Posted on 03/23/2006 7:19:20 AM PST by CAWats
Prayers up for all of them, not just the children.
It is possible she was abducted with the children.
First, I did not suggest domestic violence by reading the article. It was an alternative to accusing the missing wife of having a boyfriend.
It had nothing to do with him being a male (which I am one) or him being a Christian (which I am also).
In domestic violence across our country, it is a fact men are more often the abusers. That doesn't make it right.
Christians aren't perfect, either. Just forgiven. That doesn't make their actions right, though, either.
Don't assume anything until this family is found and their story is told.
I agree. I should add that I added prayers of my own for her - if she is a victim that she survives and can keep her children safe, and if she is involved... that she does the right thing and turns herself in without further harming the children. I didn't write it as the only thing we know for sure right now is that at least all of the children are definitely innocent in this. A very sad story so far...
Bet you ten bucks they've been abducted by some ex-con or other garbage the minister was trying to "help out".
BTTT
A lot of us have a lot of ideas about what could have happened, me included. I'm not quite ready to make it a betting game, though.
I just got a call from my wife. This Winkler fellow was the bible teacher at my son's school up until he got the job in Selmer last year. I thought the name was familiar. They used to call him Wink. He was a good guy. my son loved him.
His wife and kids have been abducted IMO.
Pretty horrible that that's the "best" of the possibilities....
Where was that? I was trying to find where they moved from. He is from Decatur, AL, I found. Here's something from their TV news there:
~~~~
WAFF-TV - Decatur, AL
[snip] "...
As a boy, Winkler and his parents moved to the Heart of the Valley in the late 80's. His father, Dan Winkler, was the minister at Beltline Church of Christ.
Matt graduated from Austin High School in 1993. Matt, his older brother, Daniel and WAFF 48 News Reporter Elizabeth Gentle attended college together.
If you have any information on this case, contact your local police.
We'll have more information on this story and local reaction to Winkler's death tonight on WAFF 48 News."
Boyd Christian in McMinnville is the school my son attends. I didn't know where he came from though before that though.
They had a special service today for him at the school.
Hate to be macabre, but bet you ten bucks they are all dead.
OK, McMinnville was what I kept running into when trying to find some more details. Thanks.
This is sad - a treatise by his dad on the subject of death:
http://www.gospeladvocate.com/ga/gaapril02a.htm
There is also a Winkler Publications, with lots of spiritual books offered by Dan, Wendell and Mike Winkler, in Tuscaloosa, AL. The description of Dan fits the same Dan Winkler.
I also show Nashville, but that's where his dad lives now, from what I can tell. Matthew may have had a church there, too. Still looking.
More ... AP excerpts - snipped out repetitive info already posted
..."
One member of Winkler's church, Sharon Pinckley, told the Sun that Winkler was an energetic man in his mid-30s who "had a really true concern about saving people's souls and inspiring people to rethink their habits."
-------
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060323/NEWS03/60323001
Thursday, 03/23/06
UPDATE:
Police continue search for missing children of slain Weststate pastor
By WOODY BAIRD/The Associated Press & LEON ALLIGOOD/Tennessean staff writer
Authorities were continuing to search this afternoon for the wife and children of a Selmer, Tenn., Church of Christ minister who was found shot to death in the family's home.
Matthew Brian Winkler, 31, had formerly been a youth minister at Churches of Christ in Bellevue and McMinnville, Tenn.
He had departed McMinnville about a year ago for the new post in Selmer.
....
State police officials in Arkansas and Kentucky said they had been alerted to watch for the van but had no sightings as of late morning. Officials in Mississippi and Alabama said they had not gotten a similar request from Tennessee authorities.
Former Selmer mayor Jimmy Whittington said he got to know the pastor when the two worked together last September, collecting donations for Katrina victims.
"They were a nice family," Whittington said. "They just blended in."
Church members used a key to enter the parsonage next to the church when Winkler missed the worship service.
"We were at church waiting for him," said Linda Ashe, whose husband is a church elder. "We couldn't figure out why they weren't there. We called the house and the cell phone not knowing anything was wrong."
Ashe said that Winkler had told her he had a gun that he kept in the home but used only for turkey hunting.
....
Winkler moved to Selmer from McMinnville, about 65 miles southeast of Nashville, where he served as a youth minister, Ashe said.
----
I'm wondering why they think the perp headed either east or west, but not south. Corinth, MS, is closer than AR or KY - and AL isn't far away at all. Hmmm.
Sorry, wasn't thinking - I should've said "west or north" to AR or KY.
The 5-year old boy, missing in Texas, has been found. His body was in the lake, near his father's home.
So sad.
I'm in TX, watch the news and read FR all the time, and I never heard anything about this one at all - missing or found. Thanks.
You're right. Man I'm slipping. I'd totally missed the whole white part................
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