On December 10, 2007, there was a horrific mass murder at a Colorado-based youth missions training center and the church that funded that center. On that fateful Sunday morning at Youth With a Mission and New Life Church, a man with a grudge set out to kill as many people as possible. In total, he succeeded in killing four people and wounding several.
His rampage was only stopped by a volunteer at New Life Church who happened to be on the church's security team. Because she was armed, that security person was able to defend the church and stop a mass murderer. If she and her companions weren't there, the body count would likely have been higher in this 10,000+ member mega-church.
There are many books about church security available. Those books contain great information about crimes in the church, and making the church more secure. With everything from parking lot lighting to safe selection, and groundskeeping to internal cameras, those books are designed to teach churches how to do corporate security. All of them include emergency planning and all of them treat the church as any other business when it comes to security.
This is NOT one of those books. Instead, Bryan looks at church safety from a different perspective - as a ministry of the church. Bryan started the Safety Team Ministry at Frontline Community Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan from scratch. With only some published materials available and a background in corporate security and police work, Bryan created the typical church security team with typical struggles and issues.
After much heartache and even more prayer, Bryan believed that church security was the wrong direction. Bryan realized that the missing ingredient was MINISTRY, and the culture of the corporate security practices and standards played a major role in the shortfall.
This book is about the struggle and process of creating a church safety ministry. Instead of being rehashing corporate security concepts, this book focuses on what others don't tell you. Topics include: hiring for personality, working with the church board, working with other ministries, and having the right tools and mindset to be a ministry. The final chapter is a step-by-step guide to starting a church safety ministry in your own church. This book also includes links to valuable resources, including documentation for a church safety team, other websites for information, and other recommended books.
This book is written for anyone who is interested in starting a safety ministry at their church, anyone who currently leads a safety ministry, and church staff and pastors who are interested in what church safety should be all about. This book is designed to open up a conversation about modern-day church safety, and hopefully offer some insights to the process.
