A Assemble Assembling support for a safety team should be handled cautiously. While many, if not most, will support this course, some are hesitant, or even opposed. The call to form a church safety team, or Faith Guards, is indeed a profound step toward ensuring that every worshiper can gather in peace, free from...
Where Do I Start? A Guide to Becoming a Faith Guard
S = See If you’re asking, “Where do I start?” about beginning a safety ministry, a security team, becoming a Faith Guard, you’ve already taken the first step. One down, several to go, but fret not as any worthwhile journey begins with that first step. After all, how do you eat an elephant? One...
Safeguarding Sacred Spaces. Where Are You? – Part 2
Understanding the Levels of Safety and Security in Places of Worship Applying the DHS/CISA Self-Assessment The DHS/CISA Houses of Worship Security Self-Assessment Guide is structured around graduated maturity levels; from Very Low to Very High; across the domains of training, planning, reporting, perimeter security, and camera monitoring. When viewed through the Level 0 to Level...
Safeguarding Sacred Spaces. Where Are You? – Part 1
Understanding the Levels of Safety and Security in Places of Worship Today we’re not going to ask the question whether we need safety and security teams in places of worship. We’re going to look at it from the point of view that we all agree a team is needed in some form. For some...
When Protest Enters the Sanctuary Part 2
When Protest Enters the Sanctuary Part 2 Preparing Houses of Worship for Coordinated Disruptions Without Losing Peace, Witness, or Control Introduction to Part Two In Part One, we examined how coordinated protest tactics are evolving and why sanctuaries may be targeted for disruption. We explored warning signs, exterior considerations, and the importance of clear...
When Protest Enters the Sanctuary Part 1
Preparing Houses of Worship for Protests Without Losing Peace, Witness, or Control Introduction: A New Kind of Disruption For generations; churches, temples, synagogues, mosques, and other houses of worship in the United States have expected protests to remain outside, on sidewalks, across the street, or at most, at the edge of a parking lot....
Part 3 B – The 8,000-Pound Gorilla: The moment it begins
Preface This article addresses one specific, narrow, and tragic circumstance imagined from an almost limitless array of possibilities: the moment when an active attacker has already begun committing violence inside a place of worship. It does not advocate vigilantism, preemptive force, suspicion-based action, or the abandonment of law enforcement, faith or prayer. It does not...
Part 3 A– The 8,000-Pound Gorilla: Preparing for the Day We Pray Never Comes
If you’ve read Parts 1 and 2 of this trilogy, you already know the bad news: the 8,000-pound gorilla is real, he’s cranky, and he doesn’t respect “No Soliciting” signs on church doors. Granted, that might be a slightly indelicate way of phrasing it; but it sums it up simply for anyone to understand. Part...
The 8000 lb Gorilla – Part 2
The 8000 lb gorilla. Part 2; The modern threats and current considerations There’s a storm on the horizon, and this time, it’s not one we can see coming on radar. The threats facing us today are multiplying, morphing, and mingling in ways that even seasoned professionals struggle to predict. Whether foreign or domestic,...
The 8000lb Gorilla Part 1
You’ve probably heard that before, only it’s usually the 800 pound gorilla. Gorillas certainly don’t get to 8,000 pounds. I don’t think they get to 800 either, but the idea of ten-folding the original already inflated concept was to make a point. That point is the likelihood of terror attacks here in the US, and...