The Protecting Your Place of Worship workshop is aimed at preventing shootings such as what happened in Wayne, Michigan.
“The security team had actually been training for years,” said Leland Conway, Delta Defense Rocky Mountain district manager.
Watch Protecting Your House of Worship class here:
Conway says the key for Cross Point Church was practicing that plan.
“The more training that you have done, the more likely you are to to default to that muscle memory, so like in sports,” Conway said.
Delta is putting on the free workshops and the whole idea is to save lives.
The basics are to have a plan and practice it and be ready in case something does happen.
“Number one, have people designated that will do certain things in an emergency situation,” Conway said.“Number two, delineate what those things are clearly and often. And then number three, make sure that you have practiced those scenarios."
And some of the church members, including Lee Buroughs, a former FWP game warden, works on security at Word Of Life Church, and knows the importance of being able to protect yourselves.
“I'm a firm believer in training,” Burroughs said. “You're always going to fall back to what you trained to do and so we always want to be prepared.”
Something near and dear to Allen Blair as well, leading the safety and security team at Emmanuel Baptist.
“Start with a plan,” Blair said. “And then you've got to get your, your people behind you and, your pastors, and leaders behind you.”
Locally, some have been on higher alert after a 16-year-old boy was arrested for a suspected planned shooting at a church and school last week.
“I'm very passionate about this,” said Justin Hale, an instructor with HCC Training Solutions.
He says gunmen are attacking churches over faith, political ideology, and because they're easy targets.
“Most churches are in gun-free zones,’ Hale said. “However, over 70 percent of all active shooter incidents happen in gun-free zones.”
Delta is part of the United States Concealed Carry Association, but carrying a gun is not the only answer.
“This class isn't designed to say you must carry a gun,” Conway said.“As a matter of fact, some churches want to shy away from that entirely, but it doesn't mean you are not going to be able to enact a plan to defend yourself.”
