Coming up in this week’s briefing:
Terrorism and intelligence: An alleged chemical weapon plot in Canada, target surveillance in Poland, and attacks on Jewish institutions in Belgium.
October dates to watch: Religious observances and attack anniversaries for your safety team’s calendar.
Reports from church safety teams: Threats during Bible study, unusual behavior during worship, and a man watching women after service.
Violence involving churches and clergy: A church shooting from an electric scooter, a worship minister killed, and attempted entry at a synagogue preschool.
Child protection: Five sex crime cases involving Christian schools, youth ministries, mission trips, and a church volunteer.
Fire and vehicle hazards: A crucifix set on fire inside a Wisconsin church, an adjacent arson fire damaging another church, and three vehicle collisions at church properties.
International threats: A priest killed inside a Polish abbey, more Christians killed in Nigeria, and church leaders detained in China.
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BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT
A Ukrainian man killed a priest with a kitchen knife he found inside a Benedictine abbey in Poland, a man photographed a Philadelphia synagogue and then pulled on the preschool doors while children were inside, and a man walked into a Wisconsin church on a Friday morning and set the crucifix on fire while the organist watched him do it. A suspected gang member is charged with shooting up a church in Oakley, California from an electric scooter, and a 66-year-old rabbi was beaten on the steps of his own home in Brooklyn. Three vehicles hit church buildings in three states in six days, five more ministry and Christian school sex crime cases moved through court, counter-terror services in Poland, Canada and Belgium all worked congregation-related cases, and the Islamic State spent its weekly newsletter claiming it burned seventy Christian homes in Congo and executed seven Christians in Mozambique. Three safety teams filed reports on people who walked into their buildings and behaved like they were working a problem. The October dates are below the terror update, and the high holidays run through this weekend.
TERRORISM AND INTELLIGENCE
Teenager Charged Over Neo-Nazi Plot Against a Mosque and a School, Including Target Surveillance — Katowice Area, Poland
Poland’s Internal Security Agency detained a 17-year-old Polish citizen identified as Paweł G. on Friday, September 18, and prosecutors charged him on Tuesday, September 22. He faces three counts: preparing a terrorist attack intended to kill many people, membership in a criminal group promoting Nazi ideology and inciting religious and ethnic hatred, and publicly inciting hatred online. Investigators say device analysis showed correspondence planning large-scale attacks on a mosque and a school, reconnaissance of both targets, and efforts to obtain firearms, grenades, and Molotov cocktails. He was allegedly tied to a group calling itself Atomwaffen Polska and operated on Telegram and Discord. Two 16-year-olds, named as Kacper K. and Wiktor Ś., were referred to juvenile courts after investigators found Nazi materials, and a court ordered three months of pre-trial detention for Paweł G.
🛡️ My thoughts: this is yet another example of a lone wolf actor being stopped. This is still a church's greatest threat.
Man Charged Over ISIS-Inspired Plot to Build a Chemical Weapon — Quebec City, Canada
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced on Thursday, September 24, that Louay Angoud, 24, of Quebec City had been charged with four terrorism-related offenses. Police allege he communicated online with members of the Islamic State and gathered information to build a chemical weapon capable of poisoning Canadians, and that he intended to carry out at least one attack on the group’s behalf. The counts are using or possessing property for terrorist purposes, commission of an offense for a terrorist group, participating in the activity of a terrorist group, and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. The investigation opened in April 2026 and was run by the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team for the Eastern Region. The Crown opposed release and he was held pending a bail hearing the following week.
🛡️ My thoughts: These attacks are getting more complex. You need to think beyond just an active shooter and start thinking about complex attacks involving multiple methods of killing, including chemical attacks.
Belgian Threat Analysis Chief Says Iran Directed a Synagogue Bombing and an Arson — Liège and Antwerp, Belgium
Gert Vercauteren, who heads Belgium’s Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis, told the public broadcaster RTBF on Thursday, September 24, that the people behind two attacks on Jewish targets in Belgium in March “certainly followed Iran’s call to strike Jewish and Israeli interests everywhere in the world.” An explosive device detonated outside the Grande Synagogue de Liège on Rue Léon Frédéricq shortly before 4 a.m. on Monday, March 9, shattering windows and damaging the main door, and a car was set on fire in Antwerp’s Jewish quarter the same week. Neither attack caused casualties. Several people were detained over the Liège bombing and two teenagers were arrested over the Antwerp arson. Vercauteren said the attacks were a coordinated campaign and not isolated incidents, and that Belgian services recorded no further attacks after a main suspect in the network was arrested in Turkey.
🛡️ My thoughts: The IRGC has been stepping up attacks against Jews across Europe. One has been stopped here in the US. If you are a congregation that supports Israel openly, expect that you can be a target. Please take this threat seriously. The writing is on the wall and attempts have already been made here in the homeland.
Drone and Rifle Attack on Police Station Caught Churchgoers Leaving Mass — El Carmen, Colombia
Attackers dropped nine grenades from multiple drones onto the police station in El Carmen, Norte de Santander, and fired rifles at it at roughly 8 p.m. on Sunday, September 20. One police officer was wounded by shrapnel and there were no deaths. The attack began as the community was leaving Catholic Mass at a church about two blocks away, which forced people to take cover; no reporting indicates the church or the parishioners were targets. Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara attributed the attack to the National Liberation Army and framed it as retaliation for state operations in the region. A police substation in nearby Guamalito was destroyed in a separate attack on September 10.
🛡️ My thoughts: I included this so that you can see the drone threat is real. I will be filming an interview on Monday with a drone expert to talk about what it will look like to attack a church with a drone. It is very easy to weaponize a domestically available drone. All you need is a 3D printer, a drone, gun powder and ball bearings. It is a low level of entry.
Islamic State Devotes Its Weekly Newsletter to Claimed Killings of Christians in Congo and Mozambique
Issue 566 of the Islamic State’s weekly al-Naba newsletter, dated Thursday, September 24, claims a week of attacks on Christians in two African theaters. In Ituri province in eastern Congo the group claims it burned roughly 70 homes it calls “homes of the warring Christians” along with commercial shops, looted property, and killed nine Congolese soldiers across attacks near the villages of Bomzika and Makotanio on September 16 and 19. In Cabo Delgado, Mozambique the group claims it seized and then executed seven Christians between September 14 and 21, four shot and three beheaded, and raided two villages it names as Christian, Chai in Macomia district and Minguelewa in Muidumbe district, simultaneously on the evening of Monday, September 21. The group’s West Africa claims in the same issue, covering Borno State in Nigeria and the Diffa region of Niger, are framed entirely as attacks on soldiers and militias with no religious language. No church, chapel, or worship service is named anywhere in the issue, no Western target appears, and the editorial contains no call to attack Christians outside the group’s existing theaters. All figures are the group’s own and this group routinely inflates its casualty claims.
🛡️ My thoughts: Watch your enemy. They telegraph each week what they do. We should take that information and go on the offensive and kill this satan worshipers.
DATES OF SIGNIFICANCE: OCTOBER 2026
Religious observances and attack anniversaries worth putting on the safety team calendar. Historical entries are open-source and are listed because hostile actors have used anniversaries as timing cues, most recently when a man was arrested in Alabama in 2025 over threats to synagogues on the anniversary of the Tree of Life attack.
This weekend and the coming week:
Through October 2: Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. October 1 and 2 is Hoshanah Rabbah.
October 2 to 4: Shemini Atzeret. October 3 and 4: Simchat Torah. Jewish institutions in your area are in their highest-attendance stretch of the year right now, and it ends this weekend.
October 2: First anniversary of the 2025 vehicle ramming and stabbing attack outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester, England, on Yom Kippur, in which two people were killed and three were injured. Also the anniversary of the 2006 hostage taking and shooting at the Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, in which six people were killed.
October 4: Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, observed at many Catholic and Episcopal parishes with a Blessing of the Animals. Outdoor, high-foot-traffic, animals on site.
October 7: Third anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Expect elevated tension and protest activity near Jewish institutions.
Rest of the month:
October 9: Anniversary of the 2019 attack on the synagogue in Halle, Germany, in which a gunman attempted to breach a door with roughly 70 people inside observing Yom Kippur, then killed two people nearby and livestreamed it. The door held. Also Karwa Chauth and Guru Ram Das Birthday.
October 11: Anniversary of the 2025 arrests of two people over a plot to attack the Chabad of South Orlando in Florida, in which the pair conducted advance surveillance of the location. Also National Coming Out Day.
October 11 to 19: Navaratri. October 20: Dussehra.
October 18: Feast of Saint Luke.
October 24: Anniversary of the 2018 Kroger shooting in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, in which a man killed two people after first failing to get into a predominantly Black church.
October 27: Anniversary of the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue attack in Pittsburgh, in which 11 people were killed and six were wounded. This is the single most referenced date on this list in extremist messaging.
October 31: Halloween, which is also Reformation Day and is observed by some occult groups. Anniversary of the 2021 attempt to set fire to the front doors of Congregation Beth Israel in Austin, Texas.
🛡️ My thoughts: October 7th is the date to watch this month. Why? Because the enemy Is constantly telling us that they want to attack us and some have said it should be this date. Does that mean it will happen? You never know and should be ready regardless.
SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY REPORTS
Reader-submitted suspicious activity at U.S. churches, from reports approved this week.
Exmore, Virginia — Woman Filmed Bible Study on Facebook Live, Then Threatened the Security Team A woman arrived late to a Bible study at a church in Exmore around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, September 23, was let in by a security team member, seated herself at the rear of the hall, and began streaming the study on Facebook Live. A team member approached when she appeared agitated and she told him to give her space; as her behavior escalated two members approached and she began cursing and threatening them. She was escorted out, served a no trespass order, and arrested by responding police on a probation violation, and the team confirmed the sequence against both her own Facebook reel and internal security footage. CWT case [Report ID needed]
Murfreesboro, Tennessee — Safety Team Surrounded a Subject, Then a Deacon Sat Down Next to Him A man entered the auditorium of a church in Murfreesboro around 10 a.m. on Sunday, September 27, and began behaving in a way the congregation found unusual. The safety team positioned itself discreetly in the pews around him and a police officer came into the auditorium; once the team was in place, a deacon sat down beside the man, welcomed him, and helped him find a cited passage in his Bible. A team member photographed him discreetly, and he is described as about 5 feet 10 inches, Caucasian, bald, in clean jeans and a clean white shirt. CWT case [Report ID needed]
Iowa — Man Stayed After Service to Watch a Group of Women A man remained seated at the rear of the sanctuary of a church in Iowa around 11 a.m. on Sunday, September 27, well after the service ended, watching a group of women who were talking. When members of the church safety team entered he turned his back toward them to obscure his face and left the building almost immediately. He is described as a thin male in his early 30s with a Hispanic or Mediterranean appearance, glasses, and dark hair worn a little long on top. CWT case [Report ID needed]
Report what happened at your church this week. Every report above came from a reader who took a couple of minutes to file one, and that is the only reason the rest of us get to see it. File yours at alert.christianwarriortraining.com, where you can also read these reports in full and the ones that did not make this issue.
🛡️ My thoughts: Please continue to log your Suspicious activity at intel.christianwarriortraining.com. We have stopped bad actors from the information you have given us.
VIOLENT CRIME
Suspected Gang Member Charged With Shooting a Church From an Electric Scooter — Oakley, California
Pablo Adin, 18, of Oakley is charged with one count of attempted murder and two counts of shooting at an occupied dwelling after a round struck St. Anthony’s Church with roughly 300 people inside. Police say Adin, a suspected member of a local Norteño gang subset, encountered the man he was targeting near O’Hara Avenue and West Cypress Road around noon on Sunday, August 30, fired at him, missed, and fled on an electric scooter. At least one bullet hit the church and nobody inside was injured. Investigators raided Adin’s Oakley home the following day and report recovering a similar electric scooter, gang indicia, and suspected gang graffiti sprayed in the backyard, and they say he has a suspected gang tattoo on his face. He is being held in lieu of $950,000 bail, has pleaded not guilty, and his preliminary hearing is set for October 15.
🛡️ My thoughts: I lived 2 miles from the scene. I have been to this church and I have friends that attend here. This happened because of CA’s pro criminal policies and the DA’s refusal to hold hard core criminals accountable. I was a gang sergeant near here that dealt with these criminals. It makes me sad that I had to leave my home state so I could live in the United States again. If you are in CA, OR, or WA, you are more at risk to crime like this because of your state law makers.
Minister of Worship Shot and Killed in Mistaken-Identity Shooting — West Palm Beach, Florida
Akeem Moore, 31, minister of worship at Mount Calvary Baptist Church of West Palm Beach, was shot just after midnight on Sunday, September 27, in the 500 block of Ontario Place. West Palm Beach police responded to a ShotSpotter alert and later arrested Hugh Earp Milner Jr., 38, who police describe as homeless, with help from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and Flock license plate readers. Milner is charged with first-degree murder with a firearm, attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, and shooting into an occupied vehicle. Police Chief Tony Araujo said the passenger in Moore’s vehicle recognized Milner and believed Milner had mistaken them for someone else. Moore, already shot, drove his passenger to a nearby fire station before being transported to a hospital, where he died; the passenger was not injured and the shooting happened on a residential street away from church property.
🛡️ My thoughts: If you are shot, leave the scene immediately and then stop the bleed. Carry a tourniquet in your driver’s area (center counsel is best or map pocket) and be prepared to tourniquet yourself. Make sure you have a IFAK that has a chest seal and Israeli bandage as well.
Man Photographed Synagogue, Then Pulled on School and Sanctuary Doors — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Angel Viera, 34, of Philadelphia was arrested around 10 a.m. on Thursday, September 24, at the Germantown Jewish Centre in the West Mount Airy neighborhood. Police say he stood across the street photographing the property, then crossed onto the lawn and pulled on doors in an attempt to enter both the synagogue and the school building while children were attending the preschool. He is alleged to have said “F*** the Jews” and to have challenged the on-site security guard over working at a Jewish institution. He then sat down on the curb of the property driveway and refused to leave until Philadelphia police arrived. Viera is charged with ethnic intimidation, defiant trespass, and disorderly conduct, with bail set Friday at $25,000 unsecured, and the Centre has previously received two bomb threats.
🛡️ My thoughts: This could be nothing, or he could have been planning an attack. Treat it accordingly like this place did.
Man Shot Elsewhere Walked Into a Church Looking for Help — St. Louis, Missouri
A man with several gunshot wounds went to a church in the North City neighborhood of St. Louis on Sunday, September 27, seeking help, according to police. The shooting itself happened elsewhere and the church was where he turned up afterward. Police have not released the man’s name or identified a suspect, and no charges were announced in the initial reporting. The church’s role was as the place a wounded man chose to go.
🛡️ My thoughts: It’s almost once a week now where someone is shot and runs to a church, or is fleeing a murderer and is killed at a church. People that are fleeing danger will go to a church for sanctuary. Plan accordingly.
Federal Defendant Filmed Memorial Candles Inside a Church and Sent the Video to Debtors as a Threat — Schererville, Indiana
Federal prosecutors say James Gerodemos, 63, of Schererville, the alleged ringleader of an illegal sports betting operation, filmed lit memorial candles inside a church and sent the footage to people who owed him money. A voice on the video says he lit candles for the recipient’s family and that he wants them to die. Gerodemos is charged in the Northern District of Indiana with running an illegal sports betting operation, money laundering, extortion, and witness intimidation, as part of a federal case charging 22 people; his daughter is among the co-defendants. Prosecutors cite threats in March 2025 and October 2025 and describe an indictment period running from January 2021 to April 2026. The church is not named in the charging documents, was not a target, and suffered no damage.
🛡️ My thoughts: Are you keeping an eye on your congregation? We have all sorts of sinners attending church, including drug dealers, mobsters and other criminals. Keep and eye on their behavior and look for anything that is out of line with normal. If it’s out of line with what is normal, go have a chat and find out what is going on.
Rabbi, 66, Beaten on the Steps of His Own Home in Unprovoked Attack — Brooklyn, New York
Eric Avrutov, 31, of Brighton Beach is accused of beating a 66-year-old rabbi outside 375 Dahill Road on the Borough Park and Kensington border at about 9:20 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23. Police say Avrutov put the rabbi in a headlock and beat him on the steps of his home, leaving him with a bloodied face, a fractured shoulder, and back pain; he was treated at Maimonides Medical Center and released, and his family asked that his name be withheld. About five minutes earlier Avrutov allegedly punched a 60-year-old man in the face at a Shell station on Cortelyou Road, and he faces assault and harassment charges in that incident as well. In the attack on the rabbi he is charged with two counts of assault, criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation, and harassment. Police have characterized the attack as random and no hate crime charges have been filed; the two men were strangers and Avrutov was given supervised release over a prosecution request for bail. The attack happened on a residential street and not at or near a synagogue.
🛡️ My thoughts: All Jews and those that openly support Israel should never lose their situational awareness. People are actively trying to kill you. Act accordingly.
SEX CRIMES
Christian School Teacher and Athletic Director Charged With 13 Felonies — St. Paul Park, Minnesota
Derrick Lee Pfeffer, 42, of Baldwin, Wisconsin was arrested Thursday, September 24, and charged the following day in Washington County District Court. Pfeffer was a teacher and the athletic director at Hope Christian Academy in St. Paul Park from the fall of 2022 through December 2024, and the charges name two minor students from that school. He faces one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct by a person in a position of authority, one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct, and nine counts of possessing child sexual abuse material. Investigators allege contact with the first student began in January 2024 when she was 14 and continued to January 2026, and that contact with the second student began in August 2026, with explicit images exchanged over Instagram. The Cottage Grove Police Department investigated, and some of the alleged contact occurred on school grounds.
🛡️ My thoughts: Look how many sexual assaults follow, vs how many shootings we’ve had this week. You are far more likely to have a child sexually assaulted by staff than you are to have an active shooter. Train and deploy your people accordingly.
Youth Minister Charged Over Contact With a 17-Year-Old From His Own Ministry — Burnsville and Shakopee, Minnesota
David Boamah Danso, 35, of Shakopee was charged in Scott County in late September with one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a 16- or 17-year-old by a person in a position of authority. Danso served as a youth minister at Pentecost Fire Assembly of God in Burnsville, and the complaint says he repeatedly pressured a 17-year-old girl from his youth ministry to send nude photographs beginning in May 2024. Investigators allege that on February 7, 2026, Danso picked the girl up at her Shakopee home and touched her thigh and breast in his vehicle while driving to a barbershop in Savage. The Shakopee and Burnsville police departments both worked the case and it was transferred to Shakopee on jurisdiction. A first court appearance is scheduled for November 20, and the offenses are not alleged to have occurred inside the church.
Federal Charges Over Abuse of Minors During Haiti Mission Trips — Mansfield, Louisiana
Maylon Foshee, 23, of Mansfield was charged by federal criminal complaint on Tuesday, September 22, with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place with minors. Prosecutors say Foshee traveled repeatedly to Gonaïves, Haiti between 2023 and 2026 while working with a ministry organization there, which the charging documents do not name. The complaint alleges he abused several minor victims who were under his care, including children who lived with him and children who received financial support from him. FBI agents interviewed three minor victims in August 2026, and the case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana. The charge carries a maximum of 30 years in federal prison.
Former Youth Minister Pleads Not Guilty to Seven Federal Counts, FBI Seeking More Victims — Falls Church, Virginia and Milford, Ohio
Jeffrey Turner Taylor, 66, who now lives in Milford, Ohio, pleaded not guilty on Thursday, September 24, in the Eastern District of Virginia. A federal grand jury indicted Taylor on September 10 and he was arrested on Monday, September 14. Taylor was Director of Youth Ministries at The Falls Church in Falls Church, Virginia from May 1990 to August 1999 and Director of Adult Discipleship there until February 2002, and he later served at two Atlanta churches. The indictment charges three counts of coercion and enticement of a minor and four counts of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, covering conduct alleged between 1990 and 2008, with a maximum exposure of 105 years. Prosecutors allege Taylor used spiritual guidance as the pretext for grooming boys in his ministry and transported them across state lines and internationally on ministry trips, and FBI Cincinnati is publicly asking additional victims to come forward.
Church Volunteer Accused of Giving a Girl Alcohol, Then Sexually Assaulting Her — Pea Ridge, Arkansas
A church volunteer in Pea Ridge, in Benton County, is accused of sexually assaulting a girl after giving her alcohol, according to reporting published Tuesday, September 29. Multiple northwest Arkansas outlets carried the case, and the furnishing of alcohol before the alleged assault appears in the charging allegations. Keith: every Arkansas outlet carrying this is blocked to automated reading, so the suspect’s name, his age, the church, his volunteer role, the arrest date, the itemized charges, the bond, and the victim’s age are all unconfirmed. I am deliberately running it without a name. There are at least two other similar Pea Ridge cases from the same period, so name confusion is a live risk; pull the Benton County arrest record or open one of the articles before this publishes.
ARSON AND SUSPICIOUS FIRES
Man Set Fire to Crucifix Inside the Church With an Organist in the Room — West Bend, Wisconsin
West Bend police responded to Pilgrim Lutheran Church at 462 Meadowbrook Drive at 10:20 a.m. on Friday, September 25, after a report of a man inside the church trying to set an object on fire. The organist, Ben Grosskreuz, was practicing in the building and watched the man try to light the crucifix several times with a lighter before church staff confronted him. The man left before police arrived and officers located and detained him nearby without incident, taking him to the Washington County Jail; Washington County Insider identifies him as Heng F. Lin, 50, of West Bend, and is the only outlet that has named him. He was booked on arson and recklessly endangering safety, and the charges actually filed on Monday, September 28, are arson to property other than a building, criminal damage to property, and disorderly conduct, on a $25,000 signature bond, with the next hearing set for October 20. Fire damage was limited to blackening on the base of the crucifix, nobody was hurt, and the pastor told WISN this was “the fourth or fifth time that we’ve had issues” at the church.
Source · Charges and suspect name
🛡️ My thoughts: This is your weekly reminder that you need a fire alarm, a burglar alarm and a 4k video system.
House Fire Set Next Door Causes More Than $10,000 Damage to a Church — Charleston, West Virginia
Dakota Harper, 21, and Felicity Eatmon, 22, are charged with first-degree arson and conspiracy after a fire at an abandoned home in the 400 block of Maryland Avenue on Charleston’s West Side at 11:15 p.m. on Sunday, September 27. The house had no active utilities, and the fire spread to the adjacent Canaan United Methodist Church, which sustained more than $10,000 in estimated damage. According to the criminal complaint, surveillance video shows Eatmon handing Harper a piece of paper, Harper lighting it and placing it inside the home, and both partially entering the structure as the flames grew before leaving. The pair were arraigned on Tuesday in Kanawha County with bond set at $10,000 each. The church was not the target of the fire.
VEHICLE COLLISIONS
Three Vehicles Struck Church Buildings in Six Days — Tennessee, Michigan, and Connecticut
A vehicle crashed through a brick wall and a window beside the front sanctuary door at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 1020 N. Rutherford Blvd. in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, shortly after 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 26, and the driver was taken to a hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening while Murfreesboro Police and Fire-Rescue worked the scene; no cause has been released, nobody else was hurt, and WGNS described the vehicle as an SUV while a church member who filed a report on the CWT Intelligence Platform described it as a black four-door sedan. Four days earlier, around 9 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23, a 96-year-old woman driving a black Mercedes SUV struck a storage area attached to Bethlehem Lutheran Church near the base of Old Mission Peninsula in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, damaging that section inside and out and leaving the sanctuary untouched. Traverse City Police said she was not injured and that drugs, alcohol, and speed were not factors, officers submitted a signed request for a driver evaluation, and the pastor held weekend services as scheduled. Then at about 4:40 a.m. on Monday, September 28, a tractor-trailer left Route 34 at Main Street in Derby, Connecticut and struck the wall at the front of St. Michael’s Church, and crews from Derby, Ansonia, and Shelton spent roughly 45 minutes extricating the driver, identified by the Valley Independent Sentinel as Hensel A. Fogo, 36, of New Britain, who was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital with serious injuries and listed in good condition by Tuesday. Derby Police Chief Brian Grogan said the driver may have fallen asleep and Fogo was ticketed for failure to stay in the proper lane; the church building itself was not reported damaged, and Route 34 west and the Route 8 ramps were closed for hours, delaying Derby school buses.
Murfreesboro · Grand Traverse County · Derby
🛡️ My thoughts: Vehicle collisions into churches, both deliberate and accidental, are increasing. What have you done to protect pedestrians at your church? You should have bollards at appropriate locations and you need to have marked lanes for your people to walk in.
INTERNATIONAL
Priest Killed and Four Wounded in Knife Attack at Benedictine Abbey — Jarosław, Poland
A 31-year-old Ukrainian man identified by Polish authorities as Ihor M. attacked five people at the 17th-century Benedictine Sisters’ abbey in Jarosław at about 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 24. He arrived unarmed, took a knife from the abbey kitchen, and stabbed Father Stanisław Zbójniewicz, 67, who died. Father Marek Pieńkowski left the confessional where he had been hearing confessions and tried to intervene; he was stabbed and hospitalized in serious but stable condition, and Father Adrian Mantykiewicz and two laypeople were also wounded. The attacker was detained at the scene and charged with murder, attempted murder, and causing grievous bodily harm, and prosecutors ordered him held three months in a secure hospital ward after psychiatric experts found acute psychotic symptoms; a second assessment was ordered on September 30. Mantykiewicz returned to the altar on Saturday, September 26, and told his congregation, “As a disciple of Jesus Christ, in my own name, in Father Marek’s name and in Father Stanisław’s name, I want to say very clearly that we forgive.”
🛡️ My thoughts: This one slipped by me this week. I will follow up on this and do a debrief. this is serious and something that has happened in the US in the past. I am sure there are some great teaching points in here.
At Least Fifteen More Christians Killed in Follow-On Attacks — Barkin Ladi, Plateau State, Nigeria
Morning Star News reports at least fifteen more Christians killed between Monday, September 21 and Friday, September 25 in Barkin Ladi County, Plateau State, in the same area struck by the September 20 attacks this newsletter covered last week. Henry Elisha, 22, of Rakwok village was killed on September 21 and buried the following day. One Christian was killed near Bethany Christian Academy on Wednesday, September 23, two were killed in Barkin Ladi town, three were killed in the Gassa community on Friday, September 25, and five commuters were killed in a vehicle ambush near Rakwok. The villages of Chit, Gassa, Bet, Rakwok, Razat, and Rakung were all hit during the week. Solomon Mwantiri, a lawyer and community leader in Barkin Ladi, attributes the attacks to Fulani terrorists, and no arrests have been reported.
🛡️ My thoughts: Please keep track of what is happening in Nigeria. We need to do everything we can to support them.
Pastor and Orphanage Evacuated at Midnight Over Kidnapping Threat, Still Displaced — Idofian, Kwara State, Nigeria
Rev. Isaac Omolehin, founder and general overseer of Word Assembly Ministries, told Punch in late September that he and more than 100 residents of his church camp at Idofian remain displaced four months after police ordered them out. Police arrived at the camp just before midnight on May 30 and told everyone to run because kidnappers were coming to attack him. The evacuation emptied an orphanage on the property, some of whose children had been placed there by the government. Three days later Omolehin’s home town in Kogi State was attacked, with deaths reported. He told the paper, “I have a house I can’t enter. I have a car I can’t ride,” and police, the DSS, and the Kwara State Ministry of Social Welfare have not confirmed that it is safe to return.
More Than 100 Police Surround Church Anniversary Setup, Pastor Detained — Beijing, China
About 50 members of Jiaquan Church were setting up a hotel conference room for the church’s 20th anniversary in Beijing on Friday, September 4, when more than 100 police, some in plain clothes, surrounded the venue. Officers collected identification information from every person present before releasing them. Pastor Zhou Zixun and seven church members were detained, and the charge being used is fraud, tied to the church’s unregistered status and its financial practices. As of late September, eight people remain in criminal detention after two were released and two additional leaders were taken; families say detainees are being held at undisclosed locations and that some have gone without medication for chronic conditions. Zhou’s wife and the church’s co-founder, Cui Jinyoung, is a South Korean national.
🛡️ My thoughts: China has been stepping up their persecution of Christians lately. This is something to keep your eye on.