{"id":103432,"date":"2024-08-05T09:58:12","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T14:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=103432"},"modified":"2024-08-05T09:58:12","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T14:58:12","slug":"103432","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=103432","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Kansas church’s attendance doubles after ‘blessing’ congregation with firearms<\/a>
\n4 guns, including AR-15, raffled off to members in June\/July<\/p>\n

LENEXA, Kan. \u2014 A few weeks ago, a Facebook post from a Kansas City-area church caught my eye. And judging by the reaction to the post, it caught a lot of yours, too.<\/p>\n

River Church Kansas City<\/a>\u00a0meets at the corner of 79th and Quivira in Lenexa. For Father\u2019s Day, the church gave an AR-15 rifle to one of its members.<\/p>\n

The church posted photos of the gun and the raffle winner online, and thousands of people reacted.<\/p>\n

Then, to celebrate the Fourth of July, church leaders gave away three more guns.<\/p>\n

I sat down with the pastor to hear how he thinks guns and church go together.<\/p>\n

‘A gun is a blessing’<\/b><\/h2>\n
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\"taylorandpastor2.png\"<\/p>\n

KSHB 41<\/div>\n
River Church had fewer than 100 members when it gave away the first gun in June, but the Facebook post garnered almost 2,500 comments and close to 2,000 shares.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The idea came from the church’s young pastor, Christopher Zehner.<\/p>\n

“I was thinking about Father’s Day because we’ve got a lot of men in the church, they like to shoot guns,” Zehner told me when I sat with him in his church\u2019s auditorium. “I thought, \u2018Let’s give away a gun to the church and let some of the men get involved, and let’s make it a big, fun event.\u2019”<\/p>\n

But I had the same question as many Facebook commenters \u2014 how is a gun a blessing?<\/p>\n

“A gun is a blessing because here in America, we have what’s called the Second Amendment, and we’re free Americans,\u201d Zehner told me. \u201cWe have the right to bear arms.”<\/p>\n

“Why make it such a focal point of intersection between proud American, Constitution supporting and teaching Jesus Christ?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

“We make that connection because Christ gives us freedom, and so, as Christ has given us freedom on the inside, Americans are free as well, so it correlates,” Zehner said. \u201cWe love this nation because God is the one that authored it.”<\/p>\n

Giveaway reaction<\/b><\/h2>\n

The reaction on Facebook was overwhelmingly negative.<\/p>\n

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