Thousands celebrate the life of Amanda Blackburn
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — More than 2,000 people gathered Sunday night to celebrate the life of Amanda Blackburn.
The young Indianapolis mother and pastor’s wife was killed during a home invasion Tuesday.
Police are still searching for her killer, but that wasn’t the focus at her funeral.
Thousands of people turned out to sing, hear stories about Amanda and pray for her husband and family.
The pastor from their home church in South Carolina led the service and brought words of encouragement for Amanda’s husband, Davey Blackburn.
The thousands Sunday night celebrated Amanda’s love for family and her faith in Jesus.
“He (God) is what made Amanda special; He is why we’re celebrating her life; He is why we loved her so much, because He just radiated out of her,” South Carolina pastor Perry Noble said.
Amanda moved to Indianapolis three years ago with her husband to start Resonate church.
“I knew they were going to come up here and make a difference,” Noble said.
At the service, a video showed messages from her new Indianapolis friends about the impact she’s made in their lives.
“If I could be like Amanda I’d want to just live my life in such a way that leaves a legacy that the way her life has obviously left,” one member of Resonate Church said.
The video also shared messages from her family about how special she was to them.
“I always called her ‘Amazing Amanda’ because that’s what she was to us, she was just amazing,” Davey’s mother said.
“Amanda brought joy into the family,” her father said.
“Amanda was a gift from day one,” her mother said.
Noble offered words of support to the grieving crowd and especially to Amanda’s husband.
“There are some things that He does that we don’t understand,” Noble said, “The Bible says very clearly His ways are higher than our ways and I don’t understand when He chooses to use something like this; I just know that He does.”
Last week, churches across Indianapolis came out in various ways to support the Blackburn’s church and their family.