Make Your Work an
Expression of Worship

One of the biggest problems churches and ministries have is the management of their volunteers. God showed me a couple of years ago that for many years I was wrong. A typical Sunday morning for me as technical manager at church was to struggle to get everything set up before worship, sometimes by myself. What volunteers did exist would wander in late or with a bad attitude. I was so stressed and overworked that I had not really worshipped in years. In a new church situation for me, the philosophy was that "people would come before the ministry." If the ministry could not be done with excellence, we wouldn't do it at all. With that in mind, the church staff and I sat down, studied the people of our church and looked for those that were not actively involved in a ministry. Our list included thirty people that our staff prayed about and felt lead to ask. Each one received a letter and a request to pray for two weeks about the ministry opportunity. At first, I felt this could not work without people that had training or technical knowledge. As far as I knew, no one on the list had ever worked or had a desire to work in technical ministries. After two weeks, all thirty responded to the call to participate in technical ministries. An explanation of the ministry, our desire that they never work more than one Sunday a month and a requirement to participate in the discipleship ministries of the church were stated as the "rules." At that point, we asked each person which area they wished to participate in. Our teams include video, audio recording, lighting, house audio and graphics.

A week later, some of this group attended Inspiration in Dallas, and from that event, our team leaders for each of the areas found their call. Our people quickly caught the importance of their ministry to the lost. As technical manager, I suddenly found myself in a new role. I wasn't begging for help every Sunday morning anymore and I didn't even have to fill an open slot. My job was to instill the vision in our people. The condition in the hearts of my volunteers became my priority. The banner I now carried was that everything we did needed to be done as an expression of worship. That was my new focus! No, the problem camera or the bad channel on the mixer didn't go away, but our attitude had changed. If one of our volunteers fell from God, there was a team of people to help pick him back up. Ministry became our priority.

As for the day to day operations of a technical ministry, planning is a key element that I know many see as a luxury. A neighboring church tech manager tells me of the horror of not knowing until 5 minutes before the service what is going to happen. Video roll-in mistakes and graphic mishaps are a regular occurrence. It is sad that the pastor spent over 12 hours preparing the sermon and only 5 minutes was spent preparing video, lighting, sound and graphics. With the advance of electronics and use of technology, the use of a daily checklist before services and a production is very valuable. When a pilot steps in to the cockpit of an airplane, it is mandatory that the same systems check takes place every time, not just every other time or once a month. Although it is obvious that lives depend on the pilot checking the list, the very same life may not make Heaven because we didn't check our list. If we had, we would have found the misplaced knob that kept that person from hearing or seeing the Message. Develop a systems checklist that can be performed every time the power is turned on! Don't take it for granted that nothing has changed since the last production or service. Hold a production meeting so everyone knows what and when things will happen. Don't get me wrong on this, I'm not putting God in a box and saying the order of service must be followed line by line, but what I am saying is that planning makes the difference. Schedule a meeting before any rehearsals or warm ups take place for your Sunday service. Meet with every team leader, sound, video, drama, graphics, and lighting director, worship leader and pastor. Much grief and misunderstanding can be avoided by taking 15 minutes! Go over the rundown for the morning. Have the people involved point out possible "surprises." This gets everyone on the same page.

Next, pray together. This is a good time to "clean one's house" and prepare to use their talents as an expression of worship. Just because you're running the camera or directing drama, that's no excuse to detach yourself from the worship experience. Worship through your work! If you do not have a monthly meeting with your pastor to find out what he is planning for the upcoming weeks, I would suggest it. Take your pastor out to lunch, let him know that notice in advance of video roll-ins, special graphics and sets will help you all. A monthly or quarterly meeting with the entire production team is a great team builder. Review tapes and ask for ideas on improving productions. Share upcoming sermon topics and special events. Encourage team get-togethers and lunches.

Publish personnel schedules weeks in advance. This will help prevent having to look for help on the Saturday night before the service. Advance planning and input will build ownership in the ministry for your volunteers. Although planning and organization are important to building the team, training can give the volunteer the confidence to reach a new level. Host training times for each team. Invite technical volunteers to drama and music rehearsals and encourage them to use the technical gear during their rehearsals. Direct the technical crew to watch and practice during warm-up time of the band and singers. For workshops or quarterly meetings, bring in someone from the outside. Although that person may push the same idea you have been pushing for weeks, it may take an outsider to get the message across. Remember that whether you volunteer on a church tech crew or you're the manager of a Christian television station, you're responsible for building successful lives through artistic and technical excellence. Make your work an expression of worship!
 

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While working for International Broadcasting Network, Lee Miller managed 10 television stations with over 140 volunteers in Texas. He attends Harmony Hill Baptist Church in Lufkin Texas and serves on the National Religious Broadcasters' Television & Visual Communications Committee. Miller is also a consultant in contemporary church worship and technical ministries.