MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A seminar to help protect houses of worship from violence is planned for this weekend in the Mid-South.

Members of Brown Missionary Baptist Church are holding a seminar called “Protecting The Flock” this Friday and Saturday to teach churchgoers safety protocols at their church.

“I’m really wanting people to be able to come to this seminar to have the training they need to take back to their institutions to keep their congregates safe,” said Derrick Anderson, Executive Pastor of Brown Missionary Baptist Church.

They are hoping individuals from the security team, church and community leaders, pastors,  deacons, and even volunteers register for the two-day event.

“We want people to really take a full 360 look, how do we look from the outside what are the venerable spots, what are the risks on the parking lot?” Pastor Anderson said. “Is there enough light in the parking lot is it enough lighting, could somebody trip, is there water left in the baptismal pool, all of those things.”

This seminar will be focusing on several different types of security threats.

“Everything from protecting the children to custody-related issues there are a lot of predators out there. Even from the cyber side fraudulent activity that takes place,” Pastor Anderson said.

Pastor Anderson also says in some cases it may require houses of worship to hire armed security or train members of the congregation to handle a threat or to know what suspicious activity to look for.

“You don’t want someone to rush in and escalate a situation that could be de-escalated and so training your team, whether it is a couple of people in your sanctuary or you have thousands that each team knows how to respond to those,” Pastor Anderson said.

Registration for this event is still open.