Jeanne Assam: Me, Gunman and God

She calmly drew her weapon and shot him.
And she credits the Holy Spirit for guiding her.

Jeanne Assam, who is being hailed as a hero, served as a volunteer, armed security guard at New Life Christian Church in Colorado Springs, CO when the shots rang out.

The shooter, Matthew Murray, had as many as a thousand rounds of ammunition for his assault rifle. With at least a thousands of people still in the common areas after the second service and smoke devices ignited, he could have killed many many more than the two who did die.

But Jean Assam stood in his way.

"I identified myself, I engaged him and then I took him down," she said at the press conference. "I didn't run away. I didnt' think for a minute to run away. I knew I was the one given the assignment to stop this thing."

Red Letter Believers are people who are not afraid to take let their faith motivate them, encourage them and empower them to do difficult things.

For Jeanne Assam -- taking another man's life was the biggest assignment of her life.

So how about your job? When God asks you to walk across the room to speak up for Him, to right a wrong, to offer a hand, to be a person of faith -- remember this courageous woman who was not afraid to let God use her.

"I was weak, but God made me strong. I am honored that God chose me." - By redletterbelievers.blogspot.com

A segment of today's press conference from New Life Church that covers questions about Jeanne Assam

Question: Can you tell us more about your security person who shot the
gunman?

Yes. She she is highly trained, and is a volunteer member of our church and, simply, her role is to provide security and she did her job yesterday and she is a real hero. When the shots were fired, she rushed toward the scene and encountered the attacker in the hallway. He never got more than 50 feet inside our building. There could have been a great loss of life yesterday, and she probably saved over a hundred lives. He had enough ammunition on him to cause a lot of damage, and she rushed toward the attacker and took him down in the hallway.

The woman who was our security volunteer was purposely stationed in the center of our rotunda yesterday because of the shooting in Denver. Because we took extra precautions, we saved a lot of lives yesterday. We have had a plan in place here for many years, before I ever came as senior pastor, for situations like this. And for a group of volunteers to be able to pull off an evacuation plan the way they did yesterday was supernatural and unbelievable.

Question: Was the security officer stationed where she normally would be
stationed?

I don't know where she is normally stationed--she is often near me, but takes assignments wherever needed. She is a volunteer--this is a person that comes to our church and is a worshiper here. We have two services--so she sits in one service and worships, and then serves in the second service as security many times.

Question: Was she an off-duty police officer?
No, but she does have law enforcement background.

Question: Was she uniformed?
No, she was plain-clothes.

Question: Was the gun used her weapon or the church's weapon?
No, we don't own weapons. It was her personal weapon that she was licensed to carry.