Dear Pastor and Churches:

THIS IS HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS: This program is designed for anyone who works with children in any facet in your Church. From bed babies to high school teens, this program is put together for the people who work with these young people. It will help to train and develop our “Sunday School Teachers, Youth Programs and Children’s Programs into a safe teaching and learning environment. This program will train each individual teacher (at home or in a group) via the computer. Each teacher will take a test on child safety who teaches in these areas. They must pass the test with a hundred percent. I understand if you pay attention to the video it is easy. Child Guard has developed this plan to the point that schools, associations, conventions such as the SBTC and I understand that the BGCT is also looking to endorse it along with hundreds of individual and company entities. THE COST IS MINIMAL; Your Association will pay $1,000.00 and then each Church joining with the group would pay $15.00 per person as an annual fee and then $9.75 per person for a background screen. So if you have five Sunday School Teachers and three that fill in then you would pay $198.00. They run an annual background check per individual. Child guard cannot run a screen on any individual unless they sign a consent form. This screen will check the National Sexual Offender List and the State Sexual Offender List. The check will also show if the Social Security number was validly issued. These screens should like a big deal, but they really are a link in the chain of your Church controlling and validating the teachers and giving Mom’ and Dads a mind of ease when their child is being taught by you/your Church. Each teacher will be taught the do’s and don’ts with children and they will be asked to read material designed for teachers and leaders and sign it. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO NOW? Most of the Church’s Pastors call me and we put them on a Child Guard list then I will turn it to Child Guard. This list consists of those who desire to be a part and need more information so they can get their Church moving on this. They also start the process of budgeting it for the following year. Many of the Churches say, sign us up…When Can We Get Started? We have a kick off date in Mid August where your Churches will be able to pay your fee for each Sunday School Teacher and fill in that works with children and sent it to Child Guard. Again we will not take your money through the Association. It would be too difficult to do this and get it correct. If you choose to get started now but need more information we will be putting this on the web www.topotexasassociation.com under Child Guard. There will be a place there to get all the latest information and to sign onto the web and watch the training video and to take the test. On top of all of that I will make available to you the numbers to the main office of Child Guard Systems and their web address. You may have questions about whether your Church needs this or not. Here are a few reasons why we feel it is necessary:

1. 200 million criminal records from 62 million individuals across our 50 states.

2. Our Churches are some of the biggest targets of the sex offenders.

3. Mom’s and Dad’s need safe places for their children to group up.

4. Most Churches believe and trust in everyone – today this is not wise.

5. There is a confirmed case of child abuse every 42 seconds.

6. Three children die each day from abuse.

7. A predator attempts to abduct a child every 4 ½ minutes.

These are only a few. I would not spend this kind of time unless I feel we are vulnerable. Many of our Pastors and Staffs tell some near miss stories and even a few tragedies. Let’s not waste time making this something your Church needs to be very aware of.