Announcing the new training and tools from Rural Think Tank called Near Miss: An IT Professional Speaks Out on Keeping Kids Safe Online.
This training is part of a suite of tools including podcast episodes on Rural Think Tank, a forthcoming book, and a study guide. The training will include in person and online options for hosting this training with parents in your community.
Here is the reason the training is called “Near Miss”, as described by Brent:
… In my 9-5 job, I work for a company that provides outsourced IT for several different clients. One of them is a factory that produces a lot of household items you’ve likely heard of. They have strict safety reporting standards, including calling on employees to report occurrences that have not yet caused an accident, but are not in compliance with safety regulations. They call this report the “Near Misses”. It’s usually a situation where someone enters into an area without the proper safety gear and are stopped and reported by another worker.
If you have children, the internet, and a mobile device for any length of time, you have likely had a near miss. You just have not looked at it that way. As a parent and IT professional, I see this all the time. It usually happens when I’m in a place that involves quiet waiting, such as a Doctor’s office waiting room. A parent of a child between 4 and 10 is pestering a parent and they just hand over the phone to keep the kid occupied. This is a near miss.… The reason this is a near miss is that the child has not yet done anything harmful, but now the potential is there.
This training is designed to be an outreach opportunity for the local church to serve the parents and children in your community and showing that you care to keep them informed and safe.
Even one “Near Miss” is too many…
Brent has been in the IT field in one sector or another for over 20 years. Fresh out of college, spent a year as a Child Abuse Investigator in the Midwest. Brent has also served local churches either in a vocational, volunteer, or consultant role for the last 20 years. Most importantly, he is a dad to two teenagers and a preteen.
Brent has written the book Rural Youth Ministry (available here), has contributed to Group magazine, several youth ministry blogs, and currently has several writing projects in various stages of development.
Brent has also presented at several state, regional, and national ministry conferences on Technology in Ministry, Rural Youth Ministry, Ministry Networking in Rural Communities, and Youth Leader Health, as well as various other topics.
To bring this training to your church, community organization, or business, click here to contact us with your scheduling request.