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Even though it can sometimes be difficult, putting others first transforms the spirit of church teamwork.
I’ve been leading church production teams for well over a decade now, and I’ve watched something happen to more than a few production techs over those years—the onset of an isolating attitude that’s easy to give into. I want to save you from their fate.
Production people are passionate about their skillset, and rightly so. We love to know everything we can about video, audio, and lighting, and we know when we’re right about something. Maybe it’s the room volume, a way to set up a mobile PA system, or how the coloring on a camera should look.
Avoid the isolation trap by holding your opinions loosely.
Those are important things to know, things we should know, but what I see happen is that senior leadership will ask a production leader, tech, or volunteer to do something that isn’t “right,” as they see it. The production person gives some pushback, and the leader pushes back, and then I’ve watched it escalate into full-scale conflict. The senior leader has to pull rank, the production person is offended, and the relationship starts to deteriorate, often ending with the production person leaving the church, offended that their advice wasn’t heeded.
Here’s the thing, though—
We’re here to make things go smoothly, not be right.
For instance, there’s been plenty of times during our services when our lead pastor has asked me directly to turn the volume down, change an LED wall graphic, or otherwise change something that I had so dutifully prepared ahead of time.
Every time, I did nothing objectively wrong. In fact, I was right. That LED graphic looked sick and matched the feel of the song, and the volume was perfect for keeping the room feel “alive.”
But at the end of the day, the final call isn’t mine. I make as many judgment calls as I am able, but I can be trumped at any time by my superiors. What is my responsibility is to make sure that AVL systems and components run smoothly and that volunteers know what they’re doing.
The Lord honors work done with a servant’s spirit.
I could be offended and argue about why my idea is better, but to what end?
If the gospel is being preached and the wheels didn’t come off during service, then I did my job. Without a doubt, I want everything to be as excellent as possible, but excellence is subjective, and my opinion about excellence is subject to the opinion of the people who are called to the lead the church. I simply here to serve them.
Production leaders are servants first, and if we stay in that servant mindset, our hearts will stay humble, we can hold our opinions loosely, and the Lord will honor our work.
Let’s remain humble servants, friends.
