Albuquerque church leaning on faith after 2 members killed by their son
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Members of an Albuquerque church are suffering Tuesday night, after two of their longtime members were killed in a murder-suicide. While still in shock, the church is leaning on its faith to move forward. "It's what they lived for, that was I felt like their motivation," said lead pastor, Andres Lopez.
Two seats sat empty on Sunday, marked by two single roses, in honor of Stephen and Marcia Bockemeier, who occupied those very chairs nearly every Sunday for more than a decade at Albuquerque Revival Church in the International District. "I got the call Saturday morning, and when you start hearing some of the details, it's quite jarring and shocking," said Lopez.
The Bockemeiers were killed early Saturday by their youngest son, Andrew, before he set the house on fire and took his own life outside of the New Mexico State Bar Association. "As that ripple effect started happening, obviously, all of us are still processing," said Lopez.
Lopez knew that as news of their death spread, his sermon would not be the one he practiced. "Our whole Sunday, we changed our regular order of service to kind of allow ourselves to grieve as a church family and process and question the why this happened and really kind of honor their memory," said Lopez.
Lopez said when he became the pastor at Albuquerque Revival, the Bockemeiers were associate pastors helping him ease into a new role. "It was nice, it was kind of like coming into Grandma and Grandpa type of thing, their kind of hearts were shown right away, they looked to just love on people," said Lopez.
They retired from an active role in the church, but Lopez said they never stopped serving, turning their focus on the less fortunate. "They cared a lot about mankind, so to speak, like the human aspect and wanting the people, even though they may live on the street, to remind them of their humanity that they are still loved," said Lopez.
It's a deep loss for their entire community. "I don't know how you replace someone who is the momentum behind that. My only hope is that it's a call for other people to step up and fill that void now," said Lopez.
As a church, they plan to do their best.
"It's important for us that Pastor Steve's passion and Pastor Marcia's loving grace those two combine, and we continue their legacy to honor them the best way we can honor their memory is to continue what they believed in and live it out in the way that they did," said Lopez.
The Albuquerque Police Department believes Andrew Bockemeier was suffering from a mental health illness. Lopez hopes the tragedy sheds light on mental health problems.
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