First Baptist Church safety seminar, Feb. 8

The Safety Team at First Baptist Church of Olney, Texas, will be hosting a “Sheepdog” Church Safety Seminar on Saturday, February 8, 2020, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The seminar will be held in the FBCO Sanctuarylocated at 201 West Main Street in Olney, Texas.

A sheepdog’s job is to protect the sheep from the wolves. A sheepdog seminar is intended to give church leaders and volunteers tools they need to protect people around them when violent situations and medical emergencies arise. A sheepdog is also vigilant. Attendees of the seminar will learn how to watch for warning signs of a sexual predator and how to prevent abuse from occurring at church activities.

Retired police officer and ordained minister Jimmy Meeks will be leading the seminar. Everybody in the community is invited to attend. The information will be geared toward helping churches, but the information will apply to just about any school, business, or other organization you can imagine.

Meeks served for 35 years in law enforcement and has been a minister for 44 years. He has served as a hostage negotiator, a field training officer, school resource officer, and a detective. He also pastored a church in Fort Worth for 11 years while he served as a police officer. He has conducted over 200 church safety seminars.

Meeks will share the Biblical basis for having a safety team in church. He will shed light on how church violence generally plays out in a church setting. There is plenty of unhelpful rhetoric surrounding this topic of church and workplace violence. Meeks will help parse out the facts from the myths.

One of the goals of a Sheepdog Seminar is to teach attendees the importance of seeing church safety as a ministry and not just a duty.

All church members, staff, ushers, teachers, principals, police officers, first responders, safety teams, youth leaders, and anyone else concerned about the increase of violence and sexual abuse in our communities is invited to attend.

That evening at 6 p.m. the church will be hosting a free screening of the award-winning documentary, Faith Under Fire. The movie will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the FBCO Fellowship Hall.

The following morning, February 9, the church will host a special service for police officers and first responders. Jimmy Meeks will be preaching a special gospel message that morning especially geared for those who serve us and keep us safe every day.

This event is being offered at no cost. First Baptist Olney is underwriting the costs of the event as a ministry to area churches and the community. The church is asking attendees, if possible, to pre-register for the event at sheepdogseminars.com. If you have any questions, please call the church at 940.564.5594 or email Pastor Edgington at cedgington@fbcolney.com