After working over 15 years in the technical field, I am a firm believer that Satan inhabits electronics. If anything can go wrong with electronics, it usually happens at the worst possible time! Stuff happens and how we deal with it, both during the event and after, define our ministry walk. No one likes sullen or mean people, and as this is a ministry, there’s no room for such behavior.
Here are my rules for working and surviving as a tech lead;
1. Have a sense of humor. Take the work seriously but don’t take yourself seriously.
2. Complaints from anyone outside of the tech team, is handled by the complaint department (ME). I make it clear to the pastors and the worship team that if anyone has a complaint or suggestion, that as the technical lead, it is my responsibility to deal with it with my team.
3. Reprimand in private, praise publicly.
4. Always ask what you could have done better. Don’t be content to sit on your laurels. Next week is a new opportunity.
5. Have a 5 minute after-service meeting with the team to see if they noticed any issues. If you, as a leader, noticed issues but no one else did, then it’s time for training.
6. At the next week’s planning meeting, go over any issues with all parties involved.
7. If any equipment failed, take it out of service, mark it inoperable and either get it fixed, replace it, or throw it away.
8. Praise your team often and publicly. It’s not all about you.
9. Troubleshoot in-service production problems quickly and quietly. Give yourself and your team a realistic limited amount of time to resolve the issue. In the meantime, consider plan B options. Unless there’s smoke coming out the mixer and it smells like it’s on fire there’s no reason to run around with a panicked look on your face in front of the congregation!
10. The tech team ministry is unique. We have the ability to impact the entire congregation, either positively or negatively. While a musician can miss a note and no one will probably notice, if we miss a cue to turn on a mic or play a video, everyone notices. We are the invisible ministry. If we do our jobs correctly no one should ever be aware that we’re doing anything.
11. Whatever you do, don’t do anything that will make the entire congregation turn around and glare at you!
12. When in doubt refer to rule 1.
Finally
I hope this series opened your eyes to the time and effort required for creating a technically transparent worship environment. I’ve intertwined the worship team and the technical team together because they are inseparable. They need each other. They can do more by working together than by working independently.
wow! wow! this is good for a parson like me, new in sound tech.
Hi, thanks for this post! Very useful!
We have normally “old fashion” church meetings, but once a month with worship music, and feeling really the need of technical support. I’ll try to use your suggestions for our crew, maybe it works ;)
GBY: ben
My short tempered attitude makes me feel so guilty that many a time i’ve even tried to quit the work as a sound tech and be like a simple believer who comes to worship and goes away without having to handle too much pressure. I m still struggling with it please pray for me so that i can be a humble person.
Hey Brian, I really enjoyed your 5 part series. It was very helpful and instructional. One quick question, part one listed an extra step: Implementing. Was it included and I missed it? So sorry if I did.
Also, I pray that God will continue to be with you and your family through your wife’s leukemia. May he reveal Himself to you in ever special ways.
Thanks Stephen for the prayers! We certainly appreciate it. And on that front my wife had her 6 month visit with the oncologist and her white blood cell count has increased the smallest amount since we found out she had Luekemia. That’s great news so praise God!
No you didn’t miss it. I had it in my to-do list and then promptly forgot about it. Sigh… That’s what happens when my brain goes on vacation and forgets to tell me! I was trying to figure out what to write about next and you’ve given me my next assignment. Stay tuned next week when I’ll write the final part of the series, Implementation.