When somebody says something at your church and it seems to weird, off, abnormal, or a bit concerning then you need to follow up with both the individuals who MADE UP the accusations as well as the individual that they have accused.
Here’s what that looks like in real life:
When Katie Reames walked into Pathway Church’s office and says something concerning, it’s good to follow up with both sides of the story. As one member stated, “she (Katie) made it sound like you were going to walk into church guns ablazing” Obviously that is very very concerning, right?
So concerning, in fact, that one of our town’s own Burleson Police officers spent the morning in the lobby of Pathway Church fulling willing to take any and all appropriate measures should “something” happen.
Now, Pathway church has their own law enforcement officer who is supposed to be (read: should be) in charge of the church’s volunteer safety team which the Reames family is part of.
Pastor Rick Owen has chosen a neighboring city’s police Lt. Shane Wickson to ensure Pathway Church’s safety and implement policies, procedures, and put people in place which are supposed to protect the church. And, Shane Wickson (Cleburne P.D.) passed on this claim to our local police department here in Burleson. (perhaps a few crucially important details were {cough} “left out” of Wickson’s communication)
Most churches do not really want a member of their own safety squad making hoax threats & accusations. Remember making hoax threats is both a state felony & federal felony and it takes police away from legitimate calls, patrolling, and responding to real emergencies.
If you have a law enforcement officer in place at your church, then that law enforcement officer needs to follow up with every angle of a hoax threat – ALWAYS. Before acting on, or taking any steps further, remember to validate – even if it’s from a fellow law enforcement member.
It’s sad that this needs to be said, but horrifically true that it needs to be heard!
You never want to use the police department, nor take away from other church member’s safety, by having someone from WITHIN the church’s safety team making hoax threats – regardless if it is a “volunteer” or the cop in charge of the volunteers.
What everyone might think is completely inappropriate, it would appear that Pathway seems to embrace as the norm. Remember this didn’t happen once – it’s a pattern.
On one side of the accusation there is an accuser walking into the church office and making a hoax threat about someone else claiming that another individual is going to do something violent to the church with a gun.
On the other hand, I’m in the parking lot on the golf cart welcoming people into church. And, after seeing, and watching the Reames family’s ordeal on September 16th (other safety team member cell recording, my won phone’s recording, the police department’s dispatch call and both officer’s body cam recordings) I have simply chosen to keep my distance, note the shenanigans, and not say a word to them.
So, the person making the hoax threat (Katie Reames) is a part of Pathway Church’s safety team, and the other individual (hi 👋 ) hasn’t spoken a word to the Reames family in months. That’s an important detail which we’ll use later in the validating questions.
I’ll talk more about how dangerous this situation was for church goers later, but for now, lets look at how to deescalate and validate situations like this.
Always make sure that the person is not using your church’s resources to simply create attention seeking claims or vindictively trying to get back at someone. Remember, making hoax threats are both a state and federal felony.
In order to properly deescalate and validate Katie’s claim always be sure to listen carefully while asking validating questions. ….and ALWAYS VALIDATE!
These are questions to ask AS the individual is making the accusations.
Below these are more questions to ask AFTER the incident.
toggle each one question open to read the answer
There’s never “two sides to any story – he said & she said” That myth needs to go away.
There’s INFINITE sides to any lie.
But only one truth.
Hoax threats like these need to be identified, deescalated and validated in the first place. You should never want to see a pattern of these behaviors. The need to be prevented from happening in the first place.
Even if you don’t follow up and diffuse the hoax threat on the initial onset, then it still needs to be followed up on.
All threats should be followed up & taken seriously:
especially HOAX THREATS.
After the service, after Burleson Police has come out & gone, and after nothing happened, then it is even more crucial to follow up with the person who made the accusation.
You might be asking yourself, “So Brad, you didn’t have a gun and you weren’t going to come into church guns ablazing?” Of course not. It’s Katie Reames once again starting crap.
I’m out on the golf cart, getting folks into church, blaring the bluetooth speaker too loud and more than likely singing as I’m driving around welcoming folks to Pathway church! 🤣
When you’ve got a cop in charge of your church’s safety squad, that law enforcement officer’s goal should never be to embrace, cover for, and harbor people who make hoax threats.
Toxic people in the church happens all the time. When (SINCE) situations like this happen, Healthy Boundaries need to be put in place & corrective measures need to be taken. (It’s probably not a smart idea to give ’em a badge and let them be a greeter – just sayin’)
What’s bothersome and concerning here is that you never want to have people like this inciting and instigating hoax threats – for any reason – especially from INSIDE of the church’s safety team.
Instead of Shane Wickson validating anything at all from the Reame’s claim, he simply decides to run with it.
All threats should be followed up & taken seriously:
especially HOAX THREATS.
Look, people love to manipulate and capitalize from other’s fears with claims like “It’s for safety. It’s for the kids. Save the dolphins. The sky is falling.” with these types of scams, scenarios and CONs. Even if it’s someone with a badge wanting to exercise a hero complex, it is never good to enable toxic people in the church with hoax claims.
Yet that is exactly what is seen happening from within Pathway church’s safety squad.
Especially after-the-fact, once it’s validated that Katie Reame’s statement was indeed a hoax threat, there is still a lack of any corrective action from within the church’s safety team.
Even if one is to take the mindset of, “It’s for the women and the children and the orphans and the soldier who are in imminent danger of becoming extinct due to the liberal media taking our guns and instigating fear mongering claims….” (you get the point) ……then afterwards, follow up still needs to happen once the situation has established itself and nothing happened.

It’s a shame that some will take advantage of public trust, good will, and manipulate others trust by embellishing a lie, but this is what happens.
Remember almost every church is going to have a handful of people like this. Here’s some example questions that you can follow up with AFTER THE FACT. These are for BOTH your own church’s “Katie” claims AND for the head of the safety squad as well:
And, I want to use this so that others locally and around the world to learn, grow and gain wisdom from this. Please share.
https://www.facebook.com/friendship/bradkgriffin/faith.g.conaway