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Local church hosts security training following deadly church shooting

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SCOTTS, Mich. -- In the wake of the deadly church shooting last Sunday in Texas, churches across the country are working to make their places of worship as safe as possible.

Barry Wise, and his team with Strategos International, visited Prairie Baptist Church in Scotts this weekend to train church leaders how to respond in a worse case scenario.

Wise tours the United States sharing statistics on violence in churches and his philosophy on how they can best be confronted.  He says there has been about 1,500 violent attacks inside of churches since 1999.

John Woullard, Associate Pastor at Prairie Baptist Church felt hosting an event like this was a chance to bring some much needed awareness to church leaders in his neck of the woods. “He is giving us these stats and eyebrows are going up. People are saying, “Wait a minute, lets wake up here.' There is an increased awareness, concern of the world we live in in 2017.  We must be diligent."

Young emphasizes that most still don’t expect to be attacked inside their church, but insists people must be prepared and ready to act. The plan he teaches is based on three points-- look out/lock out, get out & take out.

What would Young say if he could speak to every church-goer in the country?  “It can happen to you.”  The biggest hurdle we face is that we think just because we ware a church it can’t happen here. It can happen here. Its happening more and it’s getting more violent. Numbers are getting larger. The only way to stop this is if we take responsibility for our own place of worship.”