“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” - Ecclesiastes 1:9

Do Not Fear

I actually REALLY love that verse and that truth. That there is nothing new under the sun. We often look at our society and say things like, “It never used to be like this.” A lot of church leaders are guilty of this when being confronted with the idea of church safety. The idea of, “It’s never happened; therefore it never will” is a form of complacency that many church leaders fall into; refusing to confront the truth that there ARE threats against churches in America. But here’s the other truth…threats agains churches aren’t new.

And yet here we are in the year 2026. We live in a country where (true) persecution for our free practice of religion is extremely rare. Many claims of religious persecution in the U.S. are greatly exaggerated and pale in comparison to what is going on in Africa right now. But the general fear and doomsday mentality that is starting to seep into the minds of American Christians is something that we as church safety ministry leaders and members absolutely have the ability to influence.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them because the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you.” - Deuteronomy 31:6

That’s it! We don’t need to worry!

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Easier Said Than Done

This is an opportunity for church safety ministry leaders and members to truly exercise their faith in a way that is seen by others. Let’s be honest, the stereotypical church safety team member is a bit stand-offish and uncomfortable sharing the gospel. That’s why we serve on safety teams. It’s in our wheelhouse, skillset, and mentality.

If your church has a truly well-founded, involved safety ministry the congregation will look to it’s safety team members and follow their lead. “They are trained. Are they worried?” is what will go through their minds. Some may even ask you about your thoughts on the safety of the world around us.

And THIS is when we get to share our faith in a way that most don’t realize. Faith is confidence that God is in control. It’s knowing that none of this is new, God is with us, and he will never forsake us. When we demonstrate that confidence, that lack of worry, that lack of fear we truly LIVE our faith. That’s the power that we yield as safety team members. We are the ones that have volunteered to stand in the gap and protect our congregations.

If WE are not afraid, then THEY shouldn’t be.

No Fear Doesn’t Mean Don’t Prepare

While God commands us not to fear, Jesus also told us to be prepared. In Luke 22 Jesus tells his disciples to remember how He told them to go out to preach the gospel and take nothing with them because God would provide. He follows up with NOW you need to take things to be prepared. Jesus illustrates this by telling them to “sell their cloak and buy a sword.”

A lot of folks in the church safety community misinterpret this passage to mean that Jesus was telling us to be “armed”, and to justify having guns in churches. I don’t think Jesus was speaking specifically to the tool, but more to the state of preparation. He knew the persecution and hate that the world would have for His followers, and so he told us to be ready for it.

This is YOUR MINISTRY!

Conclusion

Train. Train to protect your congregations because days are coming where persecution against Christians may become more commonplace and generally acceptable. Train to protect your families because they will be targeted for what they believe in. But above all…DO NOT FEAR! Do no fear because God is in control, and this is nothing new.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

Next Steps in Gunfighting

So far we have built a foundation of gun handling fundamentals in terms of being able to safely point a pistol in the correct direction and fire up to two rounds in a rapid, controlled, and accurate manner. Most instructors at this point will then move on to teaching their shooters how to engage multiple targets and/or shoot on the move. In my opinion this is a mistake that could be costly.

One thing that any armed person MUST understand is that their weapon system is just that, a system. Systems are prone to failure. If you are a veteran or first responder you know this all too well: Murphy’s Law is absolutely real!!! If you’re unfamiliar with Murphy’s Law, it states that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

This includes your weapon system failing at the most inopportune time. You can do every pre-operation check in the world, and something will inevitably fail. That’s why it’s always prudent to train with simulated failures in order to learn how to either solve them or operate through them. In this, the third part of our Step by Step Firearms Skill Building Series we are going to address that very concept; operating through things going wrong.

Because I will be discussing specific training processes with firearms I am going to keep the remainder of this article, and other step by step articles in the series for paid subscribers only. If you’d like to have access to the step by step training processes for the necessary skillsets to be a solid church safety team member, or safety ministry leader please consider upgrading your subscription.

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The goal with this month’s scenarios is to teach your safety team members to play the hand they are dealt and solve the problem in front of them rather than a presumption. There are a lot of potential teaching opportunities with these scenarios and a variety of ways that they can turn out. If you run these with your team please let me know how it goes.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

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The key issue that I see with how most are addressing the active attack threat at churches is that they are trying to copy the methods that are being taught to police OR civilians. The response “plan” that is often getting taught to churches is some derivative of Run/Hide/Fight, Avoid/Deny/Defend, or the ALERRT model of Stop the Killing/Stop the Dying/Rapid Evacuation. Unfortunately, none of these methods are completely applicable to the church safety ministry team. They address pieces, but not the whole puzzle.

Furthermore, most active attack seminars just give you the “template” rather than show you how to develop a plan that fits exactly to your church and how to impliment it.

Right to Bear and Zero 5 Safety Training

Zero 5 Safety Training and Right to Bear are teaming up to bring the Zero 5 Church Response to Active Attacks Seminar on November 19th in Round Rock, Tx. This seminar will provide your with a step-by-step roadmap for how to develop a COMPLETE active attack response plan, and how to train your team to EFFECTIVELY implement that plan. This seminar is not conceptual.

IT IS A ROADMAP!

Sign up HERE and use code ZERO5 at checkout.

It’s Not About Motivation

In the internet world this quote is often used as a motivator to try and get people to train more, train better, or just train at all. The quote sounds cool, it’s hard core, it drives people to strive for better. In the military and emergency response world that quote is a reminder. We should treat it the same in the safety ministry world as well.

Motivation comes and goes, but discipline survives the toughest of times and setbacks. This quote should be a reminder of the discipline it takes to:

1. Do what it takes to build our relationship with our Savior through daily disciplines;

2. Train even the most fundamental of skills regularly in order to keep them sharp and ready;

and

3. Stay on top of even the most mundane of tasks because in this line of service complacency kills.

It’s About Pushing Limits

Whether it’s shooting, medical, or de-escalation if you are not pushing the limits of your speed and accuracy, your ability to think on your feet, or your comfort zone then your are choosing what I call “training complacency”. Sure, you’re training but if you remain in your comfort zone at all times then you never progress; you never get better.

This is a phenomenon that I encountered all the time when I did personal training. People would approach me for training because they had been training for years and hadn’t gotten any stronger or in better shape. I would ask them, “When is the last time your pushed yourself to failure, or near failure.” Almost every time the answer was “I’ve never done that.” Remaining comfortable is just that; comfortable. There’s safety in comfort. There’s no pain or embarrassment in comfort, but there’s also no growth. If you want to grow you have to push your limits and your comfort zone.

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It’s About Raising the Floor

When you push your limits and raise your ceiling, you effectively raise your floor as well. Training that is difficult, tests your abilities, and makes you think raises the “lowest level of your training”. This is a concept that most civilians have a hard time grasping. It’s not about becoming a tier one operator in every skillset. Doing that is near impossible for a volunteer group. However, striving to be as close to tier 1 level as possible becomes a consistent raising of the bar, and a consistent raising of your floor which translates to the lowest level of your training being much higher than you’d expect.

One of the biggest complaints I have gotten over the years from safety team members (most who have come and gone) is that our firearms qualification standards are too strict. If you’re not familiar with how I qualify my team members you can read about it in Firearms Qualifications for Safety Teams. Those that complain often cite that keeping such tight groups under the stress of a qualification test is unrealistic. My reply to that complaint is this:

“If you think the qualification course is stressful imagine how much more stressful it is when someone is shooting back. Not look at how your group spread out under this small amount of stress, and imagine how much more it will spread out under the stress of an actual gunfight.”

We aim for a high level of competency so that even when we’re stressed and scatterbrained our lowest level of competency is adequate to manage the situation, and manage it well.

Conclusion

If you’re a safety ministry leader it is of the utmost importance that you maintain high standards for yourself and your team members, and that you train to those high standards. However, it is of equal importance that you and your team members understand that you may never fully meet those standards; but it’s the journey towards those standards that raise your lowest level of competence. It’s raising the ceiling to raise the floor that ensures that even if you don’t rise to the occasion the lowest level of your training is enough to stop a catastrophe and potentially save lives.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

The question my buddy posed was this, “Why do we waste time training rifles and CQB when it’s almost certainly never going to happen where we use a rifle and CQB to deal with a threat?”

Here’s Why

It’s a very legit question by someone who is legitimately concerned with the overall development and growth of our team. My reply to him was multi-faceted, but it’s the last two points that I really want you to examine:

1. Why Not?

It was quite obvious that the rifle and CQB training days had the highest priority in the eyes of the safety team members. Not necessarily because they thought we would face a rifle attack, but because it was a skillset that they were not very comfortable with, and wanted to to develop personally as well as a safety team member. Team members made it a priority to attend that training, which had the added benefit of giving us more training time as a more complete group.

Any time we can train with more of our team together is a huge benefit. It gives us the opportunity to fellowship as a team. Often we are rotating in and out of being on duty so our chances to fellowship are minimal. Also, we get to see how each other works and performs. It has a team building aspect to it that is extremely beneficial even if the skillset being trained has a very slim chance at being used.

2. We’re Adding Tools to the Toolbox

Any time you train your goal should be one of two things: to either improve on an existing skillset, or to introduce a new skillset (tool) that the STM can then have at their disposal if needed. If you’ve ever done any type of handy work or project building you understand that there is always a tool that can get the job done but isn’t the best, a tool that does the job really well, and the best tool for the job. Either way the more tools you have the better equipped you are at getting the work done; some just make the work easier or more efficient. Emergency response is the same way. There are some skills that are tangentially applicable to the situation at hand and will work in a pinch, others that work well but aren’t ideal, and there are the exact right tools to best accomplish what needs to be done.

For instance, if I have a patient with a gunshot wound to their leg that is bleeding substantially I could;

A) Apply direct pressure, which does the job but takes me out of the response plan to help in other ways,

B) Make a tourniquet out of my belt, which may possibly work but not very well, but would leave me free for other tasks.

or

C) Apply a CAT tourniquet, which is the best implement to stop the bleeding, works really well, and still frees me up to help at other tasks.

The key is to have the tools in your toolbox at the ready to be able to put them into play when the time and situation call for it. Fire trucks and ambulances carry tons of tools and implements; many of which very rarely get used. However, when those tools are necessary it is REALLY good to have them available. Being a safety team member should be similar; that you have a lot of different tools at your disposal, many of which you may never or rarely use, but you’ll be really glad you have them if you need them.

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3. Murphy’s Law: Anything that can happen WILL happen.

Just because it hasn’t happened yet where a safety team had to respond to an active attack using rifles and CQB doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. The threat landscape towards churches is ever changing. Five years ago I brought it to the attention of my church leadership that we needed to build a barrier that prevents a car from being able to drive into our worship center. At that time, all I got in reply was a quizzical look and the question, “but has that ever happened before?” Fast forward to just over a year ago and sure enough, someone drove a car into an LDS church in Grand Blanc, Michigan to launch their attack.

Security, like warfare, is a constant footrace to get ahead. As soon as you implement a procedure or physical upgrade to better secure your congregation against one type of threat, the enemy develops a new method of attacking. This is just as applicable spiritually as it is in the physical security sense. We should be constantly striving to stay one step ahead of the enemy; whether that is through consistent practice, renewal, and development of skillsets; upgrading of facility security measures, or through regular spiritual discipline checks within your team and leadership (also another article in the making).

While I do agree that the likelihood of our team facing an attack where we have to deploy rifles and engage in a systematic clearing of our building I do think that form of attack is not an impossibility; therefore I feel it is important to prepare for it.

Conclusion

Please hear what I am saying here. Should your team do training in rifle and CQB work? Yes! Should that the be cornerstone of your training and skill development? Absolutely not! There is a time and a place for cool guy ninja training and a time and place for shoring up and reviewing fundamental skillsets that get used regularly. It is incumbent upon your safety ministry’s leadership to know and recognize which is which.

On that note, however, as I have mentioned before in my skill development articles it will do you and your team a complete disservice to train cool guy ninja skills if you don’t have the fundamentals down first. You will be setting yourselves up for failure. If you don’t have the ability to do a basic medical assessment for CPR or first aid then advanced stop the bleed and TCCC skills are going to be lost on you. If you can’t safely draw your concealed pistol, present it at a target and hit your target (and only your target) then running and gunning is a waste of training time. Always, always, always develop your skills from the ground up, but it is ok to sprinkle in some ninja fun for the purposes of getting your team together, lighting a bit of a spark in them, and adding another tool to the toolbox.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

The Problem

First off, I want to state for the record that we are on the verge of having a problem in the safety ministry arena. Some people are already there, while others are teetering on the edge depending on who they are following and listening to. The problem is this:

We are molding God’s Word to fit our needs rather than being molded by it. As such we are using verses out of context to justify our actions rather than acting in accordance with what the Word says.

Here are some examples I run across on church safety forums all the time:

• “I was just laying hands on the sick;” referring to fighting an agitated person (pastor in Louisiana)

• “I would leave any church that doesn’t allow me to carry because Jesus told us to carry swords.”

• “I train to take out the bad guys because Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers.”

• “We’re protecting the flock from the guy that looked suspicious.”

There are many more, but these capture the gist of how people take passages, or phrases, of the Bible out of context to justify their actions, rather than allowing God’s spirit to guide what they do and how they do it. This is something we have to be very careful about in the church safety ministry because that is exactly why many people want nothing to do with the church as a whole; the tendency to say one thing, act the opposite, and then misquote the Bible to justify how they acted.

Examples From James

The back half of James 1 is a prime example of how we should be acting as safety team members. Verse 19, “My dear brothers take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry” is specific direction on how we should be interacting with people as safety team members. Whether it is on a medical situation or a situation requiring de-escalation they key to our interaction should be LISTENING! Being slow to speak and slow to anger means delaying action until you have an understanding of what is going on.

Too often we talk about being quick to detect the “don’t look right”, quick to follow them, quick to keep an eye on or “address” the suspicious person. We are very willing to be a deterrence, but slow to be welcoming to the suspicious person; exactly the opposite of what Christ directs us to do. Those directions continue in the last couple of verses in James 1 and the beginning of James 2 when he tells us what pure and faultless religion is, and that we should not be showing favoritism.

These verses specifically direct us not to keep the “unwanted” or the “don’t look rights” out, but to help them, minister to them, welcome them. It doesn’t mean follow them at a distance or on camera and see what they’re up to. It means go out of your way to greet them, talk to them, welcome them, and get to know them! This is ministry in practice with a side benefit of building situational awareness. That doesn’t happen if all you do is follow or “watch”. It also means meeting their needs as you are able, which may mean you the safety team member praying with them instead of referring them to the prayer team.

Real Life Examples

I have been fortunate to see what James calls true religion unfold a couple of times with my team. One was on a weeknight before the start of children’s and youth church activities. We had a safety team member notice on our cameras an unknown grown up pulling on locked doors trying to get it. From a security perspective this would raise many people’s red flags. This safety team member, whom I’ll call Jason, went to greet this unknown adult.

The adult appear agitated, panicky. He asked if we had holy water or something to bless him with while looking over his shoulder periodically. Jason asked him what was wrong to which the man stated that, “they’re following me”. Jason invited the man inside and to an unoccupied room so they could talk. The room had a camera that was being monitored (heads up move by Jason) in case something popped off.

In that room Jason began a conversation with the man who was in the middle of a mental breakdown. He learned that the guy was hearing voices, being followed by demons, and the demons were trying to convince him to kill people.

If someone had told you that, how would you react? How would any of your team members react? How have you been trained to react? Many in the church safety world would have heard those words and immediately taken the “security” tone and tried to either apprehend the guy or kick him out. Red flags would have gone up and lockdowns initiated. However, he had not shown any aggression and his demeanor was of fear and not anger. He was in NEED, and Jason was fulfilling his needs simply by listening. Jason then asked the guy if he could pray over him, and pass his info along to our prayer team so we could cover him in prayer.

The guy gave Jason his name, address, phone number, birthdate, and email and then let Jason pray over him (Jason’s eyes were open of course). After praying for him Jason assured the guy that he would pass his information to the prayer team. The guy was in tears of gratefulness, and told Jason he felt like a huge weight had been lifted off him. He then left with a little more pep in his step and was never seen again. Jason then wrote up a BOLO with the guy’s information and condition so other safety team members could keep an eye out for him.

Another time we had a safety team member, Ross, notice a person fidgeting nervously in their seat before service. The man had been spotted by our team as he entered because he was dressed in a heavy coat in the middle of a Texas spring day (90 degrees). He didn’t start acting off until he go into the worship center where Ross spotted him. How would your team handle this guy? Would they just keep an eye on him? Maybe sit somebody directly behind him to act quickly if he does anything?

Ross reported the guy over the radio and then stated something that made me super proud, “I’m going to go see if he needs prayer. Keep an eye out.”

That right there is what safety ministry is all about! That is exactly what James tells us to do in chapter 2! That is true religion first, and security as a byproduct. That is how we should be responding.

Ross approached the guy and introduced himself. The guy nervously shook hands with Ross. Ross then asked him if everything was ok; that he seemed a bit nervous. The guy took a deep breath and stated that he was nervous. He stated that he had had a terrible experience with church when we was younger and that this was the first time he had set foot in one in almost 20 years. Ross smiled and said that he was glad that he was there, asked if he could pray for the guy, and then asked him out to lunch after service. That man is now a member of our church!

Key Points

I want to point something out with both of these examples. First, I did not teach these team members to act this way. It came from their hearts, which were in the right place from the get-go. The only hand I had in these interactions as their safety ministry leader was that I had taught them how to consider the security aspects of their actions, which is exactly what they did.

In both instances the team members approach the “don’t look right” with ministry in their heart first, but security and safety in the back of their minds. They took steps to welcome the person, while also maintaining their personal security and the security of the church. You can do both!!!

Conclusion

As members of our church safety ministries we should be the most qualified greeters in our congregation. We should be the first to greet people that appear out of place or agitated. One, because church may be exactly where they need to be and we should welcome them. Two, because we should have the training and understanding on how to recognize if the person is a potential threat, or just need God; AND how to deal with them if they are a threat.

Too many in the church safety world are fear mongering and using the “it’s not if, it’s when” spiel to try and motivate churches to take their training. They are capitalizing on the fact that the world is a dangerous place and using fear to drive churches to be more vigilant. It shouldn’t take fear to be more vigilant. Jesus told us to be vigilant for people who would not like us, which is the actual context for him telling his disciples to carry swords. However, He also told us to love others, to care for those in need, and to spread His good news. We can’t do those aspects of our calling if we are caught up in fear and trying to deter every “don’t look right”.

A true safety ministry operates with the mission of ministry at the forefront with preparedness being the platform from which they operate. The true safety team member is prepared to pray for a person in need just as well as they are prepared to shoot them if they become a deadly threat. Otherwise, you are just the “man who looks at his face in the mirror, and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like” (James 1:23-24). You’ve heard the directions that we’ve been given, but are not living by them. You are a security force rather than a ministry.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

In Part 1 I discuss how to start building a solid foundation in a brand new shooter. The same concepts that build a new shooter from scratch are the same foundational principles that experienced shooters should be reinforcing every time they train. If an “experienced” shooter starts to display bad habits (i.e. flagging, lack of booger hook awareness, poor shooting fundamentals) it is imperative that somebody address this ASAP. It is also imperative that if you are “that guy” have enough humility to take correction with grace. Too many “that guys” have egos that need to be stroked and can’t handle correction. This is an immediate red flag if you are safety ministry leader if you have someone like this.

Because I will be discussing specific training processes with firearms I am going to keep the remainder of this article, and other step by step articles in the series for paid subscribers only. If you’d like to have access to the step by step training processes for the necessary skillsets to be a solid church safety team member, or safety ministry leader please consider upgrading your subscription.

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If you haven’t figured out yet, I love helping folks secure their families and their church congregations. On top of the resources I discussed on the Live I’m also going to include a couple of other key resources that I utilize when working with my church safety team. Most of these I am not affiliated with and receive no compensation for adding them to this list; I just trust and believe in their product. I will specifically point out those with whom I am affiliated and provide affiliate links for them.

Substacks

At this time there are only a handful of Substacks that I read or listen to regularly and whose information I use when making decisions for my church’s safety ministry.

Christian Warrior Training

Keith has done a lot for the church safety world and I utilize his threat analyses regularly when determining the threat level and security posture that my team operates under weekly. What I also appreciate with Keith and CWT is that they truly don’t do it for the money, but because he feels it’s what God calls him to do with the skills and background that he has. Many claim this, but Keith lives it, which is a big reason I believe that God has blessed his ministry so much. , if you end up reading this keep up the good work, brother.

Church Security Talk

This is Simon Osamoh’s Substack that I reference in the Zero 5 Substack Live as a tremendous resource if you’re looking into applying for the FEMA Nonprofit Security Grant Program (which I also discuss in the Live AMA). Simon has been in the security business, specifically church security for a very long time and is an expert in applying for the FEMA NSGP. He’s definitely the guy to reach out to with questions on that program and getting funding for your church security.

The Wright Report

This is my primary source for international and domestic news. Bryan Dean Wright is open about his biases, but unlike other news sources will report against his own biases if the news calls for it. While he bends conservative he’ll call out conservatives when it’s necessary which shows me that he’s just trying to report news with facts and data. I also appreciate how he separates his reporting into facts and data; and opinion and analysis sections. Check him out if you’re looking for a truly reliable news source.

Medical

I am not a big fan of pre-built medical kits. Everyone’s situation is different, which means that medical kits should be different. There are of course universal items that need to be carried, but I don’t want to spend more money than I have to in order to get a bunch of stuff I don’t need because it’s the only way to get the items that I do need. These are the resources that I utilize for my own, personal medical gear.

TopKit by Top the Bleed (affiliated link)

This is the kit that I reference in Building Your Own Kit. This is the ONLY pre-built kit that I will buy. I have one for each of my vehicles (mine, wife’s, daughter’s) because it only has what is truly necessary in a bad situation, and has extremely simple and useful instructions on how to use the implements and where. The only issue I have is that they don’t come standard with a second chest seal. If you order one, email them and ask for a second chest seal (entry and exit wound sealing). I am affiliated with this company if if you use the link above I will get credit for your purchase. Also, I will be offering these on my website soon WITH the second chest seal. I’ll send a link to that when it’s up.

North American Rescue

NAR is the gold standard in trauma medical gear. If you’re going to piece together your own kit (which I HIGHLY recommend) buy your equipment from NAR. You can get your bag from wherever you want, but make sure your equipment is from NAR. Also, DO NOT buy medical gear from Amazon! If it’s cheap, it’s cheap for a reason; likely it’s because it’s a knock-off. Most REAL tourniquets (CAT, SOF-T, Snakestaff Systems are the ones I carry) are in the $30-$40 range. If it’s cheaper and not on sale, it’s a knock-off and steer clear.

Personal Defense Insurance

If you are armed for the purpose of self defense and do not have insurance you are playing with fire. If you are armed church security and not insured your dancing dangerously close to the fire. Hope and pray you never get burned because unless you are extremely wealthy it’s a fire that will burn your family down trying to put out.

Right To Bear (affiliate link)

Like many voices in the church safety and security arena I am a HUGE proponent of Right To Bear. I was insured by them long before becoming an affiliate for a lot of reasons:

1. They cover me regardless if I’m out on my own or acting as church security. There are no caveats, no fine print. I’m just covered.

2. I’m covered even if I don’t use my firearm. Right To Bear covers you if you were defending yourself or others; no what what implement you use.

3. Paid counseling and mental health support for me and my family. I have been a part of many traumatic events; my family has not. If I have to take a life defending my family who may or may not be present at the time, I know that counseling will be necessary for myself and them. Right To Bear pays for that.

4. Too many others to list. Talking about Right To Bear should be a post all it’s own. Out of all the insurance companies I researched their coverage is the best, and more importantly, they are doing it for the right reasons.

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Intelligence

In addition to the reporting done by I also use the following sources for information, research, threat analysis, and statistical decision making.

Faith Based Security Network Deadly Force Incident Study

FBSN has been and is currently building the most comprehensive study on church related deadly force incidents out there. The information collected in this study is vital in making decisions regarding your church’s physical security measures, training, and security posture.

Also, FBSN is a membership nonprofit that is rich in resources for you and your church safety ministry. I have been a member with them for over a year, Zero 5 Safety Training is a business affiliate, and I am contributing my knowledge and experience with them as much as possible.

Concilium Insight Digest

This is a paid monthly subscription that collects open-source reporting of violent incidents at or aimed at churches. I have been using their reporting for 3 years as a guide for how I set my weekly security posture. They provide both reporting and analysis of international and domestic contributors to church violence in the United States.

Family Research Council

FRC provides an annual report of acts of hostilities at churches. It is the most comprehensive study out there regarding overall violent incidents (not just deadly) against churches. Reading through this report will open your eyes to what really needs to be trained, where the threats are coming from, and how they are being carried out. As much as we like to fear that domestic terrorism is the biggest issue we need to protect against, this study proves that it’s individuals who feel slighted or angry against the church that we need to watch out for. Furthermore, we need to be protecting against vandalism, arson, and bomb threats more than we need to focus on active attackers (according to the study).

2025 Frc Hostilities Report

8.35MB ∙ PDF file

Download

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Physical Security Comms

If you have a large(ish) campus footprint, and a small team like many churches your ability to communicate or respond to communicated threats on your campus is vital. If you do not have a system set up where people can request help, or your team can alert the church then you are missing half of your active attack response potential.

PushPulse (affiliated)

I met Adam from PushPulse at the 2023 NOCSSM Conference in Dallas, Tx when PushPulse was still relatively new. I had a tremendous problem in that I had a congregation that was spread out across 3 buildings with no intercom system and no way to communicate a lockdown situation if we ever had a threat on our campus. At the time our method of communicating the threat was anyone that was not directly involved in dealing with the threat would run down the hallways screaming “lockdown, lockdown, lockdown”. Obviously, this wasn’t the most efficient way of communicating the threat. Installing an intercom was price-prohibitive and therefore not an option.

Then I met Adam and learned about PushPulse. PushPulse not only allows me to communicate a threat to all spaces within the church, but also allows anyone within that space to request assistance from my safety team whenever they need it (medical, unruly parents, etc.). I have been fortunate enough to help contribute to some of the advances PushPulse has made over the last couple of years, and PushPulse is quickly becoming the single-most comprehensive church security platform in existence. Check them out, and tell them Mike with Zero 5 sent you.

Conclusion

While there are many more resources that I could discuss these are the ones that I use most often and to the greatest effect. If you have other resources that you would like to share please comment with their names and links. We are all in the mission of protecting our congregations together. It’s not a competition; it’s not a business. It’s a ministry and a mission.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

If you are a safety ministry leader, or a team member and you have a struggle getting people to attend your training sessions or find enough value in your training to make it a priority this is the episode for you.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

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In Friday’s Substack Live AMA I was asked a question that I have fielded more times than I should have to; and the fact that I have to field this question so much bothers me to my core. I believe that many of you who follow this Substack would agree with me so please bear with me as I rant, and feel free to share any of this with your pastors or church leadership who may need to hear some of this.

Question: How do I get my pastor/church leadership to support our safety ministry financially?

I Can’t Believe It

In this day and age, where the American church has seen a statistically proven, media publicized, meteoric rise in acts of hostility towards it; in a day where trust of public services and governmental entities and their ability/willingness to truly do what is best for the people has eroded we STILL have pastors and church leaders who don’t believe church safety and security is necessary, and who will not support it. Call it a fear of liability, a fear of certain appearances, or a general ignorance of the way our sinful world really is, but we have pastors and church leaders who refuse to either allow their church to have a team, will allow it but not support it in anyway, or will begrudgingly allow it with so many caveats that they effectively rendered them ineffective.

This is wrong and ignorant on so many levels!!!

Typical Arguments Against Supporting Church Safety/Security Teams

1. It increases liability

FALSE. As I’ve stated in previous articles (Liability and Church Safety Pt. 1 and Pt. 2) the cat is out of the bag in terms of the increased threat of hostile acts at churches. With this being the case the arguments of “it’ll never happen here”, “we don’t need security”, and “we’re just going to scare our congregation” are no longer valid. Additionally, because it is considered common knowledge that hostilities towards churches are becoming more prevalent doing nothing actually INCREASES the church’s liability in the sense that there was a known potential risk, and they did nothing to reduce it. It’s like the grocery store knowing there’s a spill in isle 3, doing nothing to clean it up, and someone slips and gets hurt. The church will be just as liable if ANYTHING happens at their church as that grocery store would be.

2. Having Security Defeats the Purpose of the Church

FALSE. Security has the potential to increase the effectiveness of the church if done correctly. A well-trained, ministry-based safety team will create an atmosphere of physical and spiritual safety amongst your congregation that will allow them to drop their guard from the outside world once they step into the church. This allows for a more fertile, less guarded heart-state for the Holy Spirit to work in. When your congregation knows that there are people their protecting them, their families, and their right to worship freely their concerns are left at the street.

Furthermore, if you train and equip your team right and select the right people the worry of discouraging people from coming to your church because of an intimidating presence gets reversed. A well-trained team understands how to welcome but vet the visitors coming to your church. A smile, a handshake, and a welcoming introduction can both build an atmosphere of warmth while acting as a filter for malicious intent. Think of the homeless person who truly needs help. If your team has a ministry first mindset they will greet and welcome that person and point them in the right direction for their spiritual needs to be met. Conversely, if that same homeless person shows up to accost your congregation members for money your team is willing and able to block their access to congregation members while STILL pointing them in the right direction to meet their spiritual needs potentially by praying with them. On the extreme side if that homeless person shows up to assault anyone in your congregation your team is willing and able to stop that in its tracks before it has a chance to manifest.

Either way, a safety team has ENHANCED your church’s ministry rather than inhibited it.

3. It’s just a bunch of gun nuts wanting to be armed at church.

FALSE. If that is what you have on your team then your vetting, selection, and training processes are bad. The safety ministry can be a haven for your gun fanatics within your congregation, but not solely for the purpose of being armed at church. Rather it’s a place where they can belong. A place where they can take their interests and use them to serve the Lord. It’s a place where they can fit in and be a part of the body as God has gifted them through their heart to protect rather than sitting on the sidelines because they don’t have the requisite skillsets or temperament for the more traditional ministries.

It is an opportunity to plant in a field that is fertile and full of people needing community, belonging, and fellowship but haven’t been getting it from the church. It’s an opportunity to reach out to men, veterans, and first responders; three populations that are horrendously underrepresented in the American church.

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What Support Means to Your Team

Perhaps your church has a team, but they won’t financially support them; leaving them to fend for themselves in terms of getting training, physical security measures for the campus, necessary equipment, or building of processes. This is the one that gets my water boiling, and if you are a safety team member that has been stuck in this category please forward this section to your church leaders.

Church pastors and leaders, you have a group of people who are literally offering to lay their lives down for your congregation. Jesus stated that there is no greater love than that. In 1 Corinthians 13:13 Paul states, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” These people love you, they love their congregation, they love the church, and they love Jesus and will do whatever it takes to protect your church. And yet you don’t support them.

Church safety done right is a ministry no different than worship team, children, youth, or missions. Do you support those ministries? Then why not the people who will willingly sacrifice themselves to protect those ministries? I’ve said this once and I’ll say it till I’m blue in the face:

Churches that are unwilling to support their safety ministries financially are no different than cities who defund their police.

Let that sink in.

Conclusion:

If you look throughout recent, American church history over the last 70 years the church has made adjustments in order to be more effective at preaching the gospel. Churches added children’s ministries to teach children the gospel on their level and to give the parents the ability to focus on hearing God’s word for their own application. Churches shifted from the old hymns to more contemporary worship teams in an effort to make worship more applicable to younger generations. The 80s and 90s saw the rise of youth groups and young adult ministries to reach a relatively ignored segment of the population. The Jesus Movement of the 70s also sought to reach out to a relatively ignored population.

Safety ministries are the post-Covid shift that churches need to adapt to in order to reach another ignored segment of there own populations as well as a societal group of people being neglected. We have an entire generation of men who have been seemingly ignored by church ministries. We have an entire generation of GWOT veterans who understand how truly sinful and evil this world can be, and what to do about it. Those same populations, men and veterans, desperately need God, community, and fellowship. The safety ministry provides that, but, like any ministry, only if it’s done right and not halfway.

Pastors and church leaders get off the sidelines, step out of your comfort zones and embrace the newest mission field that God is laying out for us. The state that the world and our country are in cries out for protectors. Utilize and embrace those within your congregation. Support them.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

**If you are a safety ministry lead or team member struggling to get support from your church leadership message me. I will gladly speak to them via phone call or zoom to demonstrate the ministry possibilities of safety and security.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

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Because I will be discussing specific training processes with firearms I am going to keep the remainder of this article, and other step by step articles in the series for paid subscribers only. If you’d like to have access to the step by step training processes for the necessary skillsets to be a solid church safety team member, or safety ministry leader please consider upgrading your subscription.

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PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

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Significance to Church Safety

While this was a terrorist attack aimed at the general population, the kinetics of the attack and response as well as hearing the victims’ side of the story provide a wealth of lessons that should be taken by church safety ministries and their leaders when they plan and train for their response to an active attack. I highly recommend listening to this podcast episode to get the firsthand accounts. However, in this article I am going to provide a short synopsis of the key takeaways for church safety ministry leaders and teams.

Lesson 1: Preparation Beforehand

Craighead alludes to this point, and I have heard it spoken by others who have responded to active attacks and terrorist attacks: you will not magically have the skillsets necessary to know what to do when the event happens! There is a quote that has been overused to the point that when most people hear it they tune it out, but its truth is indisputable; “You don’t rise to the occasion, you resort to the level of your training.” Firsthand accounts from responders to such events verify this all the time.

One of the best illustrations that I have heard regarding training and preparations is that each time you train, each repetition you do is a small deposit into a savings account. The account may not seem to gain much progress at first, but it grows and grows over time until one day you may or may not need to clear out that account and use everything in it. Except each deposit into this particular account goes towards saving your life or the life of others.

Where is your account standing right now?

Do you make regular deposits, or just a small one here and there?

It’s the folks that make small consistent deposits into the training bank that have the wealthiest accounts and are the best prepared to respond in a life or death situation. Craighead recounts that God put him in the position he was in because the training and operational experience he had made him the exact right person for that particular job.

Lesson 2: There’s More To It Than Just Hunting Down Bad Guys

In Craighead’s account of the terrorist attack he outlines situations he found himself in where he was unsure of the exact location of the terrorists but was encountered by survivors in panic mode. This is a situation that we as church safety team members may find ourselves in if an attack ever happens at our church.

Depending on the size of the church and the team there is a distinct possibility that you (singular not collective) may find yourself in a position where you have congregants that need managing, but you are unable to directly assess the threat. What do you do? Have you and your team planned and trained on how to manage your congregation?

Congregation management is an extremely important piece of your overall active attack response plan. If you do not effectively manage your congregation you are looking at an imminently more chaotic situation. We often train various tactics on how to find and address the threat, but do we do so while there are panicky congregants running around screaming, grabbing at us asking what to do, getting in our way as we try to enter a space? I would venture to guess that this does not get trained very often or even at a scale minutely close to what you could face in a real world situation. By not training that, and by not having a plan to mitigate it you are creating more training scars than you are building skills.

Another problem with not having a congregation management plan is what I call the “Aurora Effect”. There are plenty of examples of active attack events where the flood of the fearful crowd created gridlock at exits, in parking lots, and on streets that prevented first responders from getting access to the attack site to address the attack or care for victims. Aurora, CO is one of the biggest examples as police were forced to jump curbs and ram cars to get access to the theater building, and then load patients into their squad cars to transport to the hospital because ambulances could not get to the scene. I once spoke with one of the fire chiefs that was on scene about it and he said the chaos caused by the crowd far exceeded anything they had previous prepared for in addressing an active attack. As church safety ministries defending our own home turf we have the luxury of being able to develop and train a crowd management plan! First responders don’t get that luxury. Take advantage while you can.

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Lesson 3: Being The Person Who Knows What They’re Doing Matters

One of the biggest takeaways I got from the interview was hearing the perspective of one of the survivors and what went through her head and emotions as she hid in her room. There was unabated fear that she was going to die that alternated with the feeling that there’s a slim chance she may survive. These feelings alternated back and forth with every change in the attack environment and every tidbit of information she was able to get.

This roller coaster can be abated in our congregations through a couple of factors:

1. If your church congregation is aware of the fact that there is a safety ministry that is going to address the threat in an effort to save their lives. This is why I’m adamantly against churches having “secret” safety teams.

2. If your church congregation is aware and confident with the level of training your safety team members receive. If there is a question or doubt as to whether or not your team is receiving training, and the level and quality of that training then it’s a moot point. The better training your team gets, the more they are going to talk about it. The more they talk about it the more word gets out on how well trained they are. If you’re not bringing in professional experts or high level trainers; if you’re going with the cheapest route possible to check a box with no display of competence then you are setting your team and your congregation up for disaster.

3. We can involve key church personnel in church safety training. This is something that my church’s safety ministry has instituted the last two years. We have an annual staff and volunteer training day where we do training on various emergency procedures with our staff and volunteers. That includes drills with our congregation management plan. This training is conducted by our safety team members. This conveys competence to more of our church that we know what we’re doing, which translates into trust.

During the interview the survivor states that the moment she knew for a fact that someone was coming to save her was the moment all fear and doubt subsided and she was flooded with relief. This came down to two things: someone was coming, and she was informed of it. This needs to be a part of your congregation management plan as well. How do we communicate to the congregation what to do, and that the safety ministry or first responders are there to save them?

Lesson 4: Understanding the Mental State of Victims

If you have never seen what shear terror and deathly fear does to a person it is impossible to describe. The best way I can convey it is that you must understand that when a person reaches that level of fear their forebrain, the part of the brain that controls speech, logical thought, and reason, gets completely disabled. They are being ruled by emotion and a singular desire to survive which will cause them to act in a manner that could actually result in their death. Rather than hide quietly they will attempt to move to find other people, or will call out to see if others are there. This act could very well give away their position and reveal their presence to attackers. But they don’t know that! All they know is that I might die, and I don’t want to die alone. There’s no logic or reason.

This is another reason why a congregation management plan and training is so important to your active attack response. We cannot assume that people will act reasonably. We must practice and train taking control of a group and leading them. Explaining things down to the most minute detail because we can’t assume that they can read the situation. For instance, in an attack situation if I tell someone to “take cover” what do you think they are going to do? Do they actual know the difference between cover concealment; a principle that I have extensively trained on and do without thinking? Probably not. They are going to go hide behind the first thing they see. Rather, I need to be more specific and direct: “Go to that car and crouch next to the wheel with the car between you and the attacker.” See the difference?

Lesson 5: The Safety Team Can Help, or Complicate the Situation Immensely

Craighead was a highly trained SAS operative who found himself in the middle of a dire situation. He knew what he was doing and how to address the situation. There were others on scene (police, security, Kenyan military) who had a role to play as well. Whether that role was positive or negative was up to them. They could try to be the “leader” in an effort to float their ego and look like a hero or they could default to the guy on the ground with the most background and training.

As church safety ministries the amount that we can positively affect the attack situation depends purely on our level of training and our willingness to do what is necessary which may include things like managing congregation members rather than hunting down the bad guy, defaulting and handing the situation over to first responders, or taking back seat completely until the situation is over and you have to go into ministry mode. We absolutely cannot have a hero complex and think that we HAVE to be the ones that take out the bad guy. We need to save lives, PERIOD!

I’ve said it many times before: There is ZERO room for ego in emergency response. There is what needs to be done, and you go do it. You train for every possible task whether it’s going after the bad guy, or just holding pressure on the wounded and crying victim. You prepare to do anything, but you only do what needs to be done in your area of influence at the specific time. Never, ever leave your job to try and do something more heroic or glamorous. Always follow the direction of the expert on the ground (police).

Be a net positive contributor, not a negative drain.

Conclusion

There is a lot that we can learn from actual attack situations. I have a tendency to study various attacks and how the response went, what went well, and what could be improved; and I tie it into how it applies to the church safety ministry. The terrorist attack in Nairobi, Kenya and the interview done on the Shawn Ryan show give us tons of lessons that we can apply in how we plan and train for active attacks. I hope that you will take some of the lessons I’ve written here and apply them. Identify gaps in your response plan, gaps in your training, and shore them up.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

Announcement:

• I will be doing monthly skill development progression articles for paying subscribers. These will be road maps for how to get your team to be VERY proficient at those particular skills. Proficiency takes time and consistent effort; it doesn’t occur with a single training session. However, as my team has discovered, with repetition and progression proficiency develops without you even being aware it’s happening. Some of the skill development articles will be write-ups while others will be in video format.

• Also, don’t forget about the Substack Live AMA on September 25th at 12 noon Central Standard Time.

• Lastly, I will be doing a Church Response to Active Attack webinar in either late October or early November. Be on the lookout for that as it will provide you with a roadmap not only for your actual response, but also how to plan for it and train your team in being proficient in executing your entire response plan. I’ll let you in on a secret…THERE’S SO MUCH MORE TO IT THAN SHOOTING THE BAD GUY!!!

  Enjoy this month’s training scenarios below.

  PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY

  Mike

  Zero 5 Safety Training's Substack is made possible through the support of paid subscribers. If you enjoy our content please consider upgrading your subscription, or at least sharing our content with others.

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In this episode I briefly rehash the difference between instruction and training, and then I outline some key markers to look for in a quality trainer for your church safety ministry. Note that I specify “trainer for your safety ministry”. There are plenty of great trainers and instructors out there, but very few can relate the topics they are teaching to safety ministry. A trainer or instructor may check all of the boxes of real world knowledge/experience, certifications, and understanding of training processes, but if the heart behind why they are instructing what their instructing is not rooted in the Holy Spirit and in the role of the safety ministry in actually ministering to people then they’ve missed the boat.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

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Attending a lecture, seminar, or taking a class online IS NOT TRAINING. It is INSTRUCTION!!!

The Problem

For years the business world made their employees go to classes or take them online and called it “training”. The military eventually followed suit during GWOT with their General Mandated Training, and the public service agencies do the same thing. And now, church safety ministries when they take a “training” class online.

This is just as much a disservice to church safety team members as it is to the military and first responders because it creates a false sense of accomplishment in that the person taking the “training” now feels that because they sat through a “training” they are qualified in X,Y, or Z. The dangerous problem is when X, Y, and Z are skillsets rather than knowledge.

It’s time we understand the difference and start calling a spade a spade.

Instruction

Instruction is when a subject matter expert relays their expertise in a particular topic to a group of students. Whether that knowledge dump occurs in a classroom, auditorium, or online it is simply that; a knowledge dump. There is no development of a skillset; no tactile or kinesthetic building of a new physical ability or application of a set of knowledge. For instance, if I watch a video on how, when, and where to apply a tourniquet it does not mean that I am now proficient at identifying the need for a tourniquet or the actual application of the tourniquet. It definitely does not mean that I am now capable of doing that under duress and stress. All it means is that I have learned in my brain how, when, and where to apply a tourniquet.

Where church safety ministries get into trouble is that we do the latest and greatest online training because it’s cheap and convenient, and then we consider ourselves “trained” and “qualified” in that particular topic or skillset; even though we have never actually physically done that skill or been in a scenario that required us to understand the need and application of that skill. Worse yet we complete that “training”, print a certificate, add it to our “training” record, and then use that training record to create a false sense of reduced liability for ourselves and our church. The thought being that we have a paper trail of training so we’re safe.

What you have received in this circumstance is instruction; NOT TRAINING. We must understand the difference. Otherwise we are creating in ourselves, our team members, and our churches a false sense of competency and security.

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Training

Conversely, training is the application of a kinesthetic process in a progressive manner with the aim of building a mind-body connection to a particular tactile skill. To better explain this let’s go back to my tourniquet example. Training in tourniquet application means that I get my hands on an actual tourniquet and apply it to myself or to someone else.

True training starts by learning the fundamentals of a particular skillset, practicing those fundamentals, and then adding variables to those fundamentals in order to become more advanced in the skill. For example, in order to train a person in how to apply a TQ I would first teach them how to stage their TQ. I would have them actually stage their own TQ, and then I would teach them how to rapidly deploy their TQ. We would repeat that process (stage TQ, deploy TQ) for a few repetitions so they could internalize and actually feel and experience what a well staged and well deployed tourniquet is like.

Then we would move on to self application and buddy application of the tourniquet to the various limbs. The students would stage their TQ, rapidly deploy it, and then apply it for a few repetitions. Once they show that they can do that basic process we add variables; deploy with the other hand, deploy with only one hand, variations of application. All the while we would reinforce the fundamentals so they become second nature. Students don’t progress to another variable until they have mastered the one their on.

This is TRAINING.

Competency Development

Competency happens when you build a base of knowledge first through INSTRUCTION. This foundation gives you the head knowledge of how, why, what, when, and to what degree a skill needs to be applied. You then move up to TRAINING where you actually build a skill to a baseline level of regular executability (they can do it right every time and without thinking).

Once we have built the knowledge of how, why, what, when, and to what degree; and built and practiced the skills now we need to put that knowledge and those skills to use in slow-paced simulated scenarios. This gives the student the chance to put it all together into practice and see how it turns out. These scenarios must be slow paced, and set up in a way where there is a high success rate, but with built in lessons. Allow the students to come up with the lessons learned on their own through a scenario debrief, make their own corrections, and then try again.

As your team members start to develop confidence in their ability to recognize the need for and application of a skill you then make the scenarios more complicated and add some stress. This is where force on force training and full scale scenarios with role players comes in. This ramping up of stress builds stress innoculation in your team members which reinforces everything they have learned, and reveals what they haven’t. It build in them the confidence that they have the ability to apply their knowledge and skills in a stressful environment. It is also the start of their experiential mental rolodex. The “I did ‘X’ the last time I saw this and it did/didn’t work” rolodex.

That is BASIC COMPETENCE!!!

Conclusion

If you are church safety/security trainer. Please stop calling what you’re offering online “training”. Call it what it is; INSTRUCTION. If you are a safety ministry leader or team member don’t just settle for receiving instruction. Get TRAINING! Instruction alone does not build competence. Training alone does not build competence. It takes both, and then it takes practiced application of both.

Finally, please understand that “certifications” have become so watered down nowadays that having a piece of paper that says you’re “certified” means absolutely nothing UNLESS that certification process involved both a test of knowledge and a test of skill application. Otherwise, you have simply been instructed and your certification is only as good as the paper it is printed on.

Get instructed, get training, and get competent.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

Annoucements:

• Don’t forget about the Substack Live Ask Me Anything on Friday, September 25th at 12:00 PM CST. No registration necessary, and open to all subscribers. Please encourage your safety ministry leaders to teammates to come with their questions.

• Zero 5 Safety Training is in the process of building an online INSTRUCTION portal where church safety ministries can subscribe and get instruction from a library of video classes. The portal will also include instructions on how to train the skills instructed as well as scenarios your team can run. Zero 5 will also be available to come to your church to conduct actual training and scenarios in person. While that is getting built, our paid subscribers will get access to skill development plans in various skillsets through articles and videos that I will be posting here on Substack. Again that will be for paid subscribers only. Paid subscribers will also get a discount on the portal subscription for their church once it’s up and running.

Just Any Other Day

Nobody but the attackers knew the significance that September 11, 2001 would have. Every firefighter, police officer, medic, and person working in the towers went into their day just like any other day. There was no abnormal preparation or reflection. There was no, I should take this item just in case I might need to use it EDC evaluation. They just did their normal daily routine.

The firefighters that day came to work, relieved the off-going shift, did their truck and air pack checks, and then went about their normal shift activities. They ran calls when the tones dropped; many were likely non-emergency calls, others may have been legit emergencies. But they just did their work.

And then the tones dropped for a fire at the World Trade Center.

Veteran firefighters can tell when the tones go off and through the initial call text on their computer whether or not they are going to have what FDNY guys call a “job”. A job is a true working fire. A brief surge of adrenaline hits, but gets subsequently squashed by deep breathing and a mental checklist of “my job is going to be…”. They listen for which units arrive in which order to determine what job tasks their likely to be assigned and how much work is going to be done. For rookies and younger firefighters there’s excitement and a dose of fear that they won’t admit.

No Ordinary Job

Another thing about veteran firefighters is that not much phases them. They’ve seen it all, and some things they’ve seen more than most humans should. But on 9/11 as those firefighters were racing towards the scene and they saw in real life what all of us saw on tv, I guarantee you that every firefighter felt a twinge of fear. This was no ordinary job.

As units arrived on scene officers started developing a plan of action. There was A LOT of work to be done. There was a desperate need to evacuate thousands of people, there was a massive fire to fight, structural problems that needed addressing, and that was just one building. Then it happened again and the problems doubled. It was a million piece puzzle, and firefighters just started plugging in pieces wherever they could. Crews started going up stairs and helping evacuate while others tried to take control of the elevators to take as close to the fire as possible. Others started hustling up stairs to get to the fire as quick as possible to get an idea of what they were up against.

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Furthest From Their Minds

Do you know what was on every firefighter’s mind? “Sure, I might die.” That thought crossed their mind for the briefest of seconds and then it was banished to the depths because their mission was the job, and the job was saving lives. And so they went into a situation that was unlike anything they had ever experienced on a scale they had never experienced knowing death was a possibility but focused entirely on the job they had to do.

The Roots of the Mentality

When I get into theological or political discussions I always try to get to the root of what’s being discussed. The question that I often ask as we get to the root of a societal “problem” is, “What is the opposite of love?” The most common response I get is, “Hate is the opposite of love.”

Wrong!

If you read 1 Corinthians 13 Paul clearly defines love, and everything he uses to describe love comes down to being SELFLESS. Which means that the opposite of love is selfishness. When Jesus told his disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” he laid it on the line. Part of our humanity is that we value life above anything else. And to give up your life is the most unselfish act anyone could ever do. Which is why Jesus said that there is no greater love.

That is the root of the mentality of “Sure I might die” but going anyways; LOVE. And that is what should be at the root of anyone’s mentality serving in the church safety ministry. That they love their congregation so much that they will die for them. I get into debates all the time about why a church safety team should be easily identifiable. Those that oppose this concept argue that by doing so it makes the safety team the first targets. My reply to that is, “Exactly!”

If members of your safety team are concerned with being the first ones targeted, then I would question where their mentality is rooted. I want to be the first target. My teammates want to be the first targets. Do you know why? Because everyone second of attention an attack devotes to me or my teammates is a second that they are not taking the lives of others. Every round they fire at me is a round that doesn’t hit someone else. For me to die is gain, but there may be someone at my church that day who is in the process of getting it figured out. I want to buy them time to do that!

Conclusion

You never know if today is going to be the day. As a safety ministry we prepare so if it is that day we have the skills and experience to do the job. But all the skills and training in the world cannot make up for the wrong mentality of why you’re there in the first place. If you do not love others, if you are in it for your own glory or recognition, if you are trying to boost your own ego by being the “armed” guy at your church then you’ve got the wrong mentality.

I can tell you from experience, that folks that come into a position or job like this with the wrong mentality cannot be depended on to do the right thing when the going gets tough. If they love themselves more than others they will run, they will hide, and they will not fight. If you are a safety ministry leader you must seek people with the right mentality, and you must cultivate that mentality. Church leaders, it’s your job to support those in your church who have that mentality. Because ministry is based on love, and there is no greater love than being willing to die for others; which means there is no greater MINISTRY than your safety ministry.

Those of us who share this love for others, I’m proud to be in the same fight with you. And if we do ever have to make that ultimate sacrifice, just know that we’ll be greeted with a “Good job” from our Father.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

***Don’t forget about the Zero 5 substack live AMA on September 25th at 12:00 pm CST! I’ll see you all there.

Purpose

The first consideration for buying kit is what purpose is it going to serve.

• Is it going to be a large kit for use in responding to anyone in the congregation?

• Is it going to be a personal kit for individual safety team members to use when responding to a request for help?

• Is it for general medical response or active attack response? Or both?

• Is it for self-aid/buddy aid amongst your responding team members?

Medical kit must be designed and built for a purpose. Otherwise what you’ll end up having is a hodge-podge of medical tools that you have to go fumbling through anytime you use it. If it’s a true medical emergency, the absolute last thing you want to be doing is rifling through your medical bag trying to find the right tool to help. It’s unprofessional and leads to a loss of trust from the congregation.

Training/Skill Level

The next, and probably most important thing to consider when buying medical kit is what you are trained for and know how to use. Kit is useless if you don’t know how and when to use it. Only buy kit that you are trained for. Then go get more training, and add more kit as you get more training.

Far too often I see safety ministries spend hundreds of dollars on these ultra complex medical bags and when I ask them what’s in it and if they know how to use everything in it I’m answered with blank stares. No amount of medical equipment will make up for a lack of training. Medical response is not a throw-it-against-the-wall and see what sticks proposition. Specific tools are required for specific purposes, and true skill/knowledge is in the ability to recognize what needs to be used and when.

My Recommendations

For the purposes of church safety ministry I recommend having a team kit AND individual kits. The complexity of the team kit, how many, and how robust depends on the size of your congregation and your budget. I generally recommend keeping your general medical kit separate from your “trauma”, or active attack response kit. Keeping them separate makes your ability to use either in a given situation much easier because they won’t be clutter by the contents from each other. If you have a general medical situation you don’t want to be digging through tourniquets to get to a bandaid.

The below list is how I recommend setting up your various kits and the priority in which you should build your kit. Items that are of immediate need are in category “A”, those in “B” are needed but only once you’ve been trained on them and your budget allows, and “C” items are luxuries that can be added after you have everything in categories “A” and “B” and you have received training in them.

General Kit

A. AED

A. Bandaids of various sizes

A. Ice packs

A. Kerlix gauze wraps

A. Chewable baby aspirin

A. Glucose gel

A. Glocometer kit with extra alcohol wipes

A. Temporal thermometer

A. Narcan

B. Automated blood pressure cuff

B. Stethoscope

B. Benadryl (adult and pediatric)

B. Burn Gell

B. Saline spray

B. Pulse oximeter

C. Oxygen bottle

C. Bag valve mask (child and adult)

C. Non-rebreather (child and adult)

C. SAM splints with wraps and slings

C. Pelvic binder

C. Mega mover

These are the most likely items you will use for any medical situation, and will also equip any of the medical professionals on your team with the tools necessary to fuel their medical decision-making process.

Trauma/Active Attack Response Kit

The way I recommend setting up your active attack response bag is to make sure it’s a completely different color from your general back. You will create “throw” bags that you will use to stock your big AAR bag. The contents of these “throw” bags will be the tools necessary to treat 1, maybe 2, attack victims. If your team responds to an attack the first safety team members on scene will need to treat patients with the equipment they have on their person while they wait for someone to bring the AAR bag. Once the AAR bag has be brought to the scene it’s inefficient to run back and forth grabbing items. Instead you can throw a “throw” bag to a responder to use on their patient.

Each “throw” bag will have:

• 2 CAT or 2 SOF tourniquets

• 1 pair of chest seals

• 1 pair of trauma shears

• 1 space blanket

• 2 kerlix gauze rolls and/or 2 packs of Celox wound packing gauze

• 1 small roll of duct tape

The contents of each “throw” bag will be in a gallon sized Ziploc bag. That way if you run out of chest seals you can use the bag and duct tape to create a pair or more of seals. Also, you can use the duct tape to secure your wound packing if you use all of your gauze packing the wound properly (doctors will hate you, but your patient will have a fighting chance).

Individual Safety Team Member Kits

I require all of my team members to have a personal kit on their person when on duty. This serves two purposes:

1. They have stuff handy to immediate response;

2. They can treat themselves or their teammates to continue the fight if it gets that bad.

Team members can carry their personal kit however they want, but they need to include:

A. 2 CAT or SOF tourniquets

A. 1 pair of chest seals

A. 1 pair of trauma shears

A. 1 space blanket

A. 1 pack of Celox wound packing gauze

A. 1 or 2 pairs of medical gloves

B. North American Rescue minor care bandage kit

B. 1 ice pack

C. Decompression needle (only if trained)

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A Note on Brands and Other Options

When it comes to equipment that could save your life or the lives of others you get what you pay for. Would you want a doctor using the cheapest materials possible to fix you? Would you want the builder of your house to use the cheapest materials possible? I would hope not. The same should go for how you buy lifesaving equipment; whether medical or firearms.

I get it, some of us don’t have a lot of money to spend on gear. I’ve been there, which is why I’m writing this in the first place; to save you money on buying the right things rather than a bunch of crap you don’t need. However, it’s imperative that you buy quality.

When it comes to trauma medical equipment North American Rescue is the gold standard. Everything they sell is CoTCCC (Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care) approved, and has been utilized by the military and first responders for years. It’s truly battle tested gear. Steer clear of buying anything trauma related on Amazon. There’s a good chance you’re getting a knock-off.

I’m a fan of the Snakestaff Systems ETQ 2 which is a smaller, more compact version of the CAT tourniquet. I carry one of these with me as part of my EDC because it’s not at bulky as a CAT, and is easier for use on kids because of its smaller size. Another quality tourniquet is the SOF Tourniquet, which also packs down pretty good, doesn’t use velcro so you don’t have to worry about it getting stuck to itself when you deploy it, and has a metal windlass which aids in generating more force.

If you want a quick, buy-once personal kit I highly recommend the TopKit (pictured below). This kit contains the bare basics you need for a single active attack or trauma victim (CAT tourniquet, chest seal, shears, gloves, and gauze). The best part is they truly made their kit shock proof. The diagram on the front coincides with the color-coded gear inside which coincides with where that tool needs to treat on a victim. Red = tourniquet, which is diagramed on the limbs and is packed behind a red band in the kit. Blue = chest seal, and green = wound packing gauze. Furthermore, on the back of the kit are QR codes that will link you to videos demonstrating how to use the tools that coincide with the color the QR code was on. It’s truly a smart kit. Zero 5 Safety Training is an affiliate with TopKit so use the link below to buy yours and support us at the same time. They also have mounting kits if you want to mount them in centralized locations or in individual classrooms.

Buy TopKit here

Conclusion

Being prepared is so much more than just the gear you have access to. A firearm is only as good as it’s user and a medical bag is only as useful as the level of knowledge and training of the person using it. Take the time to train on the equipment you are using!!! By taking time to consider the purpose of your bags, the level of skill or training your team has, and the professionals that you have available within your congregation you can build very robust bags that fulfill all of your congregation’s needs without wasting money on items you don’t need.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike

Massive Blind Spots

Church safety team members, and many trainers have a gaping blind spot in securing their congregation. Do an internet search for church security trainers, and you’ll find tons of “experts” who will teach you how to “address the active shooter”. We as a society, and as church security-minded people, have become laser focused on the active shooter; both literally and conceptually. We train firearms like crazy, we do CQB and room clearing drills, and we watch and try to replicate the latest instagram gun-ninja drill that popped up into our feed because it’s cool, it’s fun, and it gives us the inherent feeling of being a badass. What we are failing to do is look at the big picture of safety and security.

The problem is that you are missing huge pieces of that 1000 piece puzzle that you are preparing to solve.

Piece #1: What if the threat isn’t an active shooter?

Has your church leadership, ministry leadership, or team even considered this possibility? Just recently in New York City a woman silently walked up to an intersection and stabbed two people; one of which died. Have you planned on how to identify and address that type of threat?

We train so hard to “go to the sounds of the gunfire” that we have no idea what to do or where to go if there isn’t any gunfire! What if the attack is indirect? Meaning, you have no indicators where it’s coming from or what exactly is happening other than people are screaming and/or dropping. There is so much more out there that needs preparing for than just the active shooter. This is also why training should be adding tools to your toolbox to employ in a variety of situations; not just programming you to do step 1, then step 2, then step 3.

Start using your imagination to try and think like the enemy. How would you carry out the most devastating possible attack on your church? Then plan and train on how to address that particular attack. Build your toolbox and your mental rolodex at the same time.

Piece #2: Ministry of Safety, or just a QRF?

Is your safety ministry truly operating and training to create a ministry of safety or just to be a Quick Reaction Force (QRF)? What I mean by this is twofold:

1. Are you only training the direct action side of the emergency, or are you training to manage the safety of the entirety of the congregation during a situation? For example, if an active attack occurs on your campus do you only train to respond to the attacker, or do you train to manage your congregation to increase their overall safety and the safety of the response? Or, are you just operating on the principle that everything gets better when the attacker is down, and we’ll just hope the rest goes well. I’ll tell you this, when attacks happen and confusion sets in if you don’t manage your congregation effectively you are going to turn that thousand piece puzzle into a million piece puzzle. People are going to flee to their vehicles and clog up the parking lot. Others will rush to grab their kids and teachers will have no idea who went with who. You will have family members running around trying to find loved ones. Some will freeze. Some will skin their own smoke wagons and try to find the attacker on their own creating a scenario where your team doesn’t know who’s good and who’s bad.

   

2. What is the rest of your team doing? Do you train to throw every person you have at the attacker, or do you respond with the nearest safety team members only? If that’s the case does the rest of your team know what to do if they’re not directly involved in stopping the attack? We have to understand that responding to the attack is only one small section of the puzzle. There are other, very important sections that must be identified and pieced together. Who is ensuring the kids are safe? Who is communicating with police, fire, and EMS? Is your campus locking down? If so, how are you going to verify that everyone is locked down?

In order to truly be a ministry of safety, your team needs to know how to handle the WHOLE 1000 piece puzzle; not just one particular section. Managing the chaos, ensuring accountability, organized transition to first responders, organized reunification of families. These are all significant sections of that puzzle that must be planned and trained. Otherwise all you have is a quick reaction force trying to respond in what will be an increasingly dynamic situation with every moment.

Your team MUST be able to think on their feet, identify the puzzle, what pieces they have in front of them, and be able to start putting those pieces together to add to the puzzle as a whole; and they have to be able to do that with minimal to no direction. Otherwise you’re operating on hope; and as we’ve all probably quoted before, “Hope is not a strategy.”

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Piece #3: The attacker is down. Now what?

Do you train on what to do after the attacker(s) has been neutralized? I’m sure most safety ministries train or take stop the bleed classes, but have you practiced implementing those skills in a post attack environment? Have you addressed how to quickly assess and triage patients to determine who you work on and who you have to pass over? How do you reduce the likelihood of doubling efforts (treating the same patient twice while others haven’t been seen once)?

Saving patients in a mass casualty incident is much more than just throwing a tourniquet on somebody and calling it good. The assessment much have some level of organization. There must be an established and trained protocol for triaging who gets immediate treatment, who can wait, and who gets skipped altogether. You must also have a way of tracking all of this information to be able to report it to first responders when they get on scene, otherwise they will be completing duplicating your efforts and people may die awaiting treatment or transport.

Another aspect of the post attack environment rears its ugly head again, and that’s how are you managing your congregation? Whether your congregation has 50 people or 5000 there is going to be a panicked mob mentality that will permeate quickly if there is not some level of communication and organization. That panic can shift a situation from manageable to chaos in a hurry.

The last piece of the post attack puzzle is how will you reunite families while accounting for everyone and ensuring the right people go with the right people? Furthermore how will you manage the families of the victims?

Piece #4: What about when the police show up?

There isn’t much to write about this point. Have you even considered it? If you have armed team members responding to an attack and the police show up how are you going to tell the police that there are armed good guys, and what are you going to tell your responders when the police show up?

This is something that can easily be a two birds, one stone planning day. Call your police higher ups, invite them to a lunch put on by your team, and have a getting-to-know-you and what should we do table top exercise over a meal. At my church we invited the local SWAT team to come run drills on our campus, introduced ourselves and discussed our training and capabilities with them, and then asked them to pass the word along to the patrol officers in our area. This is also another step towards building a ministry of safety by building a relationship with your local police.

Conclusion and Announcement

One of the biggest steps towards building a complete ministry of safety is to understand that your don’t know what you don’t know. Many in this ministry have become so hyper-focused on the active shooter problem and stopping that that we have completely lost sight of the big picture altogether. Good leadership and good responders have a knack for seeing the forrest and the trees together. There are many parts to the 1000 piece puzzles. Look at the box cover and see the whole picture, and then train for and plan how to put that puzzle together if you encounter it; the whole puzzle!

ANNOUNCEMENT:

In late October I plan on having my annual Active Attack Response seminar. Last year it was an in-person seminar. This year I will be hosting it via webinar to allow folks from outside the Central Texas region to be able to participate. I will announce the exact date once I have it and will share the signup link as well. I’ll be keeping the price as low as possible, but will have to charge to pay for the Zoom capability and for the date I’ll owe my wife afterward.

Also, on Friday September 25th at 1200 CST I will be doing a Substack Live Ask Me anything for my paid subscribers. If you are a paid subscriber I will be sending a reminder for that. Please feel free to join in and asking me anything you want about church safety ministry.

PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. GIVE HIM THE GLORY.

Mike