National virtual service held for Starrville pastor killed in shooting Pastor Mark McWilliams (Source: Starrville Methodist Church) By Erin Wides | January 6, 2021 at 1:51 PM CST - Updated January 9 at 6:35 PM
SMITH COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) - Three days after an East Texas pastor was shot and killed in his church, an organization out of Brooklyn, New York hosted a virtual memorial service in his honor.
Nearly 15 hundred miles away, the 67th Precinct Clergy Council first heard of Starrville Methodist Pastor Mark McWilliams death late Sunday, or early Monday, according to President Gilford Monrose.
“That of course is always so close to home. You know, we open up our churches without security all the time,” Monrose said. “We serve the community and so people are coming in and out. And for us it was very close to home. It could happen to anyone and so we saw ourselves as Pastor Mark.”