More than ever, I have a huge heart for church production teams. Every week, I receive emails from our readers with questions not about the technical side of this ministry, but on topics such as building teams, inspiring change, and avoiding burnout.
It’s almost like the technology is secondary compared to the ongoing personal and relational struggles that come with church production. I’ve observed this is my own ministry, as well. Only about 20% of my time is spent on equipment. The rest is focused on making myself better, building relationships, and keeping our team ready for Sunday.
With all of this in mind, I’ve come up with eight essential tips that work to support these areas. While you won’t find tips here that directly improve your actual production, if you put these into practice, I can guarantee that you will get better every week. In fact, I would be willing to bet that you’ll even walk away feeling more whole and satisfied after each service.
1. Set Yourself Up For A Win
Show up earlier than everyone else. Give yourself enough time to have your area prepared and ready to go before your worship team takes the stage. This will give you the opportunity to work out any glitches and still have time to make improvements.
2. Know Your Environment
Every room is different and comes with unique pros and cons. The key is to use the tools available to you as best as you can to make that room engaging for people. Know your limitations and continually test them.
3. Be Confident In Your Setlist
Whether you’re running sound, lyrics, or lighting, it’s vital that you know the songs that your worship team is singing in service. You’ll have the confidence to act faster when you know what’s coming next. I’ve noticed that this significantly cuts down on stress, as well.
4. Don’t Miss The Big Things Due To Little Things
It’s easy to become so preoccupied with fixing one element (changing lyric fonts, adjusting LED color, enhancing the tone of one microphone) that you neglect making the whole system work together. Focus on the big picture, because it’s likely that most people won’t even notice that tiny detail.
5. Look Up Often
Don’t bury your head in your computer or console. Look up at your audience, gauge their response, and respond accordingly. Don’t become so focused on your particular area that you miss what God is doing around you. Be aware of what’s happening with your team members working alongside you, as well.
6. Do What’s Right For Your Congregation
Industry standards won’t always work for your church family. You may have to make your lyrics slightly larger or reduce your volume, for example. Just because something works in other churches doesn’t mean it will work for you.
7. Step Out of the Booth (and Your Comfort Zone)
Production Team members are often characterized as introverts, but it’s so important to connect with other people in church! Build relationships and trust with your team and leaders. Chat with the musicians and singers before service begins. We’re all better together.
8. Approach Services Prayerfully
Want to know how to give your production team an edge? Pray. Ask God to use you in the service to do more than project lyrics, run sound, or operate lights. Pray that He’ll help you to create a distraction-free environment of life-change.
Do you have any other essentials that you would add to the list?
5 is HUGE for sound guys.
I make it a habit to try to make eye contact with every musician and singer during every song. It keeps the channels of non-verbal communication open with the entire worship team, making it easy to ‘talk’ in the middle or between songs. :)
I’m with ya, Eric! That’s such a big help!
I agree! one thing i have started doing to help is dim the less and little lites on my consoles. it encourages me to look up at whats happening and use my ears rather then tweaking all the time.
Would love to see a print button so I can print article from I pad
We’ll look into it, Woody!