Revival and restoration was the theme on Sunday in the Charleston church where Dylann Roof killed nine black churchgoers last year.
The self-proclaimed white supremacist was found guilty last week and will find out next month whether he will face the death penalty.
Rev Eric Manning, pastor of the Mother Emanuel AME church in South Carolina where the killings occurred, preached a sermon encouraging his congregation to look forward to a brighter future.
"That's what I wanted the congregation to receive from the sermon today, a new day," Manning said, according to Live5News. "Weeping has endured for a night, but now joy is coming."
Manning has been at the court every day of the trial and spoke of his horror at all he heard.
"When you begin to look at his taped confession then of course that was one of those days when you just kinda said, 'I can't believe it,'" he said.
"My prayer is that we will be in a place where we have allowed God to pour more of himself back into us and we are then to continue to draw on that strength and to persevere and move forward."
He added the power of prayer would see the church through the time of healing.
"[Roof] still has the opportunity for repentance, everyone has the opportunity to repent, everyone has the opportunity to ask God to forgive them," said Manning.
"They have to make that call themselves."
He added: "At the end of the day we are praying for all God's children and I think that's what I am called to do."
