Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: A Story About the Shooting

As you may know, Rev. Schenck was influential in restoring hope to the Amish community of Nickel Mines in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania after the terrible school shooting on October 2, 2006. Rev. Schenck and I got to taking about this a few days ago. He had stories to tell and so did I. He was moved by what I had to say, and advised me to write about my experience.

In the spring of each year, the Bryan College Chorale tours for about 9 days. In 2007, just seven months after the shooting, we traveled north to Washington D.C. and the surrounding states. That year we had a free day scheduled in the Amish Country of Lancaster County. When our charter bus arrived, we decided get a tour guide. As we dove down the road she told the bus driver to stop in front of a little, one-room school house. Next thing I know, we were all filing off the bus because we had been invited sing for the children!

This school house was about a mile down the road from where the 2006 shooting occurred. The children were so cute all dressed up in traditional Amish attire. The ages of the children spanned from 4 all the way to 12 or 13. When we entered the house they were very nervous, but curious. The 44 person chorale squeezed onto the little front platform, and Dr. David Luther (our director) stood alongside the children sitting at their desks!

That morning we sang all our a capella pieces. At one point between songs, I saw the classroom bulletin board. It was decorated in yellow and had musical notes around the edges. It read, “Visitors bring songs of Joy.” Only God could plan something like this, I thought! When we finished singing, the teacher in the back began to clap. Amish don’t clap! The children were confused! The teacher persisted and the children slowly joined her. The only way I can describe how it sounded is to liken it to a building wave. The clapping got stronger and stronger until it was a roar! The children’s smiles were infectious!

As it turns out, our tour guide knew many Amish in that community. Our next stop took us to an Amish farm. After a few minutes, the whole choir was crammed into the living room of her friend’s home! There, with the small Amish family as our audience, we sang!

How sweet it was to be instruments of God’s Joy! God used us that day in ways that could have never been planned! I’m so glad that our tour guide let God lead that day!