Less than 30 hours after her baptism at the Three Rivers (Mich.) Christian Reformed Church, Tina Mae Nichols was killed by a stray bullet as she sat near her apartment building.
In July, Tina’s friend Lisa Pisco brought Tina to visit Rev. Tim Raakman at Three Rivers CRC. Tina, 39, believed that angels were calling her home, but she wasn’t ready to die. She wanted forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Tina, Lisa, and Lisa’s children studied with Raakman for several weeks. On Sept. 11, all of them made their professions of faith and were baptized in the Rocky River.
The next day Tina was killed by a single gunshot as she sat at a picnic table outside her apartment building. The shot was fired by one of two men arguing in a nearby parking lot.
The congregation, while mourning Tina’s death, feels this experience is a clear sign that God has work for then to do in the Three Rivers community.
