RISK MANAGEMENT
Trinity Fellowship (Amarillo, TX)
Trinity has 125 volunteers on its usher/sentinel ministry that assist in services and events. It also has 12 armed Special Response Team members, four Emergency Response Team members, and two medics.
To help prevent burnout among the usher/sentinel ministry team members, half work even months; the other half work odd months. The team covers one service on Saturday evenings and two on Sunday mornings, as well as many outreach events — which are large-scale, given a membership body of 12,000.
“All usher/sentinel volunteers come through our church’s ‘Growth Track’ — four one-hour classes held on four Sundays every month,” explains Larry Miles, pastor of ministry administration. “Then, they undergo a background check and a sit-down interview with me.”
Veteran ushers/sentinels can volunteer for the special response or emergency response teams, or as medics. All these roles require a one-year probation period, including extensive training with weapons. Volunteers also must complete a weapons qualification course. After that, they qualify with their weapons twice a year and train with them on a monthly basis.
Miles adds that Trinity hasn’t suffered any incidents of gun-related violence since its usher/sentinel ministry began in 1996.
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