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CAMPUS for Christ worker Gary Stevenson was seriously
injured November 8 by a bomb left at his Langley home.
Stevenson, 39, was in the process of moving out of his
townhome. About 11:30 in the morning, he and three friends were loading a
moving truck when he discovered a pink-wrapped package on his doorstep.
Thinking it might be a going-away present for one of
his two young daughters, he picked it up. As he was carrying it into his
garage, it exploded.
He suffered lacerations, especially to the face, as
well as burns; but the most serious injury was a piece of shrapnel that
lodged in his liver. After emergency surgery, he recuperated in hospital.
While he is expected to make a full recovery, it will
be slow. At press time, he was back home; he was no longer wearing
bandages, but he was still in some pain. He will not be back to work until
sometime in the new year.
Police don’t know if the bomb was targeted
at Stevenson, someone else in his family or an unknown individual –
or if the attack was completely random. Langley RCMP issued a general
warning to the public to be wary of any packages that arrive without
advance warning.
Neighbours told various news media the Stevensons were
a well-liked family, and expressed shock at the attack.
Guy Saffold, executive director of ministries at Power
to Change, Campus for Christ’s parent organization, told BCCN the bombing was
“a very strange event” and noted that the ministry “has
never had any problem of this kind at all.” He said Stevenson, who
works with Campus at Simon Fraser University, has “been received very
warmly at SFU,” and “the students love him.”
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The Stevensons attend Christian Life Assembly in
Langley. Senior operations leader Jeffery Chapman has known Stevenson for
about 12 years and said “it has been a wonderful thing to watch him
develop” spiritually. He described Stevenson as a “humble and
very considerate” and “one of the greatest personal evangelists
I know.”
A website has been set up to support the family at: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=39179017562
– Jim Coggins
December 2008
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