Law enforcement waited 35 minutes before breaching the Bataclan Theater last month in Paris. Anderson Cooper on a recent 60 minutes quoted a law enforcement official saying that this response is based on an old American model that has been abandoned.
Columbine was a gruesome teacher. Police waited 45 minutes before breaching the building. While police waited Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold brutally murdered 13 and wounded 24 others.
Cathy Lanier, Police Chief in Washington DC says that law enforcement has made an about face,
What we tell them is the facts of the matter is that most active shooters kill most of the victims in 10 minutes or less, and the best police department in the country’s going to be about a five-to-seven minute response.
Lanier goes on
I always say if you can get out, getting out’s your first option, your best option. If you’re in a position to try and take the gunman down, to take the gunman out, it’s the best option for saving lives before police can get there. And that’s– you know, that’s kind of counterintuitive to what cops always tell people, right? We always tell people, “Don’t take action. Call 911. Don’t intervene in the robbery”, we’ve never told people, “Take action.” It’s a different– this is a different scenario.
A mindshift
Recently I was asked to help get a book published. Quickly skimming the the manuscript I found some disturbing thoughts. A comment that asserted that not everyone was able to disciple others. The undefended thought described and elite troupe of Christians specially gifted to move the gospel around the globe.
This thought is not unusual for modern Christianity. The rigid divide between Clergy and Laity has been fixed since as far back as the middle ages. Even Martin Luther didn’t free the church from it segregation.
Wait for the ordained authorities to arrive and handle things. You aren’t equipped to take action, that was the old paradigm. Now if you’re in a position to try and take the gunman down, to take the gunman out, it’s the best option for saving lives before police can get there.
For too long we’ve waited
- for trained (usually western trained)
- appropriately sanctioned, meaning ordained and
- sent by churches or mission agencies
as a strategy to finish the Great Commission.
Well since 1985 we’ve gone from 24% of unreached people to 30% unreached in 2014, that represents a move from 1 billion to 2 billion people. The trained, equipped, gifted, ordained, sanctioned, blah, blah, blah are losing the game. It is time for a different strategy or way of thinking.
It is time to unleash the same crew that Jesus unleashed in Matthew 28:16-20, both worshipper and doubters were commissioned. I take that to mean anybody and everybody is capable of being Jesus’ command to make disciple making disciples.
Further reading:
Contagious Disciple Making, David and Paul Watson
Miraculous Movements, Jerry Trousdale
Spent Matches, Roy Moran