Churches weigh security vs. outreach

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Before he was accused of shooting and killing two black people in a Kentucky grocery store last week, Gregory Bush knocked on the door of a predominantly African-American church.

It was 2:44 on a sunny Wednesday afternoon, a day when many churches have midweek services. About 70 people had been inside First Baptist Church Jeffersontown for a Bible study, but it had ended by the time Bush arrived and the doors were locked.

If Bush had been there just 45 minutes earlier, “it probably would have been Bush very different,” said Pastor Kevin L. Nelson.

“We caught him on camera at the front door, after he knocked and pulled on it and banged on it, he stood there and put his hand on his gun,” Nelson said, adding that he believes the gunman would have shot whoever came to the door.

“We felt that that was his attempt to make it another Charleston,” Nelson said.

A police chief in Kentucky has acknowledged the shooting deaths of two black people at a Kroger grocery store in suburban Louisville later that day were racially motivated. Bush was arrested and charged in the case. The FBI is investigating the shooting as a potential federal hate crime.

On Saturday, a man killed 11 people in the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, adding to a growing list of violence at houses of Pastor Kevin L. Nelson.

worship. The violence has prompted church leaders to grapple with finding a balance between securing their congregations and maintaining robust outreach programs they say are the core of their faith.

“I think it is sad you have to even lock the doors of the church,” Nelson said. “It was just the mindset where I grew up; you didn’t do certain things around the house of worship or even among the people of God. All that is changed today.”

In March, the Kentucky Baptist Convention — one of the state’s largest denominations — held a statewide church security conference for the first time. More than 1,000 people attended, said Paul Chitwood, the convention’s executive director. He said many people come to church because “they are hurting and they are confused.”

“The church wants to receive those people. And just because somebody looks different or acts a little different, well, we want them in our churches,” Chitwood said.

Nelson said his church, which is not affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention, has police officers in their services. He said he his praying for the victims of violence and those charged with the crimes.

“Every soul is precious to God,” he said. “And it should be to us.”