Members of the faithful gathered at Travis Park Church in downtown San Antonio for the 2nd Annual Shalom Summit on October 20-21. Rev. Bob Clark of the Transforming Communities Network facilitated the two-day conference with breakout sessions and plenaries on peacemaking and anti-violence.  

Austin St. Mark UMC Head Pastor Ashley Cuellar Valenzuela started with opening worship to set the tone. She described her experiences trying to head start homeless or migration ministries despite some resistance.  

“I’ve seen God do the work of Shalom that is mind-blowing,” said Valenzuela. “I think the spirit is doing really awesome work. We get the opportunity to look outside and see what spirit is doing and join that spirit.”  

The first and second plenaries were spearheaded by Rev. Dr. Fred Smith where he emphasized that we live in times of prophetic leadership.  

“Jesus said to read the signs of the times, and that requires imagination,” said Smith. “What does Shalom mean? It means how God intended the world to be whole. Shalom is taking God’s fire and—boom—sticking it to the ground and creating life and wholeness.”  

Shane Claiborne, founder of The Simple Way of Philadelphia and author of Beating Guns, spoke at the final two plenaries. He started his activism after witnessing someone die on the footsteps of his home from a gunshot wound. He pointed out that, after consoling the victim’s mother, God knows what grief feels like because He lost His son Jesus to violence.  

“God felt the absence of God,” said Claiborne. “We can imagine as people of faith things can be different. It doesn’t have to be this way.”  

Claiborne uses the power of transformation by turning donated guns into metal art and crafts. He even wears a cross made from a gun barrel. Other crafted items include a shovel and a hand trowel.  

“I tell my evangelical friends ‘This is what a gun looks like when it gets born again!’ One of the promises of scripture is that all things can be made new. Metal that has been crafted to kill can be reimagined. Hearts that have created harm are more than the worst thing that they’ve ever done.”

Travis Park Church is one of several host sites for “Vidas Robadas” Gun Violence Awareness Installation, open to the public from 11 am-1 pm on Wednesdays through November 15th. Travis Park Church is serving as one of many host sites for Vidas Robadas (Taken Lives), an installation of t-shirts that honors lives stolen by gun violence.

This installation is in partnership with local groups such as COPS Metro, and Austin-based interfaith advocacy group Texas Impact. 

Over 2,700 Bexar County residents have died from gun violence related incidents since 2018, and 250 of those lives are represented at Travis Park Church through t-shirts.