Law Enforcement Donor Document

Journeys to the Summit:
Equipping Christian Law Enforcement Officers
To Make a Difference In An Indifferent World
Focus: Discipleship and Evangelism

“If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whosoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me and the gospel will save it.  For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life?  What can a man give in exchange for his life?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of His Father with the Holy Angels.” 
Mark 8: 34-38 HCSB
 
NEED:
Today’s law enforcement officer often holds two beliefs about what the community outside of law enforcement thinks of them.  Sometimes, even the Church and God are included in these two beliefs.  They are:

• No one really understands.
• No one really cares.

It is tragic that law enforcement officers are sometimes right in their assessments.  Not when it comes to God, of course.  However, when it comes to ‘others,’ the law enforcement officer’s assessment that ‘no one really cares’ comes from their own everyday, personal experiences and encounters.

“Cops look at the world and think about 90 percent of people are bad; church members look at the world and think about 90 percent are good,” says Jack Poe, chaplain with the Oklahoma City Police Department. “Neither view is accurate, but we all base our actions on our perceptions.”

“For a law enforcement officer, it’s hard to not look at everyone with suspicion,” Poe says, since that can mean survival on the job. Church members, however, look at people and “want to give them the benefit of the doubt and wonder why cops have to be so harsh.”

Law enforcement officers inhabit a world most people never know and can’t comprehend.  They see things most people never see.  Most of these things are bad.  Some are horrific.  They live in a world of ambushes.  People routinely attempt to hurt them physically, emotionally and legally.  Their families suffer and struggle with them.  Divorce rates are very high.  The profession has a higher than average substance abuse problem.  More than three times as many officers commit suicide than are killed in the line of duty.  These issues don’t even address the concerns of the children of law enforcement officers as they interact daily with other children at school, at sporting events or community events.

“You get the officer’s children going to school with the children of a drug dealer the officer arrested,” says Tim Hawsey, Associate Police Chief, Flomaton, Al. “You may have a SWAT team member who had to kill the father of some of his children’s friends. You might see someone you arrested and who threatened you or your family at the grocery store.”

The public may look at law enforcement officers as rough, tough and hard, Jack Poe says, “but based on my years involved with the police department, I think I am accurate in saying that there is a higher percentage of Christian law enforcement officers than Christians in other fields. They almost have to have that spiritual connection to survive.”

Often the only place a law enforcement officer feels safe is with fellow officers, but even they can turn on them.  It is easy to see how, given the day to day assault on these officers, that without God’s strength, they can become bitter, disillusioned and even abusive veterans.

Law enforcement officers have their own language, norms, mores, customs, rituals, and uniforms.  Because it is easy to identify law enforcement officers, and because they have to enforce the law, they are often ‘alienated’ by non-officers.  Non-officers feel out of place around officers and vice-versa.

The following letter from veteran officer Robin Pratt says it well.  Please read.
“It is important to the individual officer, as a Christian, to have reinforcement and confirmation of Christian beliefs among his/her fellow officers.  Sometimes you feel like a Lone Ranger out there, meaning that you begin to wonder if you are the only Christian out there either in law enforcement or in the general population.  The reason for this is the type of work and therefore the type of people you deal with each day.  You begin to doubt society.  You begin to wonder about your Christianity and your place or involvement in it.  You see the evil that man does.  How evil man can be against his fellow man.  It begins to take its toll on you.  You see the victims of crimes each day and begin to relate to their situations.  Each day brings the question, ‘How could God let this happen?’

A Law Enforcement Summit in a Christian environment helps the individual officer to interact with other Christians, and at least for a short time, begin to rebuild his/her confidence in mankind.  You may be thinking that they could get that in church.  It’s true they could.  If, and I repeat, IF they would go.  It is difficult for an officer to feel comfortable in a non-law enforcement environment.  The reasons are many and may include one or more of the following:
• Not knowing who will be there.
• Not having control of the situation.
• Feeling unsafe with so many people around them.
• Worrying about whether they will have to take law enforcement action while there.
• Shedules

Coming to the Law Enforcement Summit helps relieve some of that anxiety.  Just the title alone lets them know who is going to be there.  Once at the Law Enforcement Summit, they get confirmation that they are not alone as a Christian officer.  They can receive instruction about how to have a strong Christian walk and be a good officer.  Sometimes they are asking themselves, ‘Can I be a good officer and a strong Christian?’ or, ‘Can I be a strong Christian and a good officer?’  Of course the answer to both of these questions is yes.  Being a strong Christian will make a much better and stronger officer.

It is vital in society today to have these summits to help officers survive and rebuild or strengthen their moral character.

SOLUTION:
In that law enforcement invests from government money in their officers for continuing education in the amount of 40 hours per year required per officer, we in Christian ministry have a similar responsibility to provide high value, high quality continuing education based on Biblical discipleship.

Biblical discipleship leads Christians to invest ourselves and our resources in others, just like Jesus did with His disciples.  In addition, LifeWay’s mission statement drives us.  “As God works through us, we will help people and churches know Jesus Christ and seek His Kingdom by providing Biblical solutions that spiritually transform individuals and cultures.”
 
Believing that the culture and nature of the law enforcement community makes them a ‘mission field’ in our own land, and believing that:
• law enforcement officers are real people with real needs and we trust them with our personal safety.
• law enforcement officers and their families are exposed to incredibly difficult and dangerous situations each and every day...LifeWay Conference Center Event Ministry wants to provide the officer and their spouse with four days of spiritual nourishment and encouragement. 

LifeWay Conference Center Event Ministries wants these officers and their families to know that they are called to law enforcement.  Tim Eldred, chaplain for the Rutherford County (Tennessee) Sheriff’s Office, talks with officers about the calling of a law enforcement officer.  “You are called to your job as much as I am called to mine,” Eldred says.

Matthew 28:19-20 states, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The purpose of this project is to facilitate an intentional process for developing 1,000 law enforcement officers over a five year period of time that are trained in discipleship and evangelism so that they can encourage and influence other officers both in their own personal faith development (discipleship) and in sharing their faith with officers by building trusting relationships with them that will afford them the opportunity to lead other officers to Christ (evangelism).

GOALS:
• Create a five year strategic plan.
• Train 200 new officers a year for five years who will commit to be disciples and to disciple others in the law enforcement community.
• Train 500 repeat officers per year for five years who will commit to be disciples and to disciple others in the law enforcement community.
• Develop and train at least four new chaplains for the law enforcement community each year that will commit to be the chaplain for the officers and their families, not jail chaplains.
• Lead these officers, their spouses and families to be strong supporters of their local church.
• Lead these officers to become Kingdom leaders, not just at work, but at home and in their communities.

METHODOLOGY:
This effort seeks to establish a biblical process of making disciples in the law enforcement community, supported by LifeWay Christian Resources and other evangelical organizations.  The process will include:

1. Summit Strategic Planning.  A strategic planning team will be implemented to develop annual plans for both lawenforcement summits at Ridgecrest and Glorieta, for sales and marketing of the law enforcement summits, for allocating budgeted resources for these law enforcement summits.  This same strategic planning team will be utilized in evaluating and critiquing existing law enforcement summits and seeking to find new members to join the strategic planning team in order to continue to develop the summits and expand their influences.

2. Summit Event Development.
The strategic planning team will be responsible for making sure that the key focus of each law enforcement summit (discipleship and evangelism)  is maintained.  The strategic planning team will be responsible for enlisting the law enforcement summit faculty and keynote speakers.

3. Summit Event Marketing.
The strategic planning team will promote these conferences at every opportunity available, including but not exclusive of the National Sheriff’s Association’s twice yearly conventions as well as other law enforcement opportunities.  The strategic planning team will constantly seek to engage new leaders (faculty) that will help to promote the law enforcement summits in their states and regions.

4. Summit Event Evaluations.
The strategic planning team will receive written evaluations after each and every law enforcement event.  These evaluations will help the strategic planning team ensure that the events are on target as planned.  If the participants evaluations indicate that the planning team needs to make adjustments, these adjustments and improvements can be made to bring the event up to the participants expectations before the next law enforcement summit.  In addition to evaluating the law enforcement summit for content, evaluations will be received regarding our ‘target’ objectives:  are we training 200 new officers as disciples of Christ per year and are we strengthening the Christ-like walk of the other 300 attendees.

FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS:
Two LifeWay Law Enforcement Summits per year (Ridgecrest and Glorieta)

• Provide at no cost registrations and room and board for NEW officers
                                                                                                     
• Keynote Speakers will be selected from "within the ranks" to lead both worship and Bible study.

• Worship Team 

• Faculty for Breakout Conferences will be selected from within the Law Enforcement family and will be assigned topics that they have a passion for teaching.  All breakout leaders will be chosen from those that have attended and supported the event.

• Strategic Planning Team Annual Planning Retreats will be held on-site prior to and following each of the Law Enforcement Summits - East and West.

• Marketing Strategies
 (Note:  Marketing strategies will vary from year to year.  These costs will include all special radio and print media advertising in selected markets.  It will also include marketing the event in selected law enforcement venues.  These venues charge for booth space.  In addition to booth space, there will need to be reimbursement of travel, meals and lodging to those officers and their spouses that attend the events to promote to law enforcement summit)  Enforcement events per year, plus travel, lodging and meals for officers  to man the booths. 

• Discipleship and Bible Study Materials for Participants (Note: LifeWay Christian Resources is blessed to have a number of excellent resources that could impact officers and their spouse and families.  In addition to these resources from LifeWay, i.e. Experiencing God, The Ways of God, Five Love Languages, and Making Love Last Forever.  If another provider has excellent resources which would help the officer, then these resources would be made available as gifts to each officer.


THE FUTURE: THE SECOND FIVE YEAR PLAN:

As God blesses this ministry, which we believe is unique and desperately needed, the strategic planning team will be open to seek alternative ‘venues’ to hold a Law Enforcement Summit in.  We have already been contacted by a Chaplain in Northern California wanting us to bring the event that far West.  We also truly believe that with a successful event at Ridgecrest and Glorieta, we will be asked to bring this type of an event to other regions of the United States as well. 

In addition, once we have touched the lives of our law enforcement community, we sincerely believe that other areas of emergency services will want to have similar summits, i.e.  Firefighter’s,  EMT’s etc.  The potential for impacting and influencing thousands of lives and hundreds and thousands of communities is enormous.

 

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