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“…and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.” - Exodus 35:23
Church Production is an art form, but in a mechanical kind of way, not how musicianship, painting, or writing is an art form. Production has a lot of buttons, cables, switches, and just good, ol’ fashioned math to it. Other art forms have a lot of feelings, but production is very tangible. It’s different, more grounded.
And that can make it tough to remember that what we do every week is worship. Framing a shot, nailing focus, scooping an EQ, routing inside of Dante, hitting a perfect lighting transition—it’s all worship. It’s not as touchy-feely as what’s happening on stage, but it's worship nonetheless. It is our offering, and it honors the Lord; he sees it, and it makes him happy.
Bring that mindset to any service. I’ll be honest—that's been hard for me, lately.
I’m busy. I have four kids (ages 3 to 14), my freelancing work, and I’m also trying to start a new business from scratch. I want to remain excellent in all I do, so I’m concerned about follow-through as opposed to making sure I’m worshipping well. I want to worship well. I need to be better about it.
Our worship creates worship. We set the atmosphere for people to connect with the living God. In a way, we are the gatekeepers to his presence. Not that we have to be perfect every time, but if we’re having a hard time worshipping, the people around us will be affected.
Worship is an attitude of the heart, so understand that I’m not saying we should be weird about it; we just have to bring our hearts each week with a meaningful lifting, not unlike the boy who brought his fishes and loaves to Jesus. He is fine with our small offerings, so long as we bring them. He knows we’re human and inconsistent, and he loves the offerings all the same.
Our business is a lot of knobs, switches, buttons, and settings, but it is worship all the same. The Lord put these gifts in you and he delights in them, and it brings him joy to see you use them. So use them, give them back as a thank offering, a praise offering, as worship.
Your heart of worship will help set the heart of the church to worship.
