The suburban St. Louis pastor who was gunned down while delivering his Sunday sermon was known for helping his church's membership grow by the hundreds in two decades and was smart, "bouncy" and easy to relate to -- so much that everyone simply called him "Pastor Fred."
The Rev. Fred Winters was killed by a gunman Sunday who opened fire at First Baptist Church. The 45-year-old Winters was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
"He was very dedicated, very committed -- and very intelligent," said church spokesman Marty King.
Winters, a married father of two, was the driving force at the church since becoming senior pastor in 1987, when average
attendance was around 30 people, King said. Under his guidance, the congregation swelled by hundreds and now includes more than 1,200.
The church, Maryville's largest, also is a prominent fixture in the area.
"He was a true leader in the community," said Maryville Mayor Larry Gulledge. "I was honored to call him a friend."
The church sits along a busy, two-lane highway on the east side of Maryville, a fast-growing village of more than 7,000 about 20
miles northeast of St. Louis. Winters lived about five miles north in a two-story brick home in a middle-class subdivision in
Edwardsville.
A photograph on the First Baptist's Web site showed a smiling Winters, dressed in white, kneeling on the grass next to his wife,
Cindy, and two beaming, ginger-haired daughters.
Other church members described Winters as kind and highly affable.
"He was extremely likable," said church member Christy Leith, speaking by phone from her Granite City home. "I can't imagine him having any enemies."
Winters, who had a doctorate in theology, was former president of the Illinois Baptist State Association and an adjunct professor for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, King said.
King recalled sitting in meetings with Winters and the pastor reciting detailed passages, word for word, from documents he'd seen months or years before.
"He had photographic memory," King said. "He was educated and very well-spoken."
Sharla Dryden, 62, said her pastor never forgot a person's name and was "always bouncy when he walked." She also said he genuinely cared about people.
"He didn't care where you came from; he cared where you were going," she said. "He could identify with you and your struggles because he'd been there, that's what made him so real."
"Beyond everything else, he had a love for God and a love for people," said Craig Dawson, 22, a member of the church since he was 4.
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King echoed that.
"The theme of his sermons was always about helping people understand that God wants a personal relationships with every individual," he said.
King said he can't imagine what might have gone through Winter's mind if he did, in fact, have time to understand that his attacker was armed.
"But Pastor Fred knew where he was going," he said. "He was ready to spend eternity with Christ."
