Today, Higher Purpose Training exists mission to provide life-saving skills to people. The formation of HPT is the result of the life journey of its founder, Angelo Agonoy. He never imagined owning a training company and the lives he's impacted through this business. It is just another avenue he serves through. This is the HPT origin story.

 

While he was in college, a chain of events led Angelo down a road of researching how to be better prepared. As active killer events began to rampage, he naturally sought out first responder, self-defense and basic formal firearms training. On December 15, 2015, a terrible tragedy changed the trajectory of his life. At approximately 11:04 am, he received a text message from his mother, an employee of the Inland Regional Center, as she was sheltering in her manager’s office. Two active killers had shot up a Christmas party in the campus auditorium with rifles, killing 14 innocent lives and injuring 22 more. This was the largest terrorist attack in U.S. history  since 9/11, and his mother was right in the middle of it. 

 

Angelo recounts the feeling of his heart sinking in his chest when he got that text message. Tuning into the news, he watched as SWAT teams and helicopters swarmed in. As they watched, he and his father felt utterly helpless. He begged his mother to turn the ringer off on her phone and did his best to explain to her how to seek cover, barricade the door, close the blinds and turn off the lights. He wanted to do more, but knew he could do nothing to affect the situation. He watched in horror as things unfolded on TV, hoping and praying. 

 

Angelo was reunited with his mother later that day and he thanked God for His protection over her and for allowing her to be unharmed. That day, as he held his mother in his arms, he vowed in his heart to do something to hopefully make a difference in stopping active killers and to help himself and others be more prepared to preserve innocent life. 

 

In the weeks following the San Bernardino Terrorist Attack, Angelo researched violent crime and sought out more intensive defensive firearms training and active shooter response programs. His training research led him to taking his first 40-hour defensive handgun course that winter, just weeks after the attack. He began to train extensively for the next three years racking up hundreds of hours of formal training. 

 

In the summer of 2018, Angelo was recruited to work as an instructor at Front Sight Firearms Training Institute. After three and half years of working in vocational pastoral ministry, he moved to Las Vegas and transitioned into working as a full-time firearms instructor. 

 

While working at Front Sight, Angelo taught courses in multiple weapon platforms and disciplines. He trained thousands of law enforcement officers, military personnel, security professionals and responsibly armed citizens on the range. He also attended EMT school, worked in EMS and taught emergency care courses.

 

Angelo accepted an invitation to serve a local congregation as a safety team leader in the fall of 2019, while still working for Front Sight full-time. He oversaw the training of the church safety team in tactical and medical training, provided close protection services to the pastoral team and implemented updates to the church’s safety and security program.

 

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Angelo accepted a call to serve as pastor overseeing youth, collegiate and young adult ministries. He now serves as an assistant pastor overseeing church safety and security ministry. He has a great passion for the integration of church safety and security into the mission of the church. 

 

In April of 2022, Angelo left his full-time employment at Front Sight and started Higher Purpose Training. He wears multiple hats as he not only operates HPT. In addition to serving as an assistant pastor, he works in public safety and private security.

​

As a pastor, teacher and protector, Higher Purpose Training is where his core competencies, passions and life callings intersect. His dream is to equip others with life saving skills that they can integrate into how they live so they can live in service to others.