Watching out for our Safety Team Members

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog “Why do we continue to fuel the fire of our enemy?” I wrote about how it seems like every week we hear of a pastor of a large church having to step down or being accused of a sexual sin. In the last paragraph of the blog, I challenged the safety team members to make sure they were paying attention to the well-being of the leadership of their church. I wrote “Pray every day for your leadership in the church. Go to your pastors and make time to sit or go break bread with them. Let them know you are there for them in these precarious times. Make sure that they have someone that holds them accountable and if they don’t, offer your services. Most of the time when you have a breakfast meeting, they will pay because of the value of your friendship and the accountability partner you have become to them.” Now I have another prayer and that is to pray for the safety teams of the church. It appears that Satan saw the blog, so his next target was church safety team members. If they misbehave, then who is watching the flock or the leadership?

Sunday, October 6th, I prayed a special prayer for the safety of all the churches, synagogues, and mosques across the world. With the anniversary of the deadly terror attack on Israel by Hamas the FBI and DHS sent out a special warning to all religious organizations. I had gotten several calls from churches we work with asking if there was anything different they needed to do to prepare for Sunday, October 6th. I explained to them to do what they do every Sunday, protect the flock. Still, in the back of my mind, I couldn’t wait for Sunday to be over and hoped for no attacks on any houses of worship.

But then around 7:30 PM on Sunday, I got a text from Larry Booth, from Bethel Baptist Church in Polk County. He sent over a news article stating that there had been a possible terrorist attack on a church in Texas. According to the article, the safety team member saw a suspicious person, doing suspicious things and when he confronted him, the suspicious man ran toward a van, then another man got out of the van with an AR-15 style rifle and the safety team member drew his weapon and began shooting at the armed suspect. The suspects fled the scene, the safety team called local law enforcement, and the manhunt began. Even the Texas Rangers got into the hunt. I told Larry, it sounded like the safety team member did his job. The safety team member was hailed as a hero. But the more I read the article the more I started having problems with it.

Sure enough, a day later we found out that the safety team member fabricated the whole thing. Burnet County Sheriff Boyd stated that it was a “waste of resources”. Every law enforcement agency in Texas was called out on this manhunt. Even the White House called about it due to the seriousness of the incident and yet, today we find out that it was all made up. During an interview with the press, Sheriff Boyd was asked the question, “Did the suspect give a reason why he had done this?” which he answered, “Not at this time.” The pastor of the church gave his opinion that maybe it was because of the hurt of losing his daughter a few months ago. He also stated that the safety team member was a deacon of the church, and this was uncharacteristic of him. If the safety team member at this church was grieving about his daughter, why wasn’t someone talking to him? What was going through his mind over the past few weeks?

I am not sure of the reasons for his actions that day, but I will say what comes across my mind. We are living in dangerous times and Satan knows the weak and vulnerable. There is so much division in the country that things like this do not surprise me any longer. Also, until we get the church safety team members to understand that they are Ambassadors for Christ, not police officers, not a military unit, or bouncers at a bar, we are going to see more of this happening in our churches. The internet is full of “church safety experts” who want to talk about clearing rooms and the caliber of the gun you carry instead of what a true watchman is all about. True watchmen should learn how to talk about Christ to every person that walks into their church especially those with an expression of “I’m new here or I don’t belong” written all over their faces. Christ is the strongest weapon I know, and the Holy Spirit has a way of telling me when something is wrong, so why don’t we work on that?

I talked about church safety team members looking out for the leadership of their church a couple of months ago, so now I am going to turn it around. Pastors, you need to be looking out for the well-being of your safety team members. The senior pastor of All Saints Episcopal Church, Father Reid is exactly what I am talking about. Instead of church safety being an after though, Father Reid is right in the middle of the safety of the church. He holds safety meetings once a month, has total faith in his team, and lets the team leaders run the team. Yet while he does not micro-manage the team, he makes sure he is aware of anything that may cause the team to falter, including family tragedies. I have had more conversations with Father Reid than I can count, and it warms my soul to see how involved he is in the safety of his church.

This is one of the reasons I am so excited about our upcoming conference. Father Reid is our keynote speaker who is going to give all pastors the key to a successful safety team. Even if you don’t have a safety team or are thinking about forming a safety team, Father Reid is going to give you step-by-step instructions on how to create a safety team that not only protects the flock but also is working on the expansion of the Kingdom of God. We know that all leaders of their flock want everyone to be safe and this is an important topic in today’s fallen world.

So, this blog is for all safety team members to invite your pastor to our 8th Annual Church Safety and Liability Conference this October 26th at All Saints Episcopal Church in Lakeland, Florida. Also, all pastors and executive pastors are our guests and can attend the conference at no cost. I challenge all safety team members to invite your pastor to our conference to show everyone that this is not a time for the church to be timid, but to be bold, like the roaring lion that Christ expects us to be. We must as the church be ready for what is about to happen in this country and that is expressing the love of Jesus Christ instead of making false accusations that could cause a church and community to lose faith in their own religious institutions. Be safe and be blessed and I look forward to seeing you on October 26th at All Saints Episcopal Church. For more information go to our website trinitysecurityallies.com.