0:01 Picture this. You're a few minutes into
0:03 your worship set. The music is powerful.
0:05 People are singing. The room is filled.
0:08 Then something happens. A medical
0:10 emergency happens. A disruptive
0:12 individual is in your side lobby. Or
0:13 you've got a parent that's in tears
0:16 because they can't find their child.
0:19 You've got five minutes to respond. The
0:20 question is this. Will you freeze or
0:22 will you lead? In church security, the
0:24 first five minutes of any emergency
0:26 determines whether the situation is
0:29 contained or chaotic, whether it ends in
0:31 peace or ends in panic. So today on the
0:33 Lead Security YouTube channel, I'm going
0:35 to show you exactly what you need to do
0:38 in those critical first five minutes, no
0:40 matter what kind of emergency you're
0:41 dealing with. This is the kind of
0:43 training that saves lives, protects your
0:46 people, and brings order to the moment
0:48 where everything could just be
0:50 unraveling. So let's go ahead and dive in.
0:57 possible security
1:02 red flag and helps us a lot.
1:04 Let's start this with a question. Why
1:06 are the first five minutes so important?
1:08 Because in those opening moments, people
1:10 are watching. They're listening. They're
1:12 reacting. That's when confusion can
1:15 spread or confidence can take over. Most
1:17 churches don't fail because they don't
1:19 care. They fail because they aren't
1:20 ready. There's no plan. There's no
1:22 leadership. There's no communication.
1:25 There's just a bunch of frozen faces
1:28 and a bunch of hopeful prayers. Here's a
1:30 truth I tell every team I train. You
1:32 don't rise to the occasion. You always
1:34 fall to the level of your training.
1:36 That's why mastering these first five
1:39 minutes matters. Because if your team
1:40 knows what to do, they're going to do
1:42 it. They're going to know how to do it.
1:43 They're going to know how to work
1:45 together. They don't have to improvise.
1:47 They just simply execute. So today we're
1:49 talking about a five-step protocol for
1:52 handling any church emergency in those
1:55 first five minutes. And the first step
1:57 is going to be to identify the type of
1:59 emergency that you're dealing with
2:01 before anybody panics or reacts emotionally.
2:02 emotionally.
2:04 You need to assess what's actually
2:06 happening. You got to ask, is this a
2:09 medical emergency? Is is there just a
2:11 disruptive person? Do you have a violent
2:13 threat? Are we dealing with a missing
2:15 child? You don't need every detail right
2:18 away. You need to quickly define the
2:20 category because the way you respond to
2:22 a medical emergency isn't the same way
2:24 you're going to respond to a violent
2:26 individual. Misidentifying emergency
2:29 wastes time. It causes confusion and it
2:32 causes delays. So, we have to make sure
2:34 we're identifying the right kind of
2:36 emergency that we're dealing with. Now,
2:38 the second step is going to be to
2:41 communicate clearly and immediately. In
2:43 emergencies, poor communication causes
2:45 chaos. That's why our team needs to be
2:48 trained to use radios, use some hand
2:49 signals or and especially just some
2:52 verbal cues with clarity and with calm.
2:54 When you're on the radio or even just
2:56 speaking generally, just tell people
2:57 what's happening, where it's happening,
2:59 and who is responding. Use those three
3:02 as like your keys. Don't say things
3:03 like, "Hey, I think we've got a
3:05 situation." Because that doesn't mean
3:07 much of anything. Say, "We've got a
3:10 medical emergency. The front left of the
3:13 sanctuary and CPR's been started. AED is
3:15 in route. Something like Kodatam,
3:18 missing boy. Um, he's six years old.
3:20 He's got blue a blue shirt on and some
3:23 jeans. The more direct and calm you are,
3:24 the faster your team is going to be able
3:27 to take meaningful action. Step three is
3:30 going to be deploy the right people to
3:32 the right roles. Every church should
3:34 have a plan that already says something
3:36 like, if this happens, these people do
3:38 this. When a medical emergency happens,
3:41 you send your CPR trained person in
3:44 immediately. Ah ah ah ah. Staying alive.
3:48 Staying alive. Uh uh uh uh. Staying
3:51 alive. Staying alive. You can't tell by
3:53 the way how I use my
3:54 >> Another person's going to be grabbing
3:56 the AED or maybe your first aid kit.
3:58 Somebody else is going to be meeting
4:00 your EMS at the door. When there's a
4:03 disruption, one team member is going to
4:05 calmly engage the individual. Another
4:07 person's going to be observing from a
4:09 distance, watching hands, looking. just
4:11 make sure things are are staying
4:14 cohesive, staying calm. The rest of the
4:16 team is going to be aware of the
4:17 situation and they're going to position
4:20 themselves near vulnerable areas like
4:22 your kids ministry entrances or exits.
4:24 When a child goes missing, someone
4:28 radios, code Adam, all exits get staffed
4:30 immediately. Another person checks
4:33 bathrooms and closets and another person
4:35 is going on your cameras to see if we
4:37 can identify where this child has gone.
4:40 You've got a calm, trained team member
4:42 that's going to stay with the parent and
4:45 gather key information as it's available
4:48 to us. The first five minutes are not
4:50 the time to figure out roles. It's the
4:51 time to execute them. So, you want to
4:54 get your roles figured out before you
4:56 need them. Step four is to control
4:58 access whenever needed. Now, let's be
4:59 clear. This step isn't for every
5:02 emergency. It's for specific high-risk
5:04 situations. If there's a violent threat,
5:06 an attempted abduction, or something
5:08 that's escalating into like a danger
5:11 category, then yes, controlling access
5:14 becomes absolutely essential.
5:16 Controlling access might look like
5:18 securing your your children's church
5:19 hallways. It might mean that you're
5:22 locking down outside doors and
5:24 especially classrooms. It also might
5:27 look like you're stationing people at
5:29 entry points and exit points. You're not
5:31 trying to lock everyone in or create
5:33 fear, but you're trying to protect your
5:36 people that are already inside and limit
5:38 exposure to whatever the threat is. In
5:41 lower risk emergencies like medical
5:43 issues or minor disruptions, controlling
5:45 access might not always be needed. So,
5:47 you don't want to jump to lockdown mode
5:49 unless the situation absolutely calls
5:52 for it. Now, step five, call for backup.
5:55 That's internally and externally. One of
5:57 the biggest mistakes churches make is
5:59 waiting too long to call for help. If
6:01 someone collapses and is unresponsive,
6:05 call 911. If someone becomes aggressive
6:07 or they're threatening, call law
6:10 enforcement. If a child goes missing,
6:13 notify your team and get help moving as
6:18 fast as you can. And call 911. I know a
6:20 lot of people always wonder about,
6:22 especially with Code Adam, should we
6:24 call 911? What if the kids just kind of
6:26 wandered into a hallway or into a
6:30 closet? It's always better to call 911
6:33 too early than to call too late.
6:36 >> What are you waiting for? Huh?
6:37 >> What are you waiting for?
6:40 >> Internally, this also means alerting
6:41 your pastors, your elders, and your key
6:43 leaders. Don't wait until it gets worse.
6:46 Call early. Act fast. Communicate
6:48 clearly. Now that we've got those five
6:49 steps out of the way, let's walk through
6:52 three real world examples to see how
6:54 this might play out. Scenario one, a
6:56 medical emergency in the sanctuary. A
6:58 man in the fourth row slumps forward mid
7:01 worship. A nearby team member radios
7:05 medical front left of sanctuary.
7:07 Immediately, a CPR certified responder
7:09 is going to the emergency. Another
7:12 person is grabbing the AED machine.
7:14 somebody else is stepping outside to
7:16 greet the EMS that should be arriving
7:19 momentarily. Your media team is going to
7:20 know to bring the volume down a notch
7:23 and whoever might be on camera, make
7:25 sure this emergency isn't on camera.
7:28 It's not so much an issue of
7:29 accountability. We're just trying to
7:32 make sure this person gets to maintain
7:35 whatever modesty they have. Remember, in
7:37 a heart attack situation, there's a good
7:39 chance we might be having to cut the
7:41 clothes off so that we can use the AED
7:43 machine. And we want to help maintain
7:45 whatever modesty they have. So, there's
7:47 no panic here. There's no there's no
7:50 screaming, just trained, intentional,
7:52 professional action. Our second scenario
7:54 is a suspicious person in the lobby.
7:57 It's mid-service. A man in a long coat
7:59 is pacing around in the lobby. He's
8:01 mumbling to himself. He's glancing
8:03 around nervously. Side note, it's
8:05 summer, so why is he wearing this long jacket?
8:06 jacket?
8:07 >> Doesn't make sense, does it?
8:10 >> Maybe a greeter noticed him first.
8:13 That's one side note is I love engaging
8:15 my greeters, my ushers, anybody that
8:17 wants to come to our security training,
8:20 we offer it, we open it up because if
8:22 all I have on my security team is my
8:25 security team, then I'm limiting myself.
8:27 If I can teach my greeters and my ushers
8:29 how to maintain situational awareness,
8:32 man, that's just increasing our um
8:36 availability and our efficiency. So,
8:38 this greeter is going to get a hold of a
8:41 a security team member and say, "Hey, um
8:43 we've got a problem. This guy a
8:45 potential problem in the side lobby."
8:47 Then that guy says, "Hey, we've got a
8:50 code gray side lobby." A trained team
8:52 member walks up and calmly starts a
8:54 conversation. just a friendly
8:56 conversation. This isn't an an
8:58 interrogation. This is the church
9:00 actually being the church. Again, we're
9:02 not assuming anything here. We're just
9:04 being aware. We're not being judgmental.
9:07 We're being observational. We're using
9:10 teamwork and professionalism to make
9:12 sure our people are safe. Scenario
9:14 number three. We've got a missing child
9:16 that's been reported. A parent
9:18 approaches a team member. They're
9:18 crying. They're saying their
9:21 six-year-old little girl isn't where
9:23 she's supposed to be. the volunteer
9:26 radios. Hey, we've got a code atom. It's
9:28 a girl. She's six years old. She was
9:31 wearing a pink dress. She was last seen
9:32 at check-ins.
9:35 All exits immediately get covered. Team
9:36 members start searching bathrooms and
9:38 classrooms. One person checks on the
9:40 cameras just looking to see if they
9:42 happen to see this little girl where she
9:45 could have been. Somebody else stays
9:46 with the parent, keeps them calm, and
9:48 keeps them informed as everything
9:52 unfolds. It's a fastm moving response
9:54 that's based in training, not on
9:56 guesswork. And that's what separates
9:59 your volunteer team from a lot of other
10:00 teams that are just guessing and making
10:02 it up as they go along. That's what
10:04 makes you professional and makes
10:06 everybody else amateur. Now, if you want
10:09 your church to be ready for any
10:11 emergency, you need to train for the
10:13 first five minutes. You need to run
10:15 scenario drills. You need to walk your
10:17 building. Practice your communication
10:20 protocols. Make sure your team knows
10:21 their roles and what they're supposed to
10:23 be doing and when they're supposed to be
10:24 doing them. If you train for the first
10:27 five, you're going to build muscle
10:29 memory. You're going to reduce your
10:30 panic and you're going to protect your
10:33 people. You may not be able to prevent
10:36 every emergency, but you can prevent
10:37 those emergencies from becoming
10:40 disasters. If this episode helped you
10:42 think differently about church safety,
10:43 hit the like button. If you're not
10:45 already subscribed, hit the subscribe
10:47 button. Smash the notification bell.
10:48 that way you don't miss any of the
10:50 content that we upload right here. And
10:52 one more thing, share this with your
10:54 pastor or share it with a security team
10:56 leader at your church. Thanks for
10:58 joining me. I'll catch you in the next one.
