Scripture tells us [1 Corinthians 12] that each and every one of us has a role to play in the body of Christ. Some are teachers, some are care-takers, some are prophets, and yet others are helpers.
Most of us tech types understand this intrinsically. We naturally fall into the role of technical ministry because of a desire to use our ‘nerdness' to help forward the Church's mission: the mission of reaching outside of itself and offering hope through Christ.
Volumes have been written related to the integration of AVL technology, social media, and communications into the everyday existence of society. On top of that there has been a lot written in efforts to understand how that impacts the church. We as a community have been forced to step up and integrate the same technology into our organizations to be effective in that context. Over time this integration has presented us tech types with a great opportunity to use our capabilities as a part of that body of Christ.
That same scripture also says that each of us is given a spiritual gift to benefit the body. That applies to us techs just as much as any other. Your gift might be the mix. Your gift might the ability to use light and color to create emotion. Your gift might be the ability to capture that emotion and convey it through media. Whatever it is, it was given you for the purposes of benefitting the body and the only way to do that is to give it back in service. The union of these two concepts is what drives most of us to get involved in our local church, to become technical leaders, and for some to go into full-time ministry.
However, let me ask you this question: Can you effectively give something that you don't own? We all have possession of the gifts that God has given us. But have we truly stepped up and taken ownership of them? I ask this question specifically as it relates to our service as technical leaders and contributors in the church. At some level of understanding we can use technology to achieve some goal. We know the ‘knobology ‘ of our gear. We know what our technical routine should be to make the service happen. We consider those to be our gifts. But is using our talents to do ‘X' and make the service happen really the whole intent? What if our gifts are supposed to be more than that? I don't believe that our gifts are simply a knowledge or skill to achieve something. I believe an oft-neglected aspect of our gifts is a God-given passion to use them, invest in them, and grow them. I think that as a group we need to do better.
In Matthew 15 Jesus gave us the parable of talents where He teaches on His expectations for us to use the resources that He gave us, to invest them, and grow them, and to do so for His benefit. How would we invest in our gifts without passion? I doubt that is even possible. Without passion what would be left to drive us to stretch and to learn? Many of us came to our involvement in church technology by applying that which we have learned outside of the church in our vocations or hobbies. That is a wonderful thing and in many ways it is those vocations or hobbies that have spurred us on to get involved in service. But does that represent a true passion to invest in our gifts for God?
What is interesting is that the wise servants in the parable invested their talents and furthered them for the benefit of the master who gave them the talents in the first place. They didn't share with their master the benefits of investment made for someone else. They grew their resources for him so that they were able to bestow the benefits back to him. Alternatively, the lazy servant didn't grow the talent at all. He merely gave it back without using it to its potential and without investing it. The master dealt with him pretty harshly.
I don't know about you but I don't want to be that guy.
A big question you might be asking is how do we as techs do this? Likely all of us know at least one musician that we can point to that oozes passion, someone who is constantly working at their gift, someone who always seems to be on an upward curve in their ability. They are generally very easy to spot as they carry their instrument everywhere they go and are constantly mumbling in chords.
I think that many times our belief is that because we can't walk around with a console, power pack, or some other piece of tech gear strapped to our back then we don't have a great way to build our skills during our ‘off' times. I hate to admit it but I was in that camp myself for quite a while. But that's backwards. Many world-renowned musicians have started with an old hand me down instrument that couldn't be tuned or even without the ‘proper' tools to do the job. In other words they started with passion. We need to as well. And like those musicians we don't necessarily need gear to do it. There are plenty of avenues available to us and they range from attending training or conferences to just sitting down and considering better ways to layout your console or change your shots.
Remember the servants that invested for their master in the parable? They brought the willingness and the desire. Their master provided the resources. Let us work on our drive and invest in our gifts and let God work on the resources. The master in the parable gave individually to the servants what they needed to succeed. I am pretty sure God will do the same for us, but only if we step up and own the gifts that He has given.
