As I am blessed to be able to move around the country, those travels include meeting some great people. This weekend those people were at the annual Larry Jackson Memorial Church Security training event. This year they held that event at the First Baptist Church of Middleville, MI. Larry Jackson was a local who invested heavily in his community, especially in this space of church security. He was a founding member of the Barry County Sheriff’s Auxiliary, where he was instrumental in implementing and establishing the church safety training program for Barry County and throughout the state. Larry passed away unexpectedly at age 71 but his passion to get churches trained and ready lives on through the annual event named after him. This annual event is supported by many, few more prominently than the Barry County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff himself (Dar Leaf) manned their table at the event and…
2023 February
My older brother has experienced the insider beat in the Washington DC scene. He wrote speeches for many political leaders (including President Reagan). He has been acquainted with many seasoned statesmen and stateswomen. He was active with various D.C. Think Tanks. He was on his way to the White House for a meeting on 9/11/01 when the day changed for everyone. He had many such memorable encounters during his time in that space. However, when he moved out of that circle, he moved far away from it. He once told me he was fascinated with Washingtonian activities for much of his life then moved there and got to be part of it for a season. He said it was like finally getting somewhere that had fascinated him his whole life but when looking through the window, didn’t like what he saw. He turned and walked away. One conversation he had with…
Two weeks ago, a Faith-Based Security Network (FBSN) member posed a question regarding a situation they had dealt with at their church. In the week that followed, many answers came to her from other FBSN members in the secure forum. One of those answers was so thorough, we posted it as last week’s Think About It (TAI) article. We appreciate the many who read this weekly TAI. We know many of you who read it are not FBSN members. The weekly TAI is intended to remain a weekly service to non-members, but we wanted to take a moment this week to ask those of you who are not members to consider becoming a member. The FBSN is a 501c3, professional membership association of faith-based (primarily church) security operators. It is a vetted membership where individuals apply for membership (details of qualifications are posted on the public website at https://fbsnamerica.com/membership). The…