Church is supposed to be a safe place.

It's a place for family, friendship and community. Like-minded people gather in peace to celebrate their beliefs.

Sometimes those peaceful gatherings are interrupted by nature - tornadoes strike, floods cause water damage, fires take out even the oldest of congregations.

But sometimes, gatherings are interrupted by something more sinister.

In Wisconsin, a church shooting left seven dead. In Texas, eight. In Missouri, three. In Idaho, two.

And in Colorado Springs in December, another two people died at the megachurch New Life Church when young man from Denver opened fire.

A volunteer security guard and former Minneapolis police officer shot the assailant, who then turned the gun on himself and killed himself.

Like school shootings, violence in churches has become a concern over the past decade. So to combat the possibility of violence, some Casper churches have implemented "disaster plans."

"It's not a matter of if, but when," county emergency management coordinator Stewart Anderson said. Anderson and deputy coordinator Theresa Simpson presented facts about disasters, including shootings and acts of terrorism, to members from several churches in Casper during a planning seminar on Saturday.

"We know that there's a possibility of (a disaster) happening because it's happened in Colorado and it's happened in Texas," said Wes Connell, an associate pastor at Community of Hope church who attended the seminar. "If it could happen there it could happen here. We're just trying to be prepared."

Anderson covered what to do in different disastrous situations, natural and otherwise. He warned about everything from tornadoes and winter storms to intruders and abductions.

"Traditionally, we welcome all," he said. "But now we've just got to be a little cautious."

While Anderson didn't give specific recommendations for each situation, he did answer some concerns. When Connell asked about a police officer at his church, Anderson agreed that a trained official with a gun in church wouldn't be a bad idea. But, Simpson added, that official could be injured or killed early on, so the congregation couldn't count on only that one person being prepared to act.

Connell agreed.

"Churches are similar to schools. It has all those people in there at the same time, so we want to be proactive, not freak out when something does happen," he said. "You try as much as you can to not be negligent. People think, oh schools, Columbine, shootings, but churches get left out."

With a disaster plan in the works, Connell said his church is trying to be prepared for anything, even a shooting.

"We actually have a security team. In the old days they called them ushers, but now if the pastor sees something, he says 'ushers, take care of that,'" he said. "But if they're not trained to handle a situation… Leaders in a big setting have to have someone to count on if they get in a situation."

"The weird thing is, we never had to worry about it for schools. Now we do. We never had to worry about it for churches. Now we do," Anderson said. "It's like there's nowhere safe."

Contact reporter Megan Lee at (307) 266-0589 or megan.lee@trib.com