FORT WORTH, Texas — The faces on the memorial wall tell a story Jeff Laster knows by heart, one that takes him back nearly 26 years to the last day he spent with his best friend.

"It always takes me back," Laster, the associate pastor of administration at Wedgwood Baptist Church, said.

The details remain sharp.

"He had a pullover lightweight sweatshirt on, mirrored sunglasses, and he was smoking a cigarette," Laster said, describing what he saw moments before he was shot twice in 1999.

The shooter went on to kill seven people at Wedgwood Baptist Church . For Laster, surviving the violence came down to a choice between faith and despair.

"Either it pushes you away from God or brings you closer," he said.

Laster chose to cling to his faith, even as news of another massacre in a sac

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