The Rev. Brady Boyd believes there is no safer place to be Sunday morning than inside his church. When Boyd takes to the pulpit at New Life Church, in Colorado Springs, Colo., he and the faithful are well protected. The 30-acre grounds are patrolled by uniformed police officers and an armed safety team made up of about 20 people, including Special Forces soldiers from one of four nearby military bases.

One of Boyd’s personal secuirty guards is a 24-year veteran Green Beret. “It’s not like Soviet Russia,” he said. “But you plan for the worst, and pray for the best.” New Life is one of a growing number of churches around the country that embrace armed security to protect the flock as they worship. A disturbing increase in shootings inside churches, including the shooting last Sunday of a pastor in Dayton, Ohio, and the tragic killing of nine last year at a South Carolina church has prompted extreme measures. READ MORE


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