One of the things that I love about doing church tech is the ability to build strong and meaningful bonds with those with whom I serve and with those that I serve. It's awesome to have been given a passion for technology and to put that passion to use it in meaningful ways with people who are able to impact our own lives and the lives of others. Most all of us can point to the benefits of our ministry and how it is personally enriching to us. That enrichment, however, is a two-way street and I fear that many of us don't get a clear picture of how we enrich those around us.
The very nature of church technical production is one where, in the craziness of serving others ‘behind the scenes', we don't always understand the impact of our service. We understand our technical world, and we can point to how we affect a service, but, can we point to the broader effectiveness of our service? The kind of feedback that informs us of our influence can be hard to come by.
When I mentioned this writing assignment to Creative Arts Pastor, Dave Hawley, from my home church, Seneca Creek Community Church in Gaithersburg, MD, he immediately expressed an interest in contributing. The more we discussed it, the more I thought it important to give you a pastor's perspective on how we as a technical community affect those around us and just what our importance is.
Day in and day out we normally think in terms of building, maintaining, and using church technology to help facilitate the church's ability to reach people. I have often said to our team that we work at the intersection of technology and emotion to provide environments that are conducive for encountering the Holy Spirit and each other. Hawley agrees. The following text is a note from Pastor Dave on how creative arts pastors and worship directors view your service:
As a Creative Arts Pastor, I love serving with amazing people, like you, who are passionate about audio, video, and lighting production. Your commitment to designing environments, developing teams, and deploying solutions that empower entire communities to connect, worship and grow together is impressive. You are worth celebrating.
Unfortunately, there is a good chance that the majority of people outside of the tech community don't have a clear concept of what it is that you actually do. Much of your work goes unseen and unmentioned and as a result, most people are not equipped to thank you in a meaningful way.
As a Creative Arts Pastor, you need to hear this from me and those like me:
“You are a gift from God to your community, and I'm thankful for you.”
(That's right. Go ahead. Read that sentence again…out loud! Now repeat it.)
Here's my short list that celebrates who you are and what you do:
1. You empower others to see, hear, and speak
On a Sunday morning, you are the first to arrive and the last to leave. Why? Because your mission is to support a large team of musicians and presenters so that they are clearly heard, seen and understood. Without you, the planned gathering experience falls flat. Without you, the entire community struggles to engage.
I continually get to witness our AVL team climbing ladders, replacing lamps, changing batteries, making edits to presentation software, focusing cameras, adjusting staging, and huddling together like a football team to celebrate successes and discuss improvements.
Recently, during a Sunday gathering, we had a power loss. As a result, we held the service without the support our AVL Team. Rather than having the celebratory and energetic experience that was planned, our meeting was quiet, subdued, and in the dark. Musicians and presenters strained their voices in efforts to be heard. The keyboardist, bassist and electric guitarist were unable to participate. Additionally, the congregation found it difficult to engage without song lyrics and message notes presented on a screen and without sufficient house lighting to allow them to read.
This experience was a fresh reminder to all of us just how important your ministry is.
2. You heal what's broken
Several months ago, I called our audio director late on a Saturday night to let him know that our digital audio console had smoke pouring out of it. Putting on his Superman cape, he drove to the church and sacrificially dedicated the rest of his evening to uninstall the broken console and re-install a backup console so that our Sunday gathering could move forward unhindered.
Our video director, who resourcefully assembled our first video production system with no budget --- an old donated switcher, and security cameras --- regularly uses his engineering skills to repair equipment when it fails. He continuously uses those skills to save our community large amounts of money and downtime. He moves the ministry forward by healing broken gear and making it useful again.
Recently, during a communion service, communion juice was inadvertently spilled into our high-end keyboard rendering the instrument unusable. One of our audio team members took the keyboard home, removed eighty-some small screws from the outer casing, disassembled all of the keys, and removed all traces of the sticky juice from the inside. After re-assembly, the keyboard was fully restored. He used his gifts to heal what was broken.
3. You foster unity
What I appreciate the most about our church is the friendships that exist between the AVL Team, the Worship Team, and the staff. The relational unity that is fostered is priceless and speaks volumes.
When you are at your best, you have the ability to encourage others when they can't see the fruit of their labor. You can provide honest, heart-felt feedback celebrating what is working well while also having the ability of sharing suggestions for improvement. You can take the creativity of others to another level of execution when you contribute your own experience, creativity and skill into the mix.
You become inspirational to the people around you when they see you investing in your own technical development. You instill confidence when you have your teammates' back. You inspire and lead when you train and equip others in your craft so that they can develop their gifts. And, you model humility when you joyfully serve from behind the scenes without applause.
To all you unsung heroes, let me say it again:
“You are a gift from God to your community, and I'm thankful for you.”
Pastor Hawley's thoughts are refreshing and inspiring, especially to tech team members who don't always get insight into how they personally impact others.
What is telling here is that Pastor Dave (and I believe others in similar positions) identify the most appreciated aspect of our service as not being the technical prowess that we provide, but the relational aspects that we bring. Every time you serve, you inspire people, you give them confidence, you coach them, and you model humility for them. This is not generally the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of a technical individual. But God created us to be relational beings, to help each other, to build one another up, to grow together, and to worship together. As such, it is appropriate to think that we are just as qualified to impact people individually as we are corporately.
If it has been a while since you have heard it, let us finish by saying that it doesn't matter what your skill level is, it doesn't matter how often you serve, it doesn't matter what the size of your church or your budget is. Your service inspires and affects others around you and the importance of what you do is tremendous. Take time to invest in the relationships around you, engage with your leadership, understand the impact that your team has on the ministry, and continue to push yourself and others to grow. Many more people than you realize are thankful for it.
