Church plans to reclaim their sanctuary after shooting

Church leaders at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Kingston Pike are preparing to rededicate their sanctuary, one week after a deadly shooting.

Police say Jim Adkisson went into the church Sunday morning and shot several shotgun rounds into a crowd watching a children's musical.

Two people were killed during the shooting rampage, and seven others were hurt.

TVUUC President Ted Jones believes it could have been worse, if not for a bold stagehand keeping Adkisson away from the back door.

"If he'd come in this way, he has the whole congregation in the front. There's only maybe four people right here beside him," Jones said. "He would have shot and killed a lot more people being here in the front from that angle."

Jones says memories like this one will be difficult to overcome, but the congregation will try to move forward. Counseling session have been going on all week long.

Jones says there is a long-range plan to offer counseling for several months.

He expects this weekend's service to be tough for the congregation, but it will be necessary for the church to move forward.

"This reclamation of our space and saying we're going to hang onto this for ourselves. We're not going to let this spoil it or make us fear in our own home, so we're reclaiming it on Sunday," Jones said.

And the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church will also hold a service this Sunday in the sanctuary where the gunman opened fire. It starts at 10:00am.

At the request of the church you can see it live on 10news2 and on wbir.com.

Jones believes some church members are unable to come back into the sanctuary at this point. However, a live service will help them to be a part of the re-dedication.

Jones just went through his first counseling session Friday. He says it was hard for him to go back into the building Monday morning after the shooting, but he overcame his emotions by cleaning the sancutary and getting it back in order.