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Below, find this week’s newscast where I go indepth into the stories and intelligence that shaped the week. I’m also including the videos you might have missed during a very busy week.

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TERRORISM AND INTELLIGENCE

Islamic State Is Treating Churches as a Standing Target Set on Three Continents

Indago’s Islamic State assessment for the week ending July 20 identifies attacks on religious sites as a coordinated strategy running across Nigeria, Syria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The assessment states that detained Islamic State members in Syria gave confessions outlining plans to bomb Christian churches and Shia shrines to deepen societal divisions, and that affiliates in West and Central Africa are systematically targeting Christian villages and burning homes alongside military assets. The report places churches on its priority target watchlist for Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Nigeria, and the DRC, citing demonstrated planning and execution capability against Christian places of worship. It also assesses that Islamic State in Syria has shifted away from targeting armed opposition factions and toward religious minority sites in order to maximize sectarian friction in the post-Assad security vacuum.

[Source: Indago Situation Report, Islamic State Weekly Update, 20 July 2026]

🛡️ My thoughts: this is something that I assessed long ago, but it’s nice to see another intelligence organization back it up. Many of you are running missions in these areas. You need to have a plan and you need to have safe houses that you can go to in the event of an emergency. I suggest that you get training in survival, evasion, resistance and escape before you go to one of these countries to help Christians.

ISIS-K Poster Names the US Capitol and Ties the Call to the World Cup

On July 14, the Islamic State Khorasan-linked al-Azaim Media Foundation released a poster depicting the United States Capitol and the Eiffel Tower as targets, carrying the message “Kill Them. Seize Them. Besiege Them” drawn from a Quranic verse. The release was timed to France’s Bastille Day and to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Indago assesses the poster as direct incitement to attack soft targets in the United States and France during high-profile events, and notes Islamic State media has been calling for attacks on World Cup host cities and venues since June 18. The National Counterterrorism Center listed the same poster in its terrorist publications compendium for the week of July 16 through 22. Indago names lone-actor vehicle ramming, knife, and explosives attacks against crowd gatherings as the highest-probability threat vector.

[Source: NCTC Counterterrorism Digest, 16 to 22 July 2026, and Indago Islamic State Weekly Update, citing MEMRI JTTM]

🛡️ My thoughts: this message is inciting lone actors within the United States. We saw that in New York City this week when a man did exactly what ISIS asked them to do. He poured gasoline and used fireworks as an IED to attack a federal building there. What if he decided to go after a church instead of the federal building? Would you be prepared for that? Some church security trainers are saying that I am over stating these threats. Ezekiel 33 tells us to sound the trumpet when we see danger. I am doing that now, and I think those trainers need to change their attitude and do the same. The chances of an attack at your church are very minimal, but it’s not zero. We know it will happen to somebody, I pray that they are prepared.

Federal Data Shows Homegrown Islamic State Supporters Are Staying Home and Planning Here

The NCTC spotlight this week summarizes research from the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center on American Islamic State supporters. The United States has federally charged 272 people with Islamic State-related crimes since 2014. Defendants ranged in age from 17 to 56 with an average age of 27, 83 percent held United States citizenship or permanent legal resident status, and 91 percent were male. Cases per year have been climbing since 2023. Roughly 35 percent of defendants in the post-caliphate period attempted to travel overseas, and no traveler has successfully reached a destination since 2019. The spotlight highlights the January 2026 indictment of Christian Sturdivant, 18, arrested in December 2025 after authorities determined he allegedly planned to use knives and hammers in a New Year’s Eve attack on a grocery store and a fast-food restaurant in North Carolina.

[Source: NCTC Counterterrorism Digest, 16 to 22 July 2026, citing NCITE and the US Department of Justice]

🛡️ My thoughts: you should see a theme here. The danger to our church and synagogues is growing. Look at the information they put out and use that to help you in your threat assessments in your situational awareness while you’re working.

Seven Federal Agencies Updated a Warning That Iranian Cyber Actors Are Inside US Utility Controls

The FBI, CISA, NSA, EPA, Department of Energy, US Cyber Command, and Treasury updated a joint cybersecurity advisory on July 22 covering Iranian-affiliated cyber actors exploiting internet-connected programmable logic controllers across United States critical infrastructure. The advisory names Government Services and Facilities, including local municipalities, Water and Wastewater Systems, and Energy as affected sectors. Investigators found that after the actors extracted device project files, they modified and deleted program logic and manipulated the data shown on operator displays, and that the changes disabled shutdown and alarm logic so systems could enter unsafe conditions without alerting operators. The July 22 update expanded the manufacturer scope beyond Rockwell Automation to include Schneider Electric and Siemens controllers. The agencies state the targeting escalated in response to hostilities between Iran and the United States and Israel.

[Source: Joint Cybersecurity Advisory AA26-097A, updated 22 July 2026]

🛡️ My thoughts: you should be very concerned about this report. It is a signal that they can shut off our power and water. Are you prepared for this? What if your region suddenly has no electricity? Our societal contract will start breaking down. Food and water shortages will occur. Access to medicine and health will be declined. I suggest you have 90 days of food and water on hand in a team of people that know how to survive. The government has been warning us and we should be listening and not dismissing it. The Bible tells us this is coming. Be a good steward to your people.

Three European Cases This Month Involve Minors Building Devices and Selecting Religious Targets

Munich prosecutors charged a 15-year-old Islamic State sympathizer from Augsburg, Germany with plotting a terrorist attack on a synagogue and with illegal handling of explosives, and stated the teen had obtained a large quantity of explosive material. In October 2025 that same teen detonated a homemade device that blew off two of his fingers and injured an associate. In Italy, the Polizia di Stato announced on July 17 the arrest of a 17-year-old Italian girl in Pavia for participation in an association with the purpose of international terrorism, after a search of her home recovered detailed instructions for making an explosive belt along with conversations with presumed Islamic State associates. In the United Kingdom, Kingston Crown Court convicted 16-year-old Yusuf Shah on July 15 of collecting terrorist materials and providing instruction in the preparation of acts of terrorism, with authorities stating he had expressed support for al-Qa’ida and the Pakistani Taliban on social media beginning at age 13.

[Source: NCTC Counterterrorism Digest, 16 to 22 July 2026, citing the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office, Polizia di Stato, and the UK Metropolitan Police]

Islamic State Fighters Hit a Girls’ School at 1:30 in the Morning With Inside Help

On July 19, Islamic State West Africa Province fighters attempted a mass abduction of students at the Federal Government Girls College in Monguno, Borno State, Nigeria. The assault came at roughly 1:30 a.m. against a facility being used as a hostel. Nigerian troops foiled the attack and rescued 46 students, though reporting states some were fatally struck during the firefight. Indago assesses the operation involved suspected collaborator assistance and signals intent to run complex, multi-element operations against soft civilian infrastructure. Nigerian forces separately arrested a suspected Moroccan Islamic State operative embedded with ISWAP on July 14 following a failed attack at Cross Kauwa, and Operation Hadin Kai troops arrested a woman at a Borno checkpoint on July 13 who had concealed 17 flashlights and 19 batteries inside her clothing intended for Boko Haram and ISWAP.

[Source: Indago Islamic State Weekly Update, citing Channels Television, and NCTC Counterterrorism Digest, citing The Sun Nigeria]

The Islamic State’s Own Weekly Ledger Counts Christians as Two Thirds of Its Victims

Issue 556 of the Islamic State’s Arabic weekly newspaper al-Naba, dated 2 Safar 1448 and covering roughly July 9 through July 15, opens with a full-page infographic tallying the group’s claimed results. It claims 21 operations and more than 34 killed and wounded for the week. It sorts those casualties into three categories of its own choosing: 23 it labels Crusaders, a term it applies both to Christians and to the armies of Christian-majority governments, 10 it labels infidels and apostates, and 1 it labels Shia. It also claims 3 officers killed, 12 vehicles burned or disabled, and 4 military positions burned. Operations break down as 13 in West Africa, 5 in Central Africa, 2 in Mozambique, and 1 in Iraq, with casualties concentrated at 19 in Central Africa and 13 in West Africa. By the organization’s own bookkeeping, Christians account for roughly two thirds of everyone it claims to have killed or wounded that week.

[Source: al-Naba issue 556, page 2 infographic, translated from Arabic]

Islamic State Named the Christian Villages It Raided and Described Cutting Captives’ Throats

Al-Naba 556 details raids on named Christian villages across two continents. In Borno State, Nigeria, fighters raided the village of Kautama on a Thursday, burned a vehicle and a number of homes, and took a motorcycle and other property. In Adamawa State they raided the village of Sura on a Monday, killed two Christians, and burned a vehicle, a motorcycle, and 10 homes. West Africa totals for the week include 3 Christians killed and 15 homes burned. The group separately states that on a Wednesday it shot and killed a member of a Christian organization after having captured him earlier on the road between Gubio and Kareto in Borno. In eastern Congo, fighters captured 5 Christians from around Beni village and killed them by cutting their throats, and the same day raided the Christian village of Mangina, killing at least 4 more and burning a home. That Mangina raid converts to July 14, the same date and the same village where Open Doors reported 6 killed including a church elder and a worship leader, covered in the International section below. Throughout, the publication calls these civilians “the fighting Christians,” which is the wording the organization uses to reclassify noncombatants as legitimate targets.

[Source: al-Naba issue 556, pages 4 and 5, translated from Arabic]

The Islamic State Published a Full Page on the Religious Merit of Standing Guard

The back page of al-Naba 556 is an infographic devoted to the virtue of sentry duty, assembled entirely from classical hadith and scholarly commentary. It compiles narrations holding that a night spent on watch outweighs a month of fasting and night prayer, that the eye which keeps watch will not be touched by fire, that a guard standing post in a land of fear is better than the Night of Decree, and that a man who guards other people in a place where the enemy is feared earns the standing of one stationed at the frontier. The page carries no operational content and makes no claims of attacks. It exists to make guard duty feel spiritually valuable to the people performing it.

[Source: al-Naba issue 556, page 8 infographic, translated from Arabic]

🛡️ My thoughts: That is dedication. Are you dedicated to protecting your church? We need to be more dedicated to our mission than the enemy.

VIOLENT CRIME

Five Shot Outside Detroit Church During Funeral — Detroit, Michigan

Five people were shot outside Greater Love Tabernacle Church on Plymouth Road on Detroit’s west side on Friday, July 17, 2026. Police Chief Todd Bettison said a physical fight broke out at about 5:48 p.m. during a funeral at the church, and one man involved in the fight produced a handgun and fired into the crowd. Officers were already posted in the area because Detroit police had received information about threats of violence tied to a separate visitation at the O.H. Pye III Funeral Home across the street. An officer who responded to the fight witnessed the shooting and returned fire, striking the shooter. Four victims and the suspected shooter were struck in the lower extremities, all were expected to survive, and the suspect was taken into custody.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: Watch the video above for my thoughts.

Gunfire Interrupts Funeral at Little Rock Church, Two Charged — Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock police responded to a shots fired call at Fellowship Christian Church, 8923 Sunset Lane, at about 2:10 p.m. on Saturday, July 18, 2026, during the funeral of 18-year-old Dillan Cheeter. Detectives already near the scene heard the gunshots and saw a vehicle leave northbound toward Baseline Road. Officers followed and stopped the vehicle, which carried 21-year-old Maddison Jackson and an unidentified minor. Jackson was charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm, unauthorized use of another person’s property, furnishing a handgun to a minor, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and the minor was charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm and possession of a handgun by a minor. No one inside the church was injured, though mourners jumped over pews and ran for the doors, and the building was held as a crime scene. Cheeter had been fatally shot on July 5 in the 5100 block of Asher Avenue.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: Are you seeing the potential threats that funerals can have at your church? What are you proactively doing to protect your church during funerals? You need to determine how the person died, do they have family conflicts? If the dead is a gang member or criminal, expect rivals to come to take out friends that will show up.

Man Found Dead Behind Frayser Church, Death Investigated as Homicide — Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis police responded to a call just after 4 p.m. on Monday, July 20, 2026, in the 3700 block of North Watkins Street in the Frayser neighborhood, near Pursuit of God Church. Officers found a man behind the church, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said the call came in as a report of a suspicious person. Investigators have not said how the man died, and the department is working the case as a homicide. No suspect has been named, and anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-CASH.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: We don’t know how he died. What we do know: people that are fleeing danger often go to a church to seek refuge. We see this almost every week here. A 4k video system helps with security by having active monitoring AND it helps document crimes on the property and helps law enforcement find out what happened and who the perpetrators are.

Man in Crisis Detained Outside Catholic Church — Laredo, Texas

Laredo police responded to a call outside St. John Neumann Catholic Church at 102 West Hillside Road on Sunday, July 19, 2026. Officers said the call involved a man in crisis outside the church. Police detained the man and found no weapons. Authorities said the entire incident took place outside the building and that nothing occurred inside the church. The scene was cleared, and police have not released additional details.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: Not really a violent crime, but I’m putting it in here so you understand people in crisis come to the church for help. I see it at my church a couple of times a year. We need to help them. Sometimes we can’t and we need to call the police to help them. Just have a plan and keep this in your scenario line up.

Man Charged With Terror Threats Against Willow Creek Community Church — South Barrington, Illinois

Ryan Kang, 26, of Vernon Hills, Illinois, was charged with two counts of terrorism by false threat, a Class 1 felony, after police say he posted threats of violence on social media. The Vernon Hills Police Department opened the investigation after multiple people, including members of Kang’s own family, reported the posts. Deputy Police Chief Shannon Holubetz said the threats referenced school shootings, bombings, and acts of interpersonal violence, and were directed at Vernon Hills High School, Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, and several out-of-state residents. Police said Kang admitted to authoring the posts and that investigators determined he did not have the means or ability to carry out an attack. Kang was arrested on Saturday, July 18, 2026, and the department announced the charges on Tuesday, July 21. Willow Creek leadership said South Barrington police notified the church on Saturday and that there was no risk to Sunday services or other scheduled events.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: take these threats seriously! If somebody says that they’re going to do something to you, take it as a real threat. That means you have to respond to it in an appropriate way. Do not dismiss it and tell yourself that the person never really would do something. They absolutely would! That’s why they said it. If you dismiss that you are putting your people at risk.

SEX CRIMES

Church and School Leaders Charged in Pawleys Island Sex Offender Case — Pawleys Island, South Carolina

Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver announced criminal charges on Monday, July 20, 2026, against former Pawleys Island Community Church pastor Don Williams, his wife and church guest services director Ginny Williams, and Pawleys Island Christian Academy director Jennifer “Niki” Howard, and re-arrested Warren Perry, the registered sex offender whose probation violation arrest opened the case. Don Williams and Howard are charged with obstruction of justice, unlawfully placing a child at risk, and criminal conspiracy, and Ginny Williams and Perry are charged with obstruction of justice and criminal conspiracy. Weaver said Perry had worked at the church since roughly 2020 and was serving as a custodian seven days a week at the academy, which enrolls children from six weeks old through kindergarten. Investigators obtained sworn statements, search warrants, and photographs placing Perry in close proximity to children, and Weaver played video at the press conference of Don Williams telling a deputy that Perry had never been around minors. All three church and school leaders resigned on July 17, Perry was denied bond on July 21, Howard was granted bonds totaling $75,000, and four lawsuits have since been filed against the church and the academy.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: I really need to do a more in-depth article and video on this incident. What this church leadership did is more common than you think. There’s nothing in the Bible that tells you to hide any crime. To do so is unconscionable. If you find out, there was a sexual assault involving your church, your first call is to 911. Do that before you notify anybody at the church. Will they be upset with you for calling before telling them? Sure! But you’re protecting everybody by not giving them a chance to cover up the crime.

Pastor Held on $17.5 Million Bail in Child Sexual Abuse Case — Monterey County, California

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office arrested Emmanuel Marchica, 51, of Hollister, California, on Friday, July 10, 2026, and released details of the case publicly the following week. Deputies said the investigation began July 5 after a report of ongoing sexual abuse of a child, and detectives identified several additional victims through witness interviews before serving multiple search warrants. Marchica was booked on felony counts including lewd or lascivious acts with a child, sexual penetration of a child, oral copulation of a child, and annoying or molesting a child. The sheriff’s office said Marchica was serving as a pastor and holding regular religious services at a community gathering center in the Hidden Valley community of San Benito County, and that he previously owned bakeries in Prunedale and Monterey and gyms in Sand City, Seaside, and Prunedale where he offered physical therapy and massage therapy and worked as a jiu-jitsu instructor. Investigators said one victim was allegedly molested during one of those therapy sessions, that victim disclosures date back to 2012, and that they believe additional victims exist. Bail was set at $17.5 million.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: more than likely, there will be more victims. If this person served at your church, you should start searching for victims and help them get justice.

Christian Preschool Employee Charged With Soliciting a Minor — Easley, South Carolina

The Easley Police Department arrested Heather Nichole Hill on Friday, July 17, 2026, on one count of criminal solicitation of a minor and eight counts of disseminating obscene material to a person under 18. Police confirmed Hill was employed at Siloam Christian Preschool on Siloam Road in Easley, South Carolina. A judge set bond at $10,000 on each charge, and jail records show she was released Sunday on a surety bond. The preschool said in a statement that its leadership team and church officials met Sunday afternoon and terminated her employment, and that the preschool and church contacted the Easley Police Department and pledged full cooperation. Police said the investigation is active.

Source

Pastor’s Wife and Son Charged in Abuse of 14-Year-Old Living in Their Home — Poplarville, Mississippi

The Pearl River County Sheriff’s Office arrested Dawson James Brown, 27, and his mother Sabrina Brown, 54, on Friday, July 17, 2026. Investigators confirmed Sabrina Brown is the wife of a pastor at New Heights/College Heights Baptist Church in Poplarville, Mississippi, that Dawson Brown is their son, and that the victim was living with the Brown family at the time of the alleged offenses. The investigation began on or about June 30 after a referral from the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services following an anonymous report that the girl was pregnant, and investigators estimate she became pregnant in October or November 2025, when she was 13. Dawson Brown is charged with one count of statutory rape, two counts of sexual battery, and one count of human trafficking, and Sabrina Brown is charged with conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence, attempted tampering with physical evidence, and felony child neglect. Court documents allege Sabrina Brown instructed the girl on fabricating and submitting a false DNA document to investigators. The girl’s mother, Kendrell Bowden, 32, was arrested Tuesday, July 21, and the sheriff’s office said the investigation remains active and additional arrests are possible.

Source

ARSON AND SUSPICIOUS FIRES

Dennysville Church Fire Ruled Arson — Dennysville, Maine

A fire at the Dennysville Edmunds Congregational Church at 17 King Street was reported shortly before 8 a.m. on Monday, July 20, 2026. The Maine Office of State Fire Marshal said the fire started outside near the rear of the building, and the Dennysville Fire Department knocked it down fast enough to hold the damage primarily to the exterior. A passerby saw the smoke and called 911. No one was inside the church at the time, and no injuries were reported. On Tuesday, July 21, the fire marshal’s office determined the fire was intentionally set and classified it as arson, and investigators have not publicly identified a suspect. Anyone who saw activity near King Street before 8 a.m. Monday is asked to call the fire marshal’s office at 207-973-3700.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

INTERNATIONAL

Woman Stabbed During Rosary Before Mass, Man Charged — Tramore, Ireland

A woman in her 50s was stabbed inside Holy Cross Church in Summerhill, Tramore, County Waterford, at about 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Parish priest Fr Richard O’Halloran said the rosary was being recited ahead of 10 a.m. Mass with roughly 50 to 60 people present, and the woman was in the main body of the church when she was attacked. She received a single knife wound and was taken to University Hospital Waterford with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Gardaí arrested a man at a nearby house and seized a knife for technical examination. Niall Cummins, 36, of the Willows, Clarinwood, Tramore, appeared at Waterford District Court on Wednesday, July 22, charged with Section 3 assault causing harm and with possession of a knife at the church, and the court heard he made no reply after arrest and caution. The Diocese of Waterford and Lismore commended the parishioners who assisted the victim.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

Suspected Boko Haram Fighters Abduct Pastor’s Wife and Three Children — Borno State, Nigeria

Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram or Islamic State West Africa Province fighters stopped a commercial vehicle near Kareto village in Mobbar Local Government Area, Borno State, at about noon on Saturday, July 18, 2026. Community sources said the attackers ordered the wife of Rev. Moses G. Guguma and her three children off the vehicle, allowed the driver and remaining passengers to continue, and moved into the bush with the captives. Guguma leads a Church of Christ in Nations congregation in Damasak, about 156 kilometers north of Maiduguri along the road the family was traveling. Sources said the pastor’s wife had recently been discharged from a hospital in Maiduguri after a prolonged illness before making the trip. Damasak has been repeatedly attacked and occupied by Boko Haram and ISWAP in recent years, security agencies had issued no official statement at the time of reporting, and the family’s whereabouts remain unknown.

Source

Plateau Pastor Reports Death Threat Letter — Plateau State, Nigeria

Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, regional chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations for Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, said in a statement posted to his X account on Friday, July 17, 2026, that he and members of his church received a letter threatening to kill them. Dachomo said the letter was written in both Hausa and English, warned that he would soon be attacked and killed, and that copies had been handed to heads of security agencies in Plateau State. He tied the threat to the July 11 attack on the Kum and Wereng-Camp communities in Riyom Local Government Area, in which nine members of a single family, including a two-month-old infant, were killed. Punch reported that it could not independently verify Dachomo’s claim that those victims were his relatives. Dachomo has been a prominent public advocate for victims of attacks on Christian communities in Plateau State.

Source

Church Elder and Worship Leader Among 20 Killed in Three Attacks — Beni Territory, Democratic Republic of Congo

Open Doors reported that three attacks in Beni Territory, North Kivu Province, between July 12 and July 16, 2026, left more than 20 people dead. An Open Doors field contact confirmed an attack on the rural commune of Mangina on July 14 in which six people were killed, including a church elder and a worship leader, six more were injured, one person is missing, and two houses were burned. News outlets reported that Allied Democratic Forces fighters attacked an area west of the city of Beni on July 12, killing seven civilians and three Congolese Armed Forces soldiers, and that 10 more people died in a separate attack at Mangina on July 16. Open Doors said movement restrictions tied to an Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC are making information difficult to verify. The ADF is an Islamist group with ties to the Islamic State and has targeted Christian communities in North Kivu and Ituri with massacres, kidnappings, and the destruction of churches.

Source

Cross-reference: the Islamic State claimed the July 14 Mangina raid in al-Naba issue 556, describing the village as Christian and stating its fighters killed at least 4 there and burned a home. See the Terrorism and Intelligence section above.

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Copyright © 2026 Keith Graves. All rights reserved.

Report Suspicious Activity Here

Why I Am Saying This

I live in a neighborhood where I am one of the only evangelicals on the street. Almost every one of my neighbors is a Latter-day Saint, and I love every one of them. That is the reason I am writing this, not the reason I am staying quiet about it.

I am not writing a theological piece. That is a different article and a different day. The people sitting in those meetinghouses on Sunday morning are made in the image of God, and Scripture tells me to protect the innocent. That is the entire basis for what follows. If you came here looking for me to take a position on doctrine, you are going to be disappointed.

Here is what I am saying, and I am putting it in writing so it exists on the record. If the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not change how it protects the people in its buildings, more of its members are going to be killed. Not because their people do not care. I have talked to plenty of Latter-day Saints who are deeply worried about this and have been told to stand down. The failure is institutional, it sits at the top, and the people who pay for it will be sitting in the pews.

I am saving this. When it happens again, I am going to publish it again with the date attached.

The Record

The argument I hear most often from large denominations is that an attack on their buildings is unlikely. Let us look at what has already happened on Latter-day Saint property, because history is the best predictor available.

On April 15, 1999, a 70-year-old man walked into the lobby of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and opened fire. He killed a patron and he killed a Church Security officer who had served the church for 28 years. 5 more people were wounded. From the first shots until police put him down, it took roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes. Their own security man died, and it still took nearly 2 hours to end it.

On August 29, 2010, a 47-year-old former member drove more than 130 miles to a meetinghouse in Visalia, California. He walked in between meetings, asked to speak to a church leader, and was pointed toward the bishop’s office. He sat and waited outside that door. When Bishop Clay Sannar opened it, he shot and killed him. About 30 people were in the building. A stranger walked in, asked for a leader by title, and was escorted to him.

On July 22, 2018, a 48-year-old member of the ward in Fallon, Nevada walked into sacrament meeting after the sacrament had been passed, produced a 9mm handgun, and shot 2 men in front of the congregation. Charles Miller, 61, a longtime volunteer firefighter, was killed. Miller’s brother was wounded. The shooter walked out of the chapel, walked home a block away, and surrendered. That was an insider. He had been sitting in the pews.

On July 23, 2019, a gunman fired at a group of people in a meetinghouse parking lot in St. George, Utah. On August 3, 2020, shots were fired at the Missionary Training Center in Provo. On December 4, 2021, a missionary was shot 5 times inside a meetinghouse in Birmingham, Alabama. On March 27, 2024, at least 3 people threw an explosive device into an occupied meetinghouse in Henderson, Nevada, injuring 4 people inside.

On September 28, 2025, a 40-year-old Marine veteran rammed a pickup truck through the front wall of the chapel in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, exited with an AK-style rifle, and opened fire on the congregation. He poured gasoline and set the building on fire. Investigators recovered improvised explosive devices. 4 church members were killed, 2 by gunfire and 2 in the fire that followed. 8 more were wounded, ranging in age from 6 to 78. The building was a total loss.

Here is the part of Grand Blanc I want to sit with you, and it is the reason I keep going back to that case. When I debriefed the attack, I confirmed that an officer was on scene within 30 seconds of the first shot fired. Police killed the attacker 8 minutes after the first 911 call. 4 people still died anyway. I have never seen a response time on an active shooter event like the one those officers put up, and I do not believe that officer was standing there by accident. It still was not enough, and it never is, because the killing happens in the first seconds and the police are always arriving into something that has already started. That is the whole argument for having a trained person already inside the room before anybody dials 911.

On December 8, 2025, meetinghouse windows were shot out in Idaho Falls, Idaho. On January 7, 2026, 8 people were shot outside the Rose Park 5th Ward meetinghouse on Redwood Road in Salt Lake City while a memorial service was going on inside. 2 men were killed, ages 38 and 46. One of them left 11 children behind, the youngest 5 months old.

That shooting was Tongan Crip Gang. I worked gangs as a sergeant for years, and I did not need a case file to tell me what I was looking at. The clothing in the footage said it before any paperwork did. The federal government has since said the same thing. On February 25, 2026, a grand jury indicted 2 alleged Tongan Crip Gang members, Ryan Toutai and Fineeva Maka, on firearms charges connected to the shooting, and the United States Attorney for the District of Utah announced it in those exact terms. Arrest documents note that one of them attended that memorial service dressed in gang colors and attire. As of the last reporting I have seen, no homicide charges have been filed against anyone.

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That attack was not a hate crime and it was not religiously motivated. It was street violence that walked onto church property because nobody was watching the parking lot, and it should terrify every church security team in America for exactly that reason. You do not have to be a target to bury people.

And then this past Sunday, July 19, 2026, a man dressed head to toe in black on a 100 degree day walked into a Utah meetinghouse during services, sat down in the west lobby, pulled out a revolver, and rested his hand on it. He got that far before anyone spoke to him. The revolver turned out to be unloaded, which nobody in the building knew at the time. The nursery, down the same hallway, found out an armed man was in the building when a father sprinted to the door and pulled the children out himself. I wrote that one up here.

That is a minimum of 9 firearms incidents on Latter-day Saint property in 30 years, plus an explosive attack, plus a mass knife attack that injured 5 in Goiania, Brazil, plus the armed robbery of 70 missionaries at a zone conference in Torreon, Mexico, plus an arson campaign that has burned meetinghouses in more than a dozen states. 10 people have been killed by gunfire on their property in that window, not counting the attackers.

A group with that record cannot describe itself as unlikely to be targeted.

The Fix List

Here is exactly what I would do if I were in charge, starting Monday morning. It runs from cheapest and fastest to hardest.

Sanitize the Public Footprint

The active shooter response procedure is published on their own public website. The meetinghouse security training video sent to members sits on a public resource page. The Global Security Operations Center contact information is in a PDF on a public asset server. And the handbook publicly announces that nobody inside the building is armed.

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That last one is not a policy statement to the membership. It is an advertisement to an attacker. The man planning to kill people in that building will read the response procedure, watch the training video, and build his plan around defeating exactly what he knows the congregation has been taught to do.

Pull all of it. Move the operational material behind a login restricted to the people who are actually going to teach it. Keep public what should stay public: how to contact the church, the Scripture, the gospel, the things that lead people to Jesus. Everything operational comes down.

I already know the objection, because I have heard it from Latter-day Saints and from every large denomination with a global footprint. We are a worldwide organization and conditions vary by country. That is true, and it is also beside the point. People are not being murdered in meetinghouses in most of the world. They are being murdered in them here. Regionalize the material. Plenty of worldwide religious bodies manage to do this without publishing their playbook.

Amend the Firearms Prohibition

The current General Handbook language, still standing in the 2026 edition, prohibits firearms and other lethal weapons on church property, concealed included, with the single exception of current law enforcement officers.

That bans retired police officers. It bans combat veterans. It bans every trained permit holder sitting in the pews on Sunday.

Here is what that policy actually accomplishes. The Utah witness from July 19 said on camera that he normally carries at church despite the prohibition, and that Sunday was one of the rare days he did not. The policy did not disarm him on any other Sunday. It disarmed him on the day a man walked into his building with a revolver. Prohibitions do not remove guns from a congregation. They remove them from the people who follow rules, and they leave leadership with no idea who is armed on any given Sunday.

If your congregants can lawfully carry, do not prohibit it. Mandate instead. Anyone carrying in the building attends church training first so they understand their role in an event, and they come back every year. Add a qualification if you want one. Most of the people I know would welcome it.

Build the Academy and Train the Trainers

Stand up a regional training center that certifies instructors who do nothing but teach security tactics to ward level teams. Global security trains the regional instructors. The regional instructors train the wards.

The org chart already exists. Stake, region, area. No other church body in America is better positioned to scale a security program than this one, and that is not flattery, it is a fact about the structure. The structure is excellent. It is simply not being pointed at this problem.

Put a Team in Every Ward

Not at the stake level. Not regionally. Every single building.

I cannot tell you how many people a given building needs without walking it, and neither can anyone else. Anybody who hands you a number without a site visit is guessing.

Set a selection standard: background check, clean history, and a proven track record of stepping toward a problem rather than away from it. If a ward has candidates with the right character but no relevant background, that is trainable. They do not have to be armed. It would be better if some of them were.

Train for Both Threats

Active shooter is the threat everyone thinks about. It is not the one most likely to hurt your children.

A child in your building is far more likely to be harmed by a predator who has been coming to church for months than by a stranger with a rifle. The same team trains for both, in the same cycle. They learn to recognize grooming behavior and policy violations with the same seriousness they bring to a man in the parking lot.

Four Hours a Month, Minimum

Not annually. Not in the two weeks after something is on the news and then never again.

4 hours a month, every month. If you want to know what to train on, go to christianwarriortraining.com. The annual training matrix is free and it lays out exactly what to cover and when. So is everything else on the training tab.

Cameras That Actually Work

Full perimeter and interior coverage. 4K, good enough to read a plate in the lot and see a face through a windshield. Someone actively monitoring the feed rather than a box in a closet recording to a drive nobody has checked since installation. Retain the footage a minimum of 1 year, which also protects the church when an accusation surfaces months later.

Own the Parking Lot

Go back through the record above and count how much of it happened outside the doors. January 7 in Salt Lake City was entirely in the lot. Grand Blanc came through the front wall in a truck. Visalia walked through the front door. St. George was in the parking lot. In the incident data I track, roughly 75% of violent crime at churches happens outside the building.

The lot is where this gets won or lost. Coverage starts outside, not in the foyer.

While you are working on that, understand that not every service on your calendar carries the same risk. Funerals and memorial services are the highest risk events most churches host, and almost nobody staffs them that way. When the deceased had gang ties, or the family does, everyone with a grievance knows exactly where those people will be standing and exactly what time to find them. Salt Lake City in January is the case study. That crowd was assembled and advertised, and the shooting happened in the lot while the service went on inside. If a family asks to hold a service at your building, ask questions before you say yes, and put your people outside for that one.

Screen the Walk-In

Visalia is the case study and it should be required reading for every bishop. A man nobody knew asked for a church leader and was walked toward a closed office door.

Nobody meets a stranger alone behind a closed door. Ever. That protects the bishop physically and it protects him from accusations, which is the far more common risk.

I teach a free course on contacting suspicious persons and suspicious vehicles, and it covers the meet and greet interruption. You close the distance, you get eyes on the person, and you break their decision cycle with something simple and human. You meet him with the heart of Christ and you stay prepared for the other outcome.

Plan for the Insider

Fallon was a member of the ward. He was in the room before he was a threat. Salt Lake City in January came out of a dispute between people attending a service.

A team trained only to watch the door will miss both. They have to be trained to watch the congregation.

What Every Other Church Should Take From This

I did not write this to put a denomination on trial. I wrote it because most of these failures are not unique to them, and the ones reading this from a Baptist, non-denominational, or Catholic parish should stop feeling comfortable.

Go look at your own website tonight. How much of your emergency plan is posted publicly? Your service times, your staff directory with photos, your floor plan for the building campaign, your children’s check-in procedure. An attacker builds a target package out of exactly that material, and most churches hand it to him for free.

Then look at your carry policy. If you have a no-weapons sign on the door and no security team behind it, you have chosen the worst configuration available. You have disarmed the law-abiding and deterred nobody. Either build the program or stop pretending the sign is one.

Then walk your parking lot on a Sunday morning and count how many sets of eyes are actually assigned to it. In most churches the honest answer is zero.

And ask yourself the harder question. When something goes wrong at your church, does the institution get louder or quieter? Every organization in this space, mine included, has a temptation to manage the story instead of fixing the gap. A congregation that gets quiet after an incident is a congregation that will have the same incident again.

Biblical Perspective

I want to speak as a brother for a moment rather than as a security instructor.

In Ezekiel 33, God sets a watchman on the wall and gives him one job. He sees the sword coming, and he blows the trumpet.

“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.” (Ezekiel 33:6, ESV)

That is not advice. That is God assigning responsibility, and notice where He assigns it. Not to the man carrying the sword. To the watchman who saw it coming and said nothing.

So understand what this article is. I am blowing the trumpet. I have watched this sword come down on churches for years and I am telling the Latter-day Saints plainly that it is coming back around. If I stayed quiet because I did not want my neighbors angry with me, or because I did not want a comment section full of people calling me anti-Mormon, that silence would be on my hands.

Now go to Nehemiah, who was rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem while men were coming to kill his workers. He did not tell them to pray harder and hope for the best.

“And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.” (Nehemiah 4:9, ESV)

He prayed and he set a guard. Both, in the same breath, in the same sentence.

Then read what he actually did with that guard. He identified the low places and the open spots in the wall, the gaps where an enemy would come through, and he stationed people there by family with swords, spears, and bows. The men hauling material carried a load in one hand and a weapon in the other. The men laying stone worked with a sword strapped to their side. Nehemiah kept the man with the trumpet standing beside him so the alarm could go out the instant anything moved. In today’s terms that is a pistol on the hip, a rifle in the closet, and a radio on every member of the team. Then he stood in front of all of them and told them to stop being afraid, to remember the Lord, and to fight for their brothers, their sons, their daughters, their wives, and their homes.

Here is where that lands. Nehemiah was doing the holiest work happening in Israel at that moment. He was rebuilding the city of God, and he armed the workers. Nobody in Scripture told him that weapons had no place on holy ground. God did not rebuke him for it. God gave him the wall in 52 days.

So when someone tells you that a building set apart for worship is a place where you leave the ability to protect people at the door, understand that this is a preference and not a biblical position. Nehemiah is the biblical position. Pray and set a guard.

Solomon said it shorter than I can in Proverbs 22:3. The prudent man sees the danger coming and takes cover. The simple man walks past it and pays for it. There is no third category in that verse, no righteous option where you see it coming, do nothing, and God honors you for the passivity.

Grand Blanc was not a warning. Grand Blanc was the event. Salt Lake City in January was the confirmation. Michigan, Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho, Alabama. The sword has been seen.

Final Assessment

The question in front of Latter-day Saint leadership is not whether the threat is real. That question was answered on September 28, 2025, and answered again on January 7, 2026, and underlined this past Sunday by a man with a revolver in a lobby who simply chose not to load it.

The only question left is whether the men holding the watch are going to blow the trumpet or account for the silence.

Most of what I have laid out here costs almost nothing. Pulling the operational material off a public server costs nothing. Putting trained eyes on a door costs nothing. Amending a handbook paragraph costs nothing. Meeting with the people who are already carrying in the building costs a calendar invite. The expensive items, the academy and the cameras, are within reach of an institution with this structure and these resources.

If you are a Latter-day Saint reading this, take it to your bishop. Take it to your stake president. Send it to Church Security in Salt Lake. Make somebody sit down and read it, and then make them answer for it. If you are going to cause a stir inside your organization over something, this is the hill worth taking.

And if you are reading this from any other church in America, do not walk away from it feeling superior. Most of you have the same holes. They just have not been tested yet.

Join the Conversation

I want constructive conversation in the comments and nothing else. To the Christians reading this, do not use that space to attack Latter-day Saints. They are made in the image of God, there will be another time and place for that discussion, and this is not it. To the Latter-day Saints reading this, come in with an open mind and skip the excuses. Tell me what you think can be changed inside your structure and where the real obstacles sit, because I am not the one with all the answers here. The Lord is.

If you serve on a church security team anywhere, tell me how your congregation handles lawful carriers and whether anybody is assigned to your parking lot. Send this to your pastor or your team leader today. And if this work helps your team, consider a paid subscription. It keeps the training free for the churches that cannot afford it.

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Copyright © 2026 Keith Graves. All rights reserved.

Report Suspicious Activity Here

What Happened

On Sunday, July 19, 2026, a man entered a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse in Utah during Sunday services. According to an eyewitness account published on YouTube by a member who was in the building with his wife, mother, and 2 young children, the man was dressed entirely in black on a day when temperatures reached 100 degrees. He walked into the west lobby, sat down, pulled out a revolver, set it beside him, and rested his hand on it. He did not yell. He did not make verbal threats. He sat there with the gun displayed where anyone walking through the lobby could see it.

A member spotted him and did something worth noting. He walked over and started a conversation. That bought time. While the two talked, word reached the bishop and someone called the police. According to the witness, the man claimed he had attended that ward 20 years earlier. Leadership then moved through the building room by room, quietly telling each class to have a prayer and exit through the east side, away from the lobby. The stated reason for the calm approach was to avoid triggering the man into action.

Here is the moment that should stop every church security team leader reading this. The witness had a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old in the nursery, located down the same hallway as the gunman. When the evacuation order reached his Sunday school class, he ran to the nursery and found that nobody had told them anything. The workers and children were sitting there with no idea an armed man was in the building. He was the one who opened the door and got them out, and to do it he had to move toward the threat.

Police arrived, entered with guns drawn, and arrested the man without a shot fired. The revolver was reportedly unloaded, though nobody inside the building knew that while it was happening. There were no injuries. As of this writing, I can find no news coverage of this incident from any outlet. The witness said the same thing in his video. Everything above comes from one man’s firsthand account, and I am presenting it as exactly that.

This was not the first armed incident at an LDS meetinghouse in the last year. On September 28, 2025, a gunman attacked the meetinghouse in Grand Blanc, Michigan, killing 4 people and burning the building. On January 7, 2026, a fight at a funeral outside the Rose Park meetinghouse in Salt Lake City turned into a gunfight that killed 2 people and wounded 6, with 2 alleged gang members later indicted federally. I covered both. The witness in Sunday’s incident said his first thought when he heard there was a man with a gun in the building was Michigan. Three incidents in 10 months, and the institutional security posture has not moved.

Lessons for Church Security Teams

The Door Is Where This Ends or Begins

A man dressed head to toe in black on a 100 degree day walked through the front door of a church building and made it to the lobby with a revolver before anyone engaged him. That is an access control failure, and it is the same failure I write about after almost every one of these incidents. There was no greeter at the door. There was no one assigned to watch who comes in. Clothing wildly wrong for the weather is one of the most basic pre-attack indicators there is, because it conceals weapons and it signals a man who is not there for worship. A trained greeter sees that from 50 feet away and makes contact before the man is inside among the congregation. The member who eventually walked up and talked to him did exactly the right thing, and he deserves credit for it. The problem is that it happened by accident, after the man was already seated inside with a gun out, instead of by assignment, at the door, before he crossed the threshold.

Prohibiting Lawful Carry Does Not Produce an Unarmed Congregation

The LDS Church prohibits firearms in its meetinghouses. The witness in this video is a concealed carrier who admits on camera that he normally carries at church anyway, and that Sunday was one of the rare days he did not. Think about what that tells you. The policy did not disarm him on any other Sunday. It disarmed him on the day a man walked in with a revolver. This is what firearm prohibitions actually accomplish inside a congregation. The people who ignore the rule still carry, the people who follow the rule are defenseless, and the church has no idea who is armed on any given Sunday. If that man’s revolver had been loaded and he had stood up shooting, the response would have come from an unknown number of unvetted, uncoordinated carriers who have never spoken to each other, never trained together, and have no plan. Some of you reading this attend churches with the same policy. Your leadership needs to hear this case.

If People Are Carrying Anyway, Organize Them

Allowing lawful carry is step 1. Step 2 is the part almost nobody does. Your church needs to know who its concealed carriers are, and it needs to meet with them regularly to establish what they will do in an active shooter event. The doctrine I teach is simple. If you are a lawful carrier who is not on the security team and shooting starts, you take a knee, you protect the people immediately around you, and you let the security detail work the problem. You do not run toward the gunfire with your pistol out, because when police come through the door they see an armed man moving through a screaming crowd, and now you are the threat. An untrained crowd of independent carriers with no communication plan turns 1 shooter into 5 or 6 people holding guns in a panicked building. Regular meetings, clear roles, and one simple rule fix that. This costs nothing and requires no policy change beyond a calendar invite.

Your Children’s Ministry Needs a Lockdown Signal

The nursery finding out about an armed man from a sprinting father is the single most damning detail in this account. Every children’s area in your building needs a lockdown procedure that activates on a simple signal, whether that is a code word over a radio, a text string to every worker’s phone, or a hard-wired alert. The doors lock, the children move away from windows and entrances, and nobody gets in until a known person gives the all clear. The signal has to reach the children’s workers first, before the general evacuation starts, because those rooms cannot self-evacuate quickly and because parents will run toward those rooms through whatever stands in the way, exactly like this father did. If your church has no way to notify the nursery in under 30 seconds, that is your assignment this week. Test it on a Sunday. Time it.

Build the Police Relationship Before the 911 Call

By the witness’s account, the responding officers did solid work. They arrived, entered, and took the man into custody without escalation. Now imagine the same call at a church where officers have never been inside the building, do not know the floor plan, do not know whether the church has armed members, and are getting fragmented 911 calls from a parking lot full of people. Your security team should have a standing relationship with your local agency. Invite them to walk the building. Give them a floor plan. Tell them whether you have an armed team, what they look like on Sunday, and how they will identify themselves. When officers make entry on an active threat call, seconds and recognition decide who gets pointed at. That relationship gets built on a quiet Tuesday, never during the event.

Biblical Perspective

Scripture does not treat the defense of God’s people as a distraction from worship. Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem under a standing threat of attack, and his answer was not to pray instead of preparing. It was both.

“So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.” (Nehemiah 4:13, ESV)

Look at what Nehemiah actually did. He identified the weak points, the low and open places where an enemy would come, and he put armed men there by assignment. He did not wait to see if volunteers would happen to be standing in the right spot. He stationed them. The exposed lobby of that Utah meetinghouse was a low place in the wall, and on Sunday there was no one stationed there. The work of the church went on all around Nehemiah’s armed men, and the two were never in conflict. Worship continued because the watch was set.

Ezekiel takes it further and puts the weight on the man who holds the watch.

“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.” (Ezekiel 33:6, ESV)

God holds the watchman accountable for the warning, and this incident shows what a failed warning looks like in a modern building. The people in the nursery were never warned. The sword came into that building, and the trumpet never reached the room full of the most vulnerable people in it. By God’s grace the gun was empty. The witness called the whole event a warning, and he is right, but Ezekiel tells us who the warning is for. It is for the watchmen. If your church has no one on the wall, no signal to the nursery, and no plan for the armed men in the pews, then the trumpet is sitting unblown, and Scripture is clear about where the responsibility lands.

Final Assessment

A man displayed a revolver inside an occupied church building for an extended period, and the outcome was decided almost entirely by his choices rather than the church’s. He chose to sit still. He chose an unloaded gun. He chose not to leave the lobby. Strip those choices away and this is Grand Blanc with a different date. The evacuation was handled with more composure than most, and the member who engaged the man in conversation showed real presence of mind. But composure during an event is not a security program, and this building had no program. No one at the door, no lockdown signal for the children, no coordinated armed response, and a carry policy that guaranteed the only law-abiding people in the building were the disarmed ones.

The fix is not complicated and most of it is free. Put trained eyes on every entrance. Allow your lawful carriers to carry, know who they are, and meet with them until everyone understands their role. Give your children’s ministry a lockdown signal that works in seconds. Walk your building with your local police before you ever need them in it. Churches that have done these things have stopped attacks at the door. Churches that have not are trusting the next man in black to bring an empty gun.

This congregation got a warning at the cost of nothing. That price will not hold.

Join the Conversation

If you serve on a church security team, I want to hear how your church handles lockdown notification for children’s ministry, and whether your congregation allows lawful carry. Leave a comment below. If your pastor or team leader has not thought through these questions, send this article to them today. And if CWT’s work helps your team, consider becoming a paid subscriber. It keeps this training free for the churches that cannot afford it.

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Copyright © 2026 Keith Graves. All rights reserved.

Report Suspicious Activity Here

This week: 7 reports across 6 states. Two same-day bicycle approaches on Sunday, July 12, in California and Pennsylvania, both involving young males wearing packs on the front of the body.

California

Orange County — Restroom Request Captured on Camera On Sunday, July 12, 2026, a safety team member watching the parking lot at a Bible church in Orange County was approached by an unknown man who parked, gave a first name, and asked to use the restroom. Permission was granted; the man used the restroom near the sanctuary and left in his vehicle. The driver was described as a male, possibly 30s, dark hair with a trimmed beard, wearing eyeglasses, possibly Middle Eastern or South Asian as observed by the reporter, driving a small dark gray four-door wagon or SUV with alloy wheels. The church’s new 4K camera system captured the car, the driver, and the plate, and the safety team confirmed the captures on review that afternoon.

🛡️ Takeaway: Log unusual access requests even when they are probably innocent. Here, it could be a person looking for a bathroom, or it could be someone trying to get a free look around to do something nefarious later on. Also, verify that your camera system actually captures faces and plates before you need them.

CWT case 20260712-91B252F2

Rural Northern California — Sanctuary Scout During Second Service On Sunday, July 12, 2026, as second service began at a small rural congregation in Northern California, a young male, roughly 16 to 25, slim build, olive skin with a dark tan, wrap-around sunglasses he never removed, black ball cap, and dress loafers inconsistent with cycling, rode up on a gray mountain bike, locked it opposite the entrance, and entered the darkened sanctuary carrying a large black backpack. He moved with apparent familiarity to a corner seat beside a side exit that gave him a view of roughly 90 percent of the sanctuary and clear egress, changed his shirt in the seat, wore a small black pouch on a neck cord in his lap, repeatedly checked a wrist watch and a device inside the pouch, dropped something small into the offering plate, and left promptly at the end of service, declining engagement from a team member on his way out. Multiple members flagged the behavior independently, and the safety-minded volunteers set up overlapping observation throughout.

🛡️ Takeaway: Seat selection covering sightlines and egress, repeated time checks, and refusal of contact are a scouting profile; document everything and brief your greeters. This congregation had no formal safety team in place.

CWT case 20260713-51504F25

Hawaii

Island of Hawaii, Kona Side — Agitated Visitor Leaves Before Service On Sunday, July 12, 2026, a safety team member with 25 years of law enforcement experience at a congregation on the Kona side of the Island of Hawaii observed a first-time visitor enter with a focused, borderline aggressive demeanor, bypass the greeters, read the sanctuary bulletin boards, then seat himself in an empty section directly beside an unattended purse. The team member made contact while the purse owner quietly retrieved her bag, then assigned coverage on the man through worship. The subject was a male, 5’10” to 6’0”, 180 to 200 pounds, with gray shaggy hair, driving a gray Toyota Tundra with the Ten Commandments and the phrase “sinners will be punished” posted on the tailgate. Just before service he asked whether the church has female pastors, objected on scriptural grounds when told it does, and abruptly left the building.

🛡️ Takeaway: Ideologically agitated visitors deserve assigned, low-profile coverage from first contact, and a distinctive vehicle is often your most durable identifier for a return visit.

CWT case 20260713-D2AF695B

Massachusetts

Brighton (Boston) — Attempted Entry and Elicitation at a Synagogue, Subject at Large On Tuesday, July 14, 2026, per a public alert from the CJP Communal Security Initiative, a man knocked on the door of a small Chabad synagogue in Brighton and tried to gain entry, asking whether the building was a synagogue, requesting a tour, and asking inappropriate questions of a congregation member. He is described as approximately 6’0”, 180 pounds, with a close-cropped Mohawk-style haircut and stubbly beard, both changeable, and video shows he walks with a pronounced limp. Boston police are actively looking for him and have increased patrols in the area; the public is advised to dial 911 if he is observed. Law enforcement partners report no specific, imminent credible threat to the region’s Jewish or interfaith community at this time.

🛡️ Takeaway: Probing questions about the building paired with an entry attempt are classic elicitation; train your door team to politely deny access, get a description, and call it in, and remember that hair and beard change while a limp does not.

CWT case 20260714-CJPCSI01 · Source: CJP Communal Security Initiative

Nebraska

Omaha Metro — Late-Night Vehicle in Church Lot On Thursday, July 16, 2026, at about 10:30 PM, a security team member at a church in the Omaha metro area observed a suspicious vehicle in the church parking lot with three occupants: one young male and two unidentified back-seat passengers. The vehicle was a small silver car, partial plate YSR. The report reached CWT second-hand from a fellow team member; no ongoing threat was reported and law enforcement was not notified.

🛡️ Takeaway: An occupied vehicle sitting in your lot at 10:30 PM is worth a plate note and a call to the non-emergency line every time; late-night loitering is a common pre-operational indicator.

CWT case 20260717-1E9BC6C6

Pennsylvania

Eastern Pittsburgh Suburbs — Cyclist Pass-Through with Chest Pack On Sunday, July 12, 2026, at about 10:00 AM, ushers at a church in the eastern Pittsburgh suburbs watched a young male on a bicycle, dressed entirely in black and wearing a pack on his chest rather than the usual rear hydration position, ride through the parking lot and carport as members were arriving, then U-turn onto a side street and continue into town. The church sits well back from the road, so the pass-through required a deliberate detour.

🛡️ Takeaway: A deliberate ride-through of arriving worshippers with no stop and no business on the property reads as a look, not a shortcut; log it with time and description and compare notes if it repeats.

CWT case 20260713-17679CD5

Washington

Vancouver, Washington Area — Follow-Up: Surveillance Subject Identified as “Auditor” In a follow-up to a report published here previously, local law enforcement identified the individual who had been surveilling a Messianic congregation in the Vancouver, Washington area from across the street. The Clark County Sheriff’s Department advised he is affiliated with “I.A.M. Free,” also known as Inland Auditing Media, a YouTube “First Amendment audit” group that targets churches, police stations, and other institutions, attempting to provoke a reaction it can record, post, and use as grounds for a rights-violation lawsuit. The congregation was instructed not to engage in any way and agrees with that guidance.

🛡️ Takeaway: If a camera-carrying stranger seems to want a confrontation, do not give them one; verify with local law enforcement whether known audit crews are working your area, and let a no-engagement policy protect both your people and your legal position. More than likely, you’ll need to protect the auditors from your congregation.

CWT case 20260713-C9A82EA3

Patterns This Week

Three of this week’s seven reports came from Sunday morning services on July 12, and two of those, in Northern California and the eastern Pittsburgh suburbs, involved young males on bicycles carrying bags worn on the front of the body making deliberate entries or pass-throughs during arrival and worship. That is either coincidence or a behavior worth watching for; either way, brief your lot and door teams on it. Separately, two incidents this week, the Brighton synagogue entry attempt and the Orange County restroom request, were access tests of one kind or another, and both underline the same lesson: control entry politely, document faces and vehicles, and let cameras do the remembering.

How to Submit

If you observed suspicious activity at your church this week, report it at alert.christianwarriortraining.com. Reports are reviewed by CWT, logged, and where appropriate, anonymized and published here so other safety teams can pattern-match in their own areas.

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What Happened

On the evening of July 17, 2026, a funeral was underway at Greater Love Tabernacle Church on Plymouth Road at Longacre Street on Detroit’s west side. Mourners had gathered to bury a young man who, according to Mayor Mary Sheffield, had died in a car accident. It should have been an ordinary evening of grief and remembrance. It did not stay that way.

At about 5:48 p.m., a physical fight broke out among people outside the church. Police say the argument grew out of an existing dispute between some of those present. During the fight one man in his mid-twenties pulled a handgun and fired into the crowd. Four people went down, all struck in the lower extremities.

Here is the detail that changed everything. Directly across the street, at the O.H. Pye III Funeral Home, a separate visitation was being held that same evening. Detroit Police had received advance notice that the visitation carried a potential for violence, and officers from the 6th Precinct had been posted there ahead of time specifically because of that threat. One of those officers heard the shots, turned, and saw the gunman firing. The officer returned fire and struck the shooter in the lower extremities, ending the attack on the spot.

Five people in total were struck, the four original victims and the suspect, all in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties, and all hit in the legs. Every one of them is expected to survive. The suspect was taken into custody at the scene and his weapon was recovered. As of this writing his name and charges have not been released.

Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison called it an isolated incident with no ongoing threat to the public and praised the officer directly. “Our officer is absolutely a hero,” Bettison said. “You don’t come to work expecting to have to do this, but the officer saw the threat and took action.” Mayor Sheffield put it plainly: “That response saved lives.”

Sit with the geography of this one. The threat that brought police to that block was not the church funeral. It was the visitation across the street. The violence erupted at the funeral nobody had flagged.

Lessons for Church Security Teams

The Property Next Door Is Part of Your Threat Picture

The intelligence that put officers on that block was tied to the funeral home across the street, not to Greater Love Tabernacle. The church was hosting what everyone expected to be a routine service for a young man killed in a traffic accident. And yet the gunfire happened on the church side of the street. This is the part every safety team leader needs to absorb. You do not get to choose your neighbors on a given night, and grief draws crowds that overlap. When two funerals sit across a single street and one of them has known tensions attached to it, both properties are now inside the same threat picture. If your church shares a block, a parking lot, or a sightline with another venue holding an event, your posture has to account for what is happening next door, not only what is happening in your own sanctuary. Your awareness cannot stop at your own property line.

Know Who You Are Memorializing

I have said this for years and I will keep saying it. When your church agrees to host a funeral, you are agreeing to gather that person’s entire world in one place at one known time. That is a gift to the family and it can be a gift to anyone who wanted that person, or the people around him, in a predictable location. Before you put a service on the calendar, do your due diligence. Find out how the deceased died. Find out who he was connected to. This is not about judging a grieving family or turning anyone away. Most funerals, including funerals for people who lived hard lives, pass without a single problem. But if the deceased was tied to criminal activity or a gang, then his associates, his rivals, and every unsettled account he left behind now have a date, a time, and an address. A rival can use that window to settle a score. Two hostile groups forced into the same space can turn a shove into gunfire. You cannot manage a risk you refused to look at. Ask the questions first.

Christian Warrior Bible Study

A Bible study rooted in Scripture for men and women with a warrior’s calling, those who stand ready to protect others, serve faithfully, and live out Christian courage in the hard places of life.

By Keith Graves

The Fight Comes Before the Gun

Read the sequence again. There was no sniper on a rooftop and no planned ambush. A fight broke out, and then a handgun came out. That is the pattern in the overwhelming majority of these funeral shootings. You bring hurting, angry people together, you add old grievances and sometimes alcohol, and the temperature climbs until one person decides to end an argument with a trigger. This tells your team exactly where to focus. The intervention point is not the moment the gun appears. It is the argument, the raised voices, the two men squaring off, the cluster that suddenly goes quiet and tight. Your people need to be trained to move toward rising tension early, to separate and de-escalate before a fist is thrown, because once the weapon is out you are no longer preventing anything, you are only reacting to it. Move on the argument, not on the gun.

One Trained Man, Already in Position

The reason four people are recovering instead of a family planning four more funerals is that a trained man was already in position and did not freeze. He did not have to sprint from three blocks away. He was posted, he was alert, and when the shooting started he closed the distance and stopped the threat in seconds. That is the entire argument for a real security presence, made in a single evening. A congregation that leaves its safety to chance is betting that nothing will ever go wrong on the one night the wrong two people show up. Whether your protector is an off-duty officer you hired, a licensed member of your team, or a trained volunteer standing post, he has to be trained and he has to be there. A man in the parking lot with no training is not going to stop this, and a trained man sitting at home is no help either. You need him on post before the first shot, because after the first shot all anyone can do is work to stop the bleeding.

Biblical Perspective

We spend most of our time on tactics, on posts and sightlines and response times, and we should. But Keith always tells you to go to the root, so let us go there. Where does a funeral shooting actually come from? Scripture answers that question with uncomfortable precision.

James 4:1-2 (ESV): “What causes quarrels and fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.”

That is the autopsy of what happened on Plymouth Road. Not a hardware problem, a heart problem. Passions at war on the inside spilling out as fists and then bullets on the outside. James does not blame the weapon and neither should we. The gun did not start the fight. The dispute did. The unpaid debt, the disrespect, the grudge carried into a place of mourning, that is the war James is describing, and it was already raging in those men long before anyone reached his waistband. When we understand that the violence begins in the human heart, we stop being surprised that it follows people even into a house of grief. The heart brings its war wherever the body goes, including to a funeral.

If James shows us the root, Nehemiah shows us the response. Keith brings up Nehemiah often, and for good reason, but do not stop at the famous line about fighting for your brethren. Look at the architecture of how Nehemiah actually protected his people while they did holy work.

Nehemiah 4:9 (ESV): “And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.”

Notice the order and notice the “and.” They prayed, and they set a guard. Not one or the other. Nehemiah did not treat prayer and posted watchmen as competitors. He treated them as partners. The same chapter shows his builders working with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other.

Nehemiah 4:17-18 (ESV): “Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built.”

This is your model for a church that wants to worship and remain safe at the same time. The builders did not abandon the work to stand guard, and they did not lay down their guard to do the work. They did both at once, with the sword strapped on while the trowel moved. A congregation is not being unfaithful when it posts a guard at a funeral. It is being like Nehemiah’s builders, doing the sacred work with one hand and holding the means of protection with the other. And when the trumpet sounded in that chapter, the scattered workers knew to rally to one point. Your team needs that trumpet too, a plan and a signal so that when trouble breaks out at one corner of the property, everyone knows where to converge.

The bridge between James and Nehemiah is the whole ministry of church security in two sentences. The war starts in the heart, which is why we preach the gospel and call men to lay down their grievances at the cross. And because that war still spills into the street this side of heaven, we set a guard. We are watchmen who understand the enemy is not finally the man with the gun, he is a casualty of the same war we all fight. We stand our post anyway, sword strapped on, praying for the very people we may have to stop.

Final Assessment

This was not a mass shooter with a manifesto. It was a dispute that walked into a funeral and came out shooting, and it landed at the one church on the block that had no reason to expect it. Four people are recovering instead of dead for one reason, a trained officer was posted nearby for an entirely different threat and had the awareness and the will to act when the shooting started.

Take three things from Detroit. First, your threat picture does not end at your property line, so when you share a block or a night with another venue, you plan for their crowd as well as your own. Second, you have a duty to know who you are memorializing, because agreeing to host a funeral means agreeing to gather that person’s whole world at a published time and place. Third, the moment to intervene is the argument, not the gunshot, so train your people to move toward rising tension early and de-escalate before a hand ever reaches a waistband.

The heart of the problem is exactly that, the heart. We cannot rewrite what men carry into a room, but we can refuse to be caught unprepared when it comes out. Pray, and set a guard. Both hands full. That is the job.

If this incident review helped you think through your own team’s posture, leave a comment below with how your church handles funerals and outside events. Then share this with your pastor or your team leader and talk it through before the next service, not after the next incident.

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I am considering making The Christian Warrior Brief a regular weekly broadcast.

Many of you already use our Weekly Roll Call Briefing with your church safety teams. That briefing will continue. It is designed to be short and practical, something you can cover with your team before the service begins so everyone understands what happened during the week and what lessons they should carry into their shift.

The Christian Warrior Brief goes deeper.

Each episode examines the week’s incidents involving churches and Christians, including violent crime, suspicious activity, sexual abuse and child protection failures, church fires, terrorism, and the international persecution of Christians. I will also provide additional intelligence and explain what these developments could mean for churches here in the United States.

In this week’s episode, we cover renewed threats involving Iran and ISIS, a suspicious bag left inside a Michigan church during Sunday service, several serious child protection cases, church fires across the country, and the continued persecution of Christians overseas.

Watch this week’s episode here:

WATCH THE CHRISTIAN WARRIOR BRIEF

Please let me know in the comments if you would like this to become a regular weekly broadcast. My goal is to give Christian families, church leaders, and safety teams a clearer understanding of what is happening and how they should prepare.

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780 people voted, with an overwhelming 85% voting to combine the roll call bulletin and the crime bulletin into one product. Find the Roll Call download below.

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TERRORISM AND INTELLIGENCE

Iran War Resumes and Widens as Its Proxies Strike Jewish Targets in the West

The war between the United States and Iran has resumed and is widening. After the June memorandum of understanding collapsed, the United States launched fresh airstrikes on Iranian military sites, and Iran answered with missile strikes on American installations in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Jordan. Israeli intelligence reported an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump, who answered with a public warning of overwhelming retaliation. The danger reaches well beyond the battlefield. Since March, an Iranian proxy front called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, or HAYI, which United States prosecutors tie to the Revolutionary Guard and the Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah, has claimed roughly 20 attacks on Jewish targets across Europe, among them a synagogue bombing in Liège, Belgium, arson against Jewish sites in London and Rotterdam, and the stabbing of two Jewish men in London. In May, federal authorities charged a Kataib Hezbollah commander, Mohammad al-Saadi, with plotting to bring the campaign into the United States, including an attack on a New York City synagogue. This is a campaign against worship sites and against people in the West seen as aligned with Israel, and it relies on the same arson and small-arms methods a church security team already trains to counter.

🛡️ My thoughts: the expansion of the war cannot be understated. More than likely, we will continue it threat level orange for quite a while. I fully expect that synagogues will continue to be attacked. If you are a synagogue, and watching this, I would be at red the highest level. If you are a Christian Church openly supporting Israel, you should be a red also.

Islamic State Is Calling for Attacks on Christians and Churches

In Mastung, Balochistan, Pakistan, on July 9, the group’s Pakistan branch claimed a targeted shooting at a cricket ground that killed two Christian men, Ayush Masih, 21, and Domnik Masih, 24. Islamic State doctrine, restated across its recent output, frames Christians as targets for forced conversion, taxation, or death, and the group has repeatedly urged followers to burn churches and synagogues in the West. Its Easter propaganda this year did exactly that, calling on supporters across the United States and Europe to set them on fire. The incitement grew louder after the May 18 shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, an attack by two young white supremacists that killed three people, including the mosque’s security guard, and wounded another. In the days that followed, Islamic State supporter networks online called for retaliation against Christians, with one user urging an attack on a church and another threatening to kill Christian men. The realistic threat here is an inspired individual or small group hitting a soft target, which is what your team should be preparing against.

🛡️ My thoughts: ISIS does not have enough logistical support in the United States to carry out an attack. However, they are heavily relying on lone actors to attack churches in synagogues. They are pumping each other up on the dark web and on telegram channels. Expect continued attacks and assaults from these people.

ISIS Detainees Confess to Church Bombing and Planned Attacks in Damascus, Syria

Detainees held in Syria confessed to involvement in the Mar Elias Church bombing and to other planned attacks, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. One detainee said an ISIS operative had outlined a plan to attack Mar Elias Church by opening fire on those inside. The confessions were reported by state media this week. The disclosures point to continued ISIS targeting of Christian sites in the country. Syrian authorities said the investigation was ongoing.

🛡️ My thoughts: You need to watch these types of attacks. Even though this may not concern us because it is in the Middle East in a country we probably don't care about, it shows you exactly how they are going to carry out and attack here in the United States if they want to make it happen. Study these, and then put them in your scenario portfolio to play out in future training.

Jihadist Groups Have Begun Using AI Tools to Plan Attacks

A study from the University of Cambridge found that both factions of Boko Haram, the Islamic State affiliate ISWAP and the JAS faction, have built commercial AI chatbots into their operations for attack planning, explosive device design, weapons troubleshooting, and operational security. The know-how was passed in person by Islamic State operatives moving through Libya, Iraq, and other nodes, and dedicated AI units now sit inside ISWAP’s command structure. The finding is significant for two reasons. It shortens the distance between a group deciding to attack and being able to plan and build for one, and the groups leading this adoption are the same ones calling for and carrying out attacks on Christians in Africa and abroad.

Weapons Staged at a Paris Synagogue as Threats to Worship Sites Stay High

French counterterrorism prosecutors opened a terrorism investigation after authorities found a loaded rifle and a handgun staged in a vehicle outside a synagogue in Sarcelles, near Paris, and evacuated 300 people from the neighborhood. United States and allied agencies spent the week reminding first responders that congregations and the people who lead them remain deliberate targets. With the World Cup Final on July 19 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the America 250 events, and the Jewish fast of Tisha B’Av on July 22 and 23, large public gatherings and religious sites stay at heightened risk through the end of the month.

🛡️ My thoughts: the attack continue to be thwarted. This is a win for the good guys. It some point they are going to break through though. Use this as an example of the things that you need to look for while you stand post outside. Anything suspicious should be checked trust your instinct. It is usually the Lord talking to you and not your “instinct.” I was a successful police officer because I listened to the voice in my head. At the time, I did not realize it was the Lord talking to me. I absolutely realize it now, though. Trust those thoughts.

VIOLENT CRIME

Suspicious Device Placed at Church During Sunday Service in Alabaster Township, Michigan

Tawas City police were called to Alabaster Bible Church on Benson Road in Alabaster Township, Michigan, shortly before 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 12, after a report of a possible bomb inside the building. Witnesses said a person walked into the church during the service, set a bag down near the entrance, and left immediately. Congregants who looked inside reported seeing what appeared to be a small box with wires and a possible triggering device, and called 911. The Michigan State Police bomb squad examined the package and determined it did not pose a threat. Police said there was no ongoing danger but asked anyone with information to come forward, and the investigation remains open.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: this is an interesting case. This could just be a mentally ill person, or it could be a person thinking it's a funny joke. It could also be a test to see how we respond. Never discount incident like this. If this happens at your church, treat it like it is a real device.

Fleeing Car Crashes Into Church After Gunfire in New Castle, Pennsylvania

A disturbance involving gunfire in Union Township ended with a fleeing car crashing into Trinity Episcopal Church in New Castle, Pennsylvania. One person was sent to the hospital as a result of the crash. Local reporting described the sequence as an escape attempt that ended at the church building. The incident was reported this week.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: how often are you seeing me publish a violent crime that happens elsewhere that ends at the church? It's pretty frequent, isn't it? You should take notice of this is our planning on what to do if a similar incident happens to your church. I use Tactical visualization. Basically, I look at an incident like this and start thinking about what I'm going to do. When I'm driving, I just start thinking of incidents like this and thinking of how I'm going to respond. As an example, I always looked at a 711 on my beat when I was a younger officer and think about how I would respond if I saw an armed robber coming out as I was driving by. I thought about what to do hundreds of times over the next several years. Sure enough, one day I drove by and an armed robber was running out of that 711. He went exactly to the place I thought and my Tactical visualization that a suspect would go and I cornered him. I did everything that I had planned out over the years. It went off flawlessly with nobody being hurt. I don't know how that would've ended out. Had I not use Tactical visualization. It is a wonderful tool that has been used for over a century.

SEX CRIMES

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Former Youth Pastor Arrested on 90 Counts of Child Molestation in Bossier Parish, Louisiana

The Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested David Mercer, 72, of Folsom, Louisiana, following an investigation into multiple child sex offenses spanning decades. Mercer was booked into the Bossier Parish Maximum Security Facility on July 11 on 90 counts of forcible fondling and molestation of a juvenile, and was held on a $2.5 million bond. Investigators say Mercer served as a youth pastor in northwest Louisiana and in southeast Missouri during the 1990s, and that the alleged offenses date back more than 30 years. Detectives from multiple jurisdictions are working the case as additional victims are identified. The investigation remains active.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: there are more victims and what they found. Expect more victims to come out as they read the news story. I need you to see if this Pastor ever served at your church. If he did, you need to immediately start looking for victims within your church. It is better for you to get ahead of it. You're going to do that by making an announcement to your church that he served there and was arrested. Then ask if anybody knows if anybody in the church that was a victim. The Bible is clear on your duty to do this. The Bible doesn't say protect your church, the Bible says to help the week and the defenseless and to seek justice. THE LORD EXPECTS THIS OF YOU! If you have victims in your church, then you helped them get Counseling and you put them in touch with the Police Dept.

Registered Sex Offender Arrested After Volunteering at Church With Children in Pawleys Island, South Carolina

The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office arrested Warren Spence Perry, 70, on a probation violation after a complaint filed Monday, July 13, revealed he had been volunteering at Pawleys Island Community Church, which also operates a school and a daycare. Perry’s probation stemmed from a prior child sex offense that barred him from proximity to children. Deputies investigated after the complaint identified him working in a volunteer role at the church. In the days that followed, angry church members confronted their pastor during a heated meeting over claims that leadership had known of Perry’s record and allowed him to serve. The church issued a public statement in response to the arrest.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: more than likely, this guy came to the church for the specific reason of trying to find victims. You need to take my course on protecting children in the church. The link is above. It is free. It tells you exactly how to stop groomers in their tracks at your church.

Pastor’s Son Charged With Child Sexual Abuse in Tacoma, Washington

A man identified in police records as Stabbert, the adult son of a longtime Tacoma pastor, has been charged with sexually assaulting two children in incidents dating as far back as 1997. According to Tacoma police records, several elders at Fellowship Bible Church reported that Stabbert had confessed to abusing at least two victims. Police records also indicate the church had been warned repeatedly about the alleged abuse over a period of years. Stabbert was a member of the church at the time the reports were made. The case was filed this week.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: Hiding crimes like this is a SIN. The Lord does not command you to protect the church. HE demands that you protect children.

ARSON AND SUSPICIOUS FIRES

Man Charged Federally in Firebombing Spree Targeting a Church and Mosques in Queens, New York

Federal authorities arrested Yogesh Sayrange, 36, on July 9 in connection with a string of arson attacks across Queens and Brooklyn over roughly two weeks. Officers responded to a 911 call at Iglesia Bautista El Mesias Church in Ozone Park around 11:35 p.m. after Sayrange allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at the building. Prosecutors say he is linked to at least seven acts of arson, including firebombings of mosques that authorities are investigating as anti-Muslim attacks. According to federal prosecutors, before one attack Sayrange asked men nearby whether they wanted the device thrown at them and threatened to cut a man’s head off. He faces federal arson charges.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: let me get this straight, they're investigating it as anti-Muslim attacks, but not as an anti-Christian attack for attacking the church? Sorry for the rant, but I hope you see what is happening here.

Landmarked Brooklyn Church Demolished After Arson Fire in Brooklyn, New York

The FDNY and NYPD are investigating the June 19 fire that destroyed the South Bushwick Reformed Church, a landmarked wooden sanctuary built in 1853, as arson, with a person of interest seen leaving the property just before the blaze. Citing public safety, New York City’s Department of Buildings ordered the structure torn down and rejected the congregation’s plans to stabilize and rebuild part of it. The city demolished the original church over the following two weeks and began razing the attached Fellowship Hall on July 14. Pastor James Steward, who had first vowed to rebuild, said a full demolition would likely strip the site of its landmark protection and could leave the church forced to sell the land to a developer. The city intends to bill the congregation for the demolition, a cost expected to run well past what it has raised.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: NYC forgot about 9/11 and elected a Muslim man, Mamdani. Mamdani’s administration tore down a historic church and is going to charge the church instead of letting them rebuild it. We were told in the Bible that this would happen. It is just sad to see in real life.

Ethiopian Orthodox Church Heavily Damaged in Fire in Rosemount, Minnesota

Firefighters responded Monday, July 13, to a fire at the Debre Bisrat St. Gabriel and St. Arsema Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church at 3285 144th Street West in Rosemount, Minnesota. Rosemount police said crews found extensive damage to the building. The Rosemount Police Department announced the fire in a public post and said the cause was under investigation. No injuries were reported in the initial accounts. The investigation was ongoing as of this week.

Source

INTERNATIONAL

Nine Killed, Including an Infant, in Overnight Attack in Plateau State, Nigeria

Suspected gunmen killed at least nine members of one family, including an infant, in a late-night attack on two communities in Plateau State, Nigeria. The assault targeted residents in their homes during the night. Local authorities and community members reported the killings this week. The attack is part of a continuing pattern of deadly raids on farming communities in the region. Nigerian security forces have been under pressure to respond to the violence.

Source

Pastor Dies After Kidnapping Ordeal in Benue State, Nigeria

A pastor in Benue State, Nigeria, died after surviving a kidnapping ordeal, allegedly succumbing to injuries from torture during his captivity. The cleric had been abducted roughly two weeks earlier alongside two other people. He was released before his death. Church and community members reported the death this week. Kidnapping for ransom continues to strike clergy and worshippers across Nigeria.

Source

Two Killed in Clashes at Church During Political Violence in Kisumu, Kenya

Two young men were killed in violent clashes connected to political tensions in Kisumu, Kenya, with the confrontation unfolding at and around St. Stephen’s Church. Authorities said the deaths followed a Sunday confrontation between rival youth groups, and that one of the injured victims later died in the hospital. Police reported that eight suspects would face charges in connection with the violence. Community and political leaders condemned the rising unrest in the city. The investigation continued through the week.

Source

Pastor Stabbed by Three Assailants During Morning Run in Cape Town, South Africa

A pastor in Cape Town, South Africa, was stabbed by three assailants while out for an early morning run on Table Mountain. He was identified as the victim of the attack in local reporting. The assault occurred during his routine run on the mountain. Authorities were notified of the stabbing. The incident was reported this week.

Source

Historic Tehran Church Threatened With Seizure and Demolition in Tehran, Iran

St. Peter’s Presbyterian Church in Tehran, Iran, has been threatened with seizure and demolition by Iranian authorities, with members of its congregation facing the prospect of imprisonment. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps moved at the end of June to confiscate assets tied to the church and has treated employees and members as trespassers on the property. United Nations human rights experts urged Iran to reverse the seizure and to return the site to the recognized religious minority community. Christian organizations issued appeals and prayer requests over the case this week. A Presbyterian church in Mashhad was demolished in June 2026 after being similarly targeted.

Source

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For years I’ve taught church security teams how to prepare for violence.

But one of the greatest responsibilities a church has isn’t responding to an active shooter.

It’s protecting the children God has entrusted to our care.

I’m excited to announce that our new Protecting Children course is now available completely free through Christian Warrior Training.

This training was built for pastors, church security teams, children’s ministry leaders, volunteers, elders, deacons, and anyone who serves around children in the local church.

Inside the course you’ll learn practical ways to reduce opportunities for abuse before they ever occur. We cover policies, supervision, screening, reporting concerns, recognizing warning signs, and building a culture where children are protected without turning your church into a fortress.

This is practical training based on decades of law enforcement experience, real investigations, and years of working with churches across the country.

My goal is simple.

Help churches become places where children are genuinely safe while still reflecting the love of Christ.

What’s Included

✅ Self paced online lessons

✅ Downloadable resources

✅ Practical church policies you can implement immediately

✅ Real world examples and lessons learned

✅ Completely free access

A Quick Note About Certificates

Many of you have taken previous Christian Warrior Training courses that included certificates of completion.

Unfortunately, because of an ongoing insurance dispute, I have temporarily suspended issuing certificates for all online courses. The training itself remains completely available and completely free.

As soon as this issue is resolved, I’ll let everyone know.

In the meantime, I didn’t want to delay getting this material into the hands of churches that need it.

If your church has children, this training is worth your time.

Please consider sharing it with your pastor, children’s ministry director, and church safety team.

Together we can make our churches safer places for the next generation.

👉 Start the free course here:

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Nigeria Watch Warning Field Card

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This is a download for Nigerians. It is one page written in your language on how to defend yourselves and resist/flee attacks from militants.

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In April of 2026, in Kaduna State, a Christian mother named Sabina woke at midnight to armed men inside her home. They were Fulani militants, and they took all twelve people in the house into the bush.

Over the days that followed, they beat her husband to death in front of her and murdered two of her sons. They threw the bodies in a river. They chained the captives like slaves, withheld food and water, and forced her to dance for them while she grieved. She survived, escaped, and returned home a widow raising four children in a place where the next attack is always possible. Her name was changed to protect her, because the danger did not end when she got home.

Sabina’s account was published by Open Doors on July 10. It is one story out of thousands, and it is the reason this article exists.

The Report

Open Doors has ranked Nigeria as the most violent place in the world to follow Jesus for several years running. That is their assessment, by their methodology, and I report it as theirs. The individual attacks behind it come from the ground, and in 2026 they have not let up.

The year opened in January with 177 churchgoers kidnapped across three church attacks in Kaduna State. In March, gunmen killed 13 people and abducted 28 more during a Christian wedding celebration, again in Kaduna. That same month a Palm Sunday attack struck the Jos community. April brought the raid on Sabina’s family. May brought a killing spree that targeted schools and children.

On July 10, Open Doors reported that its local partners had identified 5,400 displaced Christian families in the northwest alone. Families with no home, no farmland they can safely work, and no reliable food.

The pattern is consistent. The attacks come at night. They target villages and the churches inside them. And they use fire. In June of last year, militants overran a displacement camp in Yelewata, in Benue State. The people had sheltered in storage buildings, and the militants burned the buildings with the people inside. Around 200 died in that one attack.

I state the numbers plainly because they deserve it. This is not a distant problem to the people I am about to speak to. It is their week.

Why This Article Is Written to Nigeria

Here is something most of my American readers do not know. When I pull the data on who watches this channel, my number two country is not Canada or the United Kingdom. It is Nigeria.

The reason is simple. I report on their people being killed, week after week, when most media will not. So they come here, and they watch, and they leave comments, and I read them. The believers in that report are not a distant subject to this channel. They are part of the audience. Some of them will read these very words.

That changes what I owe them. It is not enough to report the killing and move on. If the people living through it are in the room, then the second half of this article belongs to them. What follows is written straight to my brothers and sisters in Nigeria.

I am a retired police officer in the United States, and I train church security teams here, where an attack on a congregation is rare enough that most of my people will never face one. You do not have that luxury. You bury your dead and you return to church the next Sunday. I have nothing to teach you about courage. What I can offer is what a career of studying how attacks unfold has taught me, and I will tell you plainly where I am guessing at ground I cannot see.

Post a Watchman Before You Need One

The attacks come at night, and they come from the bush. That tells you where to put your eyes.

The most valuable thing a village can do is see the threat before it arrives. That means a listening post and observation post, an LP/OP, placed where a man can watch the routes an attacker actually uses. In your country that is rarely the road. It is the forest line and the cattle paths. Watch those.

One man who stays up when he feels like it is not a watch. It has to be a rotation. Two men to a post, so one stays alert while the other rests, with set relief times through the whole night, covering the directions an attack is most likely to come from. This is hard on a tired village. It is far less hard than burying your children.

This is the office of the watchman, and Scripture treats it as sacred work. The Lord lays the weight of it out plainly.

“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.” — Ezekiel 33:6 · ESV

When the watchman sees the sword coming and sounds the trumpet, the people are warned and his duty is done. If he sees it and stays silent, the blood is on his own head. Your watchman is not only standing guard. He is answering a calling God takes seriously, and He holds him to it.

When the Warning Sounds

Seeing the threat is worthless if the village cannot be warned in time.

You need a signal that works with no electricity and no phone service, because on the night it happens you may have neither. A church bell, a drum, a horn. And it has to be distinct. One pattern means attack. Another means gather, or all clear. Every person in the village, down to the smallest child, needs to know each pattern without being told twice. That is the watchman’s trumpet made real.

When the attack signal sounds, every person needs to already know their job, not decide it in the dark with gunfire outside. There are three answers, and the right one depends on who you are and where you stand.

For the women, the children, the elderly, and anyone who cannot fight, the answer is to move to safety along a route that has been walked in daylight more than once, with a second route ready because the first may be cut off. Rally at a point away from the buildings.

Take the hard lesson from Yelewata seriously. The people who died had gathered inside buildings, and the militants burned them. Fire is a weapon these attackers use on purpose. Hiding inside a structure is your last option, not your first, because a building that can be set alight becomes a trap. Scattering into the bush along a known route will often save more lives than gathering everyone into one place that can burn.

If you cannot get out, and you have people who cannot move, then you harden a position and buy time. But choose that position knowing it may be set on fire, and plan for that before the night comes.

For the men who are able and lawfully able to defend their homes, standing and holding the line is what buys everyone else the minutes to get clear. I will not tell a man in Nigeria what to hold in his hands. Your laws are your laws, and I will not put anyone in legal danger from across an ocean. That decision is yours. What I will tell you is that a defender who is warned, positioned, and ready is worth ten who are caught by surprise.

Guard the Fields and Link the Villages

Two more things, because they are killing your people and they are fixable.

Your farmers keep dying alone in their fields. The reporting is full of it, men and women shot while working their land by themselves. Stop working alone. Work the fields in groups, and post one person whose only job is to watch, not to farm. He is your daytime watchman. His hands stay empty of tools and his eyes stay on the tree line.

Then connect your villages to each other. A watchman who spots the herdsmen moving can warn the next village, and the next, if you build the network before you need it. Designated runners. A phone chain where there is coverage. Anything that turns one set of eyes into ten villages’ worth of warning. An attack that hits a village cold is a massacre. An attack that hits a village warned by its neighbor is something people survive.

None of this works if you only talk about it. A plan you have never walked through is a wish. Walk it after church. Sound the signal and watch where people actually go. Time how long it takes the field workers to reach cover. Find the gaps while it is a drill, not while it is real. I preach this same sermon to my American teams every week, and it lands on you with far more weight.

Is It Biblical to Defend Yourself?

I know the question underneath all of this, because faithful people have asked me, afraid the answer is no. If I fight back, if I defend my family, am I sinning? Will I lose my soul for it?

No. Scripture does not leave you in doubt.

When Nehemiah rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem under threat, he did two things at once.

“And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.” — Nehemiah 4:9 · ESV

He prayed, and he posted a watch, and he did not treat those as opposites. A few verses on, he stationed the people by families, armed, and told them not to be afraid but to fight for their brothers, their sons, their daughters, their wives, and their homes. That is the whole of what this article asks of you, and Scripture records it as an act of faith, not a failure of it.

The Lord Himself told His disciples to be equipped.

“He said to them, ‘But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.’” — Luke 22:36 · ESV

The rest of Scripture agrees. The law in Exodus 22 holds that a man who strikes down an intruder breaking into his home at night bears no bloodguilt. In Esther, when God’s people faced destruction, they were granted the right to gather and defend their lives against any who would attack them, and Scripture records it as their deliverance. And the psalmist blesses the Lord as the one who trains his hands for war and his fingers for battle, which answers the question of whether the training itself is faithful. It is.

Guard. Equip. Train. Fight for your families. Scripture says it plainly, and it says it more than once. The watchman on the tree line and the man in his doorway are both doing exactly what the Word permits. Do not let anyone tell you that faith requires you to stand still while your family is taken. You pray, and you set a guard, day and night. Both hands.

If you are reading this in Nigeria, I want my American readers to know you are here, but do not put yourself at risk to do it. A comment section is public. Anyone can read it, including people who wish you harm. So do not post your village, your church, your town, or anything that could locate you. Instead, leave one word, a Scripture reference that has carried you, or simply “watching from West Africa.” That is enough. We will know, and we will read every one of them. Practicing good operational security in a comment section is the same discipline as posting a watchman on the tree line. Guard your position.

If you are reading this in the States, share this with your pastor and your security team, then pray by name for the believers in Kaduna, in Benue, in Katsina, and across the Middle Belt. They are watching to see if we noticed.

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Copyright © 2026 Keith Graves. All rights reserved.

Report Suspicious Activity Here

This edition: 9 reports across 9 states. Four of the nine involve surveillance or probing behavior, from a disguised cameraman to a vehicle circling two churches in one morning.

Alaska

Anchorage — Three Crisis Walk-Ups in One Week A safety team member at a church in Anchorage reported three separate incidents in a single week, all outside service hours. A stabbing victim walked to the church office doors, which double as the preschool entrance, and was transported by fire and police with non-life-threatening injuries. Days later, a man with an outstanding warrant called police dispatch asking to surrender at the church, and a man in an apparent mental health crisis came to the doors looking for a pastor and required EMS and a mobile crisis unit.

🛡️ Takeaway: Hurt people find churches even when the lights are off, so your after-hours plan and office-door protocol matter as much as your Sunday posture.

CWT case 20260709-1F36D6FE

Arizona

Northern Arizona — Vehicle Circling Two Churches in One Morning On Sunday, June 28, a safety team member at a church in rural northern Arizona responded to a report of a black Lincoln Navigator circling the building. The vehicle left when he responded, was later found parked along the highway moving back and forth in the same stretch for about ten minutes, and drove off when he tried to position for a photo. It then circled a second church nearby and parked south of that building for five minutes before leaving. A husky, possibly Siberian, was reported in the back. The county sheriff was notified.

🛡️ Takeaway: One vehicle working two churches in the same morning is area target assessment, not curiosity, so share vehicle descriptions with neighboring congregations the same day.

CWT case 20260702-FE564C3B

California

Central Coast — Mid-Service Entry, Scanning During Prayer On Sunday, June 21, the safety team at a Christian fellowship on the California Central Coast tracked a man who entered halfway through worship, stood in the aisle in front of the cross, did not sing, and kept his eyes open scanning the congregation during prayer. Subject is a white male with a Mediterranean complexion, about 6’4”, 250 lbs, goatee, dressed all in black with a barbed-wire tattoo on the right bicep. When a greeter engaged him on the patio he stated “the muslims got it right, not the Christians,” then left through the parking lot in a zig-zag pattern, looking into cars. A second unknown man, also dressed all in black, was later reported sitting in the overflow room during the same service.

🛡️ Takeaway: Scanning during prayer is one of the most reliable behavioral tells there is, because everyone else’s eyes are closed and the subject knows it.

CWT case 20260627-726FB1FB

Idaho

Boise Area — Repeated Trips Past the Children’s Wing On Sunday, June 28, greeters and security at a church in the Boise area flagged a first-time visitor who sat near the door, avoided eye contact and conversation, and made six to seven trips to the restroom and water fountain during service. The restrooms sit adjacent to the Sunday school area, and on one pass by the kids check-in he turned and entered the restroom when a security member approached. He gave only a first name, appeared to be quietly arguing with himself, declined prayer, and left quickly. White male, mid-30s, 5’7” to 5’8”, stocky, baggy clothes.

🛡️ Takeaway: Count the trips; movement that repeatedly routes past your children’s area is a coverage problem whether the driver is reconnaissance or crisis.

CWT case 20260630-3CD30BDF

Michigan

South-Central Michigan — Two Visitors, One Script A safety team member at a community church in south-central Michigan reported two first-time visitors, one on Sunday, June 7 and one on Sunday, July 5, with strikingly similar behavior: heavy scripture quoting, strong theological opinions that read like bait for argument, a big production of donating, and near-identical buzzwords, including emphasis on the words “community church.” One arrived over an hour early and left minutes before service began, and neither showed any interest in connection cards. Both were friendly and non-threatening, but the team flagged the seemingly coached dialogue as a possible connection or online network.

🛡️ Takeaway: When two strangers a month apart deliver the same script, start a file, compare notes with nearby churches, and photograph the third one.

CWT case 20260705-FBF86520

Montana

Billings Area — Protesters at a Political Faith Event On Friday, June 26, a Baptist church in the Billings area hosted a nationally affiliated political faith event that drew protesters to the parking lot. The security team managed the event with local police engaged, and there was no disruption or ongoing threat.

🛡️ Takeaway: The moment your building hosts a politically branded event, you inherit that brand’s threat profile for the night, so plan staffing and LE liaison accordingly.

CWT case 20260630-8123E7E2

North Carolina

Coastal Southeastern North Carolina — The Backpack Announcement On Sunday, June 21, a man on foot approached the parking team at a church on the southeastern North Carolina coast, held up his backpack, and repeatedly announced “I have a backpack.” The safety lead checked the bag with the subject’s consent, found it clear, and walked him to an usher inside, where he stood the entire visit, declined a seat, and left through the sanctuary door within twenty minutes, breaking into a run at the corner. He wore a heavy sweat jacket in 90-degree, high-humidity weather and kept his head down arriving and leaving. The church reports several backpack-related incidents over the past six weeks with an increasing trend.

🛡️ Takeaway: Loudly announcing the bag may be a probe of your screening response, so log it, pull the camera stills, and treat a repeat visit as confirmation.

CWT case 20260621-E2A40EC6

Texas

East Texas — Phishing for the Church Directory On Monday, June 29, the pastor’s wife at a congregation in east Texas received an email asking her to send a PDF of the church directory to an unrecognized address. The message used a real elder’s correct name and claimed he had misplaced his copy, but the signature style was wrong, and the elder confirmed he never sent it. The team assessed it as a phishing attempt to harvest congregation contact information and does not yet know whether other staff were targeted.

🛡️ Takeaway: Your directory is a targeting package; establish a rule now that it is never emailed based on an email request alone, no matter whose name is on it.

CWT case 20260705-F83992EE

Washington

Portland-Vancouver Metro — Four Hours on Camera, in Disguise On Saturday, May 30, a Messianic congregation in the Portland-Vancouver metro area watched a man in a long-sleeved shirt, hat, sunglasses, and face mask record their front door for roughly four hours with a high-end DSLR from a public lot across the street. His only words, when approached, were to ask whether the person was “the rabbi,” after which he stopped communicating entirely. When he finally left, team members followed and watched him remove the shirt, hat, and mask several blocks away before driving off. White male, approximately 50s with gray side hair, trim build, about 5’10”, in a white 2016 Subaru Outback. The plate was captured and provided to the county sheriff.

🛡️ Takeaway: Disguise plus a long-dwell camera on your entrance is pre-attack surveillance until proven otherwise, and asking for “the rabbi” tells you the targeting is specific.

CWT case 20260603-D3EB6D04

Patterns This Edition

Surveillance dominated this window: a disguised cameraman dwelling four hours on a Messianic congregation’s door in Washington, a vehicle circling two Arizona churches in one morning, and a probable screening probe on the North Carolina coast. A separate bulletin-documented incident at a Jewish congregation in Washington, DC during the same window involved a purpose-built recording rig and refusal to identify, consistent with the same reconnaissance pattern against Jewish and Messianic targets. If your congregation is Jewish, Messianic, or visibly high-profile, brief your door team on long-dwell cameras and repeat vehicles now.

How to Submit

If you observed suspicious activity at your church this week, report it at alert.christianwarriortraining.com. Reports are reviewed by CWT, logged, and where appropriate, anonymized and published here so other safety teams can pattern-match in their own areas.

— CWT

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Report Suspicious Activity Here

Your Roll Call Video Briefing is Here👇

You may notice that my YouTube titles and thumbnails are more attention-grabbing than the writing here on Substack. That's intentional. YouTube is currently the single biggest way we're reaching new church security teams with this ministry. Every click helps us get biblical, practical security training in front of churches that have never heard of Christian Warrior Training before. If you watch on YouTube, you're helping that mission by feeding their algorithm. Every comment, like and share tells the algorithm to share it to other Christians.

Cwt Rollcall 071726

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TERROR AND INTELLIGENCE

ISIS Claims It Burned 17 Churches in the First Half of 2026

On July 6, the ISIS-linked Amaq News Agency published an infographic summarizing the group’s operations for the first six months of 2026. ISIS claimed 587 attacks that killed or wounded 2,529 people. The bulk of the attacks were in Africa: 138 attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo that killed 769, 250 attacks in Nigeria that killed 696, and 39 attacks in Niger that killed 290. In the same period the group claimed it burned 1,484 houses, 380 vehicles, 84 military sites, and 17 churches. It also claimed it seized 56 vehicles and destroyed eight aircraft. These are the group’s own numbers, published for propaganda purposes, and are not independently verified.

Morocco Disrupts ISIS-Sahel Cell Preparing Vehicle Attack

On July 6, Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations arrested ten suspected ISIS-Sahel members and disrupted several attack plots across multiple cities. Searches of the suspects’ homes turned up bladed weapons, military-style clothing, extremist writings, digital devices, and video showing pledges of allegiance to ISIS along with threats to carry out attacks inside Morocco. Investigators said the cell had received direct instructions from ISIS leadership to stay in Morocco and attack there rather than travel abroad. The members had already identified targets, conducted surveillance on them, and acquired materials. Authorities also located a vehicle prepared for use in either a suicide bombing or a ramming attack. All ten were remanded into custody.

UK Man Sentenced After Scouting Places of Worship as Attack Targets

On July 3, the Central Criminal Court in London sentenced 19-year-old Muhammad Billal to 13 years and six months for planning a terrorist attack and attempting to travel to Somalia to join ISIS. Beginning in February 2024, Billal researched potential attack locations across the United Kingdom, including shopping centers, train stations, stadiums, and places of worship, and tried to buy an illegal firearm. He purchased airline tickets and arranged a visa to reach Somalia by way of Ethiopia. Police arrested him on November 20, 2024, as he tried to board his flight. He pled guilty in July 2025.

Al-Qa’ida Affiliate Launches Weekly Newsletter Modeled on ISIS Publication

On July 3, the pro-AQAP media group Al-Yaqin published the first issue of a weekly newsletter called al-Bayan. The nine-page issue closely copies the design, layout, and content of the ISIS weekly al-Naba’, down to an infographic summarizing the previous week’s attack statistics. The first issue focused on the conflict in Gaza and on the al-Qa’ida affiliates Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin and al-Shabaab, which it rebranded as al-Qa’ida in West Africa and al-Qa’ida in East Africa. AQAP said it plans to publish al-Bayan every Friday.

Netherlands Holds Threat Level at Four of Five

On June 30, the Dutch National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security published its semiannual threat assessment. The report kept the national terrorist threat level at four out of five and said the threat of jihadist attacks in the Netherlands and across Europe remains high because jihadists view the country as a target. The assessment tied an increased chance of attack in the Netherlands and Europe to developments involving Iran. It found that while the threat from organized ISIS networks has diminished, online radicalization of young people and the volume of jihadist material online remain significant drivers.

Dates to Watch

The NCTC calendar lists the following in the coming weeks: the FIFA World Cup Final in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 19; Tisha B’Av, a Jewish observance, on July 22 and 23; the SAIL 250 tall ships and international air and naval review in Boston, July 11 to 16; the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow beginning July 23; and the MLS All-Star Game in Charlotte on July 29. July 7 marked the anniversary of the 2005 al-Qa’ida bombings in London that killed 52 people, and July 13 marks the anniversary of the 2018 ISIS suicide bombing at a pre-election rally in Mastung, Pakistan, that killed at least 149.

🛡️ My thoughts

VIOLENT CRIME

Church Security Calls In Suspicious Man, Officer-Involved Shooting Follows — Effingham, IL

Security at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Effingham called the Effingham Police Department at about 9:27 a.m. on Sunday, July 5, to report a suspicious vehicle in the lot and a suspicious man inside the building who was asking to speak with the pastor. No service was underway at the time. Effingham officers and Effingham County deputies located the man a short time later and determined the vehicle he arrived in had been reported stolen out of Marion County. Illinois State Police said officers from both agencies tried to restrain the man, and during the struggle he produced a firearm that discharged, striking him. He was taken to a local hospital and flown to a regional hospital with life-threatening injuries. State Police later identified him as Allen O. Gattino, 36, of St. Charles, Missouri. No one else was hurt, and the church canceled its 10:30 service.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

Man Arrested After Throwing Molotov Cocktails at Two Congregations — Queens, NY

Police arrested a 36-year-old man after he allegedly threw incendiary devices at two religious buildings in Queens late Wednesday night, July 8. Officers responded just before midnight to Iglesia Bautista El Mesias, a Baptist church on 75th Street in Ozone Park, after a 911 caller reported a man throwing a Molotov cocktail at the front door. The device bounced off the door, exploded on the ground, and started a small fire on the sidewalk without damaging the building. The same man then walked about a half mile to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses on 78th Street in Woodhaven and threw a second device at that door, which also bounced off and exploded on the ground. Firefighters extinguished both fires. Police located and arrested him nearby and recovered two additional Molotov cocktails from his bag. No injuries were reported. Charges are pending, and investigators are working to determine why the two locations were targeted.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

Elderly Man Assaulted and Dragged Inside Church After Refusing Entry — Columbus, OH

Columbus police are searching for a man who assaulted and robbed an elderly victim outside a downtown church around 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 5, in the 500 block of North High Street. Investigators said the victim was sitting outside the closed church when the suspect approached and asked to be let inside. The victim refused. The suspect assaulted him and took his set of keys, then used the keys to unlock the building. Once inside, police said the suspect assaulted the victim a second time and dragged him around the building by his ankles. The suspect then forced the victim to unlock his apartment and took an undetermined amount of cash. Police described the suspect as a Black man in his fifties, about five feet ten inches tall, thin, with a full gray-and-black mustache. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Columbus Division of Police.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

Four Shot Near Church Campus After Fourth of July Party — Grand Rapids, MI

Grand Rapids police were called to the 1400 block of Madison Avenue SE at about 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 5, for reports of shots fired. Officers found two women with minor injuries in a parking lot and a man nearby with what police described as a significant injury; he was listed in critical condition after surgery. A fourth victim later arrived at a hospital with a lower leg injury. Three of the four were adults and one was 16 years old. Police said the shooting began within a large crowd and stretched across an area running from Prospect Avenue SE to Madison Avenue SE, near the Square Campus of Madison Church. Neighbors said the crowd had gathered for a Fourth of July block party and that they heard roughly 15 shots, after which people ran through yards and broke fences trying to escape. Bullet holes were found in nearby homes and vehicles. No suspect information has been released.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

Man Shot in Church Parking Lot During Funeral — Houston, TX

Houston police responded to St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church at 8301 Brandon Street in the Sunnyside neighborhood at about noon on Friday, July 3, for a report of shots fired. Investigators determined an argument started in the church parking lot during a funeral service and two groups exchanged gunfire. Officers received a report that one person was struck and driven away from the scene in a private vehicle. Police checked area hospitals and had not located the victim. Detectives recovered shell casings at the scene and are reviewing surveillance video. Witnesses told reporters the funeral was for a man who had been shot and killed after a fight at a party. No suspects have been identified.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

SEX CRIMES

Church Childcare Volunteer Arrested After Years-Long Abuse Investigation — Portland, OR

U.S. Marshals arrested Daniel R. Eggleston, 61, of Boring, Oregon, on Wednesday, July 1, in Gresham on a warrant issued after a Multnomah County grand jury indicted him on June 26. The Portland Police Bureau opened the investigation in July 2021 after an adult woman reported Eggleston had sexually abused her repeatedly between the ages of three and twelve. Detectives identified two additional girls who said they were also assaulted. Eggleston was booked on ten counts of first-degree sex abuse along with charges of first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy, first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, and first-degree mistreatment, and additional charges were filed after new tips came in. Police said Eggleston volunteered for more than a decade with a childcare program at Mannahouse Church, formerly City Bible Church, at 9200 NE Fremont Street. Investigators emphasized that none of the known victims were connected to him through the church and there are no current allegations that he committed crimes there. Detectives are asking parents whose children were in the church’s care to speak with them, and the church is cooperating.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

Senior Pastor Arrested on Continuous Child Sexual Abuse Charges — Kenefick, TX

Liberty County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested George Finney, 52, senior pastor of New Life Kenefick, at his home in Dayton on Monday, June 29. The investigation began June 19 after a juvenile made an outcry to an adult who went directly to authorities. Finney is charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, indecency with a child by exposure, and assault of a family member by impeding breath. Court records allege the abuse occurred between January and October 2024. Bond was set at $50,000 per charge, for a total of $150,000. The church said it relieved Finney of his duties as soon as it learned of the allegations and is cooperating with law enforcement. The sheriff’s office said it is not aware of additional victims but believes there may be more.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

Church Facilities Coordinator Arrested on Child Exploitation Charge — Nashville, TN

Metro Nashville police arrested Jason Douglas Ford, 34, at his Donelson home on Tuesday, July 7, on a charge of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor. The Internet Crimes Against Children Unit opened a seven-month investigation in January after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent a cybertip about child sexual abuse material shared in Davidson County through the Kik app. Investigators subpoenaed internet providers and determined that Ford’s email address created the Kik account used to share the file, and that the IP address in the cybertip was registered to his residence. Ford is the facilities coordinator at Midtown Fellowship, where he is listed on the church website. His bond was set at $75,000. Police are asking anyone with information or concerns about his interactions with children to contact detectives at 615-862-7540.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

Former Youth Volunteer Charged With Offenses Against Teenage Girl — Arlington, VA

The Arlington County Police Department’s Special Victims Unit arrested Jeremy Mishler, 42, of Arlington on Monday, July 6. He is charged with two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child by a person in a supervisory or custodial relationship, assault and battery, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Detectives opened the investigation on June 5 after receiving information that Mishler had several inappropriate contacts in May with a teenage girl who knew him. Police said Mishler previously volunteered with youth at Cherrydale Baptist Church. The church’s elder council said it is not aware of any misconduct that occurred on church property or at a church event involving Mishler, that it has complied with Virginia reporting law, and that it has directed anyone in the congregation with knowledge of misconduct to report it to police. Detectives believe there could be additional victims.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

Southern Baptist Pastor Arrested on Sexual Exploitation Charge — Cayce, SC

Daniel Rabon, 62, pastor of Taylor Street Baptist Church in Cayce, was arrested June 30 and charged with third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. According to an arrest warrant from the South Carolina Attorney General’s office, investigators found 26 or more image and video files on Rabon’s cell phone depicting morphed images of identifiable minors in sexual activity or sexually explicit nudity. Records show he was released on a $125,000 bond on July 1. Taylor Street Baptist is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention through the Lexington Baptist Association. The church said it is cooperating fully with the investigation and asked for prayer for the victims and their families. The church’s Facebook page has since been taken down.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

ARSON AND SUSPICIOUS FIRES

Three-Alarm Fire Destroys Former Church, Squatter Taken Into Custody — Pittsburgh, PA

Fire tore through the former Grandview United Presbyterian Church in the 300 block of Grandview Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington neighborhood at about 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 7. The three-alarm blaze collapsed the roof and sent smoke visible across the Pittsburgh skyline and from PNC Park. One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion. Firefighters do not believe anyone was inside when the fire started. Police arrested Colton Normand at the scene after officers said he ran from the crowd of onlookers, through the hose lines, to a window of the burning building, telling them he wanted to look at the fire. According to the criminal complaint, Normand gave officers a false first name and was already wanted on an assault warrant out of Idaho. Police said Normand had been squatting at the church and had been ordered off the property for trespassing on July 2. He is charged with defiant trespass, obstructing emergency services, and providing false identification to law enforcement. Police said an arson investigation will follow. Normand has not been charged in connection with the fire.

Source

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FATAL INCIDENTS

Body Found on Vacant Church Property Identified — Roseville, MI

Authorities identified a man found dead on the grounds of the vacant former Sacred Heart Church in Roseville. Police said the closed church building had served for years as an unofficial shelter for some of the area’s unhoused population. No cause of death has been released and no criminal act has been alleged. The investigation is ongoing.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

INTERNATIONAL

Fifteen Worshippers Freed After 67 Days in Captivity, One Dies — Eda Oniyo, Nigeria

Ekiti State police said worshippers abducted from a Christ Apostolic Church open-air crusade at Eda Oniyo were rescued and returned home around midnight on Friday, July 3. Gunmen had stormed the church’s prayer mountain on Tuesday, April 28, shooting and killing the officiating pastor and marching 15 worshippers into the forest. Most were women, along with two young boys and children between the ages of two and four. One of the captives died during the 67 days in captivity. Police Public Relations Officer SP Sunday Abutu said the rescue followed sustained intelligence-led operations involving the police, the military, the Amotekun Corps, local hunters, and the Ekiti State Government. The abductors initially demanded a one billion naira ransom before lowering the figure; community sources said a ransom of 25.5 million naira plus fuel and food was paid before the release. The freed victims are being treated at Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital in Ado-Ekiti at state expense. Police said efforts to arrest the abductors are ongoing.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

Gunmen Abduct Pastor and Two Congregants From Church Residence — Andyar, Nigeria

Armed men broke into the residence of Rev. Dr. Samuel Gbinde on the grounds of NKST Church in Andyar, Ishan Classis, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, in the early hours of Tuesday, June 30. The gunmen fired shots to scatter residents before taking Gbinde and two members of his congregation to an unknown destination. Gbinde is a senior pastor with the Universal Reformed Christian Church, known locally as NKST. General Secretary Rev. Dr. T. A. Targba confirmed the abduction in a statement and called on security agencies and the Benue State and federal governments to act to secure the victims’ release and arrest those responsible. A community source said Andyar is isolated and sits close to Logo Local Government Area, an area known for banditry and armed herdsmen attacks. The Benue State Police Command had not issued a statement as of publication.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

Catholic Priest Shot Dead Returning to His Parish Residence — Zemio, Central African Republic

Fr. Crepin Martial Monga, vicar of St. John the Baptist Parish in Zemio, Haut-Mbomou Prefecture, was shot and killed by gunmen at about 6:43 p.m. on Monday, June 29. According to diocesan sources, the attack happened on the road linking a Central African Armed Forces checkpoint to the parish residence. Monga was struck in the head and died instantly. A woman from his parish traveling with him was shot in the neck and remains in critical condition. Monga coordinated the Local Committee for Peace and Reconciliation in Zemio and had spent years mediating between armed groups and local authorities. Bishop Aurelio Gazzera of Bangassou said the parish had at times sheltered more than 3,000 displaced people. Church sources believe the killing was deliberate and connected to his mediation work. No group has claimed responsibility, and authorities have not identified those responsible. The day before he was killed, Monga baptized 175 people, including 160 displaced Christians.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts

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Report Suspicious Activity Here

What Happened

On Sunday morning, July 5, 2026, the security team at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Effingham, Illinois, noticed something out of place. A vehicle in the lot did not belong, and a man they did not recognize had come inside asking to speak with the pastor. No service was underway. The 10:30 hour had not arrived and the building was still quiet. The team did not wait to see how it would develop. At about 9:27 that morning they called the Effingham Police Department and reported both the vehicle and the man.

Officers from the Effingham Police Department and the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office responded and found the man a short time later. When they ran the vehicle, it came back stolen out of Marion County. It had been taken in Kinmundy that same morning, around 8:55, roughly half an hour before the man walked into the church. That single fact changed the encounter. A man asking to see the pastor is a pastoral matter. A man who drove a stolen car straight to the church is a police matter.

Officers moved to restrain him. During the struggle he produced a firearm, and it discharged, striking him. He was taken to a local hospital and then flown to a regional hospital with life-threatening injuries. No officers were hurt. No one in the congregation was hurt. The Illinois State Police took over the investigation and said this was an isolated incident with no ongoing threat to the community. The church posted shortly after ten o’clock that everyone was safe and cancelled the later service.

We do not know why the man was there. We do not know what he intended. Those answers belong to the investigation. What we do know is that a trained team saw an anomaly in the parking lot, called it in, and had law enforcement on scene before the congregation arrived. That is the whole story, and it is worth studying.

Lessons for Church Security Teams

It Starts in the Parking Lot

I have said this for years. The problem almost never begins at the sanctuary door. It begins in the parking lot, and it often begins with a vehicle. In this case the car was the first thread the team pulled. They flagged it, police ran it, and it came back stolen. Without that flag, this is a man who wanted to talk to the pastor and nothing more. With it, it became a felony stop handled by two agencies before a single member of the congregation was in danger.

Your team needs eyes on the lot, not just the doors. Someone should be watching who arrives, where they park, whether they sit in the vehicle, and whether the vehicle fits the pattern of your congregation. A car backed into a far corner with someone sitting in it, a plate that does not match the driver, a vehicle that circles the lot, all of that is information. You cannot act on what you never see.

I have a free course on how to contact a suspicious vehicle in a parking lot. Hit the training tab and go through it with your team. We teach it because you will not know, in the moment, whether the person in that car came to find Christ or came to do you harm. You have to be prepared for both. That is the job.

The Threat Does Not Wait for the Crowd

Read the timeline again. There was no service happening. The building was in that quiet stretch before the 10:30 hour, when most teams relax and fewer people are watching. That is exactly when this man walked in.

Attackers and people in crisis do not schedule themselves around your service times. They come in the gaps, when they think fewer people are watching. If your security posture only goes up when the sanctuary fills, you have left the front half of your morning uncovered. The team at St. John’s had someone paying attention while the building was still quiet, and that is the only reason this got caught early.

Post your people before the doors get busy. The first arrivals, the setup crews, the early prayer groups, all of them are on the property during the window when a determined person is most likely to move. Cover it.

A Man Asking for the Pastor Is a Contact, Not a Free Pass

Here is a truth every church security team learns quickly. People in trouble come to the church. Sometimes they come because they are at the end of themselves and they want help. Sometimes they come because the church is soft, open, and full of people. Most of the time you cannot tell which one is standing in front of you from across the room.

That is why an unknown man asking to speak with the pastor gets a contact, not a wave-through. You close the distance, you get your eyes on him, and you make it a friendly encounter. Something as simple as, brother, it looks like you are carrying something heavy this morning, can I help you. You are reading his hands, his eyes, and his responses, and you are not letting him drift toward the pastor’s office on his own while nobody is with him. If he is a man in crisis who needs prayer, you just met him with the love of Christ. If he came to do harm, you just interrupted his plan and put a trained person between him and his target.

We are in ministry. We are here to protect the people of God and we are here to serve Christ and carry the gospel to the man who walks in broken. Those two callings are not in conflict. Discernment is how you hold both at once.

Observe, Report, and Let the Professionals Take the Felony

Notice what the team did not do. They did not try to detain the man themselves. They did not corner him or turn it into a confrontation in the lobby. They observed something that did not fit, they reported it, and they got law enforcement rolling. When police arrived and the vehicle came back stolen, this stopped being a church problem and became a job for two agencies with the training, the tools, and the legal authority to handle it.

That restraint is a mark of a mature team. Your job is to see the threat early and buy time and distance, not to win a fight in the narthex. Call early. A suspicious vehicle you cannot resolve, a person whose story does not add up, a situation that feels wrong, all of it is reason enough to get police en route. Let them make the felony stop. The struggle that followed, and the fact that a firearm came out during it, is exactly the kind of thing you want professionals handling, not your volunteers.

The Biblical Perspective

Jesus sent His people into a dangerous world with a specific instruction about how to carry themselves.

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16, ESV)

He did not tell them to be only gentle, and He did not tell them to be only shrewd. He told them to be both at the same time. Wise as serpents means you see the threat, you read the room, and you do not walk into the wolf’s mouth because you assumed the best about everyone. Innocent as doves means you do not become hard, suspicious, and cold toward the very people you were sent to reach. The church security team lives in that exact tension. The man in the stolen car might have been a wolf. He might have been a lost sheep who ran to the only place he could think of. Wisdom sees the danger. Innocence still loves the man. You need both, and you cannot drop either one.

There is a second picture worth holding.

“Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command.” (1 Chronicles 12:32, ESV)

What set the men of Issachar apart was not their strength. It was their discernment. They understood the times, and because they understood the times, they knew what to do. That is precisely what happened in Effingham. A team that understood the times looked at a vehicle and a stranger and knew what the moment required. They knew to call. Training is what turns a vague uneasy feeling into understanding, and understanding into action. The team that reads the times and knows what to do is the team that gets law enforcement on scene before the congregation is ever in the room.

Watchfulness and mercy are not opposites. They are the two hands of the same ministry. You guard the door so the gospel can be preached inside it.

Final Assessment

Nobody in that congregation was hurt. That is the headline, and it did not happen by accident. It happened because a security team was on post during the quiet hour, watching the parking lot, and willing to make a phone call over a car and a stranger that did not fit. Every good outcome in church security looks small from the outside. A call. A contact. A stop that happened before the crowd arrived. Small actions, taken early, are what keep the big tragedy off the news.

We still do not know this man’s story. Maybe he was in crisis and the church was the last door he knew to knock on. Maybe he came with worse in mind. The team did not have to answer that question to do their job, because their job was to see the anomaly, put a trained person on it, and get help moving. They did all three.

Study this one with your team. Walk your own parking lot and ask who would have seen this car. Ask who is on post before your first service, when the building is still quiet. Ask what your people would say to a stranger asking for the pastor, and who would be standing with him while he waited. The team at St. John’s answered those questions before Sunday came. Make sure yours can too.

Before You Go

Leave a comment below with how your team covers the parking lot before services. If this was useful, share it with your pastor or your team leader so the whole team can walk through it together.

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Copyright © 2026 Keith Graves. All rights reserved.

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INTELLIGENCE/TERRORISM

Heavily Armed Trans Suspect With History of Mass Shooting Threats Arrested at Casino, No Target Identified — Henderson, Nevada

Shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 27, the former spouse of a 36-year-old Henderson, Nevada man called police to report that he had stolen her car, that the vehicle contained numerous firearms, and that he intended to commit suicide by cop or carry out a mass shooting. The suspect is transgender, assigned male at birth, and goes by the name Allison Howlett; jail records list Howlett as male. The former spouse tracked the stolen car by phone to a parking garage at the Sunset Station hotel and casino, where officers pulled Howlett from the vehicle and found he had been sitting on a handgun with a suppressed fully automatic MP5-style machine gun in the back seat. Police recovered 22 firearms from the vehicle and roughly 30 more from his residence, about 55 in total, including automatic weapons, suppressors, grenade launcher attachments, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. At a Tuesday briefing, police played a 2024 recorded call in which Howlett threatened a mass shooting if the FBI did not come arrest him, and he was arraigned Wednesday on 35 felony counts, including making terroristic threats, assault constituting domestic violence with a deadly weapon, 21 counts of firearm larceny, and eight counts of machine gun or silencer possession, with bail set at $500,000 and a preliminary hearing set for July 15. Police say the motive remains under investigation and have not publicly identified an intended target; the interdiction came from a family member reporting concrete pre-attack indicators to police.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: although there was no location listed for the potential attack, churches have been a target from Trans persons including Covenant School and Abundant Life Christian School. I have taken heat for commenting about a connection between trans persons and mass shootings. But I stand by my comments and you should use it as part of any threat assessment for your church. We want them to come to Christ and we want to help them repent. But you should always have a plan.

Russia Disrupts Planned Arson Attack Against Synagogue — Yaroslavl, Russia

On June 29, Russia’s Federal Security Service announced it prevented an arson attack against a synagogue in Yaroslavl and arrested a Russian citizen accused of membership in an international terrorist organization. The suspect acted on instructions from a Syria-based handler, purchased components and chemicals to produce an incendiary mixture, and planned to attack the Jewish religious institution with a homemade incendiary device. He conducted reconnaissance of the site and photographed the target, and a search of his home found incendiary devices ready for use along with communications equipment and instructions from his handler. The suspect planned to travel to Syria to join the terrorist organization after carrying out the attack. Counterterrorism analysts note that terrorist arson is a low-cost tactic using easily acquired materials, and that pre-attack indicators include reconnaissance of the target, research on ignition sources, selecting targets to maximize fire spread, setting multiple fires to defeat the response, and impersonating public safety personnel to access a scene.

Source: NCTC Counterterrorism Digest, 25 June to 1 July 2026

🛡️ My thoughts: ISIS and Al Qaeda have been pushing Lonewolf actors to use fire and vehicle ramming As a tactic in their attacks against Jews and Christians. People are listening and they're realizing how easy it is in the barrier to entry is minimal.

Australian Intelligence Details Iranian-Directed Attacks on Jewish Worship Sites — Canberra, Australia

On June 24, the Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation provided an update on the Iranian terror threat in Australia, detailing IRGC operations targeting Australian interests and critical infrastructure. He described a case in which the IRGC colluded with two individuals to orchestrate attacks on Jewish buildings in Australia: an Iran-based IRGC-Quds Force senior agent orchestrated the October 2024 attack on the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Bondi, New South Wales, and a former Australian resident living in Iraq directed the December 2024 attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne. He also described an Iran-aligned group that orchestrated a wave of attacks across Europe in early 2026 targeting Jewish interests using arson and rudimentary incendiary devices. The Director-General stated that ISIS and al-Qa’ida continue to improve their ability to conduct and inspire attacks and continue to view Western interests as legitimate targets. Australia’s terrorism threat level remains at Probable, and Australian law enforcement has disrupted 31 major terrorism plots since 2014.

Source: NCTC Counterterrorism Digest, 25 June to 1 July 2026

🛡️ My thoughts: This is CHRISTIAN Warrior Training, but we are still going to help the Jews. Many synagogues get their intelligence in training from us. Many Christians have been taking an anti-juice stance lately due to certain podcasters pushing that narrative. You should ignore them and listen to the Bible instead. Remember what the Apostle Paul said, “...remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.” Romans 11:18 (ESV). There are other verses, but let us leave it at that. Also remember that at some point, according to the book of revelation, that they will be coming after Christians. Don't be paranoid, just be ready and study these attacks and think about your own church and how you can better protect it based on this knowledge.

ISIS Media Continues Targeting the FIFA World Cup — Continuing Coverage

We covered ISIS calls to attack the FIFA World Cup in a prior edition, and the messaging has not let up. Pro-ISIS Al-Battar Media released a new poster titled “And Kill Them Wherever You Find Them” depicting the 2026 FIFA World Cup, derived from the group’s weekly Al-Naba’ newsletter issue 552, and ISIS has since published issue 553. The poster is an open call for lone attackers to act against World Cup events on their own initiative. The tournament final is scheduled for July 19 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and the same threat window includes the July 4 Independence Day celebrations in Washington, D.C., and the SAIL 250 tall ships events in New York from July 3 to 8 and Boston from July 11 to 16. Churches near host cities and watch party venues should hold their current posture through the end of the tournament.

Source: NCTC Counterterrorism Digest, 25 June to 1 July 2026

VIOLENT CRIME

Armed Man With Flamethrowers and Target Notebook Stopped at Church — High Point, North Carolina

On Sunday morning, June 28, a 911 caller reported an armed man in camouflage sitting in a truck in the parking lot of Wesley Memorial Methodist Church in High Point, North Carolina, during services. An off-duty High Point police officer working security at the church responded immediately, and arriving officers disarmed William S. Milliken III, 44, of Thomasville, who was wearing a plate carrier and had presented himself as a law enforcement officer there to enforce a smoking violation. A search of his truck turned up two flamethrowers, two crossbows, a CO2-powered launcher built to resemble a handgun, three knives, more than 500 rounds of ammunition, duct tape, and oxycodone pills. Court documents state officers also found a notebook containing addresses of churches, schools, and public buildings, along with police scanner radios, handcuff keys, and an enlarged map of the state. Milliken is charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction, impersonating a law enforcement officer, and possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, and was denied bond at his June 29 first appearance.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: See the video below for my thoughts.

Catholic Pastor Stabbed by Restaurant Server Who Knew Him From Church — Austin, Texas

On Saturday night, June 27, Rev. Jairo Sandoval-Pliego, pastor of San Jose Catholic Church in south Austin, was stabbed multiple times while dining with parishioners at Bob’s Steak and Chop House in downtown Austin, Texas. Police say the server, 45-year-old Edward Koubek, recognized the pastor from church when he arrived, then approached the table at the end of the meal in what witnesses thought was a goodbye hug before repeatedly stabbing him in the neck, back, and shoulder with a kitchen knife. Koubek told investigators he had attended the church since 2018, believed the pastor would snicker at him after confession, paced for 10 to 15 minutes before the attack, and intended in the moment to kill him. Witnesses restrained Koubek until he fled to the rear of the restaurant, where officers detained him. Hospital staff said the pastor suffered four to six stab wounds and could have died without medical intervention; Koubek is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: See the video below for my thoughts.

Man Shot and Killed at Bethel Baptist Church, Suspect Arrested at Scene — McCaysville, Georgia

In the early morning hours of Thursday, June 25, Fannin County 911 received a call reporting a shooting at Bethel Baptist Church in McCaysville, Georgia. Deputies arrived to find Austin Teems, 29, of Blue Ridge, with apparent gunshot wounds, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Nicholas Rogers, also 29 and also of Blue Ridge, was taken into custody at the church and has been charged with felony murder and aggravated assault. The GBI is assisting the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office with the investigation, and investigators have not released a motive, the relationship between the two men, or why they were at the church at that hour. Teems was a husband and father of two young boys, according to a family fundraiser.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: when people are fleeing danger, they often flee to a church. Although these incidents usually don't involve the church, specifically, the church is involved because that's where bad people are gonna go to find refuge. Whether it's running from the police or hoping that God is going to save them at the church, it is almost ingrained in our psyche to go to the church for Safety. You need to remember these incidents and think about your situational awareness during off hours at church. Most attacks happen outside of worship time and they happen in the parking lot. Week after week you see examples of this that prove our point. Just have good situational awareness and a good plan.

Two Shot at Church During Youth Violence Prevention Orientation — Washington, D.C.

On Monday afternoon, June 29, two men were shot at Peace Baptist Church in the 700 block of 18th Street Northeast in Washington, D.C., while the church hosted the first day of a youth orientation for the TRIGGER Project, a gun violence prevention program running since 2019. Metropolitan Police officers nearby heard the gunfire around 4:05 p.m. and were directed to the church, where they found two adult males with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds; both are expected to recover. Police say a group had gathered in a small fenced utility area at the rear of the church building when at least one person fired into the group before fleeing. While detectives interviewed witnesses inside the church, officers noticed a 16-year-old boy carrying two backpacks and found two firearms inside them. The teen was charged with two counts of carrying a pistol without a license, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device, and his involvement in the shooting itself remains under investigation.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: if you are holding an event where criminals or gang members are coming to your church, you need to have church security on scene. Every other criminal and gang member knows that those people are gonna be there a specific date and time. So if they wanna target a specific individual, they know when and where to go. People to church usually let their guard down because they are at church. That is perfect timing for an assailant. Again, here is another example of how important situational awareness is while you're working at church.

SWAT Raids Church Property Used as Gang Headquarters, 50+ Arrest Warrants — Holly Hill, Florida

Early Tuesday morning, June 30, a multi-agency task force executed Operation Holy Rollers, raiding a home on the property of Greater Harvest Ministries in Holly Hill, Florida, that investigators say served as the headquarters of a gang called the Cut Throat Killers. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said a year-long investigation using surveillance and a federal wiretap showed the group storing drugs and firearms at the church-owned house, which sits about 25 feet from the church and was occupied by the pastor’s son. Authorities linked the gang to multiple shootings and at least four fentanyl overdose deaths across the county, including a recent shooting at a Buc-ee’s, and say the group trafficked fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine. The operation included 10 search warrants and more than 50 arrest warrants across Holly Hill, Daytona Beach, and Ormond Beach, with 45 people arrested in the first days, among them the pastor’s son, Ermando Lewis, and her 17-year-old grandson. Pastor Terry Brown told reporters she was unaware of criminal activity at the property, and Chitwood said there is no proof she was involved in the gang’s operations.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: the message here is simple: please don't let your church be used as a gang hangout. Jesus needs to come down into that church and start flipping tables.

John 2:15–17 (KJV)

15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Homeless Man Stabbed and Robbed on Church Porch, Two Charged — Hopkinsville, Kentucky

Just after midnight on Friday, June 26, a 49-year-old homeless man beaten and stabbed during an apparent robbery made his way to the Salvation Army on East 7th Street in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and banged on the door for help. Investigators determined the attack occurred on the porch of Grace Episcopal Church on East 6th Street, where officers found the original crime scene along with blood trails, a large hunting-style knife with blood residue, and a bloodied alcohol bottle nearby. The victim suffered large wounds to the stomach and head injuries and was flown to a Nashville-area hospital, where he underwent surgery and is recovering. Officers located two men walking away from the scene, 34-year-old Keshane Redmon and 47-year-old Ronnie Stevenson, with Redmon showing an apparent wound to his hand. Both were charged with first-degree assault and first-degree robbery.

Source

Pastor Accused of Stabbing Girlfriend’s Ex, Then Hiding From Police Inside His Church — St. Paul, Minnesota

Around 10:45 p.m. on Thursday, June 25, St. Paul police responded to a home in the 1100 block of Marion Street and found a 39-year-old man bleeding heavily from a deep abdominal wound that exposed internal tissue; he was rushed to Regions Hospital and taken directly into surgery. According to the criminal complaint, the man had come to collect tools he stored in the home’s garage and to ask for receipts, believing some had been pawned, when the confrontation with Terrence Philip Walker Sr., 61, of Prior Lake, turned violent on the front steps. A witness heard a slashing sound and saw Walker lunge repeatedly at the bleeding man while the victim’s mother tried to intervene; Walker told police the man punched him first and that he pulled a knife in self-defense. Walker, a pastor at Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in St. Paul, fled before officers arrived, and police tracked him to the nearby church, where he was arrested. He is charged with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and is due back in Ramsey County District Court on July 23.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: Sometimes the hardest part of church security is remembering that the threat does not always walk in through the front door. We spend a lot of time looking for strangers while assuming everyone already inside the church is above suspicion. If these allegations are true, a pastor allegedly stabbed a man, fled the scene, and hid inside his own church. Position does not replace character, and a title does not place anyone above accountability.

Man Walks Into Church, Admits Killing His Daughter, Then Leaves — Fairmont, West Virginia

On Sunday, June 28, an unidentified man walked into Grace Lutheran Church in Fairmont, West Virginia, stated that he had shot and killed his daughter, and then left the church. Fairmont police were called, and the Marion County Sheriff’s Department responded to conduct a welfare check at a residence on Stony Lonesome Road in Monongah, with West Virginia State Police units also requested as part of the call. Marion County 911 confirmed the sequence of events, and authorities are treating the case as a possible homicide investigation. No arrest, victim identification, or further details had been released as of early this week.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: This type of event, where someone admits to committing a murder or comes to a church after committing one, happens a couple of times each year. Again, situational awareness is key, along with thinking through these situations before they happen. What will you do if someone comes into your church and confesses to a serious violent crime? Always have a plan, and always practice tactical visualization. Tactical visualization is simply thinking through incidents like this ahead of time and considering how you would respond. I spent decades using tactical visualization, and it helped me act quickly in dangerous situations that I had never encountered before.

SEX CRIMES

Pastor Arrested on Sexual Battery and Molestation Charges Involving Two Teens — Jacksonville, Florida

Anthony Doyle, 65, listed in the arrest report as a pastor at Friendship Primitive Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, was arrested June 22 on charges of sexual battery and lewd molestation involving two juvenile victims. In the current case, a juvenile victim told detectives that Doyle groomed him by giving him about twenty dollars after every church service and telling him he was his favorite, then escalated to inviting him alone to his office or the church dining hall, with the final incident involving contact under the victim’s clothing. That investigation prompted detectives to reopen a 2022 sexual battery case in which Doyle, then working as a school security guard and leading an afterschool mentorship program, allegedly used the program to build a relationship with a male high school student before luring him to a residence, sexually battering him, threatening to kill him if he told anyone, and giving him $150. Doyle faces one first-degree felony count of sexual battery by a custodian and one second-degree felony count of lewd and lascivious molestation. He denied wrongdoing in the 2022 case and characterized the recent contact as loving and nonsexual.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: we talked about how to spot groomers last week. We had a special focus on that along with a handout and a video to help train you on how to spot groomers like this Pastor. I suggest you go back to last weeks weekly news bulletin, and watch that if you missed it.

Former Church Employee Indicted on 18 Felony Counts Including Child Sexual Assault and Trafficking — Clute, Texas

Adrian Gerard Johnson, 25, of Angleton, Texas, was arrested Monday, June 22, after a Brazoria County grand jury indicted him June 18 on 18 felony counts involving three child victims, two of them younger than 14. The charges include four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, four counts of sexual assault of a child, four counts of sexual performance by a child, two counts of human trafficking, one count of compelling prostitution, one count of indecency with a child by exposure, and one count of sexual assault prohibited under the Texas bigamy statute. Lake Jackson police confirmed Johnson was employed at Destiny Church in Clute at the time of the alleged offenses, which court records place between 2015 and 2020, though the department would not confirm whether the offenses were directly connected to his position; local reporting has described him as a former pastor at the church. The arrest followed a three-month inter-agency investigation sparked by a complaint filed with the police department. Johnson is held at the Brazoria County Jail without bond.

Source

Former Church Volunteer Arrested in Predator Sting Targeting 7-Year-Old — Jacksonville, Florida

John Goodman, a former volunteer at Oceanway Church in Jacksonville, Florida, was arrested in a Marion County undercover sting after deputies say he tried to arrange a sexual encounter with a 7-year-old girl. Investigators say Goodman was messaging with a man he believed was offering access to his young daughter; that man was an undercover officer, and Goodman was arrested when he showed up at the meeting location. Former youth pastors at Oceanway recognized Goodman from the sheriff’s office arrest video and identified him as a member of the worship team during their time at the church. Through an attorney, the church said Goodman volunteered only in the adult music program, held no staff or leadership position, and did not serve in children’s or youth ministries. The church also confirmed that concerns involving the family were raised several years ago over alleged conduct away from the church, that the matter was reported to the Florida Department of Children and Families, and that the family was removed from serving and eventually asked to leave.

Source

ARSON AND SUSPICIOUS FIRES

Fire That Destroyed Historic St. Paul CME Church Declared a Crime — Crawford, Alabama

The Alabama State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating as a crime the fire that destroyed St. Paul CME Church on Bleecker Road in Crawford, Alabama. The fire was reported around 5 a.m. on Monday, June 22, and firefighters from at least seven departments arrived to find the church fully engulfed, with the fellowship hall roof already collapsed and flames spreading into the sanctuary. The blaze destroyed both the historic sanctuary and the congregation’s relatively new fellowship hall; no one was injured. The congregation held a prayer vigil at the site and is temporarily sharing worship space with Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church in neighboring Lee County. No suspect or cause has been publicly identified.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: This is your weekly reminder that you need a burglar alarm, a fire alarm and a 4k video system.

Woman Charged With Arson After Fire Set Outside Church — Somerset, Texas

Alexandra Paulina Arizola, 32, has been charged with arson after a fire outside a church in Somerset, Texas, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Somerset police say surveillance video showed a woman later identified as Arizola trespassing on church property and scattering donated items before the fire. The affidavit ties her to the fire through the surveillance footage. No injuries were reported in connection with the fire.

Source

INTERNATIONAL

Pastor Among 28 Christians Killed in Overnight Village Massacre — Bokkos County, Nigeria

Armed Fulani militants attacked the predominantly Christian village of Kawel in Bokkos County, Plateau State, Nigeria, beginning around 2 a.m. on Monday, June 22, killing residents in their homes over roughly two hours. Rev. Markus Nyam, pastor of the Church of Christ in Nations congregation in Kawel, was shot dead outside a church building, and members of his congregation were among the dead; reported death tolls range from 20 to 28, including a pregnant woman and medical staff from a local clinic. Survivors said phone and telecom service had been cut before the attack, and one witness reported hearing the attackers call out the names of specific Christian leaders and direct others to hunt them down in their homes, an indication local informants guided the strike. Residents said police did not arrive until after daylight despite the attack beginning at 2 a.m. Open Doors reports 3,490 of the 4,849 Christians killed worldwide for their faith between October 2024 and September 2025 were Nigerian.

Source

Gunmen Abduct Pastor and Two Congregants From Church Residence — Benue State, Nigeria

In the early hours of Tuesday, June 30, armed men stormed the residence of Rev. Dr. Samuel Gbinde at NKST Church in Andyar, Ishan Classis, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria, and abducted the pastor along with two members of his congregation. A local source said the gunmen arrived late at night, broke into the home, and fired sporadically to scare off residents before taking the three victims to an unknown location. The Universal Reformed Christian Church, known as NKST, confirmed the abduction in a statement and called on security agencies and the Benue State and federal governments to act swiftly to rescue the victims. The community sits near Logo Local Government Area, an area known for banditry and armed herdsmen attacks. The abduction follows a series of kidnappings and violent attacks across Benue despite ongoing security operations.

Source

Roughly 50 Students Abducted From School in Christian Area of Southern Borno — Lassa, Nigeria

On Monday, June 29, gunmen attacked Government Day Secondary School in Lassa, Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria, abducting an estimated 50 students who were sitting for examinations, killing at least one teacher, and seriously wounding another. Bishop John Bogna Bakeni, Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri, said the exact number of abducted remains uncertain due to conflicting reports from the area. A rapid response by the military and local vigilantes rescued about 10 people, including eight students, though one soldier and one vigilante were killed in the rescue effort. Bishop Bakeni said families in the area are still awaiting the release of children abducted from the nearby community of Musa about two months earlier. Lassa sits in southern Borno, a predominantly Christian region that has endured repeated attacks by armed groups.

Source

Police Raid House Church Service, Detain 33 Including Children — Jiangyou, China

On Sunday, June 14, roughly 60 to 70 Chinese government personnel, including SWAT officers, Domestic Security Protection Unit officers, and religious affairs officials, raided a worship service of Early Rain Covenant Church held in a hotel conference room in Jiangyou City, Sichuan Province. Authorities detained 33 believers, including church leaders and children, transporting them by bus to a Jiangyou public security case-handling center where they were held about 12 hours for interrogation; three members were reportedly injured in the raid. Most detainees were released late that night, but elders Wu Wuqing and Yan Hong were sentenced to 14 and 15 days of administrative detention, and ChinaAid reports authorities have continued summoning members for repeat questioning since the raid. Early Rain is one of China’s best-known Protestant house churches and has faced sustained pressure since the December 2018 crackdown that led to founding pastor Wang Yi’s nine-year prison sentence. Advocates describe the raid as the latest escalation in a nationwide campaign against unregistered congregations.

Source

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🟢 This week’s Roll Call Briefing includes:

✅ Current threat assessment and why the alert level remains High (Orange)
✅ World Cup and Fourth of July security concerns, including drone threats
✅ ISIS propaganda, Iranian proxy activity, and attacks targeting Christians worldwide
✅ Five major church violence incidents and the lessons every safety team should learn
✅ New sexual abuse case and what church security should be watching for
✅ This week’s team discussion: protecting your pastor during the post service meet and greet
✅ Prayer, Scripture, and practical action items your team can use before Sunday

Cwt Rollcall 071026

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What Happened

On Saturday, June 27, 2026, around 10:27 p.m., Rev. Jairo Sandoval-Pliego, pastor of San Jose Catholic Church in Austin, was having dinner with a couple from his parish at Bob’s Steak and Chop House on Lavaca Street downtown. A 45-year-old man named Edward Koubek greeted the group as they arrived and said he recognized the priest from church. The priest later told police the exchange was polite, and that he had not seen Koubek in months.

As dinner wound down, Koubek approached the table again. The couple thought he was leaning in for a goodbye hug, and by the time they understood what was happening he was stabbing the priest repeatedly in the back, shoulder, and neck. Witnesses restrained him, he broke free and fled to the back of the restaurant, and officers took him into custody. One officer applied pressure to the priest’s neck wound until medics arrived. Sandoval-Pliego was hospitalized with wounds ruled serious but non-life-threatening, though staff said that without treatment he could have died. Koubek, a churchgoer since 2018, claimed the priest held a grudge and snickered after his confessions, and told police his intention was, in the moment, to kill him. He was charged with second-degree felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The Familiar Face Is the Hardest Threat to Read

Church security trains people to watch for the outsider. Koubek broke that model because he belonged. He had a seven-year history in the parish and the standing to walk right up and start a friendly conversation, and that standing carried him to the priest without resistance. What let it work has a name worth knowing, because you cannot train against what you cannot name. It is normalcy bias, the assumption that because a situation has always been safe it will stay safe, and that a person who looks like he belongs actually does. The mind reaches for the harmless explanation first, because almost every time the harmless explanation is the right one. A familiar member walking up to your pastor really is coming to say hello, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, and that is what makes the bias so hard to override in the rare moment it is wrong. When Koubek rose and leaned in, the people beside the priest read it as a goodbye embrace, because that is what it should have been, and the harmless version held a half second too long.

The fix is not to make your congregation suspicious of one another. It is to train one person to hold that harmless explanation a beat longer and to act on the detail that does not fit before the mind settles it. Threat assessment has to include the known member whose behavior has drifted or who carries a grievance left to fester. Koubek had not been seen in months and turned up at the same restaurant on the same night. That is the kind of detail the assigned set of eyes exists to catch, while everyone else at the table is free to enjoy the meal.

Someone Has to Be Watching

Koubek gave a warning. He paced for ten to fifteen minutes before he attacked, and a man circling a table that long is a visible pre-attack indicator any trained observer would flag. No one at the table was assigned to watch.

Any time your pastor is in public with a group, one person should carry the security role and nothing else, one set of eyes whose only job is to scan the room and track anyone lingering near the principal. That role carries a second duty just as important, intercepting. If someone approaches and begins to escalate, the assigned person moves between that individual and the pastor, engages verbally, and controls the distance before it reaches contact. Had someone done that here, Koubek’s second approach would have met a body and a voice instead of an open lane.

The Embrace Closes the Gap

Koubek walked up in what read as a goodbye hug, and the people next to the priest took it as affection until the knife was already moving. That is an ambush built on social camouflage, using your own manners against you.

An embrace erases the reactionary gap. Once an attacker is inside arm’s reach with an edged weapon, there is no drawing a firearm and no creating distance, so the defense against a knife lives before contact, in the space where you still have time. Train your principal that a hug or handshake from someone unvetted is an entry into that space, and keep the designated person positioned to control who gets that close. The weapon here came right off the table, so there was nothing to screen. Awareness and distance were the only defenses.

Security Does Not End at the Church Door

Most church security programs are built around the building, and then everyone goes home. This happened at night in a steakhouse, with no team and no plan, and the pastor was just as identifiable there as at the altar. The Roman collar, a visible cross, and other markers of the office make clergy recognizable to anyone in a room, and that visibility alone has drawn violence before. Here it was more personal, because Koubek knew the priest as his own pastor. Either way, clergy do not stop being targets when they leave the property, so protection has to travel with the pastor, at least as one aware person. That person also has to be able to stop bleeding, because an officer applying pressure to the neck wound is very likely what saved this priest’s life, and that margin is measured in the minutes before medics arrive.

Biblical Perspective

The wound that cut deepest here was not the knife. It was the betrayal behind it, from a man who had knelt in the priest’s own confessional. David knew that pain:

“But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.” (Psalm 55:13-14, ESV)

David is describing the turning of a trusted friend he had worshiped with, and that is the shape of this attack. Koubek was a familiar face from inside the house of God, and that closeness gave the attack its opening. Danger can wear a familiar face.

The attack also did not come from nowhere. Koubek brooded for months, and God warned the first man about that same slow burn before Cain struck his brother:

“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7, ESV)

The crouch comes before the strike. The pacing and the brooding are visible before the knife appears, and the watchman’s task is to see the crouch and act while there is still time.

Final Assessment

A priest nearly died at the hands of a man he had ministered to for seven years. Every warning was there to be seen. What was missing was anyone assigned to see it. The correction does not require an armed detail at dinner. It requires treating a pastor’s public appearances as protected events, putting one aware person in the watching seat with orders to observe and intercede, keeping enough distance that a blade cannot cross it, and making sure that person can stop bleeding. Sandoval-Pliego survived because an officer happened to be close. The next pastor may not be.

If this was useful, leave a comment and tell me how your team handles security when your pastor is out in public. Share it with your pastor and your team leader, and start the conversation before you need to have it.

Copyright © 2026 Keith Graves. All rights reserved.

Report Suspicious Activity Here

Introducing the Christian Warrior Intelligence Network

For years I have told church security teams the same thing. The man studying your building is not afraid of your cameras and he is not afraid of your team. He is afraid of one thing, that the church across town will recognize him too. A scout can work a single church all day, because one church sees one forgettable visitor. What he cannot survive is churches that talk to each other.

Today that conversation has a home. The Christian Warrior Intelligence Network, CWIN, is open.

Why This Exists

I will give you the short version of a real case, because it is the whole argument for this network.

This month, one man surveilled the children’s ministry areas of at least four churches in one metro area inside a single week. Same cover story, a grandchild he wanted to bring. He probed for service times. He asked which well-known pastors taught there. At one church he was left alone inside and the cameras caught him roaming the pastors’ area and testing an exterior door. At each individual church, he was nothing. A polite older man asking a question. Forgettable.

He was caught for one reason. Two security directors picked up the phone and compared notes, and four forgettable contacts became one obvious pattern. That phone call is the entire difference between a church that sees a scout and a church that sees nothing. CWIN exists to make that phone call normal instead of lucky.

What CWIN Is

CWIN is a national peer network of believers, organized state by state. It is not a news feed and it is not a place to argue. It is a directory and a meeting point, so the people who guard churches in your state can find each other and stay in contact (think of it as Christian Mingle for church security teams).

There is a national room and a room for every state and territory. You join the room for where you live. Inside, you introduce yourself by area, first name, background, and what you are looking for or can offer. From there you do the real work, which happens locally. I do suggest everyone join the national room AND their state room.

The Building Block Is the Watch

The point of CWIN is not the size of the network. It is the Watch.

A Watch is a small local group of Christians who know each other by name, by face, and by area. It is not a Facebook group. It is not an audience. It is a handful of believers in your county or region who have decided to watch out for one another and for the churches around them. When something does not look right at your church, the Watch is who you call, and they are close enough for the warning to mean something.

A national network gives you reach. A Watch gives you a response. You need both, and CWIN is built so the first one leads to the second.

The Watchman’s Charge

“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.” — Ezekiel 33:6 (ESV)

This is the verse the network is built on, and it is not a comfortable one. The watchman is not judged for the sword. He is judged for staying silent when he saw it coming. Seeing the danger is not the end of our duty. Sounding the trumpet is. CWIN is the trumpet line. When you see something, you have somewhere to sound it, and the next church has a way to hear it.

How to Join

CWIN is free.

Go to courses.christianwarriortraining.com and create an account. Open the Community tab. Find your state’s Intelligence Network room and click Join. Then do three things: introduce yourself, post your area so people near you can find you, and reach out to start a Watch in your county or region.

That is the whole ask. Find your room. Post your area. Build your Watch.

Closing

The church in this country has spent too long standing alone, one building at a time, easy to study and easy to forget. That ends when we connect. Join your state room this week, introduce yourself, and begin the Watch where you live. Then share this with your pastor and the security leaders of the churches nearest you, because a network is only as strong as the people you bring into it.

CWIN is free to join. If you are in a position to give, upgrading your subscription keeps it free for the churches that can’t, so every congregation can organize and protect its people.

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Report Suspicious Activity Here

What Happened

On Sunday morning, June 28, 2026, at about 10:15, High Point 911 received a call about a man sitting in a truck in the parking lot of Wesley Memorial Church at 1225 Chestnut Drive. Services were underway. The caller said the man had a gun and was dressed in camouflage. An off-duty officer who was working at the church responded to the lot immediately. Additional officers arrived within minutes. They disarmed the man and took him into custody without incident. No one was hurt.

The man was identified as William S. Milliken III, 44, of Thomasville. He was wearing a plate carrier, a type of body armor. Before officers reached him, he had approached a man on the property, presented himself as a law enforcement officer, and claimed he was there to enforce a smoking violation at the church.

A search of his truck told a different story than a smoking complaint. Officers reported finding two flamethrowers, two crossbows, a carbon-dioxide powered launcher built to resemble a handgun, three knives, more than five hundred rounds of ammunition, rolls of black duct tape, and four oxycodone pills. He was charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction, impersonation of a law enforcement officer, and possession of a Schedule II controlled substance.

The detail that should hold the attention of every team leader reading this came out in the bond hearing. According to court documents, Milliken was carrying a notebook filled with addresses of churches, schools, and public buildings. He also had two radios with police scanners, GPS coordinates, handcuffs and keys, a copy of the North Carolina Tactical Interoperability Guide marked public safety sensitive, a weatherproof notebook, an enlarged state map, and water for hydration. The court recorded the reason for denying bond plainly. Police had reason to believe he was a danger to the public because he has experience with bombs and is believed to have mental health problems. He was denied bond and is being held at the Guilford County Jail. His next court date is July 24.

A man with that inventory did not drive to one church by accident. He arrived prepared, armored, and carrying a list.

This Was a Complex Attacker, Not Just a Shooter

For two years I have been telling you that the threat to the church is moving past the lone gunman with a pistol. This case is the picture of what I mean. Set the firearms aside for a moment and look at the rest of the load. Two flamethrowers. Two crossbows. Duct tape. Body armor. Police scanners. A man that police believe has experience with bombs. That is not a single-mode threat. That is a person assembling the tools for fire, edged weapons, ranged weapons, and possibly explosives, all at once.

We saw the same shape at the Latter-day Saints meetinghouse in Grand Blanc, Michigan, in September of last year, where the attacker combined a vehicle, gunfire, and fire to turn a place of worship into a kill zone. A team that has trained only for a man walking in the front door with a handgun is not ready for that. Your active shooter doctrine still holds, and the RACE Framework still drives your response, but your planning has to account for an attacker who brings fire to defeat a lockdown, who brings armor to defeat your defenders, and who may bring a device to defeat the building itself. Train your people to recognize and respond to more than one weapon system in the same event.

The Notebook Means No Church Is Too Small

The single most sobering item recovered was the notebook full of addresses. Churches, schools, and public buildings, written down together. That tells you something hard and true. To a man in this condition, your congregation is not chosen for what you believe or how large you are. You are chosen because you are soft, gathered, and predictable. You meet at a known time, at a known address, behind doors that are usually unlocked and usually unwatched.

The “we are too small to be a target” mindset is the vulnerability, not the protection. Wesley Memorial is not a megachurch. The list did not care. Every leader who has told himself his congregation is too rural, too quiet, or too poor to draw an attacker needs to read this case and understand that the man with the notebook was not making those distinctions. He was making a list. The only question that protects you is whether someone is watching your lot when a stranger in camouflage pulls in and sits.

Awareness in the Lot Is Where This Was Won

Notice where this incident was stopped. Not at the sanctuary doors. Not in the aisle. In the parking lot, before the man ever got near the people. It was won by two things working together. First, an ordinary person on that property saw a man in camouflage sitting in a truck with a gun and decided that was worth a phone call. Second, there was a trained, armed responder already working at the church who could move to the threat the moment the call came in.

That is the model. Eyes outside, trained presence inside, and a culture where a congregant who sees something wrong is expected to say so rather than talk himself out of it. The lot is your first line, and most teams give it the least attention. Put someone on it. Give greeters and lot volunteers a simple standard for what gets reported and to whom, and make clear that no one will be embarrassed for calling in a person who turns out to be harmless. The cost of one unnecessary call is nothing. The cost of staying quiet about a man in body armor with a notebook of addresses is everything.

You Cannot Reason With What You Cannot Predict

Police stated their belief that this man has mental health problems, and they recovered a Schedule II narcotic from his truck. When mental illness and drug use occur together, the substance worsens the psychiatric symptoms and accelerates what clinicians call decompensation, the breakdown of a person’s ability to think clearly, regulate emotion, and control impulse. The cover story he gave proves the point. He told a man he was there as an officer enforcing a smoking violation. Nothing about that is coherent.

Do not try to make sense of the motive in the moment, and do not wait to understand a man before you respond to what he is doing. You will not talk him back to reason, and you cannot predict his next move from his last one. Train your people to act on behavior and indicators, not on a theory of why. A stranger in armor, in camouflage, impersonating police, sitting on your property, is a threat regardless of what is happening inside his head. The response is the same whether his reason is hatred, ideology, or a mind that has come apart. You watch, you report, you intervene early, and you do not stand in front of him hoping the words will land.

Biblical Perspective

The man in this case believed he was operating in secret. He sat in a lot with a notebook, armored and armed, convinced no one was paying attention. Scripture has a word for that exact posture, and for the God who sees it.

“They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, ‘Who can see them?’” (Psalm 64:5, ESV)

David is describing an enemy who plots in the dark and trusts the dark to hide him. The wicked man’s confidence rests entirely on the belief that his planning is invisible. He keeps his lists, sets his snares, and tells himself that no one is watching. This is the spirit of a man who writes down addresses and drives to a church believing he has thought of everything. But David does not end there. He answers the hidden plotter with the God who is not blind to any of it. “But God shoots his arrow at them; they are wounded suddenly” (Psalm 64:7). The plot that was built in secret is exposed and broken in an instant, often through means the plotter never accounted for. A phone call from a stranger in a parking lot is exactly the kind of arrow David has in mind.

The second passage speaks to what your teams provide when they stand watch.

“He said, ‘Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ Then Elisha prayed and said, ‘O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.’ So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:16-17, ESV)

Elisha’s servant panicked because he saw only the enemy. He could not see the protection that was already present and arranged around him. The lesson is not that we wait passively for chariots of fire. The lesson is that God works through what He has placed around His people, and on that Sunday in High Point, what He had placed was an alert congregant and an off-duty officer already on the ground. The congregation inside likely never knew the danger that sat in their lot, just as the servant could not see the host on the hillside. Your task is to be the means God uses. You are the eyes that see the man others miss, and the trained hands that stand between him and the people of God before the threat ever crosses the threshold.

Final Assessment

A heavily armed man in body armor, carrying flamethrowers, crossbows, scanners, and a notebook of churches and schools, drove to a congregation during Sunday services with a plan. He was stopped in the parking lot, without a shot fired, because someone saw him and made a call, and because a trained responder was already there to act on it. That is not luck. That is what a layered, alert posture produces.

Take the right lessons from it. The modern threat to the church is a complex attacker who may bring fire, armor, edged weapons, and explosives in a single event, and who selects targets from a list that does not care how small or quiet you are. The defense is not a single armed man in the sanctuary. It is awareness that begins in the lot, a congregation trained to report what is wrong, and responders prepared to intervene early and decisively, before reason or motive can be debated. High Point shows you both the threat and the answer in the same morning. Build your team to be the answer.

A Final Word

If this debrief sharpened how you see your own church, leave a comment below and tell me what you would change about your parking lot coverage this week. Then share this with your pastor or your team leader. The conversation that prevents the next one starts with the people who read this and act.

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Copyright © 2026 Keith Graves. All rights reserved.

Report Suspicious Activity Here

There is a guide at the bottom of this article detailing how church security should operate within the children’s ministry. I also have a video, below, on how to spot groomers in the children’s ministry. The guide is for paid subscribers, but I am making it free this week so we can all protect children at our church. If it wasn’t for paid subscribers, CWT couldn’t do what it does. Thank you.

INTELLIGENCE / TERRORISM

ISIS Targets Gen-Z Through Gaming and Social Media

A study summarized in this week’s NCTC Counterterrorism Digest details how ISIS is shaping its recruitment to reach young people through gaming platforms, social media, and encrypted messaging. According to the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, ISIS-influenced users build jihadist-themed avatars and stage simulated attacks in open-world games such as Roblox and Minecraft, and use first-person shooters and battle royale titles such as Call of Duty and Fortnite to display militant rhetoric. Recruiters run what analysts call a funnel strategy, drawing users in through mainstream platforms and steering them toward more extreme content before moving them onto encrypted apps such as Telegram, Signal, and Discord. The research found that teenage girls in Western countries were a primary target, and that recruiters blend jihadist material with Gen-Z memes, music, and trends to boost engagement and slip past content moderation. The UN’s Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate reports that children in Europe and North America now account for 42 percent of terror-related investigations, roughly triple the share since 2021. (ICCT, GNET, UN CTED, via NCTC Counterterrorism Digest)

🛡️ My thoughts: Please share this with your Youth Ministry leaders and parents at your church. You don’t want one of your kids to get radicalized and then return to your church. We also have a duty to protect our kids from this filth.

ISIS Online Networks Push Calls for Church Attacks

Following the May 18 shooting at a mosque in San Diego, ISIS-linked online and dark-web communities circulated retaliatory messaging that included calls for attacks on churches. Analysts describe these forums as real-time mobilization spaces where supporters with no formal tie to the group push one another toward lone-actor violence, operating separately from ISIS’s official propaganda channels. The same reporting notes that ISIS supporters are now posting AI-generated imagery on mainstream platforms such as Instagram and TikTok to keep the group’s messaging in circulation. Churches and other houses of worship were named among the targets in this online environment.

🛡️ My thoughts: We cannot let our guard down. Whenever ISIS makes calls like this, someone decides to try and make a move on a church. Most of the time, law enforcement has intercepted them and it is a short blurb in this section about an arrest. Sometimes, though, they have been successful and we have debriefs on those incidents here.

FBI Warns Drone Attacks Could Reach US Soft Targets

An FBI deputy director, Chris Raia, said this week that it is only a matter of time before the kind of drone attacks seen on overseas battlefields are attempted inside the United States. In an interview, he said investigators are working to keep pace with fast-moving technology that could let an operator hundreds or thousands of miles away pilot an aircraft at a target on US soil. The warning lands alongside the recently disrupted Washington, DC plot, in which suspects allegedly planned to fly explosives-laden drones at a crowded public event, and alongside ISIS messaging urging attacks on stadiums and fan zones during the World Cup. For teams responsible for large gatherings, the practical concern is airspace: knowing who to call about a drone over a crowd, and building counter-drone awareness into event planning rather than treating the sky as someone else’s problem. (Fox News)

🛡️ My thoughts: I have been warning you for years, but in the last few weeks, there have been a number of government releases to law enforcement about the drone threat. They know something, i’m sure. But you’ll never know. I am sure it has been in some plans that have been disrupted that haven’t made the news. Plan accordingly.

FBI Flags Improvised Incendiary and Explosive Devices at US Public Gatherings

The FBI has circulated a tactical report to law enforcement on a pattern of homemade incendiary and explosive devices being used in or near public gatherings, built from commonly available materials and often thrown from inside dense crowds. The bureau points to several recent cases, including the June 2025 attack on a Jewish group in Boulder, Colorado, where a man threw lit incendiary devices at demonstrators, and a March 2026 incident outside Gracie Mansion in New York City where two people charged as ISIS supporters tried and failed to set off explosive devices during clashing demonstrations. The report notes that loud reports from fireworks and similar devices can be mistaken for gunfire, and that devices which fail to function still pose a hazard until cleared. For teams working events, the takeaways are recognition and standoff: watch for people staging fuel containers, glass bottles, or large quantities of consumer fireworks near a crowd, and keep distance from any suspected device. (DOJ press releases, June 2025 and March 2026)

🛡️ My thoughts: There have been a number of these incidents, which were outlined in the FBI Tactical Report. We should anticipate this for churches, since it has happened to us more than once.

Iran-Linked Network Reported to Have Targeted US Synagogues

A June 25 analysis from the Soufan Center on the fallout from the Iran conflict reports that an Iranian front group known as HAYI has targeted Jewish and Israeli interests across the West, including reported plots against synagogues in Arizona, New York, and Los Angeles. The group is described as running its attacks through young petty criminals used as expendable local operatives, a pattern Western services have tied to incidents across Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom. The same network has surfaced in recent North American reporting, including a foiled synagogue plot in the Netherlands and a Toronto gun-for-hire network linked to shootings at Jewish sites. Separately, intelligence reporting this week noted that the network’s alleged leader, an operative linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard named Mohammad al-Saadi, was extradited from Turkey to the United States after being charged over a campaign of at least 18 attacks on Jewish institutions in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and after he allegedly tried to recruit a man he believed was a Mexican drug-cartel operative, in fact an undercover FBI agent, to attack Jewish targets inside the United States. The brief frames this as part of Iran’s continued reliance on proxy and criminal networks to carry out attacks abroad regardless of how the current negotiations end.

🛡️ My thoughts: Hayi is becoming a problem. I do assess that they will strike a jew friendly Christian church. More than likely, it will be one with a high profile. Plan accordingly.

San Diego Man Indicted for Diverting Charity Funds to HAMAS

On June 17, the US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, 38, of San Diego, with terrorism, sanctions evasion, wire fraud, money laundering, and false statements tied to an effort to route charitable donations to HAMAS. According to the DOJ, Sabassi used social media, crowdfunding sites, and his charity to solicit donations worldwide on the claim that the money would aid people in Gaza, but investigators found that from December 2023 through February 2024 he raised about $600,000 and diverted roughly $116,000 to a HAMAS operative and $382,000 to a HAMAS-linked foundation. The indictment also alleges he posted an hour-long propaganda video of the October 7, 2023, HAMAS attack on Israel to several of his accounts. The charges are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent. The accompanying analysis notes that terrorist actors routinely abuse charities, crowdfunding, and membership fees to raise and move money. (DOJ, via NCTC Counterterrorism Digest)

🛡️ My thoughts: Iranian proxy networks are still a threat here in the US. There are a number of sympathizers here, including US citizens. With the end of the war, the threat did not go away.

VIOLENT CRIME

Pastor Charged with Felony Battery in Caught-on-Video Beating of Neighbor — Central, Louisiana

Tony Spell, pastor of Life Tabernacle Church in Central, Louisiana, was arrested June 23 and charged with one count of second-degree battery, a felony, by the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office. According to arrest records, the 20-year-old victim, who lives across Hooper Road from the Church, shouted a profanity at Spell from his yard, and Spell then crossed the road onto the property and beat him, with surveillance and home-security video of the confrontation circulating widely. The footage shows the two men exchanging punches before Spell took the younger man to the ground and kept striking him, and the victim was treated at a hospital for his injuries. Spell posted a $25,000 bond and returned to lead services that night, and at a news conference the next day he said he acted to protect his family after the neighbor allegedly threatened them, though he offered no evidence of the threats and the Central police chief disputed his account of prior complaints. Spell, who drew national attention in 2020 for holding large services in defiance of COVID-19 gathering limits, is scheduled to appear in court September 15, and the charge remains an allegation pending trial.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: Watch my video where I show a video of the incident, along with my thoughts about how all of this could have been prevented.

Pastor Shot While Repairing Church Roof in 1996 — Arrest Made in Jeff Davis County, Georgia

On June 24, 2026, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation charged Zachary B. Harper, 47, of Hazlehurst, with felony murder and malice murder in the 1996 killing of Rev. James Hand. Hand, 54, was the pastor of the Full Gospel Church of Snipesville, and on June 1, 1996, Jeff Davis County sheriff’s deputies found his body with multiple gunshot wounds on the church roof, where he had been making repairs. The sheriff’s office requested GBI assistance at the time, and both agencies kept working the case over the next 30 years. The GBI said new information developed during the investigation led to the charges against Harper, who is already serving a life sentence at Jenkins Correctional Facility for a separate murder committed about six months after Hand was killed. The case remains active, and the file will go to the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: Cold cases like this are getting cleared at a rapid pace due to advancing technology in DNA evidence. I’m glad there is resolution to this case.

Former Youth Pastor Charged in Wife’s 2006 Cliff Death — Las Vegas, Nevada

On June 22, 2026, U.S. Marshals arrested David Vander Meer, 48, in Las Vegas on a warrant from the Washington County, Utah, Attorney’s Office, charging him with murder and insurance fraud in the 2006 death of his wife, Bernadette. Bernadette Vander Meer, 29, fell from Angels Landing in Zion National Park on August 22, 2006, while the couple was hiking before sunrise, and investigators ruled the death accidental at the time while noting the circumstances looked suspicious. The case was reopened after a tip, and the senior pastor of New Song Christian Church in Las Vegas, where Vander Meer had served as a youth pastor, told investigators he believed Vander Meer pushed her. According to the affidavit, Vander Meer was carrying on a yearslong sexual relationship with an underage member of his youth group at the time, had raised the couple’s life insurance shortly before the death, and collected more than $560,000 afterward. He worked most recently as a charter school counselor and a yoga instructor.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: Here we are again with someone from our staff preying on our youth. This whole case is disgusting. Please keep all involved in your prayers.

SEX CRIMES

Church Overseer Charged With Hidden-Camera Voyeurism — Fruitland Park, Florida

On June 19, 2026, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office arrested Charles Barton “Bart” Lucas, 59, of Fruitland Park, on five counts of video voyeurism, including one count involving a victim younger than 16. Investigators said the case began when an IT director at Lucas’s workplace found inappropriate images of adolescent girls and adult women on his company computer and reported them to the Leesburg Police Department. Detectives determined that videos showing girls changing clothes and using a restroom had been recorded by a concealed camera placed inside a bathroom and a baptismal changing area at Heritage Community Church, where Lucas was listed as an “overseer.” When investigators went back to examine the restroom, the cameras were no longer there. Lucas was booked into the Lake County Jail and later released on a $25,000 bond, the church’s pastor is cooperating, and detectives are working to identify additional victims, some shown in videos dating to the early 2000s.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: I mentioned in last week’s episode that many of these cases are perpetrated by staff. Well…. here you go. Look within first when you find a camera.

Church Security Guard Charged With Online Solicitation of a Minor — San Antonio, Texas

Christopher Forrest Eastin, 37, a security guard at Cornerstone Church in the Stone Oak area of San Antonio, was arrested June 15, 2026 on a charge of online solicitation of a minor, a third-degree felony, following an investigation by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Human Exploitation Unit and the U.S. Secret Service. According to the arrest affidavit, an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl began messaging Eastin on June 11 on the app Hush, and he sent sexually explicit messages, asked to meet the next day, and expressed interest in both the decoy and a second agent posing as another 14-year-old. Investigators identified him after he sent live photos through Snapchat, one of which showed him in his security uniform bearing a “Cornerstone” badge, and the church confirmed he was a level 3 guard whose shifts aligned with the messages. Sheriff Javier Salazar had held a news conference seeking information and saying Eastin may have left town before he was taken into custody the same day. He was released the next day on a $75,000 bond and is awaiting indictment under court orders barring firearms and contact with minors.

Source

Former Youth Pastor Arrested After Predator-Sting Investigation — East Palatka, Florida

Caleb Roberts, 26, a former volunteer youth pastor at Victory Church in East Palatka, was arrested June 24, 2026 in Hillsborough County on a warrant issued by the Palatka Police Department, which accuses him of traveling to meet a minor for sex. The case originated with Operation 17:2, a Christian nonprofit that runs predator stings, which says a decoy posing as a 14-year-old girl drew Roberts into explicit conversations and that he traveled to a drugstore on March 30 to meet her, where the group confronted him on camera in a video that later went viral. Palatka police said the group was not acting under their direction, so investigators built an independent case before seeking the warrant. Roberts’s father, who had recently become senior pastor at Victory Church, resigned along with his wife in April after the video circulated. The charge is an allegation pending court.

Two Pastors Charged in Child Exploitation Scheme — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

On June 23, 2026, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office announced charges against two pastors, Isaiah Banks, 30, and Bryan Jackson, 42, accusing them of sexually exploiting teenage boys and producing and trading child pornography over several years. Banks served as senior pastor of Second Pilgrim Baptist Church in the Francisville section of the city until resigning in April, and Jackson served as pastor of Garden of Prayer World’s Prayer Center in Strawberry Mansion. Prosecutors said the investigation began in April after a report that Banks had solicited explicit videos from a minor in exchange for money or food, and that evidence later showed Jackson posed as a female online to obtain images directly from victims. The charges include sexual abuse of children, sexual exploitation of children, conspiracy, corruption of minors, and unlawful contact with a minor. Banks was arrested June 3, both men were arraigned and released after posting bail of $600,000 and $100,000, and the District Attorney said the abuse came from their positions of trust and access to young people even though none of the alleged acts happened on church grounds.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: I’ll keep saying it… your pastor is more likely to molest a child than for you to have an active shooter. Which one are you concentrating on the most? Make sure we concentrate our precious training time on the events that are causing us more grievance. Not to say you ignore the rest, but most teams are not even training, let alone training to prevent sexual assault perpetrated by our own.

Church Youth Pastor Arrested on 18-Count Child Abuse Indictment — Clute, Texas

On June 24, 2026, the Lake Jackson Police Department arrested Adrian Gerard Johnson on an 18-count indictment alleging sexual offenses against children, and booked him into the Brazoria County Jail without bond. A Brazoria County grand jury had returned the indictment on June 18, charging Johnson with four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, four counts of sexual assault of a child, four counts of sexual performance by a child, two counts of human trafficking, and single counts of compelling prostitution, indecency with a child by exposure, and an offense under the state’s bigamy statute. Court records say the offenses occurred between July 2015 and November 2020 and involved three victims, two of whom were under 14. Police said Johnson was employed at Destiny Church in Clute at the time of the incidents, and one family told ABC13 that Johnson was their daughter’s youth pastor at the church when he allegedly abused her over a period of years. The Lake Jackson Police Department is asking anyone who may be a victim to come forward.

Source

Part-Time Pastor Charged With Child Molestation — Bellingham, Washington

On June 22, 2026, Antonio Carlos Segar, 68, was charged with first-degree child molestation in Whatcom County Superior Court. The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to a sex crime involving a minor on May 28, interviewed Segar on June 21, and found probable cause to arrest him. Segar identified himself on his LinkedIn profile as a part-time pastor at Spring Creek Bible Church, where he delivered sermons and taught classes as recently as April 12, and recordings of those sermons and classes were removed from the church’s website after the charge. A church administrator told the Bellingham Herald that Segar does not currently work there and declined to say whether he had in the past. A court commissioner set his bail at $100,000.

Source

ARSON AND SUSPICIOUS FIRES

Man Charged in Attempted Church Arson — Gate City, Virginia

On June 19, 2026, the Gate City Police Department arrested James Scott Davis in connection with an attempted arson at First Apostolic Church on Jackson Street. Officers had responded to a reported incident on June 13 involving damage and an attempted fire set at the church. The building was unoccupied at the time, and no injuries were reported. Davis was charged with arson of an unoccupied dwelling and vandalism, and was held on a $5,000 secured bond at Duffield Regional Jail. The incident remains under investigation.

Source

🛡️ My thoughts: This is your weekly reminder that you need a fire alarm, a burglar alarm and a 4k video system.

Suspicious Fire Damages Vacant Former Church — Garfield Township, Michigan

Around 4:30 a.m. on June 20, 2026, fire crews responded to a blaze at a vacant former church, the former Harbor Light Christian Center, at 4050 Barnes Road in Garfield Township near Traverse City. Crews from multiple agencies extinguished the fire and kept it from spreading to nearby properties, and no injuries were reported, but the building sustained extensive damage and was deemed uninhabitable. The Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office said investigators determined the fire to be suspicious in nature, and the sheriff’s detective bureau, Grand Traverse Metro fire investigators, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives opened a joint investigation. The building had reportedly been unoccupied for about a year. Investigators asked anyone with surveillance footage, dashcam video, or information to come forward.

Source

INTERNATIONAL

Catholic Priest Shot Dead With Two Others — Kauda, Sudan

On June 19, 2026, Father Youhanna Al-Amin, parish priest of St. Vincent’s Parish in Kauda, in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, was shot and killed along with a parish watchman and a third person. According to Aid to the Church in Need, which cited local sources, armed men had entered the church compound the day before and demanded access to a medical storeroom, and the killing appears to have been retaliation after Father Youhanna reported the theft of medicines the church was safeguarding for the local population. He had served the parish for roughly three decades and chose to remain even as worsening violence forced other religious personnel to evacuate the region. Kauda is the main center of an area of the Nuba Mountains controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, which said it had no interest in killing the priest. The Diocese of El-Obeid and Catholic leaders in Sudan renewed calls to end the violence against civilians.

Source

At Least 31 Christians Killed in Two Attacks — Plateau and Kaduna States, Nigeria

International Christian Concern reported that armed men killed at least 31 people in two separate assaults on rural Christian farming communities in Plateau and Kaduna states within one week. The deadlier attack came late on June 21 in the Kawel community of Mushere District, Bokkos Local Government Area, Plateau state, where residents said gunmen opened fire on homes and a hospital and killed 22 people beginning around 11 p.m. Five days earlier, on June 16, armed men entered Ungwan Magaji village in Kamaru Chawai, Kauru Local Government Area, Kaduna state, killing nine residents, including several young children, and injuring at least 11 others. Both areas are predominantly Christian communities that have seen repeated violence over the past decade. Community leaders in both states called for an increased security presence to protect rural populations.

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Cwt Field Guide Childrens Room (1)

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Report Suspicious Activity Here

This week’s Roll Call Bulletin keeps the alert level at Orange and focuses on ISIS calls for attacks on churches, drone threats against soft targets, Iran-linked threats against synagogues, improvised incendiary devices at gatherings, and ISIS recruitment of Gen Z through gaming and social media. The training focus is trusted insiders, with a hard look at supervision, child safety, accountability, background checks, restroom sweeps, and making sure no one is ever alone with a child.

Cwt Rollcall 070326

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✅ ISIS-linked networks are calling for attacks on churches
✅ FBI warns drones could be used against soft targets and crowds
✅ Iran-linked networks remain a serious threat to synagogues
✅ Improvised fire and explosive devices remain a concern at gatherings
✅ ISIS is targeting young people through gaming and social media
✅ Training topic: trusted insiders, supervision, accountability, and child safety

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