Any technical leader who wishes to grow spiritually and thrive in their role has personal, very human hurdles to overcome. This is how Justin Manny, production pastor at The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina puts it: “Like most enneagram 3’s, I want to make a plan, stick to it, and take the credit. I mean, that’s the base level impulse, right? I would imagine most people in my position at churches around the country fall into that similar personality.”
“The biggest thing that I try to make sure volunteers understand about their mistakes is that it happens, and 30 seconds later, no one is thinking about it anymore.” - Justin Manny, Production Pastor, The Summit Church, Durham, NC.
This micromanagement mindset, though, can actually hold back a leader and keep a teams’ abilities at bay. “When you can give up the plan and be flexible, it allows others to shine,” Manny advises. “Listen to what the team is trying to accomplish. Be flexible when it’s different than the plan. And use the opportunity to grow in how your team works together and reaches people. It’s really mostly about having open hands with your service and [its] elements.”
Lose the illusion of perfection
In his day-to-day role leading production at multisite and multicultural Summit, Manny works to make sure his team’s quest for achieving the “best” technical worship service doesn’t overshadow its opportunity to let the Holy Spirit move. And he does this by striving to practice what he preaches.
"When you portray an attitude of being ‘the best,’ then your volunteers will have an intimidation factor,” Manny states. They’ll be tense and trying not to make a mistake.
So, the tech culture he encourages, as a leader, is one of staying loose and focused on worship. This attitude gives everyone some breathing room, which can have a tremendous impact on volunteers.
“The biggest thing that I try to make sure volunteers understand about their mistakes is that it happens, and 30 seconds later, no one is thinking about it anymore,” he states. “These mistakes that we harp on and feel horrible about, they don’t have the lasting effect that we think they have. We don’t want to create distraction, but our guilt at a mistake shouldn’t overshadow our worship.”
COVID, too, has likely increased every tech team’s drive for perfection, which is a trap that Manny is mindful to sidestep as a leader. ”There is always another chance to get it right, or get it wrong. And when our world was normal we had multiple chances every week. For me, I want my team to do the best that they can in the moment that they are in.”
Acknowledge the true Leader
Manny’s own head check looks something like this: “For me, it’s a matter of heart. We all know that we are broken and need a savior. So if your heart is in that posture, you know you need grace in your life, and so it’s much easier to pass that on to others.”
An especially important gift of insight that he suggests giving a tech team—one that’s vitally important to model for volunteers—is the acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty in every single worship service. As he puts it, “He has a lot more riding on the moments than I do. The pressure to reach people, to have them hear the Gospel, ultimately lies in His hands. And He is much more capable in those moments than I am. God has called us to do what we can, and He’s going to use those moments, perfect or not, to reach each individual right where they need to be reached.”
In closing, Manny reflects, ““We as a church have a performance every week, forever. Put the pressure on God and He always comes through.”
