| Ensuring a Safe Worship Experience
On Sunday, April 21, we had an incident with an unidentified visitor during our worship service. This man arrived after the service started, sat down in the sanctuary, and was not a problem through the sermon. During the offering he came forward and handed the pastor a piece of paper. The paper had the 10 Commandments written on one side and some gibberish on the other side. After handing the pastor the paper he quietly left the building. Nothing happened. But it did raise some concerns.
At the meeting of the Administrative and Building Committee on Tuesday, April 23, the incident and how to respond was discussed. For the short run we will ensure that the east and west hallway doors (Willow & Orleans doors) are locked promptly at 10:00 am on Sunday. Further, we will ask the ushers to remain in the Narthex area to keep an eye on the door. If there is reason to be concerned about someone we have a “panic” button located in the Narthex that will activate the Tampa Police Department. We have also been in contact with the Tampa Police Department about having an off-duty officer present during worship to help provide a more secure environment. There is a process for getting this person and we are pursuing it.
For the long term, we are forming a Security Task Force that will consist of a member of the Administrative and Building Committee (Josh Crum), the Worship Committee (Dek Wright), and a congregational member at large (Tony Brannan Sr). This group will work with the pastor to investigate best practices, formulate procedures, explore training opportunities, and discuss all possibilities for making our Sunday morning worship as secure as it can be.
We are taking all of this very seriously and ask for your patience and understanding as we move through this process. |
