When hundreds of individuals stepped into houses of worship across the region last Sunday, they likely experienced a different kind of atmosphere.
Sure, many folks likely encountered something supernatural.
But people also probably encountered beefed up security –– or at least more alert ushers and greeters –– in the wake of the mass shooting at a Texas church Nov. 5.
Just days after a masked gunman killed 26 people at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Bradford-area church leaders began thinking of ways to make their churches more secure.
At a monthly Bradford Ministerium meeting held Thursday, pastors from the Bradford area talked about the shooting and what precautions should take place on the local level.
“We also discussed ways we as pastors could work to insure the safety of our people in worship,” said the Rev. Stacey Fussell of The Episcopal Church of the Ascension on Chautauqua Place in Bradford. “While we know our ultimate security is in God’s loving care for us, we are also committed to taking all steps necessary to protect our congregations and wider community from the devastating effects of violence in our sacred spaces.”
During a staff meeting held Tuesday, officials at Open Arms Community Church on East Main Street in Foster Township began laying out plans to improve security.
“We will be raising the training levels of those who serve as ushers and greeters,” the Rev. Mike McAvoy said. “We are designating key welcome team leaders and children’s ministry workers with specific locations in the church, increased walkie-talkie communications, implementing specific codes, and we will be recruiting our concealed (carry) permit holders to be seated in strategic positions within the church as a first line of defense.”
While the Rev. Matt Blake Sr. of the Asbury United Methodist Church on East Main Street in Bradford said he could not disclose the safety measures, he stated that they have been enacted.
“Meetings are currently underway to insure the safety of all those who enter into our space of worship,” he said.
For the Rev. Rob Jeffrey of the Bradford Alliance Church, the incident in Texas hit home. For five years, he served as a pastor in Pleasanton, Texas — less than an hour away from Sutherland Springs.
“We tend to think of the world as a lot bigger, but then we catch a glimpse of how small the world is,” said Jeffrey, who has pastored the church for more than two years at Minard Run Road in Bradford Township.
One doesn’t have to reside in a big city for a major tragedy to happen, he said. The Texas incident seemed different –– in magnitude and the brazenness –– than other events, such as the Charleston, S.C., church shooting where a gunman killed nine people in 2015.
Closer to home, the region was shaken in Dec. 2, 2012, when Darlene J. Sitler was fatally shot by her ex-husband while she was playing the organ at the First United Presbyterian Church in Coudersport.
During that time, officials at the Bradford Alliance Church looked at the security measures, and the same will happen after the Texas incident, Jeffrey said. Officials don’t want to become complacent when it comes to safety, he said.
McAvoy said, “We believe church should be a place that is safe and secure for as long as we are able to legally publicly assemble to worship. We believe it is our responsibility to protect, care for, and defend those in our charge.”
McAvoy said officials at Open Arms stand on the belief that a peaceful community is an armed community. In fact, McAvoy continued, saying “there is a reason that Jesus told his followers to get themselves a sword,” referring to Luke 22:36 in the Bible.
