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 participated in as many of the presentations as he could.
I come away from each of these events with new friends and supporters and the FBSN picks up new members at each event. Michigan is a strong state for the FBSN and our presence there will no doubt grow from this recent event.
The best new contact for me was John Riley of “A Gentle Response” (www.Gentle-Response.com). John shared a story out of the bible that I got his permission to share with all of you.
John’s interesting training is based on de-escalation techniques. John has taken this important study of de-escalation techniques to a new level. He teaches that one of the tenets of de-escalation is to know when to just walk away. That is an option often overlooked.
He used scriptures from I Samuel the 17th chapter. Tucked away in this passage John read one day, he took note of a verbal altercation between David and his oldest brother (Eliab) in verses 28-30.
The passage that came off the pages to John was in 17:30 at the conclusion of the sibling argument, “He (David) then turned away…” As John put it, David turned away and walked into history.
Think About it
That line struck me like a Mack truck. David turned away and walked into history.
How many opportunities have we been robbed of, or killed a redemptive moment for a hurting person, when we didn’t recognize the time to let something go?
Great stuff Carl. Hope to see Gentle Response in Nashville
Darrin — we will be sending John a “Call for Presentation.” I did talk to him about it. He currently has a conflict that weekend but is considering moving some things around so he can be with us. Regardless, he is penciling SOS.24 (that will be held in Charleston, SC) in for us.