Easter - 2000 Years of Cowardice

This special Easter edition of the OCSA church threat briefing is shamelessly plagiarized from two people I deeply respect, Dr. Travis Yates retired commander of Tulsa’s most dangerous area the Gilcrease precinct and also former commander of the TPD Special Operations Unit. He is the man who should be Chief of the TPD right now. This article was co-authored by Dr. Greg Amundson, a pastor and theologian who is also a Senior Instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. The article is short but profound.

----------------------------------------------------------------

2000 Years of Cowardice, An Easter Message

“But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.” — Luke 23:23-25 (ESV)

Pontius Pilate knew the truth. He said it out loud. Three times.

Standing before a hostile crowd with the power of Rome behind him, the governor of Judea looked at Jesus of Nazareth and declared him innocent. Not once as a passing remark, but three separate times as a matter of official record. In Luke 23:4, he told the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no guilt in this man.” When that did not satisfy them, he sent Jesus to Herod to get a second opinion, and came back with the same verdict in verse 14: “I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod.” When the crowd still would not relent, Pilate tried a third time in verse 22: “I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.”

Three declarations. Three opportunities to hold the line. And then, after all of it, he folded anyway.

Luke’s phrase is the most damning description of failed leadership in all of Scripture: “their voices prevailed.” Pilate did not run out of authority. He did not run out of facts. He did not run out of options. He ran out of will. And when his will ran out, he freed a murderer and condemned an innocent man because the crowd demanded it.

That is not a political miscalculation. That is cowardice.

What Pilate did that morning was not a failure of information. It was not a failure of authority. It was a failure of courage. And two thousand years later, the same failure is playing out in organizations, agencies, and institutions all over the world. The names have changed. The stakes are lower. But the pattern is identical.

A leader knows what is right. The crowd pushes back. The leader folds.

Pilate had every tool he needed to do the right thing. He had legal authority. He had political standing. He had the truth on his side, confirmed by two separate evaluations. What he lacked was the will to act on it when doing so came at a cost. The moment the crowd applied sustained pressure, Pilate stopped leading and started managing the situation. He tried to split the difference. He offered to release a prisoner as a compromise. He stalled. He outsourced the decision to Herod, hoping someone else would solve the problem for him. He proposed a middle ground — flog the man and release him — as if half a concession would satisfy people who wanted blood.

It did not. The voices grew louder. And Pilate gave them what they wanted.

Leaders today do the same thing under different circumstances. A chief knows a complaint is unfounded but sustains it anyway because the political environment demands appeasement. A supervisor watches a good deputy get thrown under the bus and says nothing because silence is easier than confrontation. They are all handing someone over to the crowd's will. The mechanism looks different, but the surrender is the same.

We call it pragmatism. We call it picking battles. We call it reading the room. What it actually is is cowardice.

Pilate’s case is instructive because it removes every excuse. He was not uncertain about the facts. He was not confused about his authority. He did not lack information or options. Luke makes that unmistakably clear by recording three separate declarations of innocence before the final capitulation. Pilate was simply afraid of what doing the right thing would cost him. The crowd was loud. The religious leaders were threatening. The political consequences of standing firm looked worse than the moral consequences of backing down. So he made the calculation that most cowardly leaders make: he decided that his position was worth more than his integrity.

That calculation always costs more than it saves.

The leaders who bow to pressure do not just make a single wrong decision. They signal to every person watching that the organization does not operate on principle. They teach their people that truth is negotiable, that outcomes depend on who is loudest, and that the leader cannot be trusted to stand when it matters. Once that lesson is learned, it is nearly impossible to unlearn. Trust does not erode all at once. It drains slowly, through moments exactly like the one Pilate had that morning outside Jerusalem.

What would courageous leadership have looked like in that courtyard? It would have looked like Pilate saying what he already knew to be true after the first declaration and holding the line regardless of what came next. It would have looked uncomfortable. The crowd would not have cheered. The religious leaders would have been furious. There may have been consequences. But the decision would have been right, and everyone present would have known it.

That is what courage in leadership requires. Not the absence of pressure, but the decision to act rightly in the presence of it. The crowd will always have a preference. Political winds will always blow in some direction. There will always be a version of the easy path that lets a leader avoid short-term conflict at the cost of long-term credibility.

Courageous leaders reject that path, not because they are unaware of the cost, but because they understand what is at stake when they don’t.

Pilate’s name has been repeated in churches around the world for two thousand years. Not as a hero but as the man who condemned an innocent person because he lacked the backbone to do otherwise. History does not remember what he preserved by making that choice. It remembers what he surrendered.

The leaders in your organization are watching how you handle pressure. They are watching what happens when the crowd gets loud, when the political environment gets difficult, when the right call is also the hard one. They are asking a question they may never say out loud.

When it matters most, will you hold the line?

Pontius Pilate had the same question in front of him. He answered it three times before he got it wrong. His final answer is still being recited two thousand years later.

 

------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Travis Yates retired as a commander with a large municipal police department after 30 years of service. He is the author of “The Courageous Police Leader: A Survival Guide for Combating Cowards, Chaos & Lies.” His risk management and leadership seminars have been taught to thousands of professionals worldwide. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy with a Doctorate Degree in Strategic Leadership and the CEO of the Courageous Police Leadership Alliance.

Are You Achieving Competence?

When the OCSA began over a decade ago it was not unusual to host events with over a hundred students. Local and regional media covered our events. We were presenting one day familiarization seminars that barely exposed the students to the subjects they needed to master for effective church security. It was a minimal commitment revival meeting style format that most church people were comfortable with.

Soon, I began to have doubts. I would come back the next year, see the same people in the crowd and find out through follow up that almost no progress had been made. They were not improving. They were not pursuing the regular intensive training necessary on their own and worse they were becoming confident that they were competent when they were anything but. They were enthusiastic about being repeatedly simply exposed to the same very basic training material thinking that they were being trained.

As the article below so clearly states, mere exposure is not even learning much less competence. It hit me like a ton of bricks when I realized that most of the people we were training were becoming falsely confident in their ability to handle the same situations police officers and military personnel train years to master.

When I realized this, we changed the OCSA program to the one year format with reading assignments, practice scenarios and individual consultation and follow up. Attendance dropped precipitously because the new training program did not follow the minimal commitment, revivalist, exposure only training model most churches and church people are comfortable with.

Recently, we made a second change. While we will continue to offer the basic program where needed, we will no longer repeat the basic program to people and in areas where no progress has been made. In those areas, we will instead concentrate on the few who have made the commitment and are ready for more advanced training.

The article below from OFFICER.COM LINK explains our rationale very professionally. I would encourage church leaders to read this article because while it addresses the apex skill of police work and security, firearms, the psychological concepts the article is based on apply to every other area of human thought and endeavor. If you decide you don’t have the ten minutes to read the article do try to retain these thoughts from it:

When familiarization is mistaken for learning, training systems produce fragile capability. Participants leave confident but unprepared. Organizations assume competence that does not exist. Risk is transferred silently to the moment when performance is required most. 

It is critical that high-liability trainers understand that true learning is not mere exposure, that familiarity is no way on par with competence, and that performance under ideal conditions is not performance under pressure.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

ARTICLE: Familiarization Isn’t Learning: Why Police Firearms Training Often Stops Too Soon 

Many police firearms training programs confuse exposure with true learning, creating skills that work on the firing range but fail under real-world pressure.

By Keith Hanson April 2, 2026

What to know:

• Many law‑enforcement training systems mistakenly treat familiarization as learning, rewarding exposure and short‑term performance rather than durable skill. 

• Firearms and other high‑liability police skills follow predictable motor‑learning stages, yet training often stops before true automaticity is achieved. 

• When stress narrows cognitive bandwidth, skills that require conscious control frequently degrade or collapse, exposing the risks of confusing qualification with competence.

Educational science identifies three broad stages of motor learning—cognitive, associative and autonomous—and they apply to police firearms training. Regardless of whether the discussion centers on firearms training, professional education, or skill acquisition in any high-liability domain, it is critical to confront an uncomfortable truth. Much of what we commonly label as “learning” is not learning at all. In reality, it is exposure. More precisely, it is familiarization that has been mistakenly elevated to the status of competence. 

This distinction matters far more than most instructors, program designers, or credentialing bodies are willing to admit. The methodologies by which skills are introduced, rehearsed, and ultimately assessed frequently do not measure learning in any meaningful sense. Instead, they reinforce a series of cognitive and instructional biases that create the appearance of learning while failing to produce durable, transferable capability.

This is not a minor semantic issue. In environments where performance carries real consequences, whether legal, moral, professional, or physical, the difference between familiarization and learning can determine outcomes that extend well beyond the training environment. Understanding that difference, and why traditional instructional models so often obscure it, is foundational to responsible training design.

The Persistent Confusion Between Familiarization and Learning 

Within training culture, the terms familiarization and learning are routinely used interchangeably. This is understandable, but it is also profoundly misleading. Familiarization refers to exposure. It is the process by which an individual is introduced to information, a concept, or a technique. Learning, by contrast, is the process by which that information or technique becomes stable, retrievable, and executable under conditions that differ from those in which it was initially encountered. In practical terms, familiarization answers the question, “Have you seen this before?”  Learning answers the question, “Can you reliably perform this when it matters?”

The problem is that most training systems are designed to reward the former while claiming to produce the latter. This disconnect is especially evident in skill-based disciplines that rely heavily on motor performance.

Firearms Use as a Motor and Psychomotor Skill  

The use of a firearm, in any context, is fundamentally a motor skill. Motor skills involve the coordinated movement of specific muscle groups to perform a defined task. When those movements must be guided by perception, decision-making, and environmental input, they become psychomotor skills. In simplified terms, psychomotor performance is the integration of movement and cognition. The body executes the task, but the brain determines when, how, and under what conditions that execution occurs.

Because firearms use exists squarely within this psychomotor domain, it is subject to the same constraints, limitations, and learning processes that govern all complex human performance. This includes how skills are acquired, how they degrade, and how they fail under pressure. Understanding these processes requires an appreciation of motor learning. Not as an abstract concept, but as a measurable, staged progression.

The Stages of Motor Learning 

Educational science, across both pedagogical and andragogical models, identifies three broad stages of motor learning. While terminology may vary slightly across disciplines, the structure is consistent. These stages are not arbitrary. They reflect predictable changes in attentional demand, error rate, efficiency, and reliability as a skill develops. More importantly, they provide a framework for distinguishing between familiarization and actual learning.

The Cognitive Stage: Understanding Without Capability 

The cognitive stage represents the earliest phase of skill acquisition. Here, the learner is attempting to understand what to do and how to do it. Performance is highly conscious, highly effortful, and often inconsistent. When teaching a new shooter to draw from a holster, for example, instruction is typically delivered in a linear, step-by-step sequence. The student attempts to memorize and execute each component in the correct order. Grip, then … Holster Draw, then … Presentation, then … Sight Alignment, then … Sight Picture, then … Trigger Staging, and so on.

At the cognitive stage, movement is often stiff, over-controlled, and inefficient. Errors are frequent. Corrections are constant. The learner relies heavily on internal dialogue, mentally rehearsing each step in an effort to avoid mistakes. This is not a flaw in the student. It is a natural and unavoidable characteristic of early motor learning.

Critically, however, the cognitive stage is also where many training programs stop progressing in any meaningful way. Repetition is introduced, but often without structural variation, contextual relevance, or delayed application. The result is repetition that increases comfort without producing capability. This is where the oft-repeated phrase “practice makes perfect” becomes dangerously misleading. Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Whatever is rehearsed, whether correct or incorrect, robust or fragile, becomes more deeply encoded with repetition.

The Associative Stage: Improvement Without Resilience 

As practice continues, learners typically transition into the associative stage. Movements become smoother. Errors decrease. Speed and accuracy improve incrementally. Less conscious attention is required to execute the skill. This stage is often mistaken for mastery. The learner begins to feel competent. Instructors observe more consistent performance. Qualification scores improve. Confidence rises. Yet despite these improvements, the skill remains highly sensitive to disruption. Minor changes in context, time pressure, or emotional state can significantly degrade performance. The skill works, but only under conditions that closely resemble those in which it was practiced. 

From a NeuralTac perspective, this is where the illusion of learning becomes most convincing and most dangerous. The student can perform the task, but only within a narrow bandwidth of conditions. Transfer, defined as the ability to apply the skill outside the training environment, remains limited. 

The Autonomous Stage: True Learning That Survives Pressure  

The autonomous stage represents the threshold at which a skill becomes genuinely learned. Execution is efficient, consistent, and largely unconscious. The performer no longer needs to allocate significant cognitive resources to how the task is performed. This does not mean the performer is disengaged. It means attention is free to be directed toward higher-order tasks such as perception, decision-making, problem solving, and environmental assessment.

One practical way to assess this stage is to impose a secondary cognitive task during skill execution. If the performer can process information, recall details, or solve problems while performing the motor task without degradation, the skill has likely reached a functional level of automaticity. This distinction matters because human beings cannot truly multitask. Cognitive resources are finite. If a motor skill requires conscious control, it will compete with decision-making under stress, and it will lose.

Stress, Survival Physiology, and Skill Collapse 

When an individual experiences acute stress, as we like to call it, “physiological arousal”, the body initiates a cascade of physical, psychological, and chemical responses commonly described as “the fight or flight reaction”. Heart rate increases. Fine motor control degrades. Attentional narrowing occurs. Senses gate.

Under these conditions, skills that require conscious control are unreliable at best. At worst, they fail entirely. This is not a moral failing or a lack of willpower. It is biology. Motor skills that have not been rehearsed to the point of automaticity are particularly vulnerable. When cognitive bandwidth is consumed by threat processing, there is simply no capacity left to consciously manage complex motor sequences. This is where the often-overlooked freeze response emerges. Freezing is not indecision. It is cognitive overload.  

The Illusion of Learning 

The term illusion of learning describes a phenomenon in which individuals believe they have learned something because they can recognize it, recall it shortly after exposure, or reproduce it under controlled conditions. Testing practices often reinforce this illusion. Quizzes administered immediately after instruction measure short-term retention, not learning. Qualifications conducted in predictable environments assess familiarity, not adaptability.

A useful analogy comes from traditional academic education. Students may be exposed to historical facts over a short instructional period, tested immediately afterward, and demonstrate apparent mastery. Weeks or months later, that information has largely vanished, unless it was revisited, integrated, and meaningfully applied. If learning had actually occurred, meaning the information had been consolidated into long-term memory, there would be no need for last-minute cramming. Cramming exists precisely because consolidation did not occur.

Memory, Consolidation and Retention 

Human memory is not a single system. Information must pass through short-term memory before it can be consolidated into long-term storage. Most information does not survive this transition. Consolidation requires time, repetition, variation, and relevance. Information that is not revisited or applied in meaningful ways is discarded. When information is consolidated, it becomes accessible without conscious effort. This is why certain historical facts remain retrievable decades later, while others disappear within weeks. Motor learning follows the same principles. Procedural memory, the system responsible for skill execution, requires repeated, well-structured rehearsal over time. Familiarity alone is insufficient.

Qualification Is Not Proof of Learning 

Passing a qualification or proficiency test does not demonstrate that a skill has been learned. It demonstrates that the individual was able to meet a minimum standard under specific conditions at a specific point in time. This distinction is rarely acknowledged, yet it carries enormous implications for how training outcomes are interpreted. A shooter who qualifies successfully may still lack the ability to perform under stress, adapt to novel conditions, or retain the skill over time. Qualification measures performance at the surface level. Learning resides beneath it.

From a NeuralTac perspective, assessments should be diagnostic, not declarative. Their purpose is to reveal the state of skill development, not to confer a false sense of completion. 

Why This Distinction Matters

When familiarization is mistaken for learning, training systems produce fragile capability. Participants leave confident but unprepared. Organizations assume competence that does not exist. Risk is transferred silently to the moment when performance is required most.

The solution is not more training hours, more credentials, or higher round counts. It is better instructional architecture, one that respects how human beings actually learn, retain, and apply skills. It is critical that high-liability trainers understand that true learning is not mere exposure, that familiarity is no way on par with competence, and that performance under ideal conditions is not performance under pressure.

Until training systems are designed with these realities in mind, the illusion of learning will persist, and so will its consequences. 

Milk Not Meat Feedback

 

Almost every week, I get encouraging responses to my weekly briefing. The responders are almost inevariably professionals or former professionals of some sort in the martial professions. I received the following from a highly respected handgun instructor this morning in response to today’s weekly briefing.

Thank you for your updates. Here is an example of a terribly unprepared church, I had a student in my basic handgun license class last week. He wanted to take it since he recently volunteered for his church security team. Although he had been a sheriff’s deputy 30 years ago, he's now in terrible health with extremely poor fitness.

When I gave him his range test, after taking 5 slow shots from 3 yards, he was so exhausted, he had to sit down and rest for 5 minutes before continuing. With great difficulty he finished the 50-round requirement.

He bemoaned the fact that last Sunday, no one else was available, so he alone was security for his large church. I was shocked to think this large church in my community was depending on him as their only security!

Thank you for your good work, and frequent exhortations for us.

Name of instructor withheld.

The Oklahoma handgun license course is not tactical training. It is a very basic firearms safety course. Students are only required to correctly answer eleven of the fifteen questions on the written safety exam. The fifty round course of fire only requires the applicant to put seventy percent of their rounds into a full sized target at ranges of three, seven and ten yards. And this requirement can be quite flexible depending upon the instructor. There are no time restrictions and the student is not required to draw their weapon or perform any actual tactical movements.

The fact that this security volunteer had to rest after taking five shots at three yards in a controlled, no stress environment speaks volumes. How could this person, no matter how well intentioned, be expected to be of any use in a real security event? In case of an actual security event the only effective tool at his disposal is his firearm and it is beyond credibility to expect that under extreme stress and physical exertion he could make the necessary pin point accurate shots necessary in a crowded church facility. And using the firearm would be necessary because he lacks the physical capability to employ any less than lethal force.

Unfortunately, probably half of the people we deal with serving on church security teams are not physically capable of handling any kind of an altercation and have had little if any real training firearms or otherwise. They are well intentioned and are to be given great credit for being willing to do something even if an effective response is probably beyond their capability when the need arises. The younger, physically fit men and in some cases women in these congregations who refuse to step up to protect themselves, their families and their flock should be ashamed.

Milk Not Meat

 

The church security threat level continues to increase exponentially . Multiple church attacks per week are now happening on a regular basis and even more attacks are imminent. Iran is calling on Muslims worldwide to attack “soft” civilian targets like public gatherings and places of worship.

This week, Christian Warrior Training is discussing tactics to handle complex church attacks. This is in response to the latest wave of church attacks that combine multiple threats, often a vehicle ramming, improvised explosive or incendiary devices and an active shooter all in a single event. A lot of church security people love to discuss tactics for these events the same way they enjoy watching over the top action/adventure movies. They like the thrill of talking about it but the reality just hasn’t sunk in.  Talk is one thing but we only truly believe what we effectively act upon.

Only a tiny proportion of the churches we talk to have anything close to an effective security ministry. I find myself in a similar position to the Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians, “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

Churches need to be planning and training for complex tactical events and yet the vast majority lack even the basic tactical skills and/or capabilities required for the simplest of events. So once again, I am offering church security milk. What follows is a basic security checklist which assumes that your church, either has no program or has one that is not regularly trained to a professional level of readiness.

1. Do you have eyes on the parking lots at all times? Do you have either video surveillance or human surveillance on the entire property surrounding your building? Do these people have a way of communicating and is there a plan in place for handling external issues and threats? Do you have a way of instantly security your entrances if a threat is approaching?

2. Have you hardened your entrances against vehicle attack? Heavy planters and architectural obstacles are best but at minimum have you directed key personnel and regular attenders to park their vehicles in a way that would block a ramming attack on entrances?

3. Have you hardened access to the nursery and other spaces where children are present? Children are often the trigger for violent domestics and the softest target for terrorists.

4. Do you have eyes on the people entering the building? Are reliable, well trained people watching every person who enters and scanning them for weapons and explosives? Is there a plan to stop and evaluate every suspicious person and can your people execute it without being offensive or obvious? Is there enough depth in your coverage that this evaluation can take place without leaving the entrances unobserved?

5. Do you have eyes on the congregation at all times? Do you have a trained person watching the congregation from a place offering good observation looking for suspicious movements, groupings and activities?

6. Do you have physical protection for your pastor in place? Are there at least two good sized, well skilled men within two seconds from the pulpit who can block a physical attack against the pastor? The pastor is often the target of disruptive events and physical attacks.

7. Can all of the people above communicate in case of an incident? Can they call for backup or send a warning? Do you have trained external communicators in place? At every service are there at least two people present who habitually sit in locations most likely out of the line of fire that are sufficiently cool headed and trained to make a cogent 911 call giving the actual physical location of the facility and an accurate description of the situation?

8. Do you have well established, regularly practiced fire, explosive device and severe weather plans that will quickly evacuate the congregation to a safer place?

9. Are your staff and volunteers insured against civil action in case of physical confrontation?

10. Do you have CPR/AED equipment and a well stocked trauma kit on site? Do you have people present who are trained to use it and do they know how to access the equipment? Medical emergencies are the most common event churches face.

THIS IS NOT A CHECKLIST FOR A GOOD SECURITY PROGRAM. THESE ARE MINIMUM THRESHOLD STANDARDS FOR AN UNARMED HOSPITALITY MINISTRY. An effective security program actually capable of handling the threats that some of these measures may uncover requires months of professional level training and personal commitments by multiple people that too many churches just can’t or won’t achieve.

I had a short but profound conversation with a local deacon recently. He observed that “cognitive dissonance” often prevents effective church security. This is a point I drive home every training cycle. People who are not professionally trained or have not actually experienced security events tend to adjust their thinking and response to uncomfortable information to conform to their personal or group comfort level. The fact that a response at their comfort level is far below what is required for the actual safety of their flock is usually rationalized away.

In the hard, cold real word a church’s comfort level is irrelevant. The military and police departments assign their best officers to protection details with similar requirements to church security. These men and women have completed extensive training and after that continue to train constantly to maintain those skills and readiness. Refusal to plan and prepare for security events is nothing less than denial. Being confident that you have this thing covered because there a few unorganized, probably untrained armed people in the congregation is nothing short of hubris.

The Oklahoma Church Security Association provides free professional level security consultation and training at no charge. For further information respond to this email or contact Bill Kumpe at 918-381-9792.

The Reality Gap In Church Security

There has always been a reality gap in churches on some issues. Since by nature the primary mission of the church operates in the unseen spiritual world where objective measurement of results is impossible there is a tendency to apply the same thinking to the very concrete physical world where hard and fast standards do exist, results can be measured and failure to meet those standards can have immediate and drastic results. This is especially true in church security. Here is some of the objective reality for this week:

• A church in rural Jay, Oklahoma was shot up by a man free on bail who cannot be tried in state courts. The man had previously been released from a state prison where he was serving a 20 year sentence because of his Native American status. He re-offended on similar charges. At the time of the latest incident had been free for a year on low bail granted by the Cherokee Nation courts.

• In Indiana a man walked into the Wednesday night service with a firearm and five IED’s. Nobody stopped him at the door. Police were notified by a tip leading to his arrest during the service.

• In Washington state a man crashed his vehicle into a a church.

• In Missouri a man was arrested after repeated stalking incidents involving a church.

• In Tennessee a woman was stabbed in her sleep at a church warming center.

• DNI Gabbard warned congress that the threat of lone wolf terrorist attacks by radicalized persons present in the US was likely. Iran and ISIS are calling for jihad against US and Israeli interests worldwide.

• A new Islamic terror group using radicalized teenagers paid for their services has claimed credit for a wave of attacks across Europe. In most of the West teenagers cannot be tried as adults and thus will avoid major penalties while making a small fortune for their familes.

• The Sinaloa Cartel is arming for war against the US and they have a strong presence in almost every US state and city.

This is objective reality on US soil this week. It happens every week ….. same events just different places.

Churches that have no security program are like churches that have no insurance on their property. They think that since the odds are small that something bad will happen they can put their resources in other places. Churches that have lip service only security programs are like those that have minimal insurance policies that really don’t cover much but allow the church to say it has insurance. In the past, we worked with a church whose insurance policy specifically excludes any use of force by a church agent even in self defense. Their security volunteers were literally on their own in case they had to defend the flock even in a scuffle. Yet, this church decided to renew with the same company. Having a lip service only security program is the same as this church and their insurance policy. You can tell your congregation you have coverage but when results are needed there won’t be anything there.

Will Rogers said there are three kinds of people. A very few can learn from nature and observation. A few more can learn by hearing a lesson. But, the majority have to urinate across the electric fence to get the message.

A few years ago, we had a very motivated student come through our year long program. He was Chinese. And he was all in for the program. When someone is that motivated we investigate. It turned out that he and some of his team members were survivors of a mass shooting at their church. For the vast majority of people it takes a life shaking event to break through their inborn normalcy bias and convince them to prepare for the worst while praying for the best. This young man had experienced that life shaking event.

On my birthday in 1957, a tornado went down the main street of my hometown. A number of people were killed. We knew them all. Two boys that I played with died along with their parents about a mile up the road from our place. They found their mangled bodies several miles away. Driving to work, my Mom and Dad discovered the carnage in the village. They began helping pull people from the wreckage. Later, my mom came home to change clothes before going on to work. She had the brain matter of a dying woman she had held in the wreckage all over her coat. Mom was in shock. My combat veteran dad was calm but grim. He had seen things like this before.

As I processed the tragedy over the years I asked the hard questions. Why were we alive when those other people died? Two reasons came to mind. First, the giant storm missed our home by about half a mile, a negligible distance in tornado terms. But also, we had spent the entire night in our cramped little storm cellar. It was only about four feet deep, lined with recycled railroad ties and covered with several feet of dirt. Spiders, centipedes and scorpions sometimes came through the cracks in the walls and roof when we lit the kerosene lamp. We always had to check for snakes since they liked the cool dry spot, particularly rattlers and copperheads. It took effort to build and a little courage to use. It was far from comfortable but all we could afford at the time. And, it was far safer than being outside during a storm.

I came to the conclusion that even if the storm had not missed us by a hairsbreadth we probably would have survived because of my dad’s preparations to protect us. It was common knowledge back then that tornadoes were survivable if you built a storm cellar, watched the weather and took shelter. We as a family did those things. Seventeen of our neighbors didn’t. That was a lot to process. I permanently lost my normalcy bias and learned a valuable life lesson. Pray for the storm to pass but prepare for it not to.

I am fond of quoting Luke 12:55-56: “And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?” It didn’t take divine foreknowledge to see what was going to happen to Israel. Sooner or later God was going to withdraw his common grace restraining Rome, Rome was going to lose patience and when that happened the legions were going to decimate the place. We are living in remarkably similar times. We are on the edge of catastrophic times and events. Wise people and churches will prepare for them.

The Oklahoma Church Security Association provides free professional church security training and consultation. For further information respond to this email or contact Bill Kumpe at 918-381-9792.

 

RED ALERT

 

The United States is at war on its own soil. In the past few days, Iranian leaders issued orders for sleeper cells and individual actors worldwide to take revenge for their losses in the war in the Middle East. Since then, the US has experienced almost daily Muslim terrorist related events.

In NYC, their newly elected radical Muslim mayor celebrated Ramadan in City Hall. The NYC mayor has openly supported terrorist causes. Some headlines read, “NYC Has Fallen.” Opinion writers observed that NYC, another of the world's major cities, has fallen to Islam and become yet another Muslim dominated Londonistan. 

Earlier in the week, the administration was taking steps to suppress a confidential internal security memo warning law enforcement agencies of the high probability of terrorist attacks. Since then, a mass drone attack against California was apparently foiled. Some units of the US Navy and Marine Corps are advising their troops not to wear uniforms in public places because of the danger of targeted terrorist attacks against servicemen on US soil. Christian Warrior Training, the best known source of church threat intelligence in the US, has increased its threat level to Red, the maximum, meaning that attacks are imminent.

There have been individual terrorist events in Texas, Virginia, Michigan and California within the past few days. In Austin, three victims and the attacker were killed when a Muslim identifying man opened fire in a public place. The shooter was a Senegalese immigrant who obtained citizenship by marrying a US citizen. He had a history of domestic violence.

In the Houston area, a Muslim identifying man has been arrested for attempting to enter an elementary school armed. The shooter was a naturalized Iraqi immigrant. He was wearing a tactical uniform and gear allegedly bearing Houston Police Department patches. Muslim terrorists impersonating security or law enforcement is a common tactic. Supposedly friendly local police and military attacking US forces in the Middle East is a common occurrence in so called “blue on blue” events. The key takeaway here is to not trust uniforms and identifying items alone. Learn to spot anomalous, inconsistent behavior and appearance.

In the Old Dominion University event, ROTC students subdued and killed the attacker with a knife after he shot a US Army Lt. Col. in the classroom and wounded two other students. The attacker was an immigrant from Sierra Leone who had served in the US Army National Guard. In her public statement the Democratic governor of Virginia, a former CIA employee, refused to even acknowledge that there had been a terrorist attack, much less the religion of the attacker. The attacker had a history of supporting Muslim terrorist causes, was convicted of aiding ISIS and imprisoned but granted early release by the courts. The takeaway here is that military style training saves lives even if the odds are in the attackers favor. Another key takeaway is to respect edged weapons. In this case, an edged weapon saved lives but never forget that America’s deadliest terrorist attack was carried out using cheap, ubiquitous box cutters.

In the Michigan event, armed security killed the attacker after he rammed a vehicle through the doors of a synagogue. The attacker was an immigrant from Lebanon who recently lost family in an Israeli airstrike there. His vehicle contained large quantities of flammable liquids and commercial level fireworks. The takeaway here is that armed, professional level security saves lives. Another key takeaway is to expect explosives and incendiary materials as part of the attack.

While “profiling” has fallen out of favor, a couple of key facts stand out. All of the attackers were immigrants from Muslim countries and all identified by names containing the word Mohamed. And, all came from cultures where personal violence to avenge perceived personal, religious, political or national affronts is encouraged.

There were also multiple, non-terrorist related “normal” church attacks last week.

Churches fall into four groups concerning volunteer church security. The first group are pure sheep. The very thought of protecting themselves is simply not in their DNA. They can’t get past the mental hurdle that the safety of their families and flocks is first and foremost their own responsibility and that they may be required to do some hard things to ensure that safety. If it were just the sheep risking their own lives that would be one thing but they are also risking the lives of the innocent families and children they are responsible for and setting up situations where others will have to risk their lives to save them in situations that could have been prevented or mitigated.

The second group pays lip service to their church’s security needs. They treat church security the same way they treat most other aspects of church life. It has to be convenient, fit everybody’s social calendar and not require much commitment beyond showing up when you feel like it. These “programs” are likely to come apart like a house of cards when required to respond. As anyone with experience will tell you, eighty percent of your training disappears in a crisis and what happens next will depend entirely on the remaining twenty percent that is performed from the gut level.

The third group are self deluded. They think because a few of their people are armed and fired fifty rounds last year in a cow pasture or at a civilian gun range that doesn’t even allow tactical training they have this thing covered. The White Settlement, Texas church shooting proved the fallacy of this delusion when two of their deacons died needlessly while fumbling to get their weapons out of their holsters and then other male congregation members endangered the rest of the congregation by waving their weapons around after the fact.

The fourth very small group takes the safety of their families and flocks seriously. They dedicate time and resources toward maintaining a professional volunteer security team. These churches usually have veterans or LEO’s in influential positions in the church who know what is required and have the strength of character to make it happen. May their tribe increase.

I would urge you to take a serious look at your own church and make an objective assessment of your church’s security condition. If you don’t know how, the OCSA provides free security assessment and advice. But, there are three things all churches in all of the groups above can do immediately, THIS SUNDAY, to improve their situation.

First, HARDEN YOUR ENTRANCES. Vehicle attacks are becoming commonplace. In the long term heavy planters and architectural barriers need to be erected but THIS SUNDAY you can ask your staff, deacons, elders, Sunday school teachers and regular attenders to park their cars in such a way that a speeding vehicle could not ram the doors. This includes approaches across grassy areas and over curbs.

Second, ASSIGN COMMUNICATORS. Make sure that at least two people who are seated in protected areas are trained to make a coherent 911 call. They need to have the actual church address memorized not just how to get there. They need to be able to calmly report what is happening while staying out of the line of fire..

Third, INSPECT YOUR PREMISES CONSTANTLY. There was an IED attack last week in NYC. IED’s are a favorite tool of terrorists. Before every service have trusted men walk the perimeter of the building and the entire interior looking for suspicious bags, packages or items. Report anything suspicious and BE SUSPICIOUS.

Effective church security takes months of training and organization, sometimes years. Security experts have been warning that this day would come for over a decade. It has come. Unfortunately, history teaches us that what we are experiencing may be the “new normal” for the rest of our lives. The conflict between Muslims and Judeao/Christian culture has lasted thousands of years. It is literally baked into the culture in the Middle East and Africa and now even in Europe. Violence is a part of daily life. America is now part of that conflict and we have allowed the problem to take seed on our soil through incredibly unwise immigration policies. Any Israeli can tell you about this “new normal” where bomb shelters are part of every community, military service is mandatory for all young men and women, all military members and veterans have an assault weapon in their home and children are not allowed to leave their schools without an armed escort.

The Oklahoma Church Security Association provides professional security assessment, advice and training at no charge. The second session of this years Tulsa area training cycle, Situational Awareness for Churches, will be held Saturday morning March 28 starting at 08:30 AM at Covenant Baptist Church, 500 West College, Broken Arrow, OK.

For further information respond to this email or call Bill Kumpe at 918-381-9792.

COMMON THREATS

 

March 1, 2026 the Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis released a Critical Incident Note warning that “the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would "almost certainly" lead to retaliatory actions by Iran and its proxies against U.S. interests. At least two influential mullahs IN THE US have called upon their followers to execute revenge attacks on US soil. Why these people were not immediately on the next flight to Guantanamo in restraints is a question for your congressman.

The current state of world affairs, particularly the fact that the US is now at war with Iran and its terrorist clients around the world, tends to cause church security teams to develop tunnel vision concerning a terrorist threat. While there is no doubt that all churches large and small should be on high alert for the signs of terrorist activity they should also not forget that despite the fact that we are at war on multiple fronts around the world daily life continues and so do the common threats associated with it. What follows is a short list of questions to ask yourself concerning these common threats.

Are you prepared for a medical emergency? The most likely security event to occur in your church is a medical emergency. Have your people been through recent CPR-AED-First Aid training including cardiac events, choking events, diabetic emergencies, and other common situations? Have key members of your team and staff been through advanced first on scene trauma training? Do you have an adequate medical kit and equipment and can everyone on the team locate it quickly? Do you know how long ambulance response is to your location and have you prepared to render life saving aid for that amount of time? Are you relying on a single person or two for medical response or have you trained multiple people on your team and staff to handle basic medical events?

Are you prepared for the bio-hazard threat that may accompany a medical event? Bodily fluids outside the body are a biohazard. That includes urine, feces, vomitus and especially blood. Does your church have a biohazard clean up kit? Does everybody both security team and staff know how to find it and how to use it?

Are you prepared for a mental health emergency? Troubled people often turn to the church either for help or retribution. Have key members of your team and the church staff taken mental health response and suicide prevention training?

Are you prepared to handle a domestic dispute/domestic violence event? These events are very common and happen eventually in almost all churches. Does your church have a policy concerning domestic protective orders? Does your staff and team maintain oversight of family situations likely to cause domestic events?

Are you prepared for a severe weather event? During the season, do you have a member of your team or staff constantly monitoring weather information sources to provide advance notice of a possible weather event? Do you have designated safer spaces in the building? Are they sufficiently clear of equipment and clutter to accommodate your congregation? Have you drilled your security team and staff on how to execute your weather shelter plan?

Are you prepared for a political/ideological protest or service interruption? Do you have a plan? Have all key team members and staff been trained to execute that plan? Have you drilled your team and key staff members in execution of your plan?

This list could go on for several pages. But, the fact remains that while churches should be on very high alert for terrorist activity and be training intensely to respond to it, these other events will occur as well and with much more frequency. Consequently, your church’s security team and staff training should be well rounded and constant.

People with a military or law enforcement background understand training. You train constantly. You do the same things over and over constantly seeking improvement. You learn to do complex even life or death tasks almost automatically so that you can concentrate on the situation instead of just the task. People with this background realize that in real life emergencies eighty percent of your training evaporates with the adrenaline and confusion and what you will actually do when the chips are down will come from the remaining twenty percent drilled into you so deeply that it comes naturally.

Church security teams need to train the same way. Handling the routine tasks and situations that are predictable needs to be a matter of near automatic response. You’ve done it so many times that you can execute the plan and its tasks while still keeping your mind on the situation and how to adapt to it if necessary.

Those members of your team selected for armed duties need to master their skills to the point that they are not concentrating on their firearm but rather the situation that requires the use of the firearm. The instantaneous draw, sight picture check, verbal warning if possible and all of the rest of the events in an armed encounter need to be smooth, fast and subconscious so that the team member can concentrate on responding properly to the threat instead of having to think about running his gun. Two security team members at the Freeway Church of Christ in Texas died because they hadn’t trained to this level.

The civilian mindset toward training is the direct opposite of the military/law enforcement mindset. Most civilian students do the minimum to achieve their goals, either passing the course or making an acceptable grade and then move on. When their final goal of graduation or certification is achieved the disciplines of training are forgotten. For many, they believe they’ve been there done that and have the tshirt.   In the military/law enforcement world constant training and retraining is the cost of the profession, the price paid to increase your chances of not only accomplishing your mission but also of surviving. Since there are so many commonalities between first responders and the church security ministry, the attitude toward training should be the same.

For more information or to enroll in our training respond to this email or contact Bill Kumpe at 918-381-9792.

ACTIVE SHOOTER RESPONSE

 

This week, US and Israeli forces launched massive attacks against Iran resulting in the death of Iranian dictator Ayatollah Khomeini. Iran has launched retaliatory strikes all over the region and revenge strikes here in the US are almost a certainty given the abilities of Hamas and other Iranian linked terrorist organizations known to have a significant presence in the US.

Churches are particularly vulnerable due to their symbolic value and lack of security measures as compared to government targets. While vehicle, arson, explosive and chemical attacks are all possible, an active shooter attack is probably still the method of choice for lone wolf actors and small radicalized groups.

Unfortunately, most of the active shooter training provided by government and local law enforcement sources is woefully inadequate and tainted by political considerations which strongly discourage armed response and high level civilian training. The most common models presented are usually variants of the now discredited “Run, Hide, Fight” philosophy. The text below is an AI summary of criticisms of “Run, Hide, Fight” with my comments inserted in italics.

AI content follows:

“The "Run, Hide, Fight" active shooter response model is criticized for being too linear, inflexible, and potentially dangerous, as it may lead victims to run into danger, hide in vulnerable, trapped locations, or fight without training. It ignores the natural human response to freeze, lacks context-specific situational awareness, and may not work for children or in all scenarios. 

“Major Problems with "Run, Hide, Fight"

• Linearity and Inflexibility: The model implies a rigid, sequential, one-size-fits-all approach that doesn't allow for, or encourage, quick reassessment of changing, dynamic situations.

• "Run" Risks: Running can sometimes lead individuals directly into the assailant's path, or cause injury that makes them an easier target. (The RHF model was designed for government agencies, high schools, colleges and other institutions which assume a high percentage of mobile people. Churches are filled with babies and children, elderly and physically challenged people for whom running is not an option. The RHF model makes no provision for these people. THAT IS NOT A MORALLY AN ACCEPTABLE PLAN FOR CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS.)

• "Hide" Limitations: Hiding (sheltering in place) can turn a room into a trap, making individuals sitting ducks if the attacker finds their location.

• "Fight" Reality: Telling untrained civilians to fight can result in death, as they lack the necessary training or experience to effectively counter a deadly threat. (This assumes that the attacker will be given the advantage of first strike, that victims will be unarmed and that some casualties are inevitable. Some official videos actually encourage victims to mass attack the shooter with their bodies or throw heavy objects.” )

• Ignores "Freeze": The model assumes logical action, but many people naturally freeze in panic during unexpected violence, a biological response not accounted for.

• Not Suitable for All: It may not be applicable or safe for children, especially young students, to engage in combat. 

Alternative Models and Considerations

• Situational Awareness: Experts suggest focusing on real-time awareness rather than rigid, pre-set actions.

• Prepare-React-Recover (PRR): A more comprehensive model suggested to improve upon the limitations of the traditional approach.

• Move! Escape or Attack!: A simplified, proactive alternative that emphasizes immediate movement away from danger or, if necessary, aggressive action. 

Experts generally recommend tailored, flexible training that empowers individuals to assess their specific environment rather than blindly following a three-step protocol.”

End AI content.

RHF training offers many institutional advantages that appear attractive to bureaucrats while offering little in the way of real protection. It can be completed in one class and requires little if any organizational investment in time, training and re-organization of standing policies. It is politically correct and avoids hot button issues like armed civilians and civilian response training which in the past have frightened many politicians, bureaucrats and even church officials more than the active shooter threat itself.

The most problematic issue with RHF is that it assumes there will be no preventive measures to stop the attack before it starts and the only armed response will come from law enforcement. Given that the typical law enforcement response time in the US is between five and ten minutes in urban areas and may run much longer in rural areas, this gives the shooter plenty of time to shoot until he runs out of ammo or gets tired of killing and then flee the scene before police arrive.

The Oklahoma Church Security Association recommends a flexible plan based upon the individual church’s capabilities. It starts with high level situational awareness training for all church greeters, ushers and staff encouraging them actively look for warning signs and keep the trouble outside if at all possible. It continues with what we call the “Three R’s” approach.

The first R is report. The church should have at least two designated communicators seated in protected areas who have been trained to make a coherent, organized 911 call to get law enforcement and other emergency services started on the way.

The second R is remove. Greeters, ushers and staff should be trained in how to remove the congregation away from the threat whenever that is possible. If the system is working properly, the threat will be isolated to a particular area of the facility. People not in that immediate area should be evacuated away from the threat scene while the armed response team deals with the situation. Greeters, ushers and staff should be not only directing traffic but also directing assistance for those unable to move quickly by themselves.

The third R is respond. Every church should have a small, law enforcement level trained armed response team capable of facing an active shooter and at minimum keeping them isolated until law enforcement arrives.

The “Three R’s” approach is not an easy fix that can be taught in a one day pancake breakfast/security seminar. The basic training itself takes several sessions and must be refreshed constantly to keep the team members current. The initial armed response training may take months and requires constant practice and updating. And, everybody needs to train together. For the “Three R’s” to work it all has to happen at once, everybody has to know their job and be able to perform it under a level of stress they have probably never experienced before in their lives. That takes serious training.

The OCSA does not provide stand alone active shooter training nor stand alone armed response training. Our program takes several months and is geared toward producing church teams capable of not only saving lives in an active shooter situation but also professionally handling the hundreds of constantly recurring smaller security issues that all churches must address.

For more information about OCSA training respond to this email or contact Bill Kumpe at 918-381-9792.

Leadership

  

We are at the beginning of a new training year. The churches we work with will be making decisions that will impact the success or failure of that training and the effectiveness of their planned security program. For over a decade now, the OCSA has been working with churches to improve the safety of their flocks. There are two key factors that usually predict the success or failure of a church security team. The first is executive leadership. The second is the choice of a volunteer security team leader.

In every church we have worked with the ultimate success or failure of the church security team begins and ends with the attitude of senior church leadership, the pastors and elders. If the pastors and elders would prefer no security or a program without teeth, that is what the program will evolve into regardless of what else is said. As the pressures of time commitments, other church priorities and motivation take their toll, the team will eventually reflect almost precisely the attitude of senior church leadership.

The fact that their security team development effort has failed and often produced a program totally incapable of protecting the flock will never even be considered because the program has evolved into something leadership is comfortable with. And if leadership is comfortable most of the flock will be as well. The fact that this comfort is based upon deceptive factors like normalcy bias, overestimation of civilian skills and just plain complacency will never be seriously considered.

The key concept that churches and their leaders must assimilate is that in every security situation be it a simple bio hazard, a medical emergency, a scuffle in the youth department, a toxic domestic, a person with mental issues or even an active shooter, THE STANDARD THE CHURCH AND THEIR LEADERSHIP IS “COMFORTABLE WITH” IS MEANINGLESS. THE ONLY STANDARD THAT MATTERS IS WHETHER OR NOT YOUR SECURITY PEOPLE PERFORMED PROFESSIONALLY. THE STANDARD IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS FOR SWORN POLICE OFFICERS AND LICENSED SECURITY PROFESSIONALS. If the matter ever gets to court, as these things sometimes do, the court will apply exactly the same standards of negligence in training, preparation and performance.

Choosing a volunteer church security team leader is a task most pastors and staff are not equipped to handle. Having never performed the duties themselves they have no idea what is required and will apply typical church standards. This often leads to problems.

In a perfect world you would have a veteran military or law enforcement senior sergeant that knows how to lead and has martial skills. Unfortunately, even if you are lucky enough to have this person, they often simply will not deal with civilians in this area because they know what is required and how difficult it is to get serving military and sworn police officers to train adequately much less civilians.

Beware of people who want the job as security team leader. It is one thing to have a solid, dependable man of the church who steps up and says he wants to help. It is quite another for the church to announce the position and then have to sort through the church politicians and egos who see the position as an other popularity contest to be won.

Avoid the man who is already singing in the choir, teaching a Sunday School class and serving on other committees. Aside from serving as a deacon or in some churches an elder, church security is pretty well a full time church duty.

Look for the man who already sits on the aisle so that he can respond quickly if needed. Look for the man who does not bow his head and close his eyes during prayer but instead scans the room. Look for the man who quietly gets up a time or two during services and scans the crowd from the back of the room.

If you already have some sort of team, look for the man who always has time or makes time for training. Look for the man who knows his church’s and individual team member’s weak points and works diligently to strengthen them.

Look for a servant leader who always arrives early to check the facility and leaves late to make sure that most of the flock are safely on their way. Look for the man who always takes up the slack when other people don’t show up or perform as required. Look for the man who quietly does whatever needs to be done when no one else does it.

Your church security team is created first in the mind of senior church leadership and then in the mind of your volunteer team leader. Whatever they decide is adequate is what your team will become. Whether nor not what they decide is adequate actually is by real world performance standards is almost always another question altogether. If you settle for a program that is “comfortable” you will achieve complacency. If you strive to be “average” or “good enough” you will achieve mediocrity. If you strive for excellence you may achieve competence.

HOW TO DRESS FOR OCSA TRAINING

 

The first training session of the 2026 Oklahoma Church Security Association training year will be held Saturday, February 28th at 0900 AM at Christ Gospel Church, 1203 West Archer, Tulsa. Several training sessions this year will also be held at Covenant Baptist Church in Broken Arrow.

Every year, new students ask how they should dress for OCSA training. That depends on the nature of the training and the host church.

While Christ Gospel Tulsa has a diverse membership and staff, it is a predominantly black, inner city, traditional, Pentecostal church. Some of you may not be aware of the customs and traditions of the black or Pentecostal church.

Covenant Baptist is an Anglo/Latino conservative, suburban, Puritan, Reformed Baptist Church. CBC shares many of the same expectations as Christ Gospel.

In the black culture, the church is highly respected and often the center of community activities. The pastor is not only a highly respected spiritual leader but often also a community leader. As a sign of respect, always address the pastor as “pastor” or “reverend” in public even if you know their first names and use them in private conversation.

In black culture, you dress for church. Even if it is only for a weekend event. While Sunday mornings means literally “Sunday Best,” everything else still requires attire that shows some degree of respect. There are two principles behind this. The first is the concept that you are coming to holy ground. That deserves respect in everything including your attire. The second concept is self respect. In the black culture (and white southern culture for that matter) failure to meet appropriate dress and grooming standards for an occasion is a sign not only of disrespect but also poor personal values.

Women should dress modestly at all times. I Timothy specifically commands women to dress modestly. At CGT, for female members that usually means a dress or skirt and top that covers the knees and upper arms. Pants are OK for female visitors who are not members of CGT. Just no revealing tights or leggings please. There are two concepts behind this. Aside from the direct scriptural command is the pragmatic realization that male sexual sin, especially “lust in the heart,” usually begins through visual stimulation. The church wants men to concentrate on the message and worship not the show being put on by the little cutie a couple of pews ahead.

Men and boys over twelve or so should cover their legs and there should be no male tank tops or “wife beater” shirts.

Men should remove their hats in the church building. I Corinthians teaches that a man shouldn’t cover his head in church and that a man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. In black, southern and cowboy culture failure to remove your hat indoors, especially in a church, is a cultural sign of disrespect. A familiar old southern admonition common to black, white southern and cowboymothers expresses this concept well, “Take that hat off in my house. Where’s your raisin’?” In the southern idiom “raisin(g)’” means upbringing and manners. The implication is that the hat wearing culprit is not only showing disrespect and bad manners but also shaming his parents.

If the session involves scenario training you should wear a version of what you wear on duty at your church that you don’t mind getting manhandled. At the instructor’s discretion you may be asked to either clear your weapon or leave it in your vehicle. If you are not comfortable leaving the weapon in your vehicle one of the instructors will secure your weapon in the building.

If the training is being held at a firing range, tactical clothing is acceptable or whatever you are comfortable in for that season. However, ladies should wear high necked tops or a top that will button at the neck. Hot brass down the front of your shirt can create an embarrassing situation for a lady.

At the risk of being politically incorrect I would conclude with the following. These folks are our brothers and sisters in the Lord. You will find that we have a lot more in common in the Lord than anything else that divides us. Just relax, use good manners, respect their house and be grateful for their hospitality.

If you have questions or for further information about OCSA training respond to this email or telephone Bill Kumpe at 918-381-9792.

YOUTH VIOLENCE

 

This week, a troubled transgender teenager in Canada somehow managed to obtain weapons despite Canada’s draconian gun laws. He shot HIS mother and stepbrother before traveling to a school and shooting several more people. HE was wearing a dress at the time of the shooting. LINK This is becoming a common pattern. Sexually confused teenagers turning to violence.

In Oklahoma City, a teenaged suspect has been identified in the Sunday Morning arson attack against Windwood Freewill Baptist Church.  The teen, who is suspected in other terrorist type attacks, is thought to be a member of an extremist anarchist group responsible for other terrorist activities in the OKC area including school disruptions.  While the suspect has been identified AS YET NO ARREST HAS BEEN MADE and the case has been referred to the Oklahoma Attorney General's office for legal analysis.  LINK 

This week in Tulsa, students at suburban Jenks and Union High Schools walked out of classes AGAIN to protest immigration law enforcement. NO PUNITIVE ACTION WAS TAKEN BY SCHOOL AUTHORITIES SOME OF WHOM ARE SUSPECTED OF AIDING AND ABETTING THE STUDENTS.  LINK  Similar walkouts occurred last week.

America, Oklahoma CIty, Tulsa and yes probably your small town has a problem with their youth.

A few years ago during the Christmas season, my wife and I were visiting a large area church affiliated with one of America’s allegedly most conservative denominations. The senior pastor was not preaching that week but rather the youth pastor. As his Christmas sermon the youth pastor proceeded to nearly canonize the father of homosexual icon and “martyr” Matthew Shepherd who was in fact a drug dealing homosexual prostitute with a taste for rough sex that managed to get himself killed during one of his dealings or assignations. The choice of subject matter as part of a Christmas program was baffling. As my wife and I walked out in the middle of the sermon, I wondered, “What in the world is going on in the “Youth Building” out back in their separate “Youth Services?”

Two questions are presented here, one spiritual and one practical.

The spiritual question involves the failure of the American church to convert its own children much less the world. According to the Barna Group approximately two thirds of young people depart from the church as young adults while only ten percent or so choose a life of discipleship. LINK The current system isn’t working.

A lifetime ago, I departed far from the faith but returned while serving in the military. I credit my return to the faith to the rigor of the church I grew up in. While we did have a Sunday School that ended around fifth grade. But, all children and young adults were expected to attend the rest of the services, sit quietly and respectfully and participate just like the adults. From the time I was old enough to be out of nursery, I heard hundreds upon hundreds of hours of bible teaching and preaching. I still remember some of it and certainly remember the underlying principles. We sang the traditional hymns of the faith along with our parents not jangle pop anthems indistinguishable from insipid pop music or hard rock glossed over with a whitewash of semi intelligible Christian buzz words. Later in life, in times of doubt and trouble the Word presented in those sermons and the lyrics of those solid old hymns would come back to remind me where to seek help and comfort. While it has long been fashionable to criticize evangelical fundamentalism, it did keep families together for worship and by default ingrain the traditional faith into the minds of its adherents of all ages from toddlers up. If a fundamentalist young person departed from the faith it wasn’t from lack of hearing the Word. Despite the faults and failings of many fundamentalists the Word itself will never return void.

The practical question is more immediate. Most church security teams can barely cover their main service if they even manage that. If you have children and young people spread out all over the building or in some cases all over the campus in different buildings you need security coverage for all of those individual groups. Very few churches have that kind of depth in their security team. And, if an emergency occurs, that already over committed team is likely going to be facing the dual tasks of handling the emergency and keeping frantic parents from rushing into harm’s way to get to their children.

I would like to pose a few questions:

If you are a parent:

To put it bluntly, if you are a parent of children attending public school in South Tulsa, particularly Jenks and Union, do you know whether or not your children participated in the recent walkout protests? Would you know if they had? Have you asked?

Have you explained the civic duties of a Christian set out in Romans 13? Have you explained the cultural, moral and economic horrors of Marxism? Do you understand them yourself?

Have you explained that American citizenship is a privilege to be earned not an accident of birth or a simple bureaucratic exercise?  Have you explained that in the past, each generation fought and died to secure the freedoms and benefits that come with American citizenship? 

Have you explained that those “fun demonstrations” sometimes turn violent and will inevitably turn violent when the leaders decide it will be politically advantageous? Have you explained what happens when law enforcement or the military is required to use force to suppress a riot?  Have you explained the permanent and irreversible consequences of placing a policeman or federal officer in apparent fear of his life?

If you are a parent of a child participating in a separate youth program in your church have you talked with the youth pastor? Have you inquired to determine whether or not they are a person you would trust with the spiritual education of your child?

Have you observed a “youth service” at your church to determine whether or not it supports your values and understanding of the faith? Have you taken responsibility for the spiritual nurture of your family or are you “delegating it” to someone else?

If your children are not solidly grounded in the faith they will not have the intellectual and moral tools to refute fashionable modern radicalism.

If you are staff or a security team leader:

Do you have sufficient depth in your security team to protect all of the separate activities going on at the same time?

If your church separates families into different age and interest groups do you have a plan to SAFELY reunite parents and children in an emergency?

Do you have a policy and training to handle parents trying to get to their children in an emergency when doing so would place them, the children or security workers in more danger?

Do you have a plan and policy to address violence originating FROM youth activities? We are now seeing regular reports of violence stemming from youth activities and church community events involving youth.

Have you made provisions to deal with troubled or radicalized youth that may present a danger to others or themselves? Are your staff and security team staying aware of possible problems in this area?

This list is far from exhaustive. As final words of advice I would urge church leaders to carefully consider the impact upon the family of every church activity and plan those activities in ways that (a) bring families together at church instead of dispersing them, (b) support the family structure by allowing (and encouraging) parents to take responsibility for the spiritual condition of their children and (c) take into account the security resources available at your church. I would also urge church leaders to think the unthinkable and take a hard look at both their youth and their youth activities and then do what is necessary to prevent trouble or tragedy there.

------

The Oklahoma Church Security Association provides professional security training and consultation to churches at no charge.  For further information answer this email or call Bill Kumpe at 918-381-9792.