President Donald Trump has invited members of First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs in Texas to join him for the National Day of Prayer at the White House on May 3, nearly half a year after a mass shooting claimed the lives of 26 people at the church.
Frank Pomeroy, the church's pastor, will lead a prayer at the event, which will be live-streamed across the country.
Other church members who will be present at the event include Pomeroy's wife Sherri and her sister Sylvia Timmons, as well as shooting survivor David Colbath and his son Morgan Colbath.
"We did not expect a personal invitation to the White House from the President," Sherri Pomeroy told Express News. "When I received that email, I confirmed the legitimacy of the invitation and accepted, of course!"
The Pomeroys' 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle, was one of the victims of the mass shooting on November. Pastor Ronnie Floyd, the president of the National Day of Prayer Task Force will be interviewing the Pomeroys at the event.
The Pomeroys and other members of the Sutherland Springs church will be attending a private banquet on the night before the prayer service.
"We are very honored that we are invited to the White House and asked to pray for our nation in this historic place," Sherri Pomeroy said. "While this invitation is bittersweet because of the events that brought us to this place, may we never turn down a forum to share the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever it takes us".
The Pomeroys are expected to return to Sutherland Springs by May 5 to attend the groundbreaking of a new church.
However, the release of the design plans of the new church has prompted some of the survivors to raise questions about the distribution of the funds collected from donations. Lisa McNulty, who lost her daughter Tara in the massacre, has questioned church officials about how much money had been raised and how much of the money has being received by the survivors and family members of the victims.
"We just want to know how much, give us the amount, and then we want to know how much is left. It's simple, simple, math. And all you get is a runaround," McNulty said according to mySanAntonio.
The church's Restoration Committee, headed by First Baptist member Pat Dziuk, later released a statement assuring members that the donations are being handled carefully and that the requests for victim relief are "being answered as quickly as possible."
The committee noted that a specialized bank account has been set up so that the donations can be processed by an independent third party that will create an independent data record.
