Armed pastors protect parishioners

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

That’s the unofficial motto at some Albuquerque-area churches, where fear of a possible violent incident has prompted pastors to arm themselves while preaching from the pulpit.

“Most churches, the pastors – and I was that way one time – we depended on the Lord,” said Pastor Larry Allen, who leads the New Life Baptist Church on the city’s westside. “The Lord has given us the wisdom and said, ‘Hey, I make guns.’ You never go to a gun fight with a knife. You answer power with power.”

Allen said his church has been disrupted by gang members, fights and even a bomb threat in the past. He said he and his armed security team are more than ready to deal with any threat that comes their way.

“The way you confront it is I would probably pull my weapon out and I’d start walking towards the person,” Allen said.

A decade ago, armed pastors might have been a rarity. But today, it’s a different world.

A man stabbed another man at The Church Christian Academy in Albuquerque two years ago, according to Albuquerque police. And a year and a half ago, St. Bernadette’s Catholic Church was locked down after a man threatened parishioners with a gun, police have said.

But the most visible church violence occurred in December 2007 in Colorado Springs when a man opened fire, killing four and wounding five. A security guard shot and killed the shooter.

That shooting made officials at Legacy Church in northwest Albuquerque to take a closer look at their security set-up. Today, the church retains about 50 mostly armed, retired police officers on its security team.

“I’ve just kind of embraced it and said, ‘Hey, I’d rather our people be overly protected than some crazy man walk in and shoot somebody and we have no means to protect the people,’ ” said Pastor Steve Smothermon. “I’ve said it many times from the pulpit. I’ve said, ‘Listen, if you’re going to come in here and do something crazy, just understand we have a lot of officers here and they will, if necessary, do what needs to be done to take care of the situation so you don’t harm somebody.’ ”

Both pastors said they are honest with their congregations about being armed and rarely hear complaints about it.

“It’s important to know when people come to church, they’re safe,” said Mark Maes, a Legacy parishioner.

Allen said he knows of a dozen religious facilities in Albuquerque with armed leaders or armed security teams. And both men said they expect that number to grow, not only locally but across the country as well.

“We have a very Godless society,” Smothermon said. “I think it’s sad because the society dictates what we have to do sometimes.”