An American pastor has revealed that he now carries a gun to church after being attacked three times.

The Rev. Rodney Hudson, who leads Ames Memorial Church and Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Baltimore, said he had been mugged twice in the church parking lot.

Speaking to the Baltimore Sun, he said: “It’s sad to say – we all believe in God as our protector, but the other harsh reality is that there are so many people who have absolutely no respect for God and the church nowadays.”

Hudson also described an incident when he was officiating at a funeral and was attacked by the deceased’s son while delivering the eulogy from the pulpit.

A former U.S. paratrooper, Hudson said recent attacks in Baltimore have made him take security at his churches more seriously. He referred to two incidents last year: the nonfatal shooting of an intruder by a pastor at an abandoned church in Union Square, and the fatal shooting of a man outside Adams Chapel AME Church in Northwest Baltimore.

Another churchgoer was killed on the grounds of Southern Baptist Church in East Baltimore in 2021.

Hudson said he felt compelled to improve security at his churches. There is now one armed security guard at each of the two churches he leads, though he admitted one was all he could afford and that he would act as backup if needed.

“If they get past him, I’m the second guard,” he said. “The pastor almost has to be a security guard.”

According to a study by the Crime Prevention Research Center, 54 percent of Protestant churches in the U.S. rely on armed church members for protection.