The Power of Faith and Forgiveness

How a Senseless Tragedy Became a Witness to the Grace of Jesus  

By Ken Idleman 

It was 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, November 13, 2016. I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of the Harborside Christian Church in Harborside, Florida, savoring a few quiet moments before going in to preach the first of three worship services, when my cell phone rang. It was Todd Bussey, my ministry colleague, calling to tell me the tragic news from Indiana that our friend and worship pastor for 22 years at Crossroads Christian Church, David Rinehart, 46, his daughter, Sophie, 17, and his mother, Ruth Ann, 74, had been killed early that morning by an alcohol-impaired driver. Older daughter Josie, 18, survived the crash with cuts and abrasions. The family was traveling back to Newburgh from Indianapolis after an exhilarating day at a national band competition. 

The Rineharts’ car had struck a deer, so they had pulled onto the outside shoulder of the freeway to wait for a state trooper. Mason Hartke, 19, of Jasper, Indiana, had been drinking beer with friends throughout Saturday at Indiana University. As he traveled south on Interstate 69 that Sunday morning, his 2006 Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck ran off the right side of the road and rear-ended the Rineharts’ 2015 Honda Civic at 70 mph. Hartke was taken to IU Health with a fractured arm.  

I cannot overstate how heartbreaking this senseless tragedy was for the Rinehart family, Newburgh High School, and Crossroads Church. David was musically gifted with a missionary heart, a deeply committed and respected Christian leader. Sophie’s ethereal voice was the centerpiece of the Castle High School band, considered one of the 10 best marching bands in the country. Wife, mother, and grandmother Ruth Ann Rinehart was a much-loved retired public school music teacher. The band had come from one of the best showings in its history to one of the worst moments in its history in just 12 hours. 

FAITH  

The Rinehart deaths hit the entire Evansville/Newburgh community hard. More than 7,000 people came to the hours-long visitation. Nearly 4,000 filled the worship center, the atrium, the chapel, and the gymnasium of the Crossroads Church facility for the funeral. Three caskets lined the front of the worship center. But the grief that accompanied the memorial service was outshined by the celebration of the profound faith of three souls who had already left the land of the dying for the land of the living.  

David’s 100-voice Crossroads choir sang “Revelation Song,” “I Can Only Imagine,” and “It Is Well with My Soul” with bittersweet smiles through tears. His two surviving daughters, Josie and Riley, stood side by side and paid eloquent and moving tribute to their sister, Sophie. Friends John and Sally Bagby stood together and tenderly eulogized fellow educator Ruth Ann.  

Pastor Bussey expressed admiration and affection for David on behalf of virtually every person present that day. Congregational singing clearly came from yielded hearts. The sermon was a biblical exposition and literal visualization of what this mother, her son, and his daughter were experiencing in the presence of the Lord. It was a truly edifying wake—a profound and memorable faith witness to all who were present.  

FORGIVENESS  

But later, Josie Rinehart extended perhaps the greatest witness to the grace of Jesus Christ. The print and television media carried the story of her supernaturally empowered forgiveness.  

At first, Mason Hartke, the defendant, pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide. However, he was later offered a plea deal . . . which he accepted. Josie asked the judge ahead of time if she could embrace the young man whose bad choice to drink and drive had taken the lives of her grandmother, father, and younger sister. He consented.  

That defining moment was captured in the accompanying photograph [bottom]. But what is not visible in the picture is what Josie whispered to Hartke in that moment. She said, “You are not a bad person, but you did a very bad thing . . . and I want you to know that I forgive you.” Hartke shed tears that surely were a combination of remorse and relief. After serving just three years in prison, he was granted work release. But Josie’s forgiveness, without a shred of lingering bitterness, is still in force to this day. 

Surely the hardest forgiveness to grant is that which is not requested. And yet that is the forgiveness Jesus extended to the crowd that demanded his crucifixion at his illegal trial and reviled him in the hour of his death on the cross. Our Lord’s immortal words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” are the gold standard of forgiveness for all of us who are his disciples. Josie met the standard of Christ! Will we? 

Ken Idleman serves as vice president of leadership development for The Solomon Foundation. He served as the fourth president of Ozark Christian College and then as senior pastor of Crossroads Christian Church in Newburgh, Indiana.