A Parkland, Fla. Student Came to a Dallas Church Sunday and Showed Us a Different Kind of Activism

They had to keep bringing in extra chairs, stacks of them, for a Sunday evening discussion on gun violence at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church. They didn't want people standing around; they wanted everyone comfortable. Connected. That the "Parkland Moves Us" event was held the same weekend as the groundbreaking, student-led public marches across the nation was a coincidence, but not surprising. School shootings are in the public consciousness with a persistence that suggests this time - maybe - things will change. The key guest at LLUMC was no firebrand, no righteous street marcher. Justin Irwin, 17, is a polite teenager, a straight-arrow student athlete with a deep religious faith and plans for a military career.   Continue reading...