Growing number of churches
want armed security
By Mary Pflum. January 27th, 2019
When Chris Crews prepares for church on Sunday mornings, he follows a routine. He rises early. He puts on his church clothes, a button-down shirt paired with blue jeans or khakis. Then, before leaving the house with his wife and two children, he straps a firearm -- a 9 mm or a .45 -- to his right hip.
"I don't leave home without a gun," Crews said. "It's kind of like the old American Express card ads: I just won't leave home without it."
Crews, 47, is part of the security team at Ava Assembly of G-d, a Pentecostal church of 300 members in Ava, Missouri. The church has no paid security guards. Instead, it counts on a team of 18 church members to keep fellow congregants safe. None of the security team members are paid and all carry handguns.
Ava Assembly of G-d launched the security team 18 months ago after the church's pastor, Buddy Boyd, received threats related to a domestic dispute involving members of the community.
In response, and amid rising fears of mass shootings in general, a congregant suggested forming a security team. Boyd quickly agreed.
"Times have changed," Boyd said. "The No. 1 concern is to protect our parishioners."
....... 
It is refreshing to find some at least who see the potential risks involved when members of a church gathering have no means of protection. There are those of course who see the presence of guns in a house of worship as something to be decried, also making the naive assumption that within such a place there is some sort of divine immunity from attack. The trend is one that should grow and not only with churches - unfortunately many obstacles are being placed in the way of armed support in schools. Seemingly politics beats common sense.
