HANNIBAL – In the modern world, churches may not necessarily be a safe haven.
Given this unfortunate fact, Calvary Baptist in Hannibal is hosting a Strategos International security planning conference, Nov. 18, for up to 100 participants.
To learn more about this event and to register, visit mobaptist.org/church-security.
This event will show Missouri Baptists how to improve church facility security and how to plan a response for an active shooter, according to Jerry Field, MBC support services team leader.
The training has four classroom hours and three hours of what Field calls “a walking conference” – where participants walk through the church building, learning how to deal with potential shooters in rooms, how to secure doors without locks and how to improvise for greater security.
“It’s been a practical help for people to look at their own facilities,” Field said of the previous three sessions offered in Missouri the last two years. “Most of the training is given to churches that have begun some security plans, but need some help.”
Other participants were those with no security plan in place.
Field said that First Baptist Church, Norwood, had no plan when a shooter entered in July 2013, but now has training. When a gunman entered the South Central Missouri church and raised his pistol, church members tackled him, wrestled the gun away, and held him for police. Though the pistol fired, no one was hit.
“Our staff at the Baptist Building helped them install cameras,” Field said.
Field is glad Calvary is hosting the event.
“Calvary Baptist Church has nicely developed a security team and are anxious to host this for other churches,” Field said.
Calvary pastor Jeff Anderson said his church became security conscious with much thought and prayer.
“Wes McGowen (Calvary Security Chief) is a retired teacher,” Anderson said. “He brought me a series of school/church shooting stories and introduced us to Strategos. He was passionate about it. I read blogs by other pastors, including one who had been shot and survived.”
Calvary’s security plan began more than four years ago with tornado safety and later added emergency medical procedures and bought defibrillators.
Some two years later, the church seriously began to consider, ‘What if someone walked in with a rifle or pistol?’
Anderson said the church researched the issues and wanted those with legal conceal/carry weapons – common in rural Missouri – to take extra training besides the permit to carry.
“They are taught to never talk about carrying a weapon or showing a weapon,” Anderson said of the conceal/carry members with the extra training.
“We honed our protective skills. The security team (members) are servants, and they are under the radar at church. You owe it to the church body to know what you are doing.”
Calvary’s doors to the children’s building are now locked during children’s events.
“In this day and age of divorces and things, people want to leave their children in a safe place,” Anderson said.
He said that three blessings have come from the trained security team. First, it engaged many younger men not otherwise involved in church. Second, there have already been “multiple things averted.” Third, the training has been constant.
“You (think you) will never have to use lethal force, but neither did any of the churches (that had shootings),” Anderson said. The security team members “are the sheepdogs over the flock. They are not seen until they are needed. We have plans and a strategy to save lives.”