During religious services on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019, a man clad in black with a shotgun hidden under his coat opened fire on the parishioners of the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas. Thanks to the training, vigilance and heroic bravery of the church’s security team, the attacker was stopped in just six seconds.
Sadly, this was hardly the first attack on a community of faith in December. In fact, New York City’s Jewish community experienced acts of violence and hatred nearly every single day of the same week.
Raising Funds, Spreading Hope
After these tragedies, we felt a powerful determination to do something to both help these communities and demonstrate our gratitude for those willing to defend them.
So that’s exactly what we set out to do.
“Keeping Your Church Safe” is a practical blueprint for churches, covering all aspects of church security and safety for staff, premises and members.
On Dec. 30, USCCA launched a charitable donation campaign and pledged to donate every single penny from the sale of the new book — Keeping Your Church Safe – to support communities of faith in Texas and New York.
Thanks to the generosity of the USCCA community, we raised more than $28,000.
But the real story isn’t about the money. It’s about empowering our community of American protectors. On top of the funds raised, we’re proud to announce that nearly 1,400 copies of this lifesaving training are now spread across the country. (Since it was brand new, we actually had to order more copies.)
You all made that happen.
And your response to the donation campaign on social media helped bring more awareness to the importance of trained security teams. That simple fact could well be the most lifesaving gift of all.
Born to Protect
There is no question that this kind of training and awareness saves lives. The heroic actions of the trained security team at the West Freeway Church of Christ in Texas prove it.
They stopped evil that day as the defenders of their community. They did this through training, vigilance and courage.
Serving these types of dedicated protectors is exactly why the USCCA exists. Thank you all for helping us achieve that mission.
For our part, we promise that we will continue to serve all of America’s responsible protectors in any way we can.
We will continue to share free training for protecting houses of worship and stopping mass shooters. We will continue to support every member of our growing USCCA community.
It took just six seconds for the security team at the West Freeway Church of Christ to stop the attacker. Why? Because its members trained, prepared and chose courage in a moment of intense danger.
They will not call themselves “heroes.” But as members of a well-trained and vigilant security team, they made the heroic decision to become the protectors their community needed and deserved.
There are millions of other Americans — born to protect — who are ready to follow their example.
We will be here to support them every single day.
