On a cold January night in downtown Minneapolis, a 22-year-old man stumbled into Maxwell's American Pub on Washington Street. At first the bartender thought the man was asking for a shot of something. Instead, the man was trying to say that he had been shot.

Actually, he had been shot six times, twice in the abdomen and twice in each leg, and the man's clothes were soaked in blood. Fortunately the man had come to the right place. Six off-duty nurses were just a few feet away. "Like a well-oiled triage team, they sprang into action …. The most serious wound involved his femoral artery, an injury that could cause the man to 'bleed out' if not dealt with quickly." The team of nurses used their expertise, applying pressure with towels and using the man's belt as a tourniquet. At the same time, other nurses talked to the man to keep him conscious. "They managed to slow the bleeding until paramedics arrived and placed a better tourniquet around the man's leg, wrapped him in a blanket and hoisted him onto a stretcher."

One of the nurses, 40-year-old Tim Carew said, "He would have bled out and died right in the bar if we didn't help him." Carew and the other off-duty nurses paid a price for their willingness to get involved. Carew said, "I had to bag up my clothes and throw them in the garbage. I was coated in blood." The unidentified man sure appreciated their efforts. Throughout the ordeal, he kept looking at the nurses and saying, "I love you guys."

Possible Preaching Angles: Church, mission of; Mission; Priesthood of all believers—Is your church as prepared as these off-duty nurses to respond quickly and offer healing to the wounded people in our culture?