Faith and Preparedness: Why Every Church Needs a Safety Plan

In the aftermath of the Lakewood Church shooting, safety experts like Alfonso Solis have renewed an urgent message: every church should have a plan. Solis has spent years offering bilingual active-shooter and crisis-response training to congregations in North Texas, teaching pastors, staff, and members how to react under pressure, identify exits, use barricades, and protect lives during an emergency. His message is simple but powerful—preparation should happen long before a crisis begins, because in an emergency, people fall back on training, not guesswork.

In the wake of the shooting at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, we interviewed our expert on the subject, Alfonso Solis, to find out what places of worship should do in the event of an attack.