Photo by Carley & Matt on Unsplash
Like any good production director worth their salt, I love good gear. I’ve written more than a few gear lists and breakdowns for this very website, and I’m always excited to learn about the next thing that’s coming out. As production leaders, we should obviously love good gear because we need good gear to do our jobs well.
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. - Matthew 18:20 ESV
But good gear doesn’t always mean good production, especially when it comes to church production.
At a practical level, you can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on cutting-edge gear, but if you don’t have the right operators, your production will look bad and sound bad. But that’s not what I’m getting at. I’m trying to get at the heart behind your production.
Ask yourself a question—just what exactly are you trying to accomplish during a service or event?
At the risk of sounding a little elitist, the only answer to that question should be “to connect people to Jesus.”
We’re not like a secular production, trying to create an “experience” or impress people with epic light shows and pumped-up LED wall videos. We are simply a lens bringing Jesus into focus, and anything beyond that mentality starts to smell like pride.
By all means, be creative. God made you to be creative, and your creativity can glorify him, but—especially during a church service—we are hosting something Holy. We host the presence of Jesus in his gathered body, and all of our creative effort must be unto the hosting of that Presence.
It is the presence of Jesus that makes a difference, and we can host that Presence without much fuss. The Lord fed thousands with a small lunch; imagine what he can do with budget cameras, an old audio console, and even just a few volunteers. The Lord loves a heart of faith, and he calls it good. Gear has little to do with it.
May we stay faithful to His Presence with hearts of faith, hearts set on Jesus as opposed to the next cool, new thing.
