Recent events have shown no place is sacred when it comes to gun violence. Not even a Sunday morning church service. The recent mass shooting at a small country church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, has many local congregations talking about security measures and making plans.
"We are a smaller church. We have a close congregation," said pastor Dennis Heath, of House of Prayer Holiness Church in Texarkana, Ark.
Heath said he and church members had discussed security a time or two, but talked more seriously after the Sutherland Springs shootings.
"After that, we talked about what we needed to do to secure the location. In a smaller church, you enter a small foyer and then you are in the sanctuary. There is not a lot of room," Heath said.
Heath is one of many local ministers who is attending church security training provided by Texarkana, Texas, Police Department.
"I had planned on making contact with the police to see if they could give us some advice, so when I found out about the classes I thought it was a wonderful idea," Heath said. "I appreciate the department doing that and opening it up to whole region. I think everyone will be better off for it," Heath said.
More than 1,000 people have signed up for the TTPD's Church Security and Active Shooter training classes. The first class was offered recently at the department's Special Operations and Training Center.
Two more classes will be 6 p.m. Nov. 28 and Nov. 30 at Texarkana Convention Center, located at 2910 South Cowhorn Creek Loop. Anyone interested in attending one of the classes should contact Officer Matt Cashatt at 903-798-3356 or by email [email protected] to reserve seats.
The Texarkana, Ark., Police Department has several officers certified to teach the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training and the Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events course. Both courses cover armed and unarmed response to active shooter events.
The training is available to any business or place of worship in the community, said Cpl. Kristi Bennett.
"We realize every facility is unique with certain goals and polices. We will work together to create a program tailored specifically to meet the needs of your facility," Bennett said.
Training sessions range from two-hour awareness level training to training for armed response depending on the need.
Anyone who would like to receive an assessment or an active shooter training session can contact Lt. Chris Rankin at [email protected] or Cpl. Kristi Bennett at [email protected] or call 903-798-3130.
Jeff Schreve, First Baptist Church Moores Lane pastor, said security training for churches "is a sad commentary on our times but we want to be proactive and not reactive."
He said Moores Lane Baptist has its own security team and also has security cameras.
"We met with our security team recently in light of what happened and we feel good about our plan," Schreve said.
Brad Morgan, Williams Memorial United Methodist Church senior pastor, said staff and congregation try to plan for all types of situations, from health concerns to security.
But he is thankful the police departments are being proactive and supportive of churches and congregations.
"It's a blessing to be able to have professionals review our plan and make sure it's a good one. It's also good to coordinate with city officials and law enforcement," Morgan said.
The Rev. James West, pastor of St. Edward's Catholic Church, said he and many of his congregation plan to attend one of the future TTPD meetings.
"Security has been part of our discussion for the last few months at pastoral council meetings, but we would like to compare what we have to what the police say and see if we need to add or take away from our plan," he said.
"It's fantastic the police are doing this. It's going to be a great benefit to the town."