Futrell, a retired St. Louis police officer, immediately noticed the young men had guns in their waistbands. Thinking quickly on his feet, Futrell used his instincts and divine intervention to avoid an incident.

He summoned his congregation to pray for the men while directing staff to lock the doors and call the police.

“Who sent y’all here? Just saw the church and decided to come?” Futrell asked, according to the Daily Mail. “Talk to me.”

“Let’s praise God for them coming. I said praise God that God sent them here,” Futrell said as the congregation applauded.

“God is about to change the plot of the enemy. Lift your voices and shout unto God for what he’s about to do!” he continued.

Futrell then asked the congregation to surround the men and pray for them.

The men bowed their heads as churchgoers sang and said their prayers.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, brothers,” Futrell told the men. “Thank you all for letting us pray for you. And we’re thankful that for whatever reason, the Lord let you all come here. That when you walked on the ground, you walked on Holy Ghost turf.”

The encounter was caught on camera, thanks to Futrell livestreaming his services.

After spending 20 minutes inside the church, the men left and are still being searched for by police as they are wanted for convenience store robberies.

While speaking on this incident with news outlets, Futrell said his congregation was very thankful for how the situation was handled.

“A lot of people really didn’t know what was going on. Many did and we had our children’s ministry on lockdown and so many of the congregants were just thankful those able to navigate them through that process with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost,” he said, as the Daily Mail reported.