Twenty doors, no more key sets: church access control with one-button lockdown

The problem: nobody knew who had a key

Foothills Church is a congregation of about 200 people in a roughly 15,000-square-foot building in Rancho Santa Margarita. Like most churches, it runs on volunteers, and the keys had spread the way keys do at a church. About 20 people carried sets of five or six keys each. The three exterior entrances, the main auditorium, and each office and classroom had their own key, and nobody tracked how many copies had been made or who was holding them.

"In a volunteer organization like ours, somebody may just hand a key to someone... So, over time, you just lose track." Pastor Roger Horning, Foothills Church

A violent attack at a nearby church brought it to a head. The leadership wanted to know, at any moment, who could open which door, and to be able to secure the building fast if something happened during a service.

Why PDK, and why Action 1st

Three integrators bid the project. The church wanted something simple enough for volunteers and staff to run without calling anyone, with enough depth to handle a building that changes use every day of the week.

"It seemed like an ideal fit for their needs. They wanted something very easy to use, but with lots of different capabilities." Russell Yost, CEO, Action 1st

We specified ProdataKey's Red line, the platform we install most often (our PDK vs. Brivo vs. Verkada comparison explains why). It is managed from the cloud, so the church office runs it from a phone or browser, and it uses encrypted credentials end to end.

What we installed

• 20 doors on PDK Red readers covering the exterior entrances, auditorium, offices and classrooms.
• Red Series ethernet controllers connecting every door to PDK's cloud platform.
• Encrypted Red key fobs for staff and volunteers in place of the metal key sets.
• Door position sensors on the two back doors and the multipurpose room, so the system knows when a door is propped open, not just when it was unlocked.
• OSDP readers with AES-128 encryption and tamper detection. Older low-frequency prox cards can be copied with a cheap cloner; these cannot.

How the church uses it now

Doors that follow the service schedule

The front door unlocks on Sunday morning and locks itself 15 minutes after the service starts. Late arrivals are greeted at the door instead of walking into an open building, and no one has to remember to walk the halls and lock up afterward.

Access by ministry, room and time

The cleaning crew, small groups and other ministries each get access to the rooms they use, on the days and hours they use them, and nowhere else. The previous key system could not do that. When a volunteer steps away, the office switches off their fob in seconds instead of chasing down a key.

One-button lockdown

"We can hit one button and lock every door in the case of an emergency. We don't have to run around to each door to secure the building." Pastor Roger Horning, Foothills Church

Alerts and a record of every entry

Staff get real-time door events, with email or text alerts for the doors they care about and a warning when a door is propped open. The activity log shows the last person to unlock any door, which answers the Monday-morning "who left this open?" question in seconds.

Paying for it: security grants

Foothills paid for its system directly. Many churches today don't have to. The federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program and California's State Nonprofit Security Grant Program both fund access control for houses of worship, up to $200,000 and $250,000 per site in their latest rounds. A 20-door system like this one fits inside a single-site award. Our California church security grant guide explains how to apply and what to have ready before the next window opens.

Quotes from Pastor Horning and Russell Yost first appeared in ProdataKey's case study on this project. Thanks to Foothills Church for letting us share it.