Security

Many people are surprised to find out that Olive has a security team and ask the question “why would a church need to have people helping with security?”  Unfortunately even in churches today, security for members and guests at worship services and events is becoming more and more a necessity. Olive’s security program is an integrated system of both human and electronic elements. Our security team is made up of volunteers who are both current and retired law enforcement as well as many other dedicated individuals who are committed to and concerned for their church. Some of the issues that our team deals with on a regular basis are:

• finding lost children, parents, and cars
• providing security for the children’s ministry
• providing security for youth events
• providing security for worship services and special events
• assisting transient guests with food and other social needs
• providing information to guests
• working with law enforcement when problems arise
• patrolling parking areas and outlying buildings during services
• helping with parking and traffic flow
• monitoring the church camera system
• monitoring the church radio communications system
• alerting and working with the medical team when medical issues arise

Here are some of the other security and safety measures that you may notice when you come to Olive:

• Law Enforcement Officers:  Olive is assisted by several wonderful people who are currently active in law enforcement. While some of these people are church members and volunteer their time and expertise, still others are off duty and hired to augment our security team. These individuals help with traffic flow, patrolling parking areas, working youth events, and providing extra security for our offertory procedures. 

• Camera System:  You may notice that Olive has an extensive camera system and wonder why a church needs cameras. Of course we are sensitive to people’s privacy and would never want any security measure to be a hindrance to people’s worship or participation in church, but we also want to make sure that people are in a secure environment. Our cameras are most prevalent in the children’s areas but they are also throughout the rest of the complex - both inside and out - and are used for a multitude of purposes. Our cameras are used to locate lost children, monitor for medical emergencies, monitor the three primary entrances during weekdays, and provide a video record just in case there is an incident. Unfortunately in a day when churches are being targeted more and more for criminal activity and sometimes for staged events that result in fraudulent insurance claims and frivolous lawsuits our camera system provides some deterrent as well as a legal record of activities just in case.

Medical Team

Medical emergencies are a fact of life and when thousands of people gather for church there is always the potential for one to arise. Olive has a dedicated team of individuals who are medical professionals and volunteer to be “on call” during regularly scheduled services as well as special events. The medical team has handled everything from bee stings to heart attacks and rarely is there a Sunday when their services are not called upon. It is a comfort to those who worship at Olive to know if they ever had a medical problem there would be a competent group of people there to assist them at a moment’s notice.

Volunteer Opportunities

There are volunteer opportunities to serve on both our security and medical teams. If you have an interest in either of these two areas please contact the following lay coordinators:

Security Team:  Ed Joyner at edannjoy@bellsouth.net

Medical Team:  Robert and Rene Bullard at bullard911@msn.com