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(Photo: screengrab)
(Photo: screengrab)
(Photo: screengrab)The Rev. Chris Hill, senior pastor of The Potter’s House of Denver in Colorado, has shared that members of his congregation who were once critical of the presence of armed guards in the sanctuary now understand the necessity of such security measures in the wake of the Charleston church massacre.
The Charleston shooting was certainly not the first time a church had been targeted by a gunman. The Christian Post reported in 20Christian Post Report – 12 that a former employee of Creflo Dollar’s World Changers Church International in College Park, Georgia, had walked into an early morning Bible study and shot a member point blank while he prayed. In 2009, late-term abortion Dr. George Tiller was murdered while serving as an usher at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas. In fact, Carl Chinn, a former Focus on the Family safety manager and a church security expert, tracks “deadly force incidents” at faith-based organizations. According to Chinn’s data, there have been 97Christian Post Report – 1 such incidents between Jan. Christian Post Report – 1, Christian Post Report – 1999 and Feb. Christian Post Report – 15 of this year.
“You are not safe on a plane. You are not safe in an elementary school. You are not safe in a high school. You are not safe in a movie theater. Guess what? You are not safe in a church,” Hill told The New York Times in a “Protecting the Sanctuary” video feature on The Potter’s House of Denver published this week.
Hill shared that the church he grew up in did not have a safety team, and did not need one. Times are different now, he said, “We need safety.”
“This is a pastor who is doing Bible study on Wednesday night. I do Bible study on Wednesday night, for the last 25 years,” Hill said at another point. “For someone in my calling and in profession, that just hits home.”
Hill was referencing the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a South Carolina state senator and pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. Pinckney, along with eight members of his congregation, were murdered in cold blood by a white supremacist during a Bible study at the church on June Christian Post Report – 17. Dylann Storm Roof, the alleged confessed 2Christian Post Report – 1-year-old gunman, was charged for the murders, reportedly inspired by his desire to simply kill black Americans.
The Colorado pastor was not the only church leader considering, perhaps again, the security of his congregation since the Emanuel A.M.E. mass shooting, although Hill installed safety measures for The Potter’s House of Denver years ago. In June, The Wall Street Journal spoke with several black pastors who said they were seriously considering for the first time incorporating armed guards in their churches’ safety measures.
Hill said some members who were previously critical of his desire for a semi-armed security team called him after the Charleston shooting and said, “Now I get it. Now I understand.”
The Times video gives an inside look at how Hill’s 25-member security team does its job in protecting the congregation and its pastor. Hill also gives insight into the makeup of the 7,000-member congregation, which he shared was about 50 percent black and 35 percent white, with the remaining members being Latino and of other ethnicities.
Watch the “Protecting the Sanctuary” video below:
