Church tech teams are made up of two sides of the same human coin: 1.) technical creators/operators and 2.) just plain people. And while the job of a church techie may be ultimately to help communicate God’s message to attendees, too many times you tell us that interacting with other people, one on one, isn’t necessarily your forte.
So, here you are—part man (or woman) and part machine … almost. At least, an extension of the technical gear that makes church services light up, project, amplify and generally immerse and move people into a stronger connection with their Creator.
Yet there’s another side to techs—to volunteers who “hide” in the sound booth, at FOH, and behind the video cameras each week. There’s the human side of the coin.Perhaps the techie working alongside you is suffering. It could be marriage or other family relationship issues, addiction of some sort, physical health issues, mental health issues, or a slew of other very human challenges. It’s here that the tech type is called to do something other than push the fader, white balance the camera, or get the audio levels just right. Do you know what to do, and do you know what to look for to see if God is asking more from you than your technical skills?
The opportunity right under your nose
Alex Schwindt, film team director at Hope Community Church in Raleigh, N.C., and regular contributor to Church Production Magazine, has had personal experience with serving the human side of the church tech team member.
“Here at Hope Community Church serving is just as much about who we’re becoming as it is about what we’re accomplishing,” Schwindt says. “For instance, there was a season where one of our volunteers was going through a painful divorce. It was so humbling and moving to see the tech team leadership and volunteers rally around him, supporting him with prayer and emotional support through the entire experience.
”Schwindt is quick to note that while the group could be there for their comrade and team member, they had to let God get in and do the real work. “We knew it was our job to love him where he was, rather than to just try to ‘fix’ his situation.”
Sharing hope and love
As individuals and tech team members, we not only have the loving strength of the tech team to rely on when things are tough—whether for others or for ourselves—we have our own personal experiences as teachers. For our fellow team members, these experiences can be comforters too, helping them realize they’re not alone. And helping to bring God right in front of them in the form of the love of another person.Rick Warren has famously said, “Your greatest ministry will most likely come out of your greatest hurt.”
Perhaps your personal communication skills are stronger than you first suspected. From all the hours on your tech team, you have learned to listen—maybe better than anyone else. You have learned to speak—clearly, directly, and only when needed. And you have learned to follow direction, lead when appropriate, and accept input. It’s likely that, in the hands of God, all of this has made you a person uniquely capable of supporting your fellow techie.
Carol Badaracco Padgett is editor of Church Designer magazine and senior associate editor of Church Production Magazine. She can be reached at cpadgett@pmipub.com.
