Deliver us from evil

June 11, 2009 will mark the six month anniversary of the arson attack on the Wasilla Bible Church. On a cold December night, while a group of women met inside the building, their children with them, a person or persons unknown poured gasoline around all of the entrances and exits and ignited the accelerant. By the grace of God, all inside the building were able to get out safely. But still no arrests have been made.

The torching of the church Gov. Palin attends when she's home in Wasilla is just one of a growing number of crimes committed at houses of worship, and sometimes it seems as if no one is doing anything about it. The authorities, however, are still investigating the Alaska church burning. Others are taking a more proactive approach.

Seeing the need for a new type of security service, entrepreneurs are creating a niche market for church security enterprises. One such firm is Christian Security Network, which quotes an excerpt from the Book of Proverbs (22:3) on its website:

"... foresee danger and plan ahead..."

Jeff Hawkins, who founded the firm, is its CEO, and he believes that the Wasilla Church arson was politically motivated, "It's too coincidental to have that church targeted," he says.

CSN offers seminars, a handbook, and in-person risk assessments. With a background in policing and government security, Hawkins was doing security for a Christian ministry a few years ago, and kept getting "more and more and more requests for speaking engagements and seminars. There was no resource for the Christian community to go to to learn about security and safety."

The common reaction, I suppose, to a story like this one is that it is a really sad and disgusting thing that such security services are even needed by churches and synagogues. It's just a sign of the times. Although church shootings and fires grab the headlines, Hawkins works with his clients to develop security plans to deal with situations which are far more likely to impact a house of worship such as robbery, misdemeanor vandalism or a natural disaster.

The field is expanding at a time when a slumping economy is shedding jobs by the tens of thousands. Dale Annis' firm, Church Security Services, is based in Bakersfield, California and serves churches on the West Coast. If you have a security background, know your way around a church house and want to go into business for yourself, here's a wide-open field.

If you're a pastor, deacon or a member of your church's vestry, ensuring the security of your house of worship is something for you to seriously consider. The Lord's Prayer asks that we be delivered from evil, and the Holy Bible teaches us that God helps the helpless. Although Benjamin Franklin is often described as a deist, he actually believed in God’s active Providence in human affairs. And to the great majority who are not helpless, he wrote in Poor Richard's Almanac, "God helps those who help themselves."

- JP