Articles with church security

Church Security Training: Decision Decks Help You Think Through a Crisis Before It Happens

Here’s a simple way to prepare your mindset for the unexpected!

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

Whether personal self-defense or serving on your church security team, anticipating potential threats is a crucial skill we must hone as rigorously as we sharpen our defensive shooting accuracy in the time we spend at the range.

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

One way to accomplish this is with Decision Decks, five packs of cards—60 scenario cards per pack—to enhance situational awareness problem solving and decision making abilities, created by Simon Osamoh, founder and president of Kingswood Security Consulting and the Worship Security Academy, and former head of counter-terrorism at Mall of America, Minnesota, where he oversaw the internationally-recognized behavior threat assessment team.

You already know about the benefits of dry-fire training in the comfort of your home; in the same manner, Decision Decks are pre-crisis mental workouts you can contemplate anywhere to sharpen your readiness.

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Chart: The Spectrum of Potential Threat Personas in Self-Defense and Church Security

[ Read articles in the SemperVerus category of Church Security ]

Among the ways of being prepared for unexpected self-defense or church security situations is to intentionally engage your mind to think about possible dangerous scenarios you could encounter and the ways in which you’d respond to them.

[ Read articles in the SemperVerus category of Situational Awareness ]

To help you conduct these mental exercises in a “gaming” fashion, SemperVerus has created the chart below listing at least 36 character personas that could be motivating factors in threatening crises. They represent the spectrum from seemingly minor incidents to major violent acts perpetrated by either males or females: from a “lone wolf” (a single bad actor) to a “wolf pack” (a gang with malevolent intentions); from rational to irrational behavior; from opportunistic to premeditated; from vandalism to synchronized active killers.

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

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Components of a Strong Mindset for the Legally Armed Citizen ]

Regularly think through each persona and plan for your own actions in meeting them head-on. For example, what would be your first move if a lone and crazed person accosted you on the street? What would you do if, during your volunteer shift on church security, a coordinated attack of active killers (high on the synthetic stimulant Captagon like these terrorists) simultaneously entered your church through two wings of the building? Plan now to be prepared!

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Concealed Carry Daily Prayer ]

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4 Ways to Make Your Church Safer

Do people confidently consider your church building and property a safe place while they’re gathering for worship services and events? “When incidents happen that we fail to properly address, it poorly represents our call to protect the vulnerable,” says Buddy Gosey, a former pastor who now serves on the business development team of the Indiana-based church security firm Safe Hiring Solutions.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Planning and Armed Congregants Top Church Security Measures ]

According to the Lifeway Research article, 4 Ways to Make Your Church Safer by Tobin Perry, “church security and safety measures can entail everything from caring for minor medical situations such as falls on the church property and kitchen mishaps to sexual abuse prevention and handling active shooter situations.”

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

The article suggests at least four steps churches can take to provide a safer and more secure place of worship for congregants:
        1. Organize a Team
        2. Conduct Thorough Safety Assessments of Your Church
        3. Develop a Safety Plan
        4. Prioritize Training and Preparedness

[ Read articles in the SemperVerus category of Church Security ]

Kris Moloney, founder and program creator for Sheepdog Church Security Academy, says a church safety team can be started immediately, responsible for a simple single task. “You could have a team next Sunday,” Moloney says. “Theoretically, you get a group of volunteers together and say, ‘We’re going to patrol the church before, during, and after the services. Even though none of us have any training, really, and all we have is cell phones, that’s fine. Our job is to do this: look for anything suspicious. If we see something suspicious, or there’s an emergency, it’s our job to call 911.’ If that’s all you did, you would increase the level of security at your church immediately, because oftentimes people aren’t paying attention.”

Read the complete article.

[ See the SemperVerus list of links to Church Security Training Resources ]

Learn about the Sheepdog Church Security certification program for your church safety team

Invite SemperVerus® to present its 5 life-changing success-generating components—prepare, aware, be, know, do—to your organization to inspire and motivate your members.

Join the SemperVerus Brotherhood™!

Self-Defense Legal Insurance Options

According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, 22 million Americans are legally licensed to publicly carry a firearm in the United States. That doesn’t include those who keep guns strictly in their homes for domestic protection, along with people who open carry or live in one of the more than two dozen states that don’t require licenses.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Survey: Protection Is the Main Reason People Own a Gun ]

Using a firearm to defend against a criminal act that could result in your death or serious bodily injury means you’ll have to deal with the legal aftermath to justify your firearm usage. That’s where purchasing a self-defense insurance program might be helpful.

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

In the broad sense, “self-defense insurance” is basically a membership in an organization that will help connect you with a criminal defense attorney and help pay for legal expenses involved in a court case. As an informational service to you, we’ve compiled the list below of just such entities. Each listing includes a brief statement of the organization’s purpose taken from its website.

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