Category Archives: security

Safety First …

Last week during our little Facebook discussion, I threw this little sentence out without explination:

For instance, you won’t find pictures of my kids on FB, Twitter, or this blog with the exception of our once-a-year-Christmas-card-picture. There is a long story there that awaits another post on another day.

Today is the day.

I rarely talk about this, but thought I might share the 50 cent version just to spur some thought. All churches and all communities are different … and yes, Vegas is obviously quite different … so I usually don’t say much since sometimes it might seem a little freaky. So … here goes.

When Ethan was just over a year old, we had a guy try to take him from church. To make a long story short, the guy knew exactly who Ethan was. He tried to grab him. He tried to take my little boy.

Nothing will freak a mom out more than the fear that someone is going to take your child. Six years later, it still makes me emotional.

So, I just wanted to bring up a few thoughts that I have on the safety of my kids … and yours.

1. Know your church’s security and building lock-down procedures. Most churches have security measures to lock things down in case of lost kids or estranged parents. Make sure you are familiar with those procedures. If you don’t have those security measures in place, please consider implementing some.

2. Make sure everyone in the children’s ministry knows who will pick up your kids. Yes, most churches have some kind of way to make sure only people with matching tags, pagers, etc pick up kids. I take it a step further. My kids are not allowed to leave their classes with anyone but Jud or me. Even if another adult, including other staff members, were to have their matching tags, my kids cannot leave with them. I always say that it is only my body that gets them out of their classes.

3. Remember that just because we are in church doesn’t mean that everyone is to be trusted. The only time I’ve ever had my car broken into was when it was sitting in the church parking lot in Texas. So, I love everyone there … hug them, care for them … but I watch my kids like a hawk.

4. If you need to take additional steps to ensure the safety of your kids, do so. No apologies. No guilt. You are a mom. You know what is best for your kids. Keep them safe.

Thoughts on security in churches? What security measures do you implement in your church or in your ministry?

Who I’m Not…

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Posted by Brandi Wilson

People in our church walk up to me all the time and say (and I’m sure many of you have heard this as well) “Your husband was teaching right at me this morning.” I also regularly hear the ole’ “He must be reading my mail” statement.

Yesterday I was listening to a message by Beth Moore and she said something that hit me right between the eyes.

You need to learn to rest in knowing who you are… and who you are NOT.

I talk a lot about personal purpose and I’m just realizing that part of my purpose is also acknowledging and resting in what I’m NOT, who I’m NOT.

There’s a good chance I’ll sleep a little sounder tonight just knowing that weight is off my shoulders… even though I’m a little worried that Beth Moore must be reading my mail. 🙂

Are any of you challenged by realizing who you are NOT?

You Asked Pt 15

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question mark Question: “How do you handle people who think they know you and you have never met?”

Well, I should say I have plenty of people that I feel like I know but really don’t, too. And I probably act like a total dork when I finally meet them too.

But I think I’ll answer this from the point of view of our kids. When we are around town or especially around the church, we have strangers walk up to us and talk to the kids about personal things that Jud has probably shared in a sermon or something. They are the kinds of conversations that would lead our kids to believe that they actually knew those people.

So, we do lots of talking about the difference in people that know us and people that we know. The kids know that they can’t go with anyone unless they can say that person’s name … it doesn’t matter if that person knows the kids’ names or details about them or our family. It is tough. We work on being polite, but there is a fine line there because I don’t want them to get too comfortable talking to tons of people that they don’t know.

What do you do with your kids? And how would you answer that question for yourself?

Security

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white-window I’m sure we all heard about the shooting of a pastor during church service yesterday morning. Terrible. My heart hurts for this family and this church.

It has got me thinking about security in churches. It isn’t something that people talk about much. We actually have amazing staff member and super-great volunteers in this area at Central. They are there not only for the safety of the staff but also for the safety of the whole church! We also have a medical emergency team. And since we have eyes around all the time, if someone has a medical emergency, our team is on it in a flash. They are helping people and literally saving lives.

So I’m wondering if you have “security” at your church. If so, what does it look like? How do you feel about it? And if not, how do you feel about that?