Yesterday was a phenomenal day! It began at 7:30 in the morning even though it had just ended at 6:00am! But God's strength encompassed my soul and gave me the perseverance I needed to march on. I met many wonderful people with hearts to help this hurting family. You know what I noticed? They were people just like Mike and Angie. They weren't big corporations or multi-national conglomerates. They were just an assortment of small business men and women doing what they can for these children. That really had a profound and deep effect on me.

 A lot of people are asking who I am and what is my motivation for helping in this tragedy and no doubt some people are saying it is just to sell books. I can assure it is not! That is why I have tried to purposely keep my name out of it as much as possible, but I realize people want and need to know more because I tell ya the story is truly amazing!!!
After hearing it you will know unequivocally the reason I believe with all of my heart the event at the Center is a night pre-ordained by God himself and will be a night that will change everyone in attendance including myself! It truly is "A Night of Destiny"

The story begins about 20 years ago when I was a young man and I first met Angela's parents. In my life, not many people have been very kind to me, but Jerry and Charlene Worley have always shown me great kindness far above anything that I am used to in this world. Jerry is one of the greatest encouragers I have ever known. I have never failed to meet him when he doesn't hug my neck and do his best to give me encouragement.  They have supported me through the years and I am humbled to support them during this time.

Still, I had no connection with Mike's side of the family. That is until this past spring. I have recently earned my teaching degree, but at this point I have been unable to find full time employment. So I have been going from school to school in Pulaski (and will now be working in Lincoln County as well) substitute teaching. I was extremely fortunate to get a long term position at Burnside Elementary this April that lasted into May. It is there that I had a student with the last name....you guessed it Hockensmith! I had Mike's nephew in class. So when I approached the Hockensmith's about the event  he was able to let the family know the kind of person I try to be yet often fail.

But that is not all! For the last year and a half I have worked furiously promoting my books on Facebook and I have learned a lot about how to handle traffic and how to design websites. Trust me when I say that was an integral part of all of this because without that experience there is no way I could handle the traffic the Memorial Page on Facebook is generating. It is astronomical! I can make a post and with in 5 minutes or less more than 1,000 people will have seen it!! Currently the site is getting 30 to 50,000 hits and through the magic of the internet I believe that will grow exponentially, especially with the National News coverage that came into play within the last 24 hours. People are astounded at Mike and Angie's story.

So that brings us up to current events. Through a miraculous turn of events that you can read about on the "Our Story" page at www.maplehillpublishing.com website I started my own little publishing company and soon thereafter began writing my life story. I STRUGGLED greatly telling of all the pain I had went through which delayed the book greatly from when it was supposed to come out. Of course, now I know why. The book was finally released on September 3rd. and within a few days I had dozens (which is a large audience for me) saying it had inspired and encouraged them. In just a few days a former professor of mine invited me to speak to her writing class. On the 7th of September I had my first speaking engagement to a grand total of 7 people! But from that meager experience (which you can watch on youtube by searching for Steven Dowell Motivational Speaker) and those first few reviews I was inspired and felt led of God to reserve what seemed at the time the monstrous theater at the Center for Rural Development for what was to be my first motivational seminar or so I thought.

13 days later, I was working down the street from my home at Eubank Elementary when I was alerted to the fact that we were on lock down, which is a very strange occurrence at such a rural school, I can assure you. Later that day, I was at the Cumberland Security Bank in Eubank as I learned about the shooting that claimed the lives of Michael and Angela Hockensmith. I was in shock along with everyone else in the bank at that time! I learned later that night that this was my dear friends daughter and her husband. Well, I knew in a moment what the true purpose of the seminar had been all along. There could be no other reason why I would have done something which at the time seemed almost foolish for me to have even considered.

I knew I had to speak to Angela's mom and dad and if they gave their permission, I would turn this event over to them as a benefit.  At that time, the soul purpose was only to raise funds for them to help with expenses. I had no clue what the real purpose would be. Of course  there was no way I could have known the extent of the drastic circumstances. How could I?

I spoke to Sister Charlene at the funeral home and before I made my way up to her I knew in an instant she was trying to put on a brave face, but knowing her like I do I knew it was all a front for the crowd's benefit. As I hugged her it was like she almost broke in my arms. This lady began to just release all of her pain and I am telling you, I  could physically feel her grief surround my spirit to the point it consumed me. It was a very unique experience to say the least. I spoke with her about the event and she gave her approval and from that point to this it has snowballed into a much larger affair than I could have imagined.

You see it is certainly no longer about books or being able to overcome abuse and hardships in life. It is not even about the family and the struggle they are facing right now. You may be asking yourself if it could it even be bigger than the mourning of Mike and Angela? I believe if they were here with us they would say YES! With the bizarre turn of recent events it is becoming ABUNDANTLY clear that this is a spiritual battle of monumental proportions the like of which I have never seen in all of my 40 years! Mankind's enemy has made an undeniable mistake. When he directed Mike and Angela's deaths, he unleashed the power of a sleeping giant! That giant is the church and whether we want to admit or not we have as a whole been lulled to sleep by the comforts of this materialistic and wicked world. We are no longer burdened for sinners to come to Christ to the point we will spend 5 minutes let alone an evening in prayer.  We are burdened seemingly for our own selfish interests to be served.

I pray along with the family that Mike and Angela's sacrifice will not be in vain, but instead will serve as a wake up call to Christians everywhere. It will start with how we handle this situation. We must ensure that satan gets no glory from this and that will be a tall order indeed! This goal will require quite a bit of work and self control on our part. We must surround this family with love and support that is more than  prayers alone. Yes, prayers are paramount, but we know that faith without works is dead being alone. What good does it do to pray if we do not act with those prayers? We must be willing to sacrifice to show the world the compassion of Christ. We must bind together and pray for the accused, his family and the congregation of Main Street Baptist Church. We must become one in this time of great trial. We are witnessing what will be a mighty move of God if we answer the call! The world is watching and the ball is in our court. I am calling for the churches and ALL people who claim Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior to claim your ministries. Let's make satan regret the day he did this!!  Let's lift up the name of Christ with renewed vitality and vigor. People are always asking what they can do. Well let me tell ya, one thing you can do that can have a huge impact I believe. You can use your facebook page for more than just what is for supper or how your feeling. You can use it to share the gospel and your testimony. I can tell you that you will reach people. Start a facebook page for your church it is free and easy and I can tell you thousands will be touched! You can do it!! I LOVE all of you!! I hope to see you on November 30th.