Whether you are a volunteer in a church of fifty members, or you are a full-time staffer in a church of five thousand, we all have the same issue: we “need” more money. While there is a propensity for some churches (and tech directors) to go a little over board, the fact is that an ever-improving production requires on-going investment in equipment and people.
Here are a few words of advice for helping to get more money out of your pastor:
Do everything you can with what you have first.
The greatest success I have had in getting money from pastors is to show them a better result using whatever the church already has, and then (and only then) explain to them how much better it could be with certain upgrades. Get the most out of what you already have, then ask for more. Don't intentionally ruin your mix in order to manipulate more money out of your pastor. This is wrong and God doesn't honor it.
Pastors don't just want to know how it will work, they want to know how it will further the vision of the church.
Do your homework.
One of the greatest things to remember is that pastors need to know you are confident in your recommendation. They need to know that you are convinced that what you are asking for is going to make a significant difference --- that it's going to be worth it. So, make sure you know the gear you are asking for is what you really need. If you don't know what you need, then connect with a competent A/V company (preferably local) to make sure your ideas will work. It only takes one wrong buy to mess up your credibility with your pastor, so do your due diligence to make sure you are accurate in the gear, quality, and cost.
Connect it to the vision.
Pastors don't just want to know how it will work, they want to know how it will further the vision of the church. They want to know it is going to help make the service have more impact, and how it will help better communicate the message.
The reason why this step can often seem hard is because most tech people don't ask this question when they dream. If we are going to ask for money to expand our area of ministry then we ought to make sure what we want to do matches the pastor's vision for the church. Make sure that your expenditures are good investments for the church's vision.
Tell it how it could be.
Once you know that you are trying to further the vision, paint the vision for the pastor. Talk about what you will be able to accomplish with the proposed budget. If it is at all possible, show him some video of the lighting or video that you want. See if you can get a demo of the equipment you want the church to purchase for the ministry. Many senior pastors are visual learners, so show your leader.
If you do what you can and make improvements with the resources you already have, do your homework, align purchase with the mission of the church, and paint a visionary picture of what it could be, God will bless it. Even if your church doesn't have the funding to financially back your request at the moment you ask, God will honor your heart and bless you, as well as your ministry.
