By Victor Ochieng
If you’re a gunman contemplating attacking The River at Tampa Bay Church, go down on your knees and receive salvation. Don’t think about attacking the church because they won’t let you harm any of their members. Yes, that church isn’t a gun free zone as someone might expect; they’re armed and ready to respond with the necessary force to intruders.
The church is known for regularly streaming their services on social media. Following the Texas deadly church shooting in which 26 people lost their lives, a leader from the church caused excitement online after posting a church sign warning against any attempts on the safety of parishioners.
“Welcome to The River at Tampa Bay Church — right of admission reserved — this is private property,” it reads. “Please know this is not a gun free zone — we are heavily armed — any attempt will be dealt with deadly force — yes we are a church and will protect our people.” The message on the sign is signed “The Pastors.”
While someone might think the sign was raised after the Texas shooting, Associate Pastor Allen Hawes said the sign has been up for more than a year now, but only attracted attention after their Senior Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne shared a picture of it on his Instagram page.
About the rest of the church members, we aren’t sure, but Hawes has his own license to carry concealed weapons and he said those armed in the church that normally attracts about 1,000 people in weekly attendance could include many other parishioners with license for concealed-carry weapons, private plainclothes guards, or uniformed security officers hired specifically to guard the church.
“If you think you are going to come here and do that, this is a deterrent for you because it is everywhere, it’s not like we hide these signs,” Hawes said. “They’re big signs, and it’s going to tell these people, we will protect our people.”
Why are they arming themselves to the teeth? According to the associate pastor, they’re doing so in response to the Bible calling for leaders to take good care of those under their authority.
“I believe, if you look at the teachings of Jesus, Matthew, and different places in the scriptures, we see it will get increasingly darker, wars, rumors of wars, and people with not good intentions are going to look for a way to make a statement,” he told FOX 13.
Despite some social media users speaking up against the warning at the church, Hawes defended their decision citing the Texas massacre and the ongoing search for a serial killer who’s believed to be in Tampa neighborhood.
“Would I rather ruffle a few feathers, or do I want to count bodies?” Hawes said.
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