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HAMPTON-In a crowded church, Todd Woolston sits in the front row, close to the pastor.He wears a dark blazer, striped tie, tan slacks and an earpiece with a spiraling plastic cord.His eyes scan the sanctuary's 1,800 seats — from the right wing, where a woman in a pink coat is pacing, to the back, where a man wearing a black sweater stands with his arms folded. Both wear the same spiraling earpieces. Under the blazer, the coat and the sweater are two-way radios.When the parishioners bow their heads in prayer, Woolston's head is up, still scanning.When the pastor flips to 2 Corinthians, Woolston is writing a text message on his cell phone.Across the room, James Hall's pocket buzzes. He takes out his phone."Team observing suspicious male, gray hooded sweat shirt, on balcony. Wandering in and out of service. Attempting to access other buildings," Woolston's message reads. "JT is on it."In a new era of caution among churches, security isn't far from the pulpit.THE FORCE OF FAITH
Woolston has been leading an all-volunteer security team at Bethel Temple, an interdenominational church in Hampton, since 2003.Most of the team members are law enforcement officers — active or retired — who belong to the congregation. They don't wear badges or uniforms. Some carry guns.Woolston thinks that places of worship are "soft targets" for bad guys, holdouts among the many American institutions that have adopted new security precautions since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."Churches are thought to be the safest places in the country," he says. "Not anymore. People intent on doing harm are looking for the easiest target, and that's what we are."He lists the attacks on churches that have made news in the past year:• A Missouri church shooting left three dead and five wounded in August.• A double stabbing occurred at a North Carolina church in October.• In December, a gunman opened fire at a Colorado megachurch, killing two people before he was shot and killed by a volunteer on the church's security team.
PREPARING FOR SERVICE
PREPARING FOR SERVICE
This Sunday, the Bethel Temple security force consists of six volunteers. They gather at 8:30 a.m. in a small conference room off the sanctuary."Let's focus again heavy up front," Woolston tells them. "I'm going to ask Kevin to roam today, check the nursery, kid city, and roam between the two buildings."A man who isn't a member of the church has been showing up for services lately, disrupting the sermon and making congregants uncomfortable. He has been reported to the police and charged with trespassing. "We'll have eyes out in case he comes back," Woolston says. "The ushers have a picture, but he's changed his hair since then."Hall says, "I checked all the buildings this morning, and everything looked good." He's a retired military police officer and now a security guard at NASA Langley Research Center. "People were doing what they're supposed to be doing."Woolston calls the team into a circle to pray."Father, we ask for your blessing today. We ask that you would cover your people today. We ask for safety."
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As in the days of Noah....
