Church technical leaders have a common temptation during this time of year. It’s the temptation to allow the collision of our job/ministry, family, and personal life to get the best of us. I call it the “Christmas Meltdown.” The meltdown happens when high stress, high expectations, low tolerance for mistakes, short timeframes, sleep deprivation, poor diet, and family responsibilities all converge to cause something that ends up being an emotional outburst of pent-up rage and frustration that fractures relationships and can even “ruin Christmas.”
Over my years in media and technical ministry, I’ve allowed myself to experience the “Christmas Meltdown” more often than I care to admit. I allowed circumstances to control me instead of controlling my response to those circumstances. Through bad experiences and good experiences, I’ve learned I can avoid the “Christmas Meltdown.” I pray that you’ll avoid the Christmas Meltdown this year by practicing what I’ve learned by staying calm, cool and collected.
“Cast your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” Then, look for and expect God to grant you calmness for the moment and the day ahead.
Be Calm
The first step in avoiding the “Christmas Meltdown” is to be calm. Christmas services, concerts, parties, family gatherings, and many more things cause stress and anxiety for many media ministry personnel. High and even unrealistic expectations, whether real or perceived, are a significant stressor. Despite these outside forces, you can still control your response and reaction. So, choose to be calm.
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Ask the Lord to help you during this busy season. Ask Him to help you as you plan and serve. Read and meditate on Bible verses like Philippians 4:4-9 or 1 Peter 5:6-10. During the day, when you feel stressors affecting you, take deep breaths and meditate on a phrase from the passages above, like “Cast your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”
Being calm means taking the time every day to prepare and dedicate your heart and mind to the Lord. Spend time in earnest prayer. Ask the Lord to help you during this busy season. Ask Him to help you as you plan and serve. Read and meditate on Bible verses like Philippians 4:4-9 or 1 Peter 5:6-10. During the day, when you feel stressors affecting you, take deep breaths and meditate on a phrase from the passages above, like “Cast your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” Then, look for and expect God to grant you calmness for the moment and the day ahead. Finally, make sure you pray for your pastor and church leaders. They are feeling stressed, just like you. Pray that God will help them as He’s helping you.
Pastors and church leaders can cause church techs to get angry because of unrealistic expectations, whether real or perceived. Be cool and level-headed in your interactions with them. Don’t allow emotions and stress to control you.
Keep Your Cool
The next step in avoiding the “Christmas Meltdown” is to be cool. Pastors and church leaders can cause church techs to get angry because of unrealistic expectations, whether real or perceived. But you can control your response to those expectations. Be cool and level-headed in your interactions with them. Don’t allow emotions and stress to control you. Praying before arriving at a meeting is a great way to be cool and level-headed. Be respectful in communication. Listen for what a leader is valuing first, then the methodology second. Then, if the methodology they choose isn’t feasible, you can communicate another method that accomplishes the value. Don’t be afraid to respectfully tell a ministry leader what you can and cannot do with the available time and resources.
Stay Collected
The final step in avoiding the “Christmas Meltdown” is to be collected. Being collected means that you’re not only calm and cool under pressure but that you also have the right attitude and mindset. This means having the mindset of Christ (Philippians 2:1-11) by being a servant leader. So, serve with excellence during adversity.
Does this mean that you allow someone to take advantage of you? No, but you can respond in a collected manner if a ministry leader is unreasonable in their expectations. You can communicate respectively. You can be solution-oriented instead of just quickly saying “no.” You can choose to serve the Lord first and foremost and depend on Him to get through the Christmas season during these difficult circumstances. Then, after the Christmas season, take time to pray and evaluate if the Lord might be moving you to another place of service within the church or another church based on this trying experience.
The “Christmas Meltdown” can be avoided by being calm, cool and collected. My prayer for you this Christmas season is that you’ll take the time daily with Bible reading, prayer, and faith in the Lord to take care of you as you tell the world the Good News it desperately needs to hear and accept.
