For most congregations across the country and around the world, the Christmas season is easily the best time of the entire year. But for many church production teams the stress and drama of creating the Super Bowl-level worship experiences can transform the holidays into something to survive rather than something to celebrate.
“There’s always stress in ministry, but I thinka lot of that stress can come from not putting infamily time or not putting in healthy boundaries.” Steven Cobb, Production and Technical Director, Oak Hills Church, San Antonio, TX
So how can tech and production leaders keep the joy of Christmas front and center while still handling a whirlwind of demands? Just as importantly, how do they identify where those pressures are coming from in order to protect their teams from the dangers of disengagement and burnout?
To answer these questions, CPM invited three tech directors from ministries around the country to discuss the lessons they’ve learned through years of Christmas production experience.
Andrew Hunt is the technical director for Blue Ridge Community Church in Lynchburg, Va., and has been in the role since 2005. Justin Firesheets serves as production director at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Ala., and has held the position for the past 11 years. Steven Cobb serves as production and technical director at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, a role he’s been in since 2016.
CPM: What are the best aspects of the Christmas ministry season?
Hunt: My favorite thing about the Christmas season is that it can break up the ‘business as usual’ approach, which I’ve learned is good for our team. It’s also a time when people who don’t normally go to church start coming, and that’s always exciting for us, as our mission is to support the Gospel.
Firesheets: For us, Christmas services tend to be the front door for a lot of people getting familiar with Highlands for the first time. Christmas services serve as a hook, and those experiences are what get them to come back later. They serve as an evangelistic tool, helping people get connected [to] a church where ultimately their lives can be changed.
CPM: Talk about the unique stresses of leading tech ministries at Christmastime.
Firesheets: For many people, Christmas is synonymous with stress. There’s planning, there’s rehearsal, there are differences of opinion, and you can’t really enjoy the season with your family because you’re putting in so many extra hours at work. Sometimes you don’t even see daylight during the Christmas season. The sheer weight of everything that has to be done can be exhausting.
Cobb: I think the stresses come from expectations that are placed on us. Churches do look at Christmas and Easter as a time to put their best foot forward. But if we’re honest, a lot of it is stress we put on ourselves. There’s always stress in ministry, but I think a lot of that stress can come from not putting in family time or not putting in healthy boundaries. It’s disappointing when people look at Christmas as a stressful time—it shouldn't be that way.
CPM: What’s the worst Christmas worship stress you’ve ever experienced?
Cobb: Three years ago we were just finishing construction on a new building, and the first services in that space [were] Christmas Eve worship. I remember what it felt like watching the entire audio system going down in the middle of the service. That was probably the worst experience, and it was one that could have benefited from better boundaries early on.Hunt: I remember one Christmas, about 12 years or so ago, that almost the entire band was going to be out of town for Christmas Eve. So we decided to pre-record all of the music, then burn everything to a DVD. The plan was to just cue the DVD tracks in time as the service went along. Things were going ok until we got to the big song right before the pastor’s message, and the DVD just stopped. The soloist was just standing there on stage with no music. I remember running up from the floor to the booth, and the poor vocalist is still standing there, totally frozen. Eventually we had to kill the whole thing and bring the lights down. It was the most embarrassing thing ever.
“My favorite thing about the Christmas seasonis that it can break up the ‘business as usual’approach, which I’ve learned is good for our team.” Andrew Hunt, Technical Director, Blue Ridge Community Church, Lynchburg, VA
CPM: So what have you learned about how to keep yourself balanced and centered during the busy holiday season?
Firesheets: I think the first thing I’ve learned is that I have to be really intentional with my time, setting clear boundaries between when I’m at work and when I’m at home with my family. That means setting very clear expectations with my family about when I’m going to be available to go looking at Christmas lights, wrap presents for the kids, and just things like that. If I don’t do that ahead of time, I can just stay busy and miss making those memories with my family.Hunt: It’s important to be intentional, especially when everything is crazy, to remember that the craziness doesn’t have to affect you negatively. After going through a season of panic attacks I began learning to pray and meditate my way through the Lord’s prayer, just one phrase at a time. Going through that process of submitting yourself to God has really helped.
CPM: What can wise production directors do to help keep their staff and volunteer teams focused on the joyful aspects of the Christmas season?
Hunt: I think it starts by modeling that joyfulness first—if I’m not joyful I can’t expect other people to be. So I have to ask myself, ‘Am I spiritually prepared?’ It’s also important to identify trigger points for different members of our team. For some people it’s difficult to work through last-minute changes, so that might mean adjusting assignments to set individual members up for success. It’s all about asking how I can serve people and really set them up for success.
Cobb: I’ve learned that to keep people in a healthy space you want to create traditions and healthy expectations for your volunteers. For us that means creating ways to have fun and expect positivity. It’s making sure you’re sending handwritten notes and honoring people who go above and beyond with a gift card. It means having a devotional every week. The more volunteers are in a health emotional and spiritual state, the better they can handle the stresses of the season.
Firesheets: The biggest thing is to stay as flexible as possible leading up to Christmas. So if someone needs a non-critical day off leading up to Christmas and we can make it happen, being able to make that happen is a big deal. If there are things to take care of that can wait until after Christmas, that’s a big deal, too. We have to stay focused on the main priorities, one of which should be keeping everybody healthy.
CPM: Moving into the coming Christmas season, what are the steps you’re taking to keep that balance front and center?
Cobb: We’re definitely not about trying to top last year’s Christmas worship. Instead, we’re trying to create some staff traditions like decorating the volunteer room, putting up Christmas tress and presents, and making it feel more like home. We’re also doing a volunteer potluck just to keep things more focused on the relationships and less on the program.
Firesheets: For us, it’s about having realistic conversations with leaders about what we can do, and what we can’t—letting them know the costs and helping everyone understand what something really takes. You always want to be open to creative ideas, but you need to be realistic about expectations, as well. People are willing to put in long hours if they know how important something is and how crucial they are to making it possible, but if they don’t know why something’s important, they can start to feel burned out because they don’t understand the ‘why.’
Hunt: We’ve started evaluating the Christmas events we support through the lens of missional effectiveness. There are lots of ways to carry out that mission without always needing to go big on the production side. For us, we’ve made an effort to simplify Christmas. We don’t necessarily do it bigger. Our film team is actually a super-strong part of our arts ministry, so this year we’re letting them carry a lot of that weight during the Christmas season. Ultimately, if you plan well, know when to say no and set up boundaries, we’ve learned that things will be a whole lot better.
