“Stop School Shootings” Premieres September 11 at Gas South Convention Center
When Apalachee High School opened its doors to students after the deadly September 4, 2024 shooting, Bishop William Sheals from Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church was there.
“I went out to the flagpole in my clergy collar and just prayed,” Bishop Sheals said.
“While I was standing there, two parents and kids joined. Then God led over 200 parents and kids around the flagpole.”
When Bishop Sheals looked in their eyes, he saw fear.
“School used to be a place where we send our children for learning and safety while we’re at work,” he said. “But now they walk into school past metal detectors. There are police cars on site. If you hear a noise, everybody’s nervous.”
He’d seen the fear and grief he witnessed at Apalachee before, and he was working to do something about the tragedies he’d seen.
“I started developing a film four years ago. It started out as art mimicking reality. But what happened at Apalachee High was reality mimicking art,” he said.
Bishop Sheals’ film, Stop School Shootings, releases at a special red carpet premiere on September 11. The film depicts a student who faces bullying in school and online and a father who exposes his son to dangerous weapons. Throughout the story, Bishop Sheals shows how the community can respond well to students in crisis and what steps can be taken to prevent tragedies like this.
“School shootings used to be on the front page and would be on the news all day long, and now they’ve become a back-page kind of story,” he shared. “I want to bring them back to the front page.”
As a father and grandfather, Bishop Sheals thinks about his own family, but he’s also thinking about his extended family who call him “Papa Sheals” — the children who attend Hopewell Christian Academy, the academy founded by Bishop Sheals’ church.
“I don’t have any kids in school, but I have about 300 of them at church. I care about them all.”
He hopes this film will inspire his own community and communities across the United States to become more informed and to get involved. He also hopes the film calls people of faith to prayer.
Recently, he preached a sermon on Jehovah Shammah, meaning “The Lord is there.”
“The title of the sermon was one word: There. Wherever we go, God is already there. We can pray out of faith, ‘God, You’re already there. Protect our children. Protect the faculty. Protect the campus. Father, You’re already there,’” he said.
“And God is moved by every prayer.”
He hopes the film reminds people across the community that they can bring light to troubled students and troubled schools.
“When you walk into a dark room with one candle, there is light. With just one candle,” he said. “We need to stop focusing on the darkness and move toward the light.”
“Stop School Shootings” Premieres September 11 at Gas South Convention Center
When Apalachee High School opened its doors to students after the deadly September 4, 2024 shooting, Bishop William Sheals from Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church was there.
“I went out to the flagpole in my clergy collar and just prayed,” Bishop Sheals said.
“While I was standing there, two parents and kids joined. Then God led over 200 parents and kids around the flagpole.”
When Bishop Sheals looked in their eyes, he saw fear.
“School used to be a place where we send our children for learning and safety while we’re at work,” he said. “But now they walk into school past metal detectors. There are police cars on site. If you hear a noise, everybody’s nervous.”
He’d seen the fear and grief he witnessed at Apalachee before, and he was working to do something about the tragedies he’d seen.
“I started developing a film four years ago. It started out as art mimicking reality. But what happened at Apalachee High was reality mimicking art,” he said.
Bishop Sheals’ film, Stop School Shootings, releases at a special red carpet premiere on September 11. The film depicts a student who faces bullying in school and online and a father who exposes his son to dangerous weapons. Throughout the story, Bishop Sheals shows how the community can respond well to students in crisis and what steps can be taken to prevent tragedies like this.
“School shootings used to be on the front page and would be on the news all day long, and now they’ve become a back-page kind of story,” he shared. “I want to bring them back to the front page.”
As a father and grandfather, Bishop Sheals thinks about his own family, but he’s also thinking about his extended family who call him “Papa Sheals” — the children who attend Hopewell Christian Academy, the academy founded by Bishop Sheals’ church.
“I don’t have any kids in school, but I have about 300 of them at church. I care about them all.”
He hopes this film will inspire his own community and communities across the United States to become more informed and to get involved. He also hopes the film calls people of faith to prayer.
Recently, he preached a sermon on Jehovah Shammah, meaning “The Lord is there.”
“The title of the sermon was one word: There. Wherever we go, God is already there. We can pray out of faith, ‘God, You’re already there. Protect our children. Protect the faculty. Protect the campus. Father, You’re already there,’” he said.
“And God is moved by every prayer.”
He hopes the film reminds people across the community that they can bring light to troubled students and troubled schools.
“When you walk into a dark room with one candle, there is light. With just one candle,” he said. “We need to stop focusing on the darkness and move toward the light.”
