(As originally published on April 8, 2018)
Off-duty officers. Do-it-yourself systems. Alert eyes of deacons. Training drills.
The plans vary, but the goal is the same: Keep the congregation safe.
The Town Talk spoke with three local pastors about how they approach security at their churches. They shared their thoughts on the broader topic, how they settled on a plan and what the future might hold.
Chad Stecker
The devil is in the details, says Pastor Chad Stecker.
Security is a topic that involves all members of Arise Church. A security plan was implemented about two years ago at the small Tioga church, and Stecker wants everyone to have situational awareness.
“That to me was the most important thing,” he said. “You can implement all kinds of stuff, but if a church does not as a whole have situational awareness, everything you’re implementing really is, maybe not nullified, but it’s not maximized.”
The church has about 90 members and sees 60 to 65 of those on any given Sunday. And while the congregation knows security is in place, they don’t know exactly who is on the church’s security team or who is carrying a concealed weapon.
“The devil’s in the details, as well. My premise of my sermon this Sunday … is that the devil’s in the details of our sins and mistakes when God is the details of our redemption and future,” said Stecker during a January interview. “So, we have to be very careful when we give details because it could actually do more harm than good. And so, as a whole congregation, we talk about security.”
At the time of the interview, Stecker was facing the unknown because of an incident just days before. He was trying to show to his father a new handgun, and ended up shooting himself point-blank in the palm of his left hand.
Doctors said it would take time before they knew what might happen to his hand. On March 29, Stecker said he'll be having surgery in April so doctors can amputate a finger and reconstruct the hand.
But the shooting hasn't changed his approach to security. He does say he shouldn't have been handling a gun on that January night because he was both upset over the loss of a friend and excited about the arrival of his parents from Colorado.
He wasn't focused on safety, he admits. He credits his father for tending to him as they waited for medical personnel to arrive. His parents still were there, watching over some of his five children, as he walked through his church to talk about the measures he and the leadership have put in place.
In addition to situational awareness and the security team, the church purchased a security system from Amazon that allows Stecker to control who has access to the building from the cellphone he held in his left hand.
Members can exit from inside the building, but the doors will remain locked from the outside. The system means the church no longer has to worry about using keys to get in and out of the building.
“When someone leaves the church, if they took the keys, we no longer have to change the locks on all the doors because they don’t have that," said Stecker. "I can remove them from the system.”
It also allows him to tailor who can have access to the building and on what days.
“Things we do, a small church can do," he said.
But it all comes back to situational awareness, he insisted. The church is planning to begin quarterly drills that will involve the congregation on different scenarios — active shooter, fire. He compared it to military drills, saying members need to practice for such scenarios in the church environment.
"So if a gunman comes in the back, this is what we do: no panic, drop down. We have people in place to take care of this,” said Stecker. "We’re actually preparing the church to be successful when we practice this.”
Joseph Martin
Pastor Joseph Martin Jr. is a retired Marine Corps colonel, an Alexandria Senior High School teacher and a pastor. And he doesn’t want weapons in his church or on its grounds.
That’s not to say that church security isn’t a concern for him and his church, Second Union Missionary Baptist Church in Alexandria. The 2015 shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in which white supremacist Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people attending a Bible study, made it an issue for them.
Such shootings might not happen that often, but they can’t be ignored, he said. In fact, he said any church or organization that meets regularly without thinking about security is negligent.
But Martin says he’s confident that he, his board of trustees and deacons have an adequate security plan in place.
After Charleston, for which Roof was sentenced to death in 2017, deacons began carrying hand-held radios that make communication easier. They patrol the church and are positioned at various places around the property.
Surveillance cameras were installed, along with screens that allow those inside to monitor activity outside and inside the church, which has a membership of about 350. People coming into the church are greeted as they come to the door.
Martin attended a December meeting hosted by the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office on the topic. He said opinions were divided among the pastors and church leaders about having weapons either inside churches or on church properties.
“I’m certainly one that doesn’t want to have any arms inside,” said Martin, who has been ASH’s Marine Corps JROTC instructor since he retired from active duty in 2000.
He believes the liability of having weapons either inside or outside the church is too great. He said the church knows about the shootings within the past few years and is concerned about them, but he said “knee-jerk reactions” aren’t the answer.
He’s confident that members could handle a situation and alert law enforcement. Martin also believes it’s good to communicate with law enforcement. He and others from his church attended the December meeting and looks forward to more meetings like it.
In addition to his military experience, several other members of his church are retired military. One currently serves with the Louisiana National Guard. The church has put that expertise to work in developing its security plan.
What’s important for Martin is that he knows his members are vigilant “about our surroundings and just try to make sure that we can protect those people who come in and want to worship God.
“One of the biggest things is you just have to some people out there who will be vigilant and know what to look for. From my military training, and from what I have seen, I believe that you can pretty much pick out somebody … if they’re coming there to serve the Lord or they’re coming for some ulterior motive, I think you can pretty much pick some of those people out.”
Still, Martin agrees with those who might say it’s sad that church leaders must take this approach “especially in God’s house, but that’s just the times that we live in.
You have some people now that don’t respect anything, and so you’ve got to be vigilant. You’ve just got to be vigilant.”
James Greer
Journey Church had a security plan in place long before the topic became hot, says Pastor James Greer. It's been a part of the Pineville church's growth plan for years.
“I just thank the Lord we were ahead of the curve,” said Greer, also paraphrasing a Bible verse that calls for being as wise as a serpent yet gentle as a dove.
Greer says Journey has had organized security for five to six years before church shooting incidents began happening. During the passing years, they’ve increased training and have placed people throughout the sanctuary and in the parking lot.
The church has a large campus with several buildings off Donahue Ferry Road in Pineville. It recently opened a campus in Alexandria in the former Economy Boots building on MacArthur Drive.
Greer said he’s glad to see more churches training and putting security plans in place.
“We want all the training we can get, and we do do that,” he said. “Our goal is for that to never happen, but if it does pray that their goal is that can stop them.”
Most of the congregation probably wasn’t aware of the security measures for the first three years, said Greer. But now it’s common knowledge because the concept is more acceptable now.
He also agreed with experts who say, if an incident is going to happen at a church, it’s likely to stem from a domestic issue. He said those who work with youth at the church must undergo background checks. Church employees deal with people are undergoing custody issues, too.
“Everyone is gonna deal with it, at one time or another.”
Journey Executive Pastor Josh Poe said there’s about 30 people on the church’s security team. They have a Facebook group, conduct annual training and do walkthroughs on the campus of different situations.
The group includes some law enforcement members who also are church members.
The church also has started hiring off-duty Rapides Parish Sheriff’s deputies to handle some duties. That was part of the security plan, said Poe, a decision that went into effect when the congregation hit 1,000 members.
It happened right around the time of the Sutherland Springs shooting, he said.
“We’re hitting 1,000 every Sunday and we just felt like that was our next step in security for us,” he said.
Greer said he’s “excited and proud” that the church has a good security team. He credits them with going beyond their duties, like meeting up with him and staying with him even when not required.
“They make me feel better,” he said.
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