The Church Security Saga Continues

On August 10, 2010, In Church Security, By lyonhart27
I wish I had wrote the following article reference Church Security and ignorant Pastors.  I must give credit to the righful author.  Jeffrey Hawkins of Christian Security Network.  Please read.

No Apologies-
The saga continues and I need to set a few things straight, but let me make this clear, this is no apology for last week’s article.

If you have not read the last few weeks’ articles (I hate to call them “blogs”), I urge you to catch up (you may go to the “Views & Comments” tab on our website and all past articles are listed on the bottom of the page).

We received a variety of responses to last week’s article I wrote about the Pastor who stated a few things that I thought were 1) un-Christian 2) ignorant.

Here is a sampling from some excerpts from the e-mails:

“…I couldn’t agree with you more…Can I say “short sighted”, without saying what I shouldn’t say….” M.S.

“Amazing newsletter.  That ignorant Pastor had it coming.  You said it all just right.  If that was my Pastor I would stop going to his church.” G.L.

“Vent to someone before releasing your feelings out in the open like this. You were obviously upset. Your tirade was viewed by all of your subscribers. Reply to the pastor personally. This is your organization, but putting stuff like this on here can dissuade others.” K.W.

“RIGHT ON WITH THAT RESPONSE TO THE PASTOR WHO THINK WE (THOSE WHO ARE CALLED TO PROTECT AND SERVE) ARE SELLING SOMETHING.” K.W. [note: not the same person as above]

“The article on Maryville was well done. The letter to the dissenting Pastor was not, especially telling him to “stick to his job” You missed a great opportunity to further educate him. I was disappointed in your response. It was very reactionary.” W.B.

The responses were great, not because they were all positive, but that many folks read and reacted.

I explained to some people personally that the article about the Pastor was intentionally written as “reactionary”. Did I sit down at my computer and write the article and publish it without review because I was so “upset” – no.

I write these articles generally over the course of a week; I write a little, go back, re-write and “tweak”. Much depends on my schedule and the topic, but I don’t write these “off the cuff” and I am very aware of the thousands of people that read this through the website or when it is reprinted or referenced through other websites.

Also, for the record, I did contact the Pastor before this article was written, made my points (in a non-confrontational manner) and gave him the opportunity to respond and even write his own article, which occasionally we have people do; he never answered me.

So I wrote the article trying to display the feelings that I get from many of you and that I feel sometimes – frustration.

It turns my stomach every time I read an about an incident that harms the Christian church and one of its staff, volunteers, congregation, or worst, our children. It is terrible when I see simple things that could have been done to prevent the incident and they were just not done.

It is a shame and the consequences are heartbreaking.

But my personal bigger frustration is from the Christian community as a whole, and this includes many of you reading this, why are you so passive about this topic?

I wrote the article last week to get a reaction, but only a few responded.

I try this in other areas too.

For example, I asked this question “Should we care about crime in our churches?” in several Christian groups in the LinkedIn website. If you are not familiar with LinkedIn, it is like Facebook, except more business oriented. There are many Christian groups I belong to, as well as security and law enforcement, but I spend a lot of time on the Christian groups.

I received very few responses. Most of the ones that did respond were philosophical and theological in nature, a few did ask why we weren’t doing more, and some were not even aware there was a problem.

They were all nice responses, but not overwhelming by any means. I have seen “posts” to these groups that ask a simple question about the Christian church (like “What are you doing for VBS” or “What AV projector do you use?”) and get over a hundred responses, but not this topic of crime.

I really wish we had people with “passion” for this issue we are facing. Our loved ones are dying, our churches are being burned down and the gifts that God has been so gracious to give us are being taken right from under our noses.

Where is the outrage?

I always think back to when I was very young, during the Civil Rights movement. Later, when I was older, I would watch news clips and read about people like Martin Luther King.

When I see what they were up against and how they were treated – beat, burned, lynched, and jailed – but they never gave up, the passion was there because they were fighting a societal wrong.

Dr. King knew he faced death, but he had a dream of a better society for black people and he peacefully pursued that, with passion that you can’t help but feel today when you watch or listen to his speeches.

I admire, not only Dr. King, but also all the people, black and white, that had that passion to persevere until the wrong was righted. Has it all been achieved, no. Have we come a long way in the past 50 years, absolutely.

I think of the Bible passage “Let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a might stream” Amos 5:24 (NKJV)

Somewhere along the line someone said that Christians should be passive, boring, and weak and everyone fell into line.

I am not sure where we got that idea; Christ sure didn’t show this. He was very passionate about what is right and what is wrong and how to deal with it. I always think of Jesus going into the temple market place, knocking over tables, chasing the merchants away, because they desecrated the holy place of worship.

I wonder if anyone asked him to apologize and maybe not “vent” in public like that again because so many people were watching him?

I don’t believe in this instance Jesus was “out of control” or “venting”; I believe He was trying to make a point – sometimes you just have to show that “passion” about what you believe and cannot sit idly by while people commit these wrongs against the church.

When I gave up my full-time job almost two years ago to start the Christian Security Network, I really thought there would be an overwhelming response from Christian churches and ministries. We developed low cost services and products to help make Christian organizations safer and more secure.

Don’t get me wrong, CSN has been blessed with a very successful website, newsletter, seminars, and risk assessments…but the few thousand we have reached is only a small part of the 300,000 plus Christian organizations in the United States – we are not making a difference and only scratched the surface.

When I was a young police officer I went in like most; I wanted to save the world.

Then reality sets in and you realize, the world really doesn’t want to be saved – they want you to come in, usually after an incident, and solve their problem of the day and then go away until the next problem. People generally don’t take responsibility for themselves and their actions (or lack of).

I am beginning to think the Christian community is no different…and this isn’t venting, it is just being honest.

In Christ,
Jeff Hawkins
Executive Director

If you have any questions about how to implement a church security team ministry, need refresher training for an existing church security team, or you want to learn more about church security training, feel free to call or email Gideon Protective Services or Mind Sight Training for a free, confidential consultation. See what Gideon and Mindsight can do for you. You can find us on the web.  Find out the many benefits to having a church security ministry team that benefit the church, church administrators, staff, and the congregation.
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Some Church Pastors just don’t get it!

On August 6, 2010, In Church Security, By lyonhart27

When speaking about Church Security and training members of your church to participate in church security ministry teams, it can be a sensitive topic.  It is hard to fathom and put the words “church” and “security” in the same sentence or thought process.  There definately is a learning and education curve.  Once you look at recent church history and the crimes committed against faith based organizations, the facts are proof positive that churches of all faiths are becoming targets of criminal activity, including active shooters.  Below is an article by Jeffrey Hawkins (Christian Security Network) that shows the ignorance of some Pastors who refuse to acknowledge that there is a security issue in all faith based organizations.  Read and decide for yourself. 

Church Security: Dear Pastor…. PDF Print E-mail
If you did not read last week’s article about last year’s shooting at the Maryville Illinois church, this article might not make sense to you, so I encourage you to read that article first [ click here ].

Feedback from many of you was positive with such comments like:

“Great article Jeff!! Thanks”

“I found the review of the Maryville church shooting particularly informative and useful.”

“Well Done jeff [sic] on this article…It is a great reminder and very informative… Jeanne assam [sic] at new [sic] Life is a perfect example that some things can be done…”

I don’t know if comments like these came from people in the ministry, lay-people concerned with church security, or security and law enforcement professionals, but I do know that one e-mail I received was from a Pastor was disturbing, which leads me to this article.

The Pastor (who’s name and church I will not disclose because he did not give me permission to do so) displayed an attitude and ignorance that is part of the problem with making the Christian church safer and more secure in the United States.

[Now, just for the record, I am not saying this is representative of all Pastors and church leaders, but it is the same comments I hear often.]

The first issue I had with his e-mail is his lack of understanding about shootings, acts of violence, and security, the Pastor writes:

“If you think churches can 100% stop lone gunmen, you might share your insight with the secret service [sic]. From my perspective, churches will never have the resources of the federal government, and presidents have been shot.”

Hey Pastor, I will fill you in on something: security is never 100%, but no security is 100% vulnerability.  I never said you can stop 100% of the active shooters.

But, I have worked with the Secret Service, FBI, State Department’s Diplomat Security Service, as well as foreign protection services and they do protect high profile people from lone gunmen every day with great success.

How many lone gunman shootings do you hear about in the United States against politicians or foreign dignitaries?  Do you think everyone is locked in a basement somewhere?  When was the last time we had a U.S. President shot and killed?  How many attempts have there been that have been stopped and more important, how many plotted attempts are stopped that the general public never hears about?

You don’t know Pastor, because you are not in this business.  You have no idea about the men and women that dedicate their lives to protecting our leaders and those of other countries every single day here in the United States.  You have no idea how much we have learned in this field, about lone gunman and protection measures over the last several decades.

Further Pastor, you have no idea how many private security people that are out there, even in the Christian world, that protect people like you every single day.  From high-profile religious leaders, that we see on TV, to everyday Pastors during Sunday services throughout this country.  Protection specialists, against lone gunmen, are protecting them, again, with great success.  You don’t hear about incidents that are deterred or stopped; you only hear about the few that succeed in killing.

The Pastor goes on and states “It’s best to do all that we can with the resources we have, without unduly restricting ministry, and put it in God’s hands.”

Again Pastor, you missed the point, you are NOT doing all that you can; that is the point I tried to make in reviewing the incident in Maryville.  There were NOT adequate measures in place; the Pastor that was killed did not stand a chance against the gunman because there was NO security, see the above statement about no security equals 100% vulnerability.

And about not having resources, the Bible tells us in 1 Peter 4:10  “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

There are resources within almost every single church that could and should be utilized to make that church safer and more secure because God has given His children the gift to be security, police, paramedics, nurses, doctors, etc.  These are all resources that are being wasted because, Pastor, you don’t realize that these are gifts from God in your own church and these are people willing to serve.

Plus, among other scriptures, we have stated over and over again that God tells us three times in Proverbs to be wise, foresee danger, and plan ahead and not be the “simpleton” who suffers the consequences of not doing so.

The Pastor concludes with a very insulting comment “Anyone suggesting we can stop the ‘lone gunman’ to any degree of certainty, in my opinion, must be selling something :-) ”

So Pastor, what you are doing is passing judgment on me, and all the men and woman who have had it placed on their heart by our God to serve and protect, that we are “selling something”?

How dare you pass judgment like that on someone you do not know and how un-Christian to do so; you don’t know me, my heart, and what God has placed on it.

Do I pass judgment when you ask for me to give money to your church?  What if I said you are asking for my money to pay your salary and benefits…you are just “selling something” too are you not?

But I would never pass judgment on you, Pastor; I don’t know you or your heart.

What it comes down to Pastor is responsibility.

YOU are the one who is supposed to be the shepherd that cares for his flocks and it sounds like YOU have given up making them safe and secure.  Are YOU being a good steward with the gifts that God has given YOU and your church?

I once heard a Pastor state in his sermon “We are most like the beast when we kill. Most like man when we judge.  And most like Christ when we forgive”.

I forgive you Pastor for your insulting and condescending comments and pray that God will lead you out of your ignorance before you or a member of your church is hurt or killed under YOUR watch.

But here is a personal suggestion: stick to being a Pastor and stay out of the security business.

In Christ,
Jeff Hawkins
Executive Director

If you have any questions about how to implement a church security team ministry, need refresher training for an existing church security team, or you want to learn more about church security training, feel free to call or email Gideon Protective Services or Mind Sight Training for a free, confidential consultation. See what Gideon and Mindsight can do for you. You can find us on the web.  Find out the many benefits to having a church security ministry team that benefit the church, church administrators, staff, and the congregation.
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Another Violent Attack in a Church

On June 30, 2010, In Church Security, By lyonhart27

This will be the 32nd violent attack this year (2010) which this time took place in a Christian Church in Oklahoma.  A violent assault and rape was committed at Britton Baptist Church on one of its own church employees.  The victim went to open the church on a Tuesday morning and was attacked by an occasional (part time) employee who worked at the church in the past.

Thankfully the suspect was apprehended by Law Enforcement.  I don’t know about you, but this irritates me.  A church, which is supposed to be a safe place, has a brutal attack on one of its own, by one of its own.  It should make you think twice about hiring employees and volunteers.  A Background Investigation must be conducted on everyone working in and around the Church, or any other business entity for that matter.  The suspect in this case was a known Felon.  I can understand that the Pastor wanted to help the suspect out be enabling him to work in a way to rebuild his work ethic and to possibly become a contributing member of society.  But let’s be real, the recidivism rate of Felons and Paroles is 65%- 85% conservatively.  If you’re going to hire a Felon to “help him out”, they must be supervised at all times, and never left alone with women or children.  This should not be allowed or tolerated.  Felons have to regain the trust of the community.  Felons must not be left alone, period!

Security measures must be put in place from open to close, 7 days a week, including church missions and special outings.  My heart goes out to the victim.  This tragedy could have been prevented with proper security awareness training.  Teaching and learning security awareness training can go far.  Learning what to look for and what the proper response can save lives.  However, awareness training alone is not the only answer.  It must be part of a comprehensive security strategy.  Other security related items to consider would be surveillance equipment, changing the opening, closing, and day to day procedures, Verbal Judo, and some simple hand to hand self defense techniques to aid in an escape.  I know some will say that is paranoia and we do need to militarize churches.  I agree we do not need to militarize churches, but some security measures need to be put in place.  We continue to see the horrible results when we do nothing.  Do you want to be a victim?  Everyone should inquire as to their churches security plan (if they have one).  If they don’t, urge your Pastors/ Priests to engage a Security Consultant to implement some security measures and possibly a security team.

If you have any questions about how to implement a church security team ministry, need refresher training for an existing church security team, or you want to learn more about church security training, feel free to call or email Gideon Protective Services or Mind Sight Training for a free, confidential consultation. See what Gideon and Mindsight can do for you. You can find us on the web.  Find out the many benefits to having a church security ministry team that benefit the church, church administrators, staff, and the congregation.

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