Off the Agenda: Conversations for Building Church Leaders

The Billings Gazette, Montana's largest daily newspaper (with a weekday circulation of about 47,000), mentions BuildingChurchLeaders.com in today's edition.

The paper ran an article about local churches and their discussions regarding security after the recent shootings in Colorado.

The Rev. Stan Simmons, pastor of Faith Chapel, one of Billings' two largest churches, said his staff met Wednesday and discussed security concerns using an article written this summer by Andrew Mills, a police lieutenant with the San Diego (California) Police Department, for BuildingChurchLeaders.com and LeadershipJournal.net.

Mills' piece addresses such topics as working with local police, training ushers and greeters, developing a lockdown plan, and how to respond if a shooting event unfolds. An abbreviated version of Mills' article still is available on LeadershipJournal.net. The full version will be included in an upcoming Building Church Leaders training download for ushers and greeters.

If you missed it, check out Chris Blumhofer's December 11 post on Off the Agenda. It highlights other free resources from BuildingChurchLeaders.com, including ways to help others grieve the tragic events in Colorado, as well as steps churches can take to better prepare for crisis situations.