Security

Many of you are aware of the upgrade in our security system a year or two ago. I know there was a period of adjustment, but we all changed our regular way of operating and things got into a period of "new normalcy". We discovered how useful our system is last night when a guitar was stolen from a hallway while its owner was on our walking track.

Immediately upon notification our facilities director, John Spain, returned to the campus and ran through the recordings from our security cameras. We were able to spot the young men enter the building and leave by a different door ten minutes later with the guitar. We were also able to identify the car they left in. One of our recreation workers was able to identify one of the suspects. After being questioned by our staff the young man contacted the person who had the guitar and it was returned to the church campus to be delivered to its rightful owner.

There are several lessons I learned from this incident:

1. We have superb employees who are willing to go out of their way to serve our members and guests, including leaving home late at night to return to the campus.

2. We also have employees who are willing to put themselves on the line, including their physical safety, to find justice.

3. We cannot assume that people will act correctly in our buildings just because it is a church. As a matter of fact, many criminals target churches because we seem to them to be a soft target.

4. The system works. Our security system secures areas that need to be secured at certain times, and we are able to identify and record people who do not have the best interest of the kingdom of God at heart.

I'm glad this story has a satisfactory ending. But be warned: just because we are in a church does not mean that we are safe from the evil of this world. Please be diligent about keeping a eye out for suspicious activity and report it to a staff member immediately.