The Reality Gap In Church Security

There has always been a reality gap in churches on some issues. Since by nature the primary mission of the church operates in the unseen spiritual world where objective measurement of results is impossible there is a tendency to apply the same thinking to the very concrete physical world where hard and fast standards do exist, results can be measured and failure to meet those standards can have immediate and drastic results. This is especially true in church security. Here is some of the objective reality for this week:

• A church in rural Jay, Oklahoma was shot up by a man free on bail who cannot be tried in state courts. The man had previously been released from a state prison where he was serving a 20 year sentence because of his Native American status. He re-offended on similar charges. At the time of the latest incident had been free for a year on low bail granted by the Cherokee Nation courts.

• In Indiana a man walked into the Wednesday night service with a firearm and five IED’s. Nobody stopped him at the door. Police were notified by a tip leading to his arrest during the service.

• In Washington state a man crashed his vehicle into a a church.

• In Missouri a man was arrested after repeated stalking incidents involving a church.

• In Tennessee a woman was stabbed in her sleep at a church warming center.

• DNI Gabbard warned congress that the threat of lone wolf terrorist attacks by radicalized persons present in the US was likely. Iran and ISIS are calling for jihad against US and Israeli interests worldwide.

• A new Islamic terror group using radicalized teenagers paid for their services has claimed credit for a wave of attacks across Europe. In most of the West teenagers cannot be tried as adults and thus will avoid major penalties while making a small fortune for their familes.

• The Sinaloa Cartel is arming for war against the US and they have a strong presence in almost every US state and city.

This is objective reality on US soil this week. It happens every week ….. same events just different places.

Churches that have no security program are like churches that have no insurance on their property. They think that since the odds are small that something bad will happen they can put their resources in other places. Churches that have lip service only security programs are like those that have minimal insurance policies that really don’t cover much but allow the church to say it has insurance. In the past, we worked with a church whose insurance policy specifically excludes any use of force by a church agent even in self defense. Their security volunteers were literally on their own in case they had to defend the flock even in a scuffle. Yet, this church decided to renew with the same company. Having a lip service only security program is the same as this church and their insurance policy. You can tell your congregation you have coverage but when results are needed there won’t be anything there.

Will Rogers said there are three kinds of people. A very few can learn from nature and observation. A few more can learn by hearing a lesson. But, the majority have to urinate across the electric fence to get the message.

A few years ago, we had a very motivated student come through our year long program. He was Chinese. And he was all in for the program. When someone is that motivated we investigate. It turned out that he and some of his team members were survivors of a mass shooting at their church. For the vast majority of people it takes a life shaking event to break through their inborn normalcy bias and convince them to prepare for the worst while praying for the best. This young man had experienced that life shaking event.

On my birthday in 1957, a tornado went down the main street of my hometown. A number of people were killed. We knew them all. Two boys that I played with died along with their parents about a mile up the road from our place. They found their mangled bodies several miles away. Driving to work, my Mom and Dad discovered the carnage in the village. They began helping pull people from the wreckage. Later, my mom came home to change clothes before going on to work. She had the brain matter of a dying woman she had held in the wreckage all over her coat. Mom was in shock. My combat veteran dad was calm but grim. He had seen things like this before.

As I processed the tragedy over the years I asked the hard questions. Why were we alive when those other people died? Two reasons came to mind. First, the giant storm missed our home by about half a mile, a negligible distance in tornado terms. But also, we had spent the entire night in our cramped little storm cellar. It was only about four feet deep, lined with recycled railroad ties and covered with several feet of dirt. Spiders, centipedes and scorpions sometimes came through the cracks in the walls and roof when we lit the kerosene lamp. We always had to check for snakes since they liked the cool dry spot, particularly rattlers and copperheads. It took effort to build and a little courage to use. It was far from comfortable but all we could afford at the time. And, it was far safer than being outside during a storm.

I came to the conclusion that even if the storm had not missed us by a hairsbreadth we probably would have survived because of my dad’s preparations to protect us. It was common knowledge back then that tornadoes were survivable if you built a storm cellar, watched the weather and took shelter. We as a family did those things. Seventeen of our neighbors didn’t. That was a lot to process. I permanently lost my normalcy bias and learned a valuable life lesson. Pray for the storm to pass but prepare for it not to.

I am fond of quoting Luke 12:55-56: “And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?” It didn’t take divine foreknowledge to see what was going to happen to Israel. Sooner or later God was going to withdraw his common grace restraining Rome, Rome was going to lose patience and when that happened the legions were going to decimate the place. We are living in remarkably similar times. We are on the edge of catastrophic times and events. Wise people and churches will prepare for them.

The Oklahoma Church Security Association provides free professional church security training and consultation. For further information respond to this email or contact Bill Kumpe at 918-381-9792.

 

RED ALERT

 

The United States is at war on its own soil. In the past few days, Iranian leaders issued orders for sleeper cells and individual actors worldwide to take revenge for their losses in the war in the Middle East. Since then, the US has experienced almost daily Muslim terrorist related events.

In NYC, their newly elected radical Muslim mayor celebrated Ramadan in City Hall. The NYC mayor has openly supported terrorist causes. Some headlines read, “NYC Has Fallen.” Opinion writers observed that NYC, another of the world's major cities, has fallen to Islam and become yet another Muslim dominated Londonistan. 

Earlier in the week, the administration was taking steps to suppress a confidential internal security memo warning law enforcement agencies of the high probability of terrorist attacks. Since then, a mass drone attack against California was apparently foiled. Some units of the US Navy and Marine Corps are advising their troops not to wear uniforms in public places because of the danger of targeted terrorist attacks against servicemen on US soil. Christian Warrior Training, the best known source of church threat intelligence in the US, has increased its threat level to Red, the maximum, meaning that attacks are imminent.

There have been individual terrorist events in Texas, Virginia, Michigan and California within the past few days. In Austin, three victims and the attacker were killed when a Muslim identifying man opened fire in a public place. The shooter was a Senegalese immigrant who obtained citizenship by marrying a US citizen. He had a history of domestic violence.

In the Houston area, a Muslim identifying man has been arrested for attempting to enter an elementary school armed. The shooter was a naturalized Iraqi immigrant. He was wearing a tactical uniform and gear allegedly bearing Houston Police Department patches. Muslim terrorists impersonating security or law enforcement is a common tactic. Supposedly friendly local police and military attacking US forces in the Middle East is a common occurrence in so called “blue on blue” events. The key takeaway here is to not trust uniforms and identifying items alone. Learn to spot anomalous, inconsistent behavior and appearance.

In the Old Dominion University event, ROTC students subdued and killed the attacker with a knife after he shot a US Army Lt. Col. in the classroom and wounded two other students. The attacker was an immigrant from Sierra Leone who had served in the US Army National Guard. In her public statement the Democratic governor of Virginia, a former CIA employee, refused to even acknowledge that there had been a terrorist attack, much less the religion of the attacker. The attacker had a history of supporting Muslim terrorist causes, was convicted of aiding ISIS and imprisoned but granted early release by the courts. The takeaway here is that military style training saves lives even if the odds are in the attackers favor. Another key takeaway is to respect edged weapons. In this case, an edged weapon saved lives but never forget that America’s deadliest terrorist attack was carried out using cheap, ubiquitous box cutters.

In the Michigan event, armed security killed the attacker after he rammed a vehicle through the doors of a synagogue. The attacker was an immigrant from Lebanon who recently lost family in an Israeli airstrike there. His vehicle contained large quantities of flammable liquids and commercial level fireworks. The takeaway here is that armed, professional level security saves lives. Another key takeaway is to expect explosives and incendiary materials as part of the attack.

While “profiling” has fallen out of favor, a couple of key facts stand out. All of the attackers were immigrants from Muslim countries and all identified by names containing the word Mohamed. And, all came from cultures where personal violence to avenge perceived personal, religious, political or national affronts is encouraged.

There were also multiple, non-terrorist related “normal” church attacks last week.

Churches fall into four groups concerning volunteer church security. The first group are pure sheep. The very thought of protecting themselves is simply not in their DNA. They can’t get past the mental hurdle that the safety of their families and flocks is first and foremost their own responsibility and that they may be required to do some hard things to ensure that safety. If it were just the sheep risking their own lives that would be one thing but they are also risking the lives of the innocent families and children they are responsible for and setting up situations where others will have to risk their lives to save them in situations that could have been prevented or mitigated.

The second group pays lip service to their church’s security needs. They treat church security the same way they treat most other aspects of church life. It has to be convenient, fit everybody’s social calendar and not require much commitment beyond showing up when you feel like it. These “programs” are likely to come apart like a house of cards when required to respond. As anyone with experience will tell you, eighty percent of your training disappears in a crisis and what happens next will depend entirely on the remaining twenty percent that is performed from the gut level.

The third group are self deluded. They think because a few of their people are armed and fired fifty rounds last year in a cow pasture or at a civilian gun range that doesn’t even allow tactical training they have this thing covered. The White Settlement, Texas church shooting proved the fallacy of this delusion when two of their deacons died needlessly while fumbling to get their weapons out of their holsters and then other male congregation members endangered the rest of the congregation by waving their weapons around after the fact.

The fourth very small group takes the safety of their families and flocks seriously. They dedicate time and resources toward maintaining a professional volunteer security team. These churches usually have veterans or LEO’s in influential positions in the church who know what is required and have the strength of character to make it happen. May their tribe increase.

I would urge you to take a serious look at your own church and make an objective assessment of your church’s security condition. If you don’t know how, the OCSA provides free security assessment and advice. But, there are three things all churches in all of the groups above can do immediately, THIS SUNDAY, to improve their situation.

First, HARDEN YOUR ENTRANCES. Vehicle attacks are becoming commonplace. In the long term heavy planters and architectural barriers need to be erected but THIS SUNDAY you can ask your staff, deacons, elders, Sunday school teachers and regular attenders to park their cars in such a way that a speeding vehicle could not ram the doors. This includes approaches across grassy areas and over curbs.

Second, ASSIGN COMMUNICATORS. Make sure that at least two people who are seated in protected areas are trained to make a coherent 911 call. They need to have the actual church address memorized not just how to get there. They need to be able to calmly report what is happening while staying out of the line of fire..

Third, INSPECT YOUR PREMISES CONSTANTLY. There was an IED attack last week in NYC. IED’s are a favorite tool of terrorists. Before every service have trusted men walk the perimeter of the building and the entire interior looking for suspicious bags, packages or items. Report anything suspicious and BE SUSPICIOUS.

Effective church security takes months of training and organization, sometimes years. Security experts have been warning that this day would come for over a decade. It has come. Unfortunately, history teaches us that what we are experiencing may be the “new normal” for the rest of our lives. The conflict between Muslims and Judeao/Christian culture has lasted thousands of years. It is literally baked into the culture in the Middle East and Africa and now even in Europe. Violence is a part of daily life. America is now part of that conflict and we have allowed the problem to take seed on our soil through incredibly unwise immigration policies. Any Israeli can tell you about this “new normal” where bomb shelters are part of every community, military service is mandatory for all young men and women, all military members and veterans have an assault weapon in their home and children are not allowed to leave their schools without an armed escort.

The Oklahoma Church Security Association provides professional security assessment, advice and training at no charge. The second session of this years Tulsa area training cycle, Situational Awareness for Churches, will be held Saturday morning March 28 starting at 08:30 AM at Covenant Baptist Church, 500 West College, Broken Arrow, OK.

For further information respond to this email or call Bill Kumpe at 918-381-9792.

COMMON THREATS

 

March 1, 2026 the Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis released a Critical Incident Note warning that “the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would "almost certainly" lead to retaliatory actions by Iran and its proxies against U.S. interests. At least two influential mullahs IN THE US have called upon their followers to execute revenge attacks on US soil. Why these people were not immediately on the next flight to Guantanamo in restraints is a question for your congressman.

The current state of world affairs, particularly the fact that the US is now at war with Iran and its terrorist clients around the world, tends to cause church security teams to develop tunnel vision concerning a terrorist threat. While there is no doubt that all churches large and small should be on high alert for the signs of terrorist activity they should also not forget that despite the fact that we are at war on multiple fronts around the world daily life continues and so do the common threats associated with it. What follows is a short list of questions to ask yourself concerning these common threats.

Are you prepared for a medical emergency? The most likely security event to occur in your church is a medical emergency. Have your people been through recent CPR-AED-First Aid training including cardiac events, choking events, diabetic emergencies, and other common situations? Have key members of your team and staff been through advanced first on scene trauma training? Do you have an adequate medical kit and equipment and can everyone on the team locate it quickly? Do you know how long ambulance response is to your location and have you prepared to render life saving aid for that amount of time? Are you relying on a single person or two for medical response or have you trained multiple people on your team and staff to handle basic medical events?

Are you prepared for the bio-hazard threat that may accompany a medical event? Bodily fluids outside the body are a biohazard. That includes urine, feces, vomitus and especially blood. Does your church have a biohazard clean up kit? Does everybody both security team and staff know how to find it and how to use it?

Are you prepared for a mental health emergency? Troubled people often turn to the church either for help or retribution. Have key members of your team and the church staff taken mental health response and suicide prevention training?

Are you prepared to handle a domestic dispute/domestic violence event? These events are very common and happen eventually in almost all churches. Does your church have a policy concerning domestic protective orders? Does your staff and team maintain oversight of family situations likely to cause domestic events?

Are you prepared for a severe weather event? During the season, do you have a member of your team or staff constantly monitoring weather information sources to provide advance notice of a possible weather event? Do you have designated safer spaces in the building? Are they sufficiently clear of equipment and clutter to accommodate your congregation? Have you drilled your security team and staff on how to execute your weather shelter plan?

Are you prepared for a political/ideological protest or service interruption? Do you have a plan? Have all key team members and staff been trained to execute that plan? Have you drilled your team and key staff members in execution of your plan?

This list could go on for several pages. But, the fact remains that while churches should be on very high alert for terrorist activity and be training intensely to respond to it, these other events will occur as well and with much more frequency. Consequently, your church’s security team and staff training should be well rounded and constant.

People with a military or law enforcement background understand training. You train constantly. You do the same things over and over constantly seeking improvement. You learn to do complex even life or death tasks almost automatically so that you can concentrate on the situation instead of just the task. People with this background realize that in real life emergencies eighty percent of your training evaporates with the adrenaline and confusion and what you will actually do when the chips are down will come from the remaining twenty percent drilled into you so deeply that it comes naturally.

Church security teams need to train the same way. Handling the routine tasks and situations that are predictable needs to be a matter of near automatic response. You’ve done it so many times that you can execute the plan and its tasks while still keeping your mind on the situation and how to adapt to it if necessary.

Those members of your team selected for armed duties need to master their skills to the point that they are not concentrating on their firearm but rather the situation that requires the use of the firearm. The instantaneous draw, sight picture check, verbal warning if possible and all of the rest of the events in an armed encounter need to be smooth, fast and subconscious so that the team member can concentrate on responding properly to the threat instead of having to think about running his gun. Two security team members at the Freeway Church of Christ in Texas died because they hadn’t trained to this level.

The civilian mindset toward training is the direct opposite of the military/law enforcement mindset. Most civilian students do the minimum to achieve their goals, either passing the course or making an acceptable grade and then move on. When their final goal of graduation or certification is achieved the disciplines of training are forgotten. For many, they believe they’ve been there done that and have the tshirt.   In the military/law enforcement world constant training and retraining is the cost of the profession, the price paid to increase your chances of not only accomplishing your mission but also of surviving. Since there are so many commonalities between first responders and the church security ministry, the attitude toward training should be the same.

For more information or to enroll in our training respond to this email or contact Bill Kumpe at 918-381-9792.

ACTIVE SHOOTER RESPONSE

 

This week, US and Israeli forces launched massive attacks against Iran resulting in the death of Iranian dictator Ayatollah Khomeini. Iran has launched retaliatory strikes all over the region and revenge strikes here in the US are almost a certainty given the abilities of Hamas and other Iranian linked terrorist organizations known to have a significant presence in the US.

Churches are particularly vulnerable due to their symbolic value and lack of security measures as compared to government targets. While vehicle, arson, explosive and chemical attacks are all possible, an active shooter attack is probably still the method of choice for lone wolf actors and small radicalized groups.

Unfortunately, most of the active shooter training provided by government and local law enforcement sources is woefully inadequate and tainted by political considerations which strongly discourage armed response and high level civilian training. The most common models presented are usually variants of the now discredited “Run, Hide, Fight” philosophy. The text below is an AI summary of criticisms of “Run, Hide, Fight” with my comments inserted in italics.

AI content follows:

“The "Run, Hide, Fight" active shooter response model is criticized for being too linear, inflexible, and potentially dangerous, as it may lead victims to run into danger, hide in vulnerable, trapped locations, or fight without training. It ignores the natural human response to freeze, lacks context-specific situational awareness, and may not work for children or in all scenarios. 

“Major Problems with "Run, Hide, Fight"

• Linearity and Inflexibility: The model implies a rigid, sequential, one-size-fits-all approach that doesn't allow for, or encourage, quick reassessment of changing, dynamic situations.

• "Run" Risks: Running can sometimes lead individuals directly into the assailant's path, or cause injury that makes them an easier target. (The RHF model was designed for government agencies, high schools, colleges and other institutions which assume a high percentage of mobile people. Churches are filled with babies and children, elderly and physically challenged people for whom running is not an option. The RHF model makes no provision for these people. THAT IS NOT A MORALLY AN ACCEPTABLE PLAN FOR CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS.)

• "Hide" Limitations: Hiding (sheltering in place) can turn a room into a trap, making individuals sitting ducks if the attacker finds their location.

• "Fight" Reality: Telling untrained civilians to fight can result in death, as they lack the necessary training or experience to effectively counter a deadly threat. (This assumes that the attacker will be given the advantage of first strike, that victims will be unarmed and that some casualties are inevitable. Some official videos actually encourage victims to mass attack the shooter with their bodies or throw heavy objects.” )

• Ignores "Freeze": The model assumes logical action, but many people naturally freeze in panic during unexpected violence, a biological response not accounted for.

• Not Suitable for All: It may not be applicable or safe for children, especially young students, to engage in combat. 

Alternative Models and Considerations

• Situational Awareness: Experts suggest focusing on real-time awareness rather than rigid, pre-set actions.

• Prepare-React-Recover (PRR): A more comprehensive model suggested to improve upon the limitations of the traditional approach.

• Move! Escape or Attack!: A simplified, proactive alternative that emphasizes immediate movement away from danger or, if necessary, aggressive action. 

Experts generally recommend tailored, flexible training that empowers individuals to assess their specific environment rather than blindly following a three-step protocol.”

End AI content.

RHF training offers many institutional advantages that appear attractive to bureaucrats while offering little in the way of real protection. It can be completed in one class and requires little if any organizational investment in time, training and re-organization of standing policies. It is politically correct and avoids hot button issues like armed civilians and civilian response training which in the past have frightened many politicians, bureaucrats and even church officials more than the active shooter threat itself.

The most problematic issue with RHF is that it assumes there will be no preventive measures to stop the attack before it starts and the only armed response will come from law enforcement. Given that the typical law enforcement response time in the US is between five and ten minutes in urban areas and may run much longer in rural areas, this gives the shooter plenty of time to shoot until he runs out of ammo or gets tired of killing and then flee the scene before police arrive.

The Oklahoma Church Security Association recommends a flexible plan based upon the individual church’s capabilities. It starts with high level situational awareness training for all church greeters, ushers and staff encouraging them actively look for warning signs and keep the trouble outside if at all possible. It continues with what we call the “Three R’s” approach.

The first R is report. The church should have at least two designated communicators seated in protected areas who have been trained to make a coherent, organized 911 call to get law enforcement and other emergency services started on the way.

The second R is remove. Greeters, ushers and staff should be trained in how to remove the congregation away from the threat whenever that is possible. If the system is working properly, the threat will be isolated to a particular area of the facility. People not in that immediate area should be evacuated away from the threat scene while the armed response team deals with the situation. Greeters, ushers and staff should be not only directing traffic but also directing assistance for those unable to move quickly by themselves.

The third R is respond. Every church should have a small, law enforcement level trained armed response team capable of facing an active shooter and at minimum keeping them isolated until law enforcement arrives.

The “Three R’s” approach is not an easy fix that can be taught in a one day pancake breakfast/security seminar. The basic training itself takes several sessions and must be refreshed constantly to keep the team members current. The initial armed response training may take months and requires constant practice and updating. And, everybody needs to train together. For the “Three R’s” to work it all has to happen at once, everybody has to know their job and be able to perform it under a level of stress they have probably never experienced before in their lives. That takes serious training.

The OCSA does not provide stand alone active shooter training nor stand alone armed response training. Our program takes several months and is geared toward producing church teams capable of not only saving lives in an active shooter situation but also professionally handling the hundreds of constantly recurring smaller security issues that all churches must address.

For more information about OCSA training respond to this email or contact Bill Kumpe at 918-381-9792.