​From:

Carol McPhail

 

Mourners were squeezed into pews and standing elbow to elbow at First Baptist Church of Wilmer Thursday as Harvest Church Pastor Kevin Cooley held up a size 14 shoe.It belonged to Mary G. Montgomery senior Brady Hoffman, one of three people killed in a head-on collision Feb. 15.“I want to know who now will fill Brady’s shoes,” Cooley told the funeral crowd, estimated at more than 1,000. The 17-year-old was known for his strong faith and his dedication to “God’s work,” and had been so involved in various churches that three pastors presided at his funeral.In a service described by observers as “electric” and “supernatural,” Cooley launched into what he said was a “pretty aggressive altar call,” something the family had asked him to do. “If you’ve never made Jesus the Lord of your life, there’s no way you can fill his shoes,” Cooley recalled saying. “Do you want me to include you in this prayer?”Ten to 15 seconds passed as mourners bowed their heads. One hand was raised. “I started counting slowly,” he said. “Hands started popping up everywhere.”Cooley counted hands aloud, stopping the tally in the mid-40s. “There were people out in the lobby I couldn’t see,” he said. “My first thought was, ‘Brady sees this right now.’”He said that more than 50 people came to faith at the service Cooley described as “electric.” Gary Wallace, worship leader at Harvest Church, peformed a song he wrote for the funeral entitled, “From Here to Home.” Wallace had traveled with Hoffman to Africa on a mission trip, and the teen was supposed to sing in his youth band.Other ministers speaking at the funeral were Pastors David Gill of First Baptist Theodore and Terry Glasscock of First Baptist Wilmer.The night before, an estimated 2,000 mourners had filed through First Baptist to pay their respects to Hoffman’s parents for the death of their only child. A wake set for 5-8 p.m. lasted until 11:15 p.m., said Toni Moore, a longtime family friend.Moore said “God was walking with them” as Todd and Cherise Hoffman entered the funeral service. “It was supernatural,” she said. “We knew lives were going to be changed.”She said she was touched by how her friends managed to praise God in the midst of their tragedy. At the scene of the accident at Big Creek Lake Bridge, she said Todd Hoffman took his wife’s face in his hands as she screamed and cried. He told her, “Why are we doing this? He’s standing with Jesus,” Moore said.Brady, a big-hearted teen who could light up a room, meant everything to the Hoffmans, she said. “To lose him and in the moment be able to thank God, that is extraordinary to me.”After the service Thursday, the family stepped out into the rain to head to the church cemetery. But as they were seated graveside, the weather changed, Moore recalled. “The clouds opened right over us, and the sun shone right on us. Black clouds were all around.”The drum line from MGM played a tribute. She said the mood was more celebratory than sad.“I stayed up last night reading all the posts of people who were there, saying it was nothing like they’d ever seen before,” Moore said Friday.

 

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