What would be the ideal weekend in your church's tech production? From my perspective, an ideal weekend is when every lighting cue is on time, every piece of equipment works flawlessly all weekend, every tech operator is mistake-free, and the whole weekend looks and sounds the best it's ever been.
To everyone else (staff and congregation), that is what's supposed to happen every weekend. That's supposed to be normal, not the ideal. The technical production is expected to bat .1000 every Sunday. We should be hitting 10 out of 10 free throws each weekend—and we should never be seen or noticed during that time.
Technical roles are so foreign to others. We are the stealth, undercover, not-supposed-to-be-seen ministry that comes in early and leaves late.
Let's face it: the only time we are recognized is when something goes wrong. If the pastor starts talking but his mic is not working, the entire congregation turns and looks back at the sound booth (that's when you slowly lower yourself behind the sound console).
Unfortunately, it's the job we signed up for—high pressure and stress in the moment and no encouragement or positive acknowledgement when it's done.
Part of my personality is that I don't like the attention anyway. I'm not big on public acknowledgement, ticker tape parades, guy on the podium acccepting the trophy—it's just not me. That doesn't mean I don't like an occasional “good job” or a “thank you,” but what I've come to realize in my years of doing tech production is that if that's what you need, then you signed up for the wrong ministry. Technical roles are so foreign to others. People can see what a worship leader, musician, or even a facilities person does. But when you say, “I'm in technical production,” people usually have a blank stare. My wife even has a hard time explaining what I do to family and friends. We are the stealth, undercover, not-supposed-to-be-seen ministry that comes in early and leaves late. What we do during that time is unbeknownst to a regular person.
So the risk is high for little reward, but what I have to remind myself each weekend is that we need to strive to be the best with what we have and who we have, and that we are humble servants behind the scenes making others look and sound good. Heaven is our reward (and for some—our paycheck).
