Shannon Tatum

I found out that I had missed a few texts from one of our pastors at 4:30am Saturday morning. He had asked if I knew Shannon Tatum and said it was an emergency. I scheduled a text to ask what had happened for when I was planning on waking up that morning to prepare and leave for a leadership mini-retreat that would last half the day.

Shannon was a part of Aspen, the Community Group that Aimee and I have been a part of since late September (we have matching t-shirts). She's the girl pictured in the wheelchair and the big afro up above. Shannon was a transfer student here from Mississippi and was actively involved in our church last semester, even braving the Fall Retreat (not the greatest terrain for a wheelchair). I didn't know her very well but I enjoyed her tell-it-like-it-is, sassy attitude that mixed with a joy to be around.

After my text went out, Garrett let me know that she was in critical condition and that John (our other pastor) and Ami were going to the hospital that morning. Aimee and I headed up to meet them and we encountered her mother and grandmother in Shannon's room in the ICU. It was hard news. A kidney infection, which was a fairly common occurrence for Shannon, had flared up and entered her blood stream. This had steadily worsened her condition and since being found in her apartment, she was now unconscious and virtually unresponsive. She was on dialysis and was being kept alive by a machine. They were declaring her brain dead and had a few tests to run before confirming.

We all felt pretty shocked and helpless.

We prayed over her with the family and asked to be updated if they heard anything else. Heading out to the car, my heart was heavy as I thought about how to process with the core team that I would see within the hour and how I would process myself.

The day was long. We announced the news to our leadership team at the church (a group of about 50), our Community Group core team cried together and we began to walk through grieving the loss of this wonderful young woman we had just gotten to know. That evening, we brought pizza to the ten or so family members who were at the hospital. We shared stories and did our best to tell them how sorry we were.

A couple hours later, we had our Community Group over to grieve together. We had individually called everyone we could in the group to tell them what had happened with Shannon but now took the time to catch everyone up. We shared how we were feeling and prayed. That was it. What else can you do in a time like this?

Sunday, we learned that Shannon was gone. She had been taken off life support. John shared the news with the church and we began thinking about having a memorial service for her before the family went home. It was a tender request to ask them, but they were more than glad to have something for her. Monday morning, John and I sat with her mother, grandmother and father to talk through details. It was a delicate process but thanks to the Baptist Student Union being quick to host, we put together the best service we could under a short amount of time.

Though everything unfolded quickly and we were all so raw with emotionally processing this death, it seems like the family was touched by our service. They got to see and hear stories from staff and students about Shannon's brief time at Mizzou and we had some level of closure in getting to share with them.

Shannon came from Mississippi not knowing anyone at Mizzou. She was handed an Icee Pop by us at the beginning of the year in our attempts to meet new students and get them plugged in. From there, she ended up at one of our services where she met Ami, a recent grad and member of our group. Ami invited her to Community Group and she was a constant attender ever since. Shannon got plugged into a women's small group, lead by Ami, in which she was known and cared for by these girls.

After our Fall Retreat, Ami asked Shannon if she was a Christ follower. She wasn't, but told Ami that she would think about it. A couple weeks later Shannon told Ami that she had given her life to Christ in the straight-forward and non-nonchalant way that Shannon was.

This is what hits me so heavy during this time. Seeing how the Lord orchestrated Shannon's story to draw her to himself has been made so evident to us. The programs, events, services, small groups, friendships and intentional conversations we put so much energy toward were all tools in how God saved Shannon during her short time in Columbia.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, 

so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort 

we ourselves receive from God."

2 Corinthians 1:3,4

The gospel must enter into our times of grieving, into our times of confusion and sadness or it bears no weight at all. This week, I have almost tangibly felt the Lord's presence as he has walked us through grief and hope. We had the opportunity to see this young woman give her life to the Lord and as we were crying out to the Lord ourselves for comfort, we got to live out the gospel for her family. We got to send them out thanking us for walking through such a difficult time with them. This is not to our account but to simply seeing the effect of Christ using his church to care for others.

I am humbled, sad and hopeful as we stumble through this loss. Please be praying for us but also please know that you play a part in this as well. Without your gifts, we don't have the chance to shepherd our students through times like this. This story plays out very differently without the church working together. So, with deepest sincerity, thank you for your prayers, your encouragement and your support.

Please lift up Shannon's family and friends during this time. Thank you.

Chris

Here is a link to a thoughtful article covering her memorial service.