One recent Sunday morning, a drag queen walked into service at the Texas church where he is a member and sat down in the front row. His aim was to cause a disruption, so he refused to move.
Dr. Frank Harber of Church Shield told the Today's Issues crew that it happened to be a church that he had been working with, so they knew how to deal with the situation.
"If your church doesn't have a disruption policy, then you can't say, 'Hey, you're a distraction' and ask them to leave," he notes. "If you have that in your bylaws as your policy, and they don't leave, you can declare them a trespasser, and you can have them removed by the police."
American Family Association President Tim Wildmon says anyone who thinks nothing like this would happen in their small-town church may not realize their congregation could already have a target on its back.
"These LGBTQ hardcore activists, they're looking to provoke a fight," he asserts. "They want to drive the Christian businesspeople out of business. The next step for them is to try to force their agenda on Bible believing churches."
With new legislation making churches vulnerable to the federal government and hardcore activists in dozens of ways, Church Shield's defense strategy covers eight core documents and a number of specialized policies.
"It affects the restrooms. We deal with social transitioning, kids trying to go to youth camp as the wrong biological sex," Dr. Harber lists. "You need to be tight on your bylaws. You need to be tight on what a man is, what a woman is – that we're talking about biological sex; we're not talking about genders."
He says Church Shield members are at a lower risk of falling victim to harassment and/or civil rights lawsuits.
Editor's Note: The American Family Association is the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
