

Colorado Springs police said the “common denominator in both locations” was Youth With A Mission. The training center is said to have maintained an office at the 10,000-member church.

Lynn Green

Lynn Green, the American-born International Chairman of Youth With A Mission, who now lives in England, told Peter Wooding of UCB UK in an interview, “There have been two shootings over the weekend. The first one took place at our base in Arvada, which is a suburb of Denver. It’s a fairly large one that trains about a hundred and fifty to two-hundred and fifty young people a year.

“They had just finished a Christmas banquet and it was just after midnight and the staff were still there cleaning up and a young man [now identified by police as Matthew Murray] came in apparently asking for a place to stay. We’re not equipped to take people in off the streets and mix them with our students, so one of the girls on staff there said that they couldn’t do that. He then pulled out an automatic hand gun and shot her and three others.

Tiffany Johnson loved giving out hot chocolate to the homeless and snowboarding, and combined both activities with YWAM in Colorado.

“She and one other staff member were killed -- they died later in hospital -- and one of the other two is seriously injured with a bullet wound to the neck while the other is wounded in the legs.

“Then about twelve hours later, at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, which is about eighty miles to the south, there was another shooting… it looks like the shooter was shot and killed by a security guard at the church.”

He went onto say, “Sad isn’t it, that we have to have armed security guards at churches, but that’s the way it was and, thankfully according to the leadership at the church and the police, the action of the [female) security guard saved quite a lot of lives.”

Peter Wooding then asked Lynn Green how the YWAM staff were bearing up under this tragedy.

“I’m glad to say that both of those locations, we have experienced long term leadership and they’re doing very well,” he said.

Green added: “We’re supporting them in every way we can. Our office is sending out press releases and keeping up to date with the so we’re the ones doing the writing and informing people.

“I just feel such a sense of loss for our wider family, but I would imagine that sense of loss is felt even more deeply to those who bore these children and raised them. It’s such a tragedy. No parent is equipped to cope with the death of a child, especially a violent and senseless death, as these just seem to be.

“It’s also very disturbing that our western culture continues to produce such violent young people and that we don’t make a connection between our entertainment industry and the rise of violent behavior. We all wonder how long will it take before the various western nations, especially English speaking nations, will realize that if we raise children on a diet of violence and immorality and unacceptable behavior as provided by the entertainment industry, that we shouldn’t be surprised that, when in times of stress, that’s what they begin to exhibit.

“So this is a tough one for our cultures to come to grips with but we need to do it or these things will just continue.”

YWAM Teacher Remembers Shooting Victims

Another YWAM leader who has spoken out is Janice Rogers, the sister of Loren Cunningham who, along with his wife Darlene, founded Youth With A Mission in 1960.

In an interview with KLTV in Tyler, Texas, Rogers said that she had, as a writing teacher, recently spent time in Arvada, Colorado and remembers the love she received from one of those killed. She also remembers the other victim who once sat in her class and had so much potential.

The KLTV story said that Janice Rogers has been teaching at YWAM in Smith County Texas, for more than 40 years. Last May, she was asked to teach a writing course at Arvada, Colorado's YWAM base where she says she met two promising young leaders.

“She was just a real blonde bubbly girl from Minnesota,” said Rogers. “She was a real lovely girl.” Tiffany Johnson, 26, was a staff member for YWAM working in hospitality, something Rogers says Johnson was great at.

“She wrote me ahead of time to know what kind of diet needs I had, anything she could do to make my stay more comfortable,” said Rogers in the TV interview. It wasn't until she saw Philip Crouse's picture, Rogers says did she realize she knew the second victim.

“It instantly hit me because I taught about 35 people that week in writing, but he stood out in the classroom,” said Rogers. “He was, I call him a dreamer. He loved to write.” Learning of their deaths, Rogers says was heart breaking, knowing both Johnson and Crouse had their whole lives ahead of them.

“It was just a sick feeling, just like someone hit me you know,” said Rogers. “These are young people that can make a difference. They are living their life for that. They are not working for money, or working up the career ladder. They are doing what they feel God is wanting them to do.”

Rogers says she does get comfort in knowing those affected by this tragedy will not be alone.

“They have a family of thousands and thousands of people all over the world that are part of Youth With A Mission that are all praying for them right now,” said Rogers. Rogers also says Arvada's YWAM has a very strong presence in their community and knows they will show support.

“This morning, Rogers says she and her students held extended prayer for the victims,” said Molly Reuter, reporting for KLTV.

Dan Wooding, 66, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma of 44 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. danjuma1@aol.com.