With megachurches come mega crowds, mega money, and increasingly, mega security concerns.
The crowds – anywhere from 2,000 to 20,000 worshippers each weekend – can be an attractive target for a deranged shooter. Overflowing offering plates are tempting to thieves, and well-known preachers can become high-profile targets.
Sunday’s shootings at New Life Church in Colorado Springs and a missionary training facility in Arvada, Colo. – which left five people dead, including a gunman – reflect the security nightmares facing some of the country’s largest churches. Many of those churches now employ armed guards to protect human, financial and physical “assets.”
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