VI – Self-Defense

Interview with Simon Osamoh of Kingswood Security Consulting

If you’d like to be interviewed to share best practices of your own church security/safety team, contact SemperVerus by emailing staytrue@semperverus.com.

SemperVerus interviewed Simon Osamoh, host of the podcast, Who I Became and founder of Kingswood Security Consulting and the Worship Security Academy, offering proactive safety solutions & innovative security risk management.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, A Prayer for Church Security Team Members ]

How important is it for churches of any size to have a volunteer security/safety team?
In the past decade, crime has significantly impacted nonprofits, including houses of worship. Once considered safe havens, churches now find themselves confronting challenges such as mass shootings, embezzlement, child misconduct, and other criminal activities. These incidents highlight the brokenness of our world and emphasize the necessity of preparation.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Chart: The Spectrum of Potential Threat Personas in Self-Defense and Church Security ]

Tragic events like the 2017 Sutherland Springs, Texas, mass shooting and the Charleston AME Church shooting remind us that it’s not a matter of “if” but “when” a crisis may arise. Churches must ask themselves: What is our pre-planned response to emergencies? This is where a security ministry proves invaluable. It provides a framework for handling medical emergencies, disturbances, lost children, and even natural disasters with a coordinated plan.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Church Shooting Analysis Reports ]

However, forming a security team shouldn’t focus solely on active shooter scenarios or the presence of firearms. Statistically, you’re more likely to need team members trained in providing first aid, supporting someone facing a personal crisis, or de-escalating situations involving mental health challenges.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Gentle Response De-Escalation Training for Church Security Teams ]

The role of a security ministry extends beyond protection; it’s a ministry of care and preparation, ensuring that all who enter the church feel safe and supported. Regardless of size, every church benefits from having a dedicated team to manage security and safety, cultivating an environment where worship can flourish without fear.

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John Farnum Advises How to Manage Stranger Danger

What do you say and how do you act when a stranger disrupts your purposeful ambulation by asking you, “Do you have the time?” or “Hey, have you got a match?” or some other “come-on” to disorient you and possibly set you up to be victimized by a criminal act?

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Video: How to Manage a Stranger’s Approach and Maintain Self-Defense ]

John Farnam is president of Defensive Training International and has personally trained thousands of federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel, as well as private citizens, in the responsible use of firearms. In this video interview with the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network, he offers strategic advice in safely disengaging from unwanted interaction with possible predators. Following the video below are highlights to remember.

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Decision-Making Under Stress—19 Factors to Consider

When confronted by a criminal or terrorist deadly force threat, human performance experiences extreme stress, affecting the potential victim’s self-defensive cognitive, physical, and emotional ability.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Chart: The Spectrum of Potential Threat Personas in Self-Defense and Church Security ]

Police veteran, founder of Critical Incident Review, and use-of-force expert Jamie Borden, explains in his book, Anatomy of a Critical Incident: Navigating Controversy, the many critical factors that must be taken into consideration when evaluating police officer behavior in these highly complex encounters.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, The 5 Elements of Self-Defense Law ]

Law enforcement officers are the book’s target audience, but the following split-second decision-making elements excerpted from the book also apply to responsibly armed self-defense citizens and church security team volunteers facing life-and-death conditions. Where the word “officer” is located in the book, it is replaced with [defender] in this excerpt:

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of CHURCH SECURITY ]

• Tunnel Vision — The phenomenon where a [defender] becomes narrowly, visually focused on a specific threat, potentially missing other critical elements of the situation.

• Auditory Exclusion — A temporary inability to process or encode certain sounds, often due to high stress, which can lead to missed commands or critical background noises. This is not an individual going deaf; rather just not encoding or filtering the audible stimulus, affecting the ability to recall later. The question becomes: not was the sound audible in the evidence, rather, was the sound perceived or heard by the [defender].

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Concealed Carry Daily Prayer ]

COGNITIVE OVERLOAD:

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Why We Shouldn’t Just ‘Do Something’

It’s a common belief that US President Teddy Roosevelt said, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” However, according to the Theodore Roosevelt Center, “this statement is often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, but no known source can be found to verify the attribution.”

Even so, TR was devoted to action. He didn’t shy away from making a decision and acting upon it. The important detail is that the decision must be based on what is right.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Every Small Decision Leads to Winning or Losing in Spiritual Warfare ]

The fifth element of the five SemperVerus components is DO, which emphasizes the importance of combining the previous four elements in order to engage in accomplishing what is needed in the moment. Neither procrastination nor neglect is an option. The SemperVerus principle reads:

V. Do: resolving to intentionally and skillfully act to accomplish positive and fruitful outcomes.

A recent commentary by John Stonestreet on the Colson Center’s Breakpoint podcast stresses that ambiguity is not the answer when action is called for. Merely choosing to do “something”—especially if it’s misguided—can be inappropriate, nonsensical, and even an obstruction to beneficial outcomes.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Be Like Ernest Shackleton ]

Here are a few excerpts:

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