I’m happy to offer free material in Word and some in PDF format, for your church’s current or new security and safety program. I hope you will use it to help your church keep the Big Picture in mind, rather than focusing only on response to a violent assailant–as important as that is for concern.
Let me know if you find it useful–I like to hear from people in places of worship!
You can safely save all of the documents to your computer and use them in our work. I appreciate attribution if you are going to use substantial material.
The first link is to “Worship Without Worry.” It is a compilation of several smaller documents, including a large section on inspecting a place of worship and a section about the security role of ushers and greeters (although it is most often used by security teams for training.)
Worship Without Worry-2018-182 Pages-Rowe
This a PDF of some of the fundamental slides in my seminar. PP Slides-2018-Rowe-Places of Worship
Although I have a business that involves training and presentations on a wide range of organizational and professional topics, I am not entrepreneurial about it and generally wait to be asked rather than solicit business. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t let people know that as part of my business, I present very effective six hour seminars on the topic of whole-church security and safety. This link will tell you how to make that happen. The only change is that you should contact me through trowetraining@comcast.net.
Producing a Whole-Church Security and Safety Seminar with Tina Rowe
Seminar topics include everything in my material, but also provide a time of networking and positive messages about the fact that an effective, whole-church program is easily achievable by any place of worship.
The best way to have a seminar in your area is to host it or to bring a group of churches together to host, or to enlist the assistance of sheriff’s offices or police departments. It takes a few committed people to make it happen, but the result is always a success for every place of worship in a community.
Best wishes to all of you! Call me at (303) 324-3988 or contact me at trowetraining@comcast.net
Tina Rowe
Denver, CO
March 20th, 2018
Posted by
TLR |
*Free Church Security Material, Safety and Security Planning |
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Whole-Church Means Everything and Everyone, All the Time.
The theme of all my material and seminars on developing church safety and security plans is this: The most effective programs consider all of the People, Places, Property, Programs and Processes of a place of worship. 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. That means that focusing only on main services or special services or the pastor or children or anything or anyone else, will not be as effective as keeping the big picture in mind. Similarly, focusing primarily on how to thwart or respond to crime, violence, active shooters, disruptive situations or assailants, is also not the complete picture of how to prevent harm.
Any realistic plans and programs can help a church be incrementally more safe and secure, of course. However, I worry when I hear someone talking about their church’s safety and security program and the main conversation is about how they have plans to respond to violent assailants or disruptive individuals. There is so much more to protecting a place of worship than that–as important as that is.
Keep the Big Picture in mind: As you develop plans or procedures for your church, synagogue or temple, please consider the very large picture of what you’re dealing with, even in a very small place of worship. There are people of all ages and conditions, activities on many days and nights, electronics, furniture, money, combustible materials, human temptations, off-site functions and a zillion other things that have or create vulnerabilities.
When you consider how to prevent problems, protect against harm, detect concerns and respond to emergencies, please look at the BIG picture. One way to do that is to have teachers, volunteers and others share the things they’ve worried about. Inspect every aspect of the church, on an ongoing basis, not just one time or in the daytime or in the summer or whatever. Talk to other churches about the things that have been problematic, frightening or resulted in harm. Do some research. Talk to your insurance company. Purposely, consciously keep the whole place of worship in mind.
Church Security Material and Seminars: Download items from this post. They’re free and every page encourages expanded thinking. Ask about sponsoring a six hour seminar or working with local law enforcement to do it–be a leader in outreach about Big Picture thinking. I don’t huckster my seminars, but they are tremendously well-received, so I like to mention them now and then.
A good way to consider your efforts is this: Which people, places, property, programs or processes matter? Those are the ones to be concerned about in your safety and security activities.
April 6th, 2014
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TLR |
*Free Church Security Material, Safety and Security Planning |
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Sometimes there is a reason the “road less traveled” isn’t used often. Wise travelers have researched it and found it will take you nowhere or it will bypass the very things you need to see or do or it will actually take you twice as long to get to where you need to go–or it can lead to tragedy. Shortcuts and seldom used roads can be interesting but they can have many perils.
*A trainer told me he doesn’t use photos in PowerPoint because the “thumbnail” images he copied from image searches were blurry. I suggested he use one of the free photo sites available and he said he doesn’t have that much time, so he just grabs a thumbnail image. I said, “But, you aren’t using the thumbnails because they’re not clear.” He said, “Yeah, but they’re quick.”
*Recipe sites abound with people who give a recipe one star then list the things they changed about it. One woman on www.cook.com wrote, “This cake stuck so bad it was ruined trying to get it out of the pan! I didn’t have time to do the whole grease and flour thing so I used spray-on oil, but there’s no reason that shouldn’t have worked. Now I’m out a lot of money and time.”
*An acquaintance I knew from long ago told me recently about being fired twice. He said, “You know me, I take the road less traveled and that doesn’t go over well in a lot of these stodgy places.”
*One of the documents on church safety and security that I distribute is about how to conduct a thorough assessment of the status of every aspect of the property, people, places, programs and processes of a place of worship. It involves assessing in each season and at different times of the day and night, in a variety of ways. A security director wrote to me and said, “We used your material and it was a great help. But, we didn’t want to get involved with so much assessing so we just did it on a Saturday and called it good.”
*Last week I was in Salida, Colorado teaching a class for Sheriff Pete Palmer‘s deputies and some officers from the Salida Police Department. As usual I stayed in a motel on Highway 50 and I thought I was seeing most of Salida, a nice little town. It turns out, that is a bypass around the real Salida–which is much lovelier than I realized.
The bottom line: Of course there are useful shortcuts for some things and taking an isolated road can be interesting. However, when you’re learning a new skill, new habit, new process, new recipe or new anything else, do it the complete way, the way you were told, the way it’s described, the tested way. When you’re an expert you can develop shortcuts. Another bit of advice: If you are bound and determined to do your own thing, your own way, in life, work or relationships, don’t complain when the cake sticks to the pan.
This is Highway 50 that skirts the main portion of Salida
Downtown Salida on E Street, South of US 291 and North of US 50. Nice little shops!
February 19th, 2012
Posted by
TLR |
*Free Church Security Material, Life and Work |
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