"From my perspective, a piece of our security was taken from us," said pastor Tom Shaw of the Fremont, Nebraska Church of the Nazarene, adding that he believes "the desire at the time for people to reach out to churches" is a natural reaction after such a catastrophic event.

"The church has been a stable," Shaw said. "It's a place of security. That hasn't changed. When that happened, the reality that life is so brief emerged, and many needed to know that everything was okay. What people were looking for is what the church represents. That's Christ."

"I think people were searching for answers - struggling with faith questions, said Mike Thomas of Salem Lutheran Church in Fremont. "We offered a couple of prayer services. Our church was open for people to come in and pray for victims and pray for our country. That day, we had a funeral. We took time right before the funeral to address what happened and have a special prayer. The family was asking for that."

"People were very worried and scared," said Owen Korte of St. Patrick's Catholic Church. "They were trying to absorb it all. We, as Americans, are very good about being concerned about something and then it becomes part of our daily maze."

Korte said the maze of our daily lives exists on the surface with God and faith issues pushed down below the surface.

"We spend most of our time on the surface, not really looking at faith issues on a daily basis," Korte continued. "We have a way of not dealing with a painful crisis. We just go on with our lives. Tragedy and fear can be ways for us to go to God, but it can't sustain us. That's down deep. My perception of God is not someone who manipulates us, but someone who stands with us and is faithful."

While more people filled local churches for a time, Thomas said people have gotten back into the groove of their daily lives.

"The attendance has not stayed up," he said. "People have fallen back into their routines where church is not the priority that it was at that time."

But the terrorist attacks five years ago made people understand the world around them a little better, he said.

"I think that people are more aware of the fact that we are more vulnerable," he said. "That was a real awakening. But we need to continue to raise up the need for us to come together as a nation to seek God's guidance, wisdom, and protection.

"Another issue that came out of that is the fact that we not only pray for ourselves and our country, but we pray for the innocent victims where ever there are religious ideological battles," he continued.

"We've become a lot more aware of some of the issues that other people are facing. We don't understand the kind of militant aggression, but at the same time we can understand the kind of oppression that people in Iraq were experiencing under Saddam. We are also aware that we are not an island. We are more accountable. We cannot sit in our living rooms and say things don't affect us. This is where our faith comes in as a response to a call to action."