It’s Bishop Ronald Godbee’s mission to protect and serve his congregation.
The former Detroit police officer has safeguards in place to ensure that his church is safe in the worst-case scenario. He allows certain members of the congregation to carry firearms in the sanctuary, but last month he added an extra layer of protection by hiring an off-duty Durham police officer for every worship service.
“I’d rather be overly prepared than not prepared at all,” said Godbee. “Our faith automatically makes us the enemy to some people and unfortunately, we have to guard against that. I teach leaders across the globe, if you haven’t thought about your possibilities, you aren’t properly prepared.”
This conversation comes as all eyes are on
Houston, Texas, following a shooting inside Joel Osteen’s megachurch
. The shooter opened fire while standing next to her 7-year-old son. She was eventually killed by two off-duty cops.
“Lakewood proves to us that if they had not been prepared, this could have reached a level of atrocity that we couldn’t even imagine,” he said.