Tick, tick, tick ... kaboom! Sometimes that's what it feels like as the seconds tick away before we open the doors to the auditorium at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon for our first service.
I look forward to seeing people come flowing through the doors when they open and I love the sense of anticipation I feel as the room fills up. It's what we've prepared for all week. To help people connect with God and with each other, and then to leave renewed, refreshed and energized by what they've experienced.
So why the “kaboom” feeling? Let's back up a few days....
Tuesday night we had rehearsal with the team and everything was fine. Between then and Saturday afternoon something bad happened. No. Actually, many good things! Five hundred middle schoolers had an event on Wednesday night, a graduation on Thursday night and a singles' worship event on Friday night. So the stage has been reconfigured three times and things weren't quite the way we had left them. The tech team has already been here for two hours and we were almost ready to go when a thunderstorm rolled through. (Why are they always on Saturday afternoons?) We took a power hit and the whole system went down and had to be re-booted. Add to that a few changes to the flow, a video was added during the message, and a song was added to close out the service. The problem is that all of these things take time. Time we didn't plan for, and the clock was ticking.
"Over a thousand people were about to walk through the doors and we were behind those doors—wondering if we were even going to be able to play at all."
Over a thousand people were about to walk through the doors and we were behind those doors—wondering if we were even going to be able to play at all, and if we did, what would it look and sound like? And that's usually when the stress level starts to rise.
So what do you do at the point when you know time is getting tight and things are not going the way you've planned? Well, some of the three tips below are probably obvious, but sometimes we simply lose focus of the “big picture” and let our emotions run the rehearsal—and we forget to keep these tenets front of mind.
1. Stop and pray.
If you know that in 20 minutes you're not going to be ready, gather your team, stop what you are doing, and pray. It will remind you of why you are there and Who you are ultimately preparing to please.
2. Remember, you're not alone.
It takes the whole team to make the service happen. Foster personal relationships with the individuals you serve with. Spend time together on a regular basis. We like to go out after worship team rehearsal to hang out in a setting outside of rehearsal. You're less likely to blow up at someone you have a relationship with because they are your friend, not just “a volunteer” or staff person. And if you do say something inappropriate (I know I do), apologize right away. Relationships are too important to be treated lightly.
3. Plan ahead.
Decide in advance who makes the call to cut a song or a video—or even to go to acoustic if things just aren't happening.
Consider this: God knows what's happening. He will still move. But in the moment, sometimes we forget that. We have had some of our best times of worship when the power went out and I grabbed an acoustic guitar and just led the congregation in a few familiar worship songs. All God wants are humble servants seeking Him in Spirit and in truth.
I like the way Paul put it: “Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
