Our Churches are places for connecting people to Jesus Christ. We are a place for messy people and a place for people to find faith and exercise faith in worshiping and gathering at our campuses. We are also a place of mercy and restoration. With that being said we also have a responsibility to protect all who come to worship from those who attend that are sex offenders. This breakout will help you place processes in place to assist your churches in providing that protection.This breakout will help you determine:

•Do we have to let them attend our church?

•Do we have a biblical duty to accommodate offenders?

•Can we restrict what services they attend?

•Do we communicate to our congregation that we have offenders on campus?

•How do we know they’re here?

Presenter Mark Fritts

Beginning in 2007 Mark was tasked with creating a safety and security team at Mission Community Church in Gilbert, Arizona. In 2013 Mark came onto staff in a full-time position as the Director of Safety and Security. Mark now serves as the Operations Pastor at Mission, which includes oversight of the safety and security function within the church. Mission has grown from a community church with a gathering of 700 worshipers to a congregation of more than 4,000. Mark has instructed extensively in the area of developing and supervising church security and safety teams, emergency preparedness and threat assessment. Mark has served as a security consultant with numerous churches but also serves as a security consultant for Gilbert Christian Schools. Mark served 21 years in municipal law enforcement retiring at the rank of Captain from the Hobbs Police Department in New Mexico. During his municipal career he served in numerous capacities including patrol, motor officer, narcotics detective, patrol sergeant, patrol lieutenant, detective lieutenant, SWAT entry team commander and hostage negotiator. After retiring from a career in municipal law enforcement, Mark has spent the next 15 years in federal law enforcement. His span of responsibility included the management and oversight of field operations, training, computer forensics, audio/visual forensics, criminal analysts, surveillance operations, fraud investigations and specialized investigative support.