HOBE SOUND, Fla. (CBS12) — Two SWAT team members from a local law enforcement agency have started a firm called Shield the Flock to provide security training for synagogues, churches and other houses of worship.

They evaluate the layout, lighting and access points at the church and make recommendations about how to strengthen their protection.

They also provide core seminar training that includes active shooter response, situational awareness, emergency casualty care and scenario-based drills.

“My goal is to make sure that they’re trained properly to recognize a problem and be able to handle it as discreetly as possible. We’re again, we’re not trying to make the churches this giant fortress with gun turrets everywhere. We just want everybody, when they come in to feel safe because it has to be a welcoming environment, otherwise nobody’s going to show up,” said Steve Hearn, Shield the Flock co-owner.

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They also do firearms training.

Their website says: “We are the only training system designed from the ground up specifically for houses of worship. Our mission is to empower your team to take ownership of their safety through education, readiness and structure.”

They also look at past shootings at houses of worship in other parts of the U.S. so church security teams in south Florida can learn from other incidents that’ve happened nationwide.

“I worry greatly. We’re already seeing it all over the country, so I’d rather be proactive about it than reactive and wait for something to happen. Let’s be ahead of the ball game,” said Timothy Baltes, Shield the Flock co-owner.

“We want to make sure that our setting is a place where people can come and feel safe,” said Senior Pastor Matt Ellison, Hobe Sound Bible Church.

To make sure his church is as ready as it can be to deal with an active shooter or other security threat, Pastor Ellison is getting assistance from Shield the Flock. Members of the church security team will get training from the company.

“We just live in an evil world and a lot of evil all around us, and I don’t know, and you don’t know, what’s going on in the person next to us,” Pastor Ellison said.

The pastor says churches need to face the reality that violence could happen during worship services. They never know who might walk in.

“We live in a broken world, and, man, there’s just so many things that are pressing people’s minds, stresses and all sorts of things and eventually they take it out on somebody,” Pastor Ellison explained.

Hearn and Baltes say churches cannot just rely on police to deal with an active shooter.

Because they say the average response time in South Florida for law enforcement to arrive is six to 12 minutes.

But active threats in churches often unfold in 2 to 7 minutes. So churches and synagogues need their own security team to be ready to act immediately.

Leaders at houses of worship can contact Hearn and Baltes by going to their website, shieldtheflock.com.