Preparedness Teaching as a Ministry

October 2024

Believing that 'preparedness' is biblical, I have worked to structure a series of courses to train the body of Christ for uncertain times where I believe the Church will have an unprecedented opportunity to minister to those seeking truth in what may very likely be the end times for society as we know it.

In a time of life changes while seeking the Lord's specific will for me in a ‘season of retirement,' I felt led to help a small group of close friends prepare for a future that included increased hardships, natural disasters, and even societal breakdown. Our home church heard about the training at the small group level and asked me to instruct any of the larger congregation who might be interested in learning more about the topic of preparedness. Over the next year, interest grew with over 130 individuals attending the training sessions.

The courses have been developed on the premise that the Church may not see a pre-tribulation rapture and that the principal role of the Church during these Bible-predicted difficult times will be to guide others to a saving belief in Jesus—if we are not consumed with our own survival.

The three courses developed are intended to extend from the 'basic' common sense efforts to prepare participants to sustain their families through any possible short-term emergency event. Most common to the East Texas region are home fires, severe thunderstorms, and tornadoes. The first level course (Preparedness 101) is a three-hour course that covers the basics of being prepared for a three-day emergency—specifically identifying risks, making plans, and then taking planned action to address specific areas of preparation. Basic topics covered are: a mindset of preparedness; preparing one's home; addressing power outages in an 'any weather' environment; preventing and mitigating home fires; surviving a tornado; preparing a 'go bag'; and ensuring vehicle preparedness.

The 'second level' course is an intense three-hour introduction to preparations for an emergency that lasts more than three days. This course takes a much deeper dive into the topics of longer-term water and food storage and focuses on preparations for a 'grid down' scenario where we lose the electrical grid for an extended period. This course introduces the circumstances expected if/when supply lines, medical care, and 'normal' communications are disrupted for an extended period and the importance of preparing as a sustainability group or tribe.

The third level course addresses the 'life as we know it has changed' scenario for an extended season of three months to three or more years. Unlike the first two courses, this three-hour course is structured for lecture—or input from the facilitator for half of the time and questions and participant discussions for the other half of the time together.

Each course builds upon the principles introduced in the previous course and requires participation in the lower-level course prior to attending the next level instruction.

It became evident during each of the three levels of training that there were a number of topics that required (and justified) a longer period of instruction, discussion, and practice to adequately assimilate the information being presented. Two things came from this realization: first, repeating the course would be beneficial for many, so we implemented a policy where any/all alumni of any of the courses can repeat/attend any of the courses again at no cost. Second, we identified a number of 'workshops' to focus specifically on one topic presented in any of the courses. These workshops are typically two to three hours in duration and have covered such topics as: water collection, filtration, and treatment; long-term food preparation and preservation; first aid at the basic, trauma, and battlefield levels—the third level assuming a post-catastrophic event where modern medicine services are no longer available; radio communications; personal defense with a focus on selection, care, competence, and reliance on personal firearms; foraging; bartering; sustainable gardening; and area and group security.

Another by-product of the training has been the realized need for pre-established sustainability groups where some have either taken the initiative of forming—and providing leadership to—a group of like-minded folks interested in this philosophy of being better prepared for whatever our future as a society may mean. We started a 'group leader's forum' that meets monthly to discuss different aspects of preparing their individual groups and exploring ways to minister most effectively as a community of like-minded believers.

To date, we have conducted the 101-level introductory course three times, the 201-level course twice, and the 301 and listed workshops once each. There has been enough growing interest that we intend to start repeating some of the more popular workshops again this year.