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Won't God protect us?

Occasionally, this is the response of pastors or church boards when the topic of starting a safety or security team. I do believe that God does protect us. He does it in many ways. Sometime it is in the placement of one of his sheepdogs and other times he takes a direct hand. Here is a great example of God's intervention.

Several years ago the executive pastor of our church came to me with a serious concern. The previous Sunday we had a man who seemed very upset in service but did not want to talk about it. He gained control of his emotions and finished the service and then left. During the week, the church staff received a phone call from the mans mother. She stated that he had gone off of his medications about two weeks before and had a tendency to become violent when off the meds. She also advised that the last time this happened, there were attending a different church and her son had become angry and created a major disturbance. The incident ended with the man picking up the podium to throw into the seated congregation. AT this point about four members tackled him and hld him for police.

After several discussions we decided to issue a No Trespass notice to the man with the note that when he went back on his medication, he was welcome back to the church. In Ohio, the local police deliver the no trespass statements. After talking to the officer that delivered the notice, we realised that God had indeed helped us. The previous night the local sheriff deputies attempted to stop the man on a traffic violation. He decided to run from the deputies and led them on a long chase ending with a physical restraint to get the man under control. The local officer delivered the notice at the county jail. The deputies were cleaning the mans cell as that had just used OC spray to get him back under control when he attached them again. This was on Friday. I do believe that God was watching over us and prevented the man from attending services that Sunday and creating a possibility of a serious physical confrontation.