We have the privilege of traveling to different conferences every month and meeting a lot of great people involved in technical ministries. As we do, we often hear stories that start like this: “The thing is, I really wish my pastor understood…” So what follows here is a sort of open letter to you, pastors, listing the things most often heard. Please know that this is shared in humility from a heart that honors and respects your leadership, position and sacrifice, and believes wholeheartedly in serving under spiritual authority in the local church (which I gladly do!):
- If your techies keep asking you to stick to a timetable for turning in sermon notes or getting sound checks or choosing videos, it’s only because they want to do the best that they can. Some processes need to be done in sequence and require a certain amount of time to be done well. When a task does not get done on time (and worse, when it is re-inserted later in the process), the chance of error increases dramatically, which is not fair to the people that show up early to see that everything will be working as it should.
- Generally the more lead time your technical staff has from you, the better they can do for you. Unique requirements, whether it’s mic placement or set design or videos, equate to extra time, and a high percentage of techies are perfectionists who get really frustrated when they don’t have the time to do their best. So try to give them the time they need to do well.
- When you ask someone to create a video, please be cognizant of the amount of time that is required to produce it. A simple 3-minute testimony video can easily take 20 hours to produce. Short projects with actors and costumes can take weeks.
- Your tech guys need you or someone on your staff to block for them before the service. People are continually coming up to the sound booth or control room area asking for last-minute items to be projected or songs to be played – all at a time when the technicians need to be able to really focus. It would help greatly if you would enforce a policy that says, in effect, last-minute requests cannot be honored, so please plan ahead. As much as your technicians want to serve, these last-minute requests put undo stress on them, and often result in sub-par results.
- Technicians need your positive feedback and encouragement. Generally, we fail to notice the service of the folks in these positions until something goes very wrong – and then they hear from too many people. Expressions of appreciation and recognition of excellence are two critical needs that your technical staff has.
Working as one team, from one playbook, is so key to having an awesome worship experience full of the presence of God. May God bless your church with a great partnership between your technical staff and your pastoral team and worship teams!
