Abundant Life

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Crystal Apple recipient Christina Clardy has given the gift of her unwavering presence after her school endured an unthinkable tragedy. Mrs. Clardy teaches middle school Bible classes at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. Almost every day, her students start off with a song. “I’m getting emotional,” Clardy said of her students. “I think they have an eagerness for the things of the Lord. They’re not too cool yet, And I think also just like very curious minds still at this age.” Read more of this story.

By Juliana Tornabene – MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – The 2024-25 Abundant Life Christian School’s boys basketball team was honored Friday with the Spirit of Sport award, to recognize their resilience and faith in the wake of tragedy. The National Federation of State High School Associations created the award and it is given to teams or individuals who embody qualities of resilience, sportsmanship and education-based athletics values. Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) and the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin presented the award to the team, who was represented by head coach and athletic director Mike Thies. Read more of this story.

City Church will host a Service of Remembrance on Tuesday, December 16, for the entire ALCS and Madison church community. We invite you to gather with us for worship and prayer as we remember the events of last year, honor those most deeply affected, reflect on God’s sustaining faithfulness, and seek His continued healing and peace. There will not be a livestream of this service.

By Chris Rickert – Wisconsin State Journal – A year after he was shot four times at Abundant Life Christian School — including twice in the head — Samy Garduno-Martinez is able to talk, is regaining his memory and is relearning how to walk. It’s a recovery that his physicians didn’t think was possible, but that his family never stopped believing in. “I always say that when the science says no, God says yes,” said Samy’s mother, Gabriela Martinez, who ascribes Samy’s ongoing recovery to “many miracles.” Read more of this story.

By Erin Gretzinger – Madison Capital Times – On the evening of Dec. 16 last year, Marcio Sierra Jr., the senior pastor of Lighthouse Church, felt his faith being tested.  That morning, a 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School opened fire on her teachers and classmates, leaving two dead and six more injured before she died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Among those most gravely wounded was then 17-year-old Samy Garduno-Martinez, who attended Lighthouse and went to the church’s school up until he went to high school at Abundant Life. More than a dozen other alumni and other students from Sierra’s congregation…

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – The family of a 14-year-old school shooting survivor thanks God every day that’s he’s alive, nearly three months after a student opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School. That shooting left a classmate and teacher dead, and six students injured, two critically. One of those critically injured students was freshman River Clardy. His mother, Christina Clardy, is a first year teacher at the school. Read more of this story. After multiple surgeries and with a lot of faith, teen recovering from Abundant Life shooting – Wisconsin State Journal

By Samara Kalk Derby – Wisconsin State Journal – Abundant Life Christian School parent Kari Aeschlimann was feeling reflective Tuesday morning. A day earlier, customers had packed area Culver’s restaurants to support a fundraiser for Abundant Life, where a student killed a teacher and a student in a shooting Dec. 16. What had started as a local benefit to raise money to help Abundant Life families blossomed into a statewide effort, in which at least 80 Culver’s restaurants donated a portion of the day’s proceeds to the fundraiser. “There are no words to express what a beautiful outpouring of love…

Erik Ogren – BGEA – As the snow falls quietly around Abundant Life Christian School and City Church in Madison, Wisconsin small groups of people huddle together. In some ways, it may seem like just another December day. But the long line of yellow sheriff’s department tape tells a different story. On Monday, a 15-year-old student brought a gun to the school, where she shot classmates and a teacher. The attack claimed two lives and left six others wounded (including two who remain in critical condition). The teenager also took her own life. In the midst of “the most wonderful…

By Wisconsin State Journal Staff – Parents racing toward their children’s school as ambulances sped past them, a sea of police cars, a cry of disbelief as one person crumpled to the pavement. Madison on Monday joined the ranks of communities that have been staggered by gun violence in schools after police say a 15-year-old female student shot and killed a teacher and a teenage student at a Far East Side Christian school and wounded six others, two critically. Read the rest of this story. UPDATE: Friends Recall Those Lost in the Madison School Shooting