Threat Prompts Evacuation at Collegedale Seventh-Day Adventist Church
24 June 2024 |
A threatening phone call disrupted morning services at the Collegedale Church in Tennessee this last Sabbath, prompting an immediate evacuation of the congregation. An officer from the Collegedale Police Department, routinely assigned to the church on Saturdays, helped manage the situation along with a rapid response from other local law enforcement.
Jay Cole, the Church Administrator, described the tense moments following the call. “We received a phone call that indicated a threat, so then it was kind of, you imagine, okay now what do we do?,” he said in an interview with Local 3 News.
Authorities searched the church thoroughly after evacuating the building, finally determining that the threat wasn’t credible. Despite general church operations continuing, the rest of the Sabbath services were canceled for the day. “There was certainly a lot of excitement, but thankfully, it was not a damaging event,” Cole noted in the interview. He expressed pride in how the church community calmly and effectively handled the emergency.
Collegedale released a statement on their website after the event, expressing that:
The safety of our members and guests is a top priority. Out of an abundance of caution, there will be an increased security presence at the church, including during this year’s Vacation Bible School. We thank the Collegedale Police Department and Hamilton County Sheriff for their support. They have given the all-clear to resume normal operations.
The full statement can be read here.
