Indianapolis pastor and his wife met on a blind date
Photograph after photograph shows Amanda and Davey Blackburn smiling, hugging, holding their son Weston close.
The pictures draw a stark contrast to the brutality that ended Amanda's life.
The Indianapolis pastor's wife died Thursday two days after the 28-year-old was attacked during an apparent robbery of their Northwestside home. The coroner's office later in the day ruled her death a homicide and said the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. No suspects are in custody.
The couple moved to Indianapolis two years ago to plant a new church. They had lived for four years in South Carolina, where Davey Blackburn served as an assistant pastor at NewSpring Church. NewSpring, which provided The Star with the photos of the smiling couple, now sees more than 30,000 people every Sunday.
The Blackburns called their Indianapolis mission the Resonate Church. Worship services take place 10:15 a.m. every Sunday at Northview Middle School, 1801 E. 86th St.
This Sunday, services will take place in the morning as usual, but Davey Blackburn posted on the church's Facebook page that the community will gather Sunday evening at 5 p.m. at Traders Point Christian Church to celebrate the life of his wife.
"We are going to worship, share the gospel through sharing Amanda’s story, laugh together and cry together. Her heart would be that you invite as many people as possible to this celebration service that do not know the Lord," Davey Blackburn wrote in the post.
Resonate is a young church; its message tailored to young people.
Each week the sermon videos are posted on the church website. Topics have included relationship advice, resolving conflicts and what the bible says about sex.
In the Oct. 27 sermon, the Blackburns spoke openly about their relationship and their struggles to mesh as a couple.
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They met on a blind date. Amanda's sister was dating Davey's best friend. They went to a concert by the Christian band Hawk Nelson. They were attending different colleges at the time. Davey was on fall break, and he hung out with Amanda the whole week. They just clicked.
On the day before he went back to school, they had a milkshake drinking contest. Amanda lost.
"You shot milkshake out of your nose," Davey said looking at Amanda, "and that's when I knew that I had met the girl I was going to marry."
To the outside world, they were the perfect couple. But they struggled, too.
"We had a really great honeymoon," Amanda said in the video of the Oct. 27 question-and-answer style sermon. "We were so in love, taking pictures. Then, literally, the next day he went to work. It was like honeymoon over."
Before the wedding, they had been dating long distance and had not really spent more than a few weeks together at a time.
"When you're dating and so in love you can forget about all the conflict or the things that might annoy you," Amanda said. "But once you get married those things become a really big deal."
They went to counseling and learned to communicate.
In the Oct. 20 sermon, Davey Blackburn is alone on stage wearing a dark T-shirt, sleeveless gray hoodie and camouflage pants.
The sermon is titled "Bringing Sexy Back." He spoke frankly, telling the congregation that Amanda took a purity pledge when she was a teen.
She was so true to that pledge that she refused to even kiss a man before she was married.
"Do you know how much that meant to me?" he said. "From that moment that I kissed her I knew there was going to be a special bond inside of God's plan for us."
Davey Blackburn praised his wife in a statement released Wednesday.
"My wife was such a beautiful, gracious, loving woman of God. I have not only lost my ministry partner and support but also my very best friend," he said. "There is no way to prepare yourself for circumstances like these. As deeply as I am hurting I am hopeful and confident that good things will come of this."
Pastor's wife's pregnancy could lead to increased prison time for her killer
Much is still unclear surrounding the events of Amanda's slaying. Police said she was attacked during an apparent robbery about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at the couple's home, in the 2800 block of Sunnyfield Court, near 38th Street and West Kessler Boulevard North Drive. Davey Blackburn returned home from the gym to find his wife injured and bloody, police said. Medics and police arrived within minutes.
A burglary was reported at a home on the same block three hours before Amanda Blackburn was found. Investigators earlier this week said they had found no links between the two crimes.
Police have named no suspects in the murder and mentioned few other details as their investigation continues.
They have not said why detectives believe the shooting stemmed from a robbery and declined to specify whether anything was taken from the home and whether there were signs of forced entry.
"We cannot discuss specific details of the case as much of the information you asked is only known to the suspect," said Sgt. Kendale Adams, a spokesman for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
More information may be revealed during a 10 a.m. Friday news conference on 2015 Indianapolis homicides.
Police: Pastor's wife shot during robbery in Northwestside home
Star reporter Madeline Buckley contributed to this article. Call Star reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @vicryc.