GOOD SAMARITAN MURDERED: New Minister allegedly killed by someone she had helped.

      *The murder of 35-year-old Mashonda Griffin in her Grand Rapids, MI home last year was a blow to her fellow church members--especially when they learned one of the people charged in her death was a former parishioner whom Griffin had helped in the past.

      The Religion News Service reported that Griffin's death was an apparent botched robbery. Now the two men charged could face life-time prison sentences with life terms.

      “It pretty much was the biggest thing I faced as a pastor,” the Rev. James Stokes said of the woman, who had been a member of Stokes' Church of God in Christ congregation for 16 years. And he's the person who mentored Griffin when she chose to open her home to fellow church members.

      From the start, the intent has been to provide confidential, Christ-centered ministry nationwide for pastors and their spouses, with the primary plan of helping them stay in ministry. But after Griffin's death Stokes said he plans to handle things differently.

      Stokes said Griffin's murder has made him realize the importance of support for ministerial staff, as well as the need to evaluate anybody who is in a position to be counseled.