STAR CITY, W.Va. – In wake of the recent shooting in Texas, several churches around the area are participating in an active shooter course given by the West Virginia State Police.

Congregations around the state are utilizing a church security seminar, called, “Securing the Faithful”.

The presentation is designed to help members of the church to become aware of threats and to be prepared if one would occur.

The program encourages religious leaders to assemble a church security team and advises them to participate in training’s given by professionals.

Omega Tactical Concepts, LLC. provided demonstrations at the seminar and encouraged church security members to attend a two day, 16 hour course at its training facility in St. Albans, W.Va.

“We don’t teach anybody to kill anybody, we teach them to stop a threat. We do that with what’s called reality-based scenario training, we use role players, we use real guns that shoot only, non-lethal training ammunition,” said Paul Koerner, Co-owner of Omega Tactical Concepts.

The West Virginia State Police established ‘Securing the Faithful’ in 2017 and has provided this course to dozens of churches over the last two years.

“Some churches haven’t even began to think about a safety team, a watchful eye and from a ‘love thy neighbor’ standpoint, we’re all responsible to look out for one another when it comes to certain dangers that may come at us, and an example would be the Texas shooting,” said CPL. Chaplin Isaac Harmon.

Anyone interested in scheduling the free training course, can contact the West Virginia State Police for more information.