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Continuing Education

Worship Security Academy

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An article about advancing church safety training beyond Safety Member Certification using the Worship Security Academy.[1][2]

From the Bible

* The "Sons of the Prophets" were lifetime students of Elijah, Elisha, and other senior prophets, and they themselves were prophets.

And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha (2 Kings 2:3 – See also 1 Kings 20:35; 2 Kings 2:5,7,15; 4:1,38; 5:22; 6:1).

  • * Timothy had been educated by Paul, who later on urged him to keep on studying:

    Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

  • * It is wise to never stop learning:

    A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels (Proverbs 1:5).

  • * Learning is to be applied to serving others:

    Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow (Isaiah 1:17).

    • Introduction

    Learning is a lifetime activity. Most of us will become bored when everything stays the same and there is nothing new. At the same time, we need some stability, a balance between the old and the new. Let's call this dynamic stability. Naturally, we are constantly adapting to change.

    This is true in church safety and security. We are always adapting - or should be. However, it is better to learn more about security and safety in general and get ahead of the curve instead of waiting for change to come to us. We can be trained and certified through the Safety Member Certification program, then re-certify two years later, but we do not have to wait two years to learn more. There are resources to learning more beyond what we learned in the certification program.

    In the News

    Cleveland, Tennessee, May 8, 2021 - Westwood Baptist Church in Cleveland, TN, hosted a church security training course attended by members of churches across the state. There they learned the latest methods in de-escalation and training.[3]

    Franklin, Tennessee, January 8, 2018 - Thom S. Rainer asserted that a new "tipping point' for church security was reached in November 2017 with the Sutherland Springs church shooting just two months earlier. Churches everywhere in this country became aware of the need for security. With this came the need for training.[4]

    Statesboro, Georgia, 2020 - The Georgia Baptist Mission Board has been helping Baptist churches in the state to train security teams, including updating and upgrading previous training.[5]

    A Passion for Security

    British-born Simon Osamoh has a passion for security. He was in law enforcement in the United Kingdom from local detective up to anti-terrorism expert. His expertise led to the Mall of the Americas in the Minneapolis area (the biggest U.S. mall) inviting him to lead their counterterrorism department.

    Now in the United States, he began working in financial security combating bank fraud and identity theft. Then in the church where he was a member, he became involved with security and safety. This led to starting Kingswood Security Consulting, LLC. Kingswood advises non-profit organizations on security. This includes training. Its clients include churches and other places of worship, Christian schools, other Christian ministries, and a community college. Also listed as a "client" is Worship Security Academy (WSA), which specializes in training resources for churches and Christian Ministries.[6]

    The Worship Security Academy Website

    The WSA website opens with the title, of a webinar followed by, "Watch FREE Workshop" (a latter is a link to the webinar).

    The menu bar has nine tabs:

    We'll cover a few of them:

    Decision Decks

    Do you remember using flash cards in school for addition, multiplication, vocabulary, dates in history, etc.? Decision Decks are flash cards for various kinds of situations you may face as a safety team member. The stated purpose of the Decision Decks is "to Enhance Critical Thinking Problem Solving and Decision Making Abilities." There are six types of situations with 60 scenarios in each deck. They are:

    Courses

    Six courses are shown in "Courses"

    These are designed not only for security team members, but also for church staff and leadership:

    Conferences

    WSA holds conferences. The 8th Annual Securing Your Place of Worship Conference is not in-person, even though the pandemic is over. Continuing to meet virtually enables more persons to attend by eliminating the costs of travel, lodging, and meals. This year's annual conference is September 19 & 20, 2023, 9:00am - 4:00 pm on Tuesday and 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm on Wednesday (CDT). Lt. Col Dave Grossman is one of the keynote speakers. Covered topics include:

    You can register for the conference on the WSA website.

    Security Training Resources

    Besides the six courses there are other resources.

    Webinars

    WSA has monthly webinars. They are held on the first Monday of the month, unless that Monday is a holiday, in which case it is the second Monday. They begin at 2:00 pm CT. There is a list of webinars on the WSA site up to January 5, 2024 - the first three have already been held.

    Books

    Simon has three books available on Amazon:

    Blog

    Simon has a blog where he posts four articles a week about church security issues in the news. The list of articles goes back as far as September 5, 2022.

    Conclusion

    Take your training to the next level with Worship Security Academy.[2]

    Training Notes and Free Download

    Videocast Interviews

    Tune into the Sheepdog Church Security Academy on YouTube (the audios are on Church Security Roll Call podcasts).[7][8]

    Besides discussing weekly articles, Kris also has special topics, including interviews. So far there are six interviews:

    A special videocast related to training was posted at the time of this writing: "Recommended Minimum Training Requirements."

    Free Download

    This week's free download is "Safety Member Training Record." Click *HERE* to get it.

    Open Enrollment for Training Course

    It is open enrollment time for Safety Member Certification.[1] There are discounts. Here is the schedule for Online Events (live Zoom classes), which begins September 10th:

    Q1

    Q2

    Q3

    Q4

    Training Module

    1

    Sep 10

    Nov 12

    Jan 28

    Mar 24

    Safety Team Fundamentals

    2

    Sep 17

    Nov 19

    Feb 4

    Apr 7

    Active Shooter Response

    3

    Sep 24

    Dec 3

    Feb 11

    Apr 14

    Deescalating Disruptive Persons

    4

    Oct 1

    Dec 10

    Feb 18

    Apr 21

    Protecting Children from Abuse

    5

    Oct 8

    Dec 17

    Feb 25

    Apr 28

    Basic Use of Force Laws

    6

    Oct 15

    Jan 7

    Mar 3

    May 5

    Arson and Fire Safety

    7

    Oct 22

    Jan 14

    Mar 10

    May 19

    Storms and Disasters

    8

    Nov 5

    Jan 21

    Mar 17

    Jun 2

    Mass Trauma Emergencies

    References

    1. Kris Moloney, Safety Member Certification, Sheepdog Church Security, © 2020 [https://sheepdog-church-security.thinkific.com/].
    2. Sheepdog Church Security affiliate link to Worship Security Association [https://worshipsecurity.vhx.tv/?code=sheepdog].
    3. Meredith Aldis, "Church security teams from across Tennessee learn latest safety training at Cleveland church," WRCBtv, May 10, 2021, updated December 1, 2021 [https://www.wrcbtv.com/story/43857928/church-security-teams-from-across-tennessee-learn-latest-safety-training-at-cleveland-church].
    4. Thom S. Rainer, "The New Normal for Church Security," Church Answers, January 8, 2018 [https://churchanswers.com/blog/new-normal-church-security/].
    5. Scott Smith, "GBMB provides security training for Georgia Baptist churches," Georgia Baptist Journal, Copyright © 2020 [https://gabaptist.org/resource/gbmb-provides-security-training-for-georgia-baptist-churches/].
    6. Simon Osamoh, "About," Worship Security Association, no date [https://www.worshipsecurity.org/about].
    7. Kris Moloney, Sheepdog Church Security Academy, YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGluOUZx7Rd5tLJgcNnVPTcmo_hPwbsp].
    8. Kris Moloney, Church Security Roll Call, SoundCloud [https://soundcloud.com/churchsecurityrollcall].