Sadly, the threat of an active shooter incident is now a top-of-mind daily concern for today’s church leaders. Too many still believe it could never happen in their own houses of worship — but in reality, FBI hate crime statistics show that such incidents in religious facilities increased nearly 35% between 2014 and 2018. […]
Read More >
What to expect from child protection agencies By Gregory Love & Kimberlee Norris Child sexual abuse continues to present a compelling concern to the Church. An understanding of mandatory reporting requirements is critical for ministry leaders. If every allegation of child sexual abuse is simply reported by church leaders to appropriate authorities, the […]
Read More >
What is the insurance carrier looking for? Abuse claims have become increasingly frequent and highly publicized. Expansion of statutes of limitations has resulted in insurance carriers defending claims from activity alleged to have happened decades ago. As a result, insurance carriers are asking for more documentation to allow the carrier to better defend against […]
Read More >
It’s a common scenario in houses of worship: Who’s in charge of the property committee? “Our elder, Joe, heads that up.” What about the finance committee? “Yes, Susan is our accountant and oversees the finances.” And the sexual abuse prevention plan? “Well, our children and student ministry leaders do the background checks, interviews and […]
Read More >
Church Executive: Are churches typically easy targets for fraud? Sarah Barham: Yes, because typically one person is responsible for completing all financial responsibilities from beginning to end. This means one person opens the mail to review invoices, sets up vendors in the accounting software, writes the checks, reconciles the bank accounts, and produces financial reports. […]
Read More >
The dangers of choosing an organization-centered response By Gregory Love & Kimberlee Norris At a Christian school in West Texas, five employees were recently arrested and charged with ‘Failure to Report with Intent to Conceal’ after a teen reported he had been sexually assaulted on campus, by another student. Nine days later, four administrators from […]
Read More >
Sexual Abuse Risk and Third-Party Use of Facilities By Gregory Love & Kimberlee Norris BOY SCOUTS SETTLEMENT FUND EXCEEDS $2.6 BILLION Not every organization has chartered or hosted a Boy Scout Troop, but every organization with physical facilities must learn the lessons stemming from this massive child sexual abuse settlement. Third-party use of facilities can […]
Read More >
By Gregory S. Love & Kimberlee D. Norris Headlines related to child sexual abuse continue to rock the Church, and faith-based organizations continue to reevaluate sexual abuse response and resources. The New Year provides a good opportunity to ‘check in’ on current church practices related to child sexual abuse. We asked Kimberlee D. Norris and […]
Read More >
By Kirk Evans If you are wondering whether it’s time to come up with a more cohesive, actionable defensive plan for your church family, the short answer is yes, now is the time. To help you understand what this entails through the eyes of another church leader, we sat down and chatted with Pastor Frank […]
Read More >
By Kirk Evans We live in trying times, in an era when hatred sometimes boils over into violence against strangers. What was once your safe place — your church sanctuary — is not immune to violent attacks. Criminals can come into your service, armed with intent to murder. To protect what is sacred, you must […]
Read More >