One Sunday, pastor Glenn got up to preach on understanding the ways of God instead of the works of God. The pastor of Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church, in Pittsburgh, PA, did what he did every Sunday. He drove to the church and welcomed everyone who entered. He began to speak to the congregants and then, in an instant, his life changed.
A young man walked in and pointed a loaded gun at the Glenn. What took seconds seemed like minutes.
“I was on stage for about a minute speaking before I noticed a man walk in front of me,” Glenn said. “We were expecting a guest to come speak that day, so when I saw him, I didn’t think anything of it.”
When the gunman raised his loaded gun at the pastor he pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. Glenn dashed behind his pulpit and dodged the man as best he could. Running up from the congregation was deacon Clarence. Clarence, who also serves as the cameraman for the church, saw firsthand what was going on.
The 63-year-old leaped from behind the camera, jumped over a small wall, and grabbed the gunman before he could attempt to shoot Glenn again.
“It seemed like everything happened so slow, but it really took place in seconds for this all to happen,” Glenn said. “From there we took the gun from the young man’s hand and waited for the police to arrive.”
As Glenn reflects on that day, he remembers noticing the gunman several times. The gunman walked into the church, walked around, and then left the church. He walked back in and sat down. Then he got up and walked out one more time. After his final entrance back into the church, we walked up to the podium and tried to shoot Glenn.
“He stood up and smiled at me, then walked to the middle of the room and tried to shoot me. We were all a little confused as to who he was because my brother, Gary, had invited a friend to speak at the church that day and we thought it was him.”
As Germany looked into the barrel of the gun, he noticed the gunman pull the trigger twice. The people standing behind the gunman could hear the click of the gun. What the church didn’t know is that the gunman walked to the church from his uncle’s house where he’d shot his uncle dead.
The gunman then proceeded to walk around until he ended up at the church. Due to hearing voices in his head, he decided that pastor Glenn and the church would be his next target. The gunman had no affiliation with the church and had never been there before.
As Glenn ran to hold the gunman down, he didn’t think of his safety. He thought of everyone else who was there. His wife and kids were in there, too. As well, there were staff and members of the church. He could only imagine what they were thinking as they almost witnessed their pastor, husband, and father get murdered.
As Glenn held the gunman down, the two began to talk and Glenn got a better understanding of the young man who tried to kill him. He was able to talk to the guy because it took the Pittsburgh police over fifteen minutes to respond to the active shooter 911 call that was placed by someone at the church.
When the police did arrive, it was one officer who walked in to address what was going on. During the fifteen-minute wait for the police, Glenn was able to connect with the gunman.
“While we waited, I learned that the young man had a troubled past,” Germany explained. “At the beginning, I was protecting the church from him. But we waited so long for the police to arrive, I ended up having to protect the young man from the church.”
Glenn got to know the gunman as the two waited for the police. He wants to stay connected with the young man because he understands being young, Black, and confused about your options in life.
“I gave the guy my phone number and told him that if he ever needed anything to call me,” Glenn said. “I’m going to keep up with him and give him the support he needs to make his time in jail valuable.”
Glenn knows firsthand the struggles of being a young Black man. The youngest of six brothers, he struggled in his early twenties. He went to jail for fifteen years and decided to turn his life over to God during his third year in prison. He spent the next eleven years as a pastor helping other inmates learn about the bible.
“My mother knew I was going to be a pastor and my brother was a pastor before me, so my life was planned from the beginning. But I got in the way of what God wanted me to do and I paid a price for that,” Glenn said. “Now I get to help so many people, and I will help this young man, too.”
As Glenn and his family work to heal from the traumatic experience of almost being killed, he works to help his church members and his children deal with the mental and emotional toll it has taken on them.
The event that one Sunday morning changed everything for Glenn, his family, and his church. Germany has conducted over forty interviews since the attempted shooting, which has been seen by more than twenty million people. Glenn admits that his church needed a light shone on it to increase donations and membership.
No one will ever agree that almost getting shot was worth it. But just like Jesus turned water into wine, Glenn is going to make the best of the situation and he’s going to spread the word of love, God, and the church to anyone who will listen. And right now, he has the country’s ear. Preach on pastor Glenn!
