It’s a tough balance. Is it a new face acting a certain way because he’s up to something or is it a new face acting a certain way because he’s not familiar with his surroundings. It’s a tricky situation.
The church I go to does not have obvious armed guards. However, they do have a security team that concealed carry. Most of them are prior military or Leo. It may help if it was not advertised. My church doesn’t. I just happen to know one of them so he told me.
Completely agree. In our situation was super just tricky yesterday too. It’s the day after disaffiliation was approved for our small church, so with the UMC pushing that it was an anti gay thing we were already on alert. Add that with we aren’t really easy to find and no one in this congregation has ever seen him before and to top it off he showed up right as service started so a friendly QA before wasn’t really an option.
I would like to say we aren’t obvious, however I’m as big as a house and standing in the back so I just always stick out when it’s my time to do it. The normal guy that leads is an old man that insists on the fishing vest. One guy doesn’t stick out so that’s great, and the last guy that is supposed to be on it isn’t very good at carrying consistently. TBF I rushed out yesterday and forgot my setup so I was stuck with the wife’s pistol shoved in a pocket. Less than ideal
Also what percentage of the congregation carry? I know at least 10 people other than the security team that carry. If someone did come in, it would look like the wild west. Lol
Our church has a security team. Most folks prefer it that way anymore. Prospective new members often ask if we have a security team, as do visiting preachers and musicians. Hardly any of the regular attenders even think about it anymore though.
Before attending this church, my family attended another church for close to 20 years. We only had one lady get really huffy about the fact that people carried in church. She was a friend of ours and I could speak plainly with her. I told her it was necessary these days and she was the only dissenting voice I had heard. She could give peace a chance and I’d cover her if it didn’t work out.
She ended up moving to a different part of the state so it became a non-issue.
Before attending this church, my family attended another church for close to 20 years. We only had one lady get really huffy about the fact that people carried in church. She was a friend of ours and I could speak plainly with her. I told her it was necessary these days and she was the only dissenting voice I had heard. She could give peace a chance and I’d cover her if it didn’t work out.
She ended up moving to a different part of the state so it became a non-issue.
Show them video footage of the active shooter out of New Zealand. Why? Because it helps people understand the purpose behind the need to be trained and taught by people who are well above average shooters and tacticians as they call it. Do we want to go kill people? Nope, but if we do, we should do a really good job at it IF someone forces us to do so by becoming an imminent threat to innocent life. But here is what Ive learned, most people are above being taught anything and carrying my $100 380 or 22 LR in the pocket of my jeans that I havent shot in 2 years is totally adequate to deal with any threat at church. To include being overweight and out of shape and real panicky. We have had this conversation with quite a few people and this problem is quite common. Hopefully those who are willing in your congregation wont fall into the ridiculous complacency!I've been wanting to do this for a long time and today I finally called a meeting of all the men of my church and presented them with my idea.
Here's the rub.
My church is very small. I'm talking a good Sunday service is less than 30 members. With ALL of the men present this morning, there were 9 of us, including the preacher. Of those 9, one of them (my son in law) is 27, another man is 39, I'm 51 and the other 6 are 60+. So I'm not sure the majority of them are up for the task.
Then there's the whole stigma about hurting their fellow man and/or taking another person's life. I responded with, "nothing scares me more than to kill another human being. But it would be better than watching a member of my church family get hurt or killed while I am unable to do anything."
Anyway, I actually received a good response from most of the men. A few of them didn't say anything. I assured them that Christ supported men who protect their own. Luke 22:36 supports this.
So. Anybody here a member of a church security team? Anything I can do to motivate these guys and be successful? Thanks in advance.
Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but we won't use the term "Security Team" as it may imply special training and/or certification. We have a Safety Team -- that name can mean anything we want it to. I don't know the true significance of the different terms.
The issue with the money changers was the fact that the priests were requiring that the Temple Tax and offering were to be paid in Tyrian Shekels. They were the purist silver and the most consistent weight.
The problem was they held the image of the the Phoenician god Malquart, the son of Baal. The Phoenicians referred to him as “The Son of El”, literally “The Son of The Most High God.”
The priests were requiring the people give graven images of a counterfeit Son of God as their offering to God.
It was an attack on the priests $hi++ing on the Commandments of God in order to more lucratively line their own pockets.
He wasn’t crucified because he hurt their bottom line. What roasted their nuts was his calling them out on their wickedness and disobedience to God.
Similar threads
