training Archives - Page 8 of 26

Spiritual First Aid: Youth Mental Health Fact Sheets

It’s not always easy to recognize when a young person is experiencing mental health challenges. Some signs, like changes in sleep, focus, behavior, or school performance, can be easy to miss or misinterpret.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of MENTAL HEALTH ]

The ministry Spiritual First Aid^™ offers the free downloadable PDF resource, Common Youth Mental Health Challenges Fact Sheets, a packet of 5 quick-reference pages to help you identify common challenges children and teens face—so you can better understand, support, and respond with care to their acting-out behavior.

A List of Active Killer Incidents at Houses of Worship and Religious Schools

Photo credit: David von Diemar, https://unsplash.com/@davidvondiemar Some people in leadership at churches still question why it’s necessary to have an armed and trained church security/safety team as part of their dedicated ministry efforts.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Active Killer Advice Compendium ]

The following list should be reason enough:

[ Bookmark the SemperVerus CHURCH SECURITY INTELLIGENCE CLIPBOARD ]

• Islamic Center of San Diego, San Diego, California, May 18, 2026
Just before noon on the first day of Dhul Hijjah, a sacred period in the Islamic year, two males, 17 and 18 years old, wearing camouflage clothing, fatally shot a security guard and two staff members outside the largest mosque in San Diego, which includes a pre-K through 3rd-grade Islamic school. Both killers were found in a car a few blocks away, dead from self-inflicted gunshots.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Interview With Police Trainer, Ron Borsch, on Church Security Teams Stopping Active Killer Incidents ]

• Congregation Beth Israel synagogue, Houston, Texas, Apr. 23, 2026
A juvenile and an 18-year-old female were arrested in Lexington, North Carolina, after allegedly planning a mass casualty attack on a Jewish day school in Houston, Texas. Court documents show that the conspiracy the female was allegedly planning was to “kill as many Jews as possible by driving through a congregation at a synagogue.”

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Self-Defense and Church Security: Breathing and Mental Techniques to Reduce Anxiety ]

• Eden Church, Houston, Texas, Mar. 15, 2026
A 23-year-old man wearing a backpack and armed with a loaded gun and more than 100 rounds of ammunition was tackled by a security guard inside the church before he could open fire. While on the ground, he allegedly shouted, “I’m going to kill [the pastor], who is a fake prophet. I am a prophet called Warlock.” The security team and members of the church assisted the guard in restraining the man. He was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, The Biblical Case for Being a Christian AND a Warrior ]

• Temple Israel Synagogue, West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, Mar. 12, 2026
After waiting in the Temple Israel parking lot for more than two hours, a 41-year-old man, in a Hezbollah-inspired act of terror, rammed his pickup truck through the front doors of this 3,500-member family / 12,000-member Reform Jewish congregation, drove down a hall, opened fire through the windshield with a rifle after striking the congregation’s director of security, knocking him unconscious, and after which the vehicle burst into flames, engulfing the structure. The attacker exchanged fire with armed synagogue security personnel, then killed himself during the gunfight. Large quantities of commercial-grade fireworks and 35 gallons of gasoline were found in the back of the truck. All 140 students in its early childhood center, along with staff and teachers, were unharmed. At least 63 law enforcement officers were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation.

Counterterrorism Guide: Situational Awareness to Hinder An Attack

The Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Team (JCAT) is a US interagency collaboration based at the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which is aligned under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

[ Bookmark the SemperVerus CHURCH SECURITY INTELLIGENCE CLIPBOARD ]

Working with intelligence analysts from NCTC, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), JCAT’s primary mission is to improve counterterrorism information sharing between federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government agencies and the private sector. The latter is where that information is adaptable for personal self-defense and church security teams in being situationally aware to pre-indicators of criminal and terroristic attacks.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of SITUATIONAL AWARENESS ]

One resource is JCAT’s Counterterrorism Guide For Public Safety Personnel, offering content to assist self-defenders and church safety volunteers in:

Enroll in the Sheepdog Church Security Academy Safety Member Certification Program

Church security teams usually consist of every-day volunteers: men and women who are passionate about doing all they can to protect their congregation from natural and man-made threats, but who are not professionally trained in law enforcement, military defense, or medical emergency skills.

[ Bookmark the SemperVerus CHURCH SECURITY INTELLIGENCE CLIPBOARD ]

SemperVerus highly recommends the Sheepdog Church Security Academy Safety Member Certification program as an excellent online training curriculum that prepares volunteers to handle the full spectrum of threats churches face today—emergency response, disruptive persons, violent intruders, and abuse. Students gain practical skills rooted in legal clarity, real-world tactics, and biblical values.

Church Security Demands a Higher Standard Than Mere Every Day Carry

Volunteering during worship services and church events as an armed security team member is not the same as being a cursory, every day, concealed firearm carrier for your own self-defense. It requires a higher level of commitment. If you’re going to carry a weapon to protect congregants, you need to approach shooting as a professional skill.

[ Bookmark the SemperVerus CHURCH SECURITY INTELLIGENCE CLIPBOARD ]

So says Keith Graves, retired police sergeant and founder/trainer of Christian Warrior Training, in his article, Holding Armed Church Security to a Higher Standard.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Interview with Keith Graves of Christian Warrior Training ]

He writes, “The responsibility of protecting the flock requires more than occasional practice and casual familiarity with your gun. You need to train as if one day you may face the unthinkable—an armed threat during a service. The odds may be slim, but they are not zero.”