Building bridges and standing strong in church production
In Washington DC, we have a few bridges that get you in and out of the western side of the city. The speed limits are relatively low even though they’re on a highway but people never do the speed limit. It gets even worse during rush hour when everyone packs on there. Everyone wants to get to where they are going. Think about the forces exerted on it from gravity, weight and temperature among many other factors. The average person doesn’t think about the weight, but the architects and maintenance workers sure do! It’s all held together by forces we cannot see, but ultimately, we feel the effects.
What we do in production is a ministry of building bridges. We build bridges between our pastors, worship leaders, the worshippers, and ultimately to God. That’s an incredible responsibility! When we’re mixing, firing lyrics or lighting cues not only are we worshipping as we serve but the worship of everyone else is depending on us doing our ministry well so that there are no distractions.
The message is flowing through us. There is so much mystery in just that. It should convict us about our purity before God and prompt us to take care of thoughts or feelings that may not be honoring to Him. I hope you understand the gravity of that statement…but I hope you see the great honor that we have in getting promote and communicate the message of Jesus Christ through what we do. That’s the beauty of the bridges we build.
For anyone who has served or worked in church production, you know the feeling of being pulled a million different ways at the same time. The worship leader decides to change the order of some songs and add a few slides that weren’t in there before
. He doesn’t feel like it’s a big deal because it’s only a few slides. The pastor wants to add an extra sermon illustration and swap a video around and maybe add an extra graphic or scripture slide. He doesn’t feel like it’s a big deal cause it’s only a few things here and there and they have the bulk of the material already…it’s not much to add in right? Meanwhile, you’re still having a minor issue with an acoustic guitar that is buzzing and he’s getting a little frustrated because you aren’t making it happen quite as quickly as he would like. After all, it’s just a few cables! Any of these issues independently are not too big of a deal to fix. But, all of them happening at the same time will typically stress out most church volunteers or even some staff members for that matter. I’m all about making it happen and like anyone else who does production they will probably do all they can to make things happen week in a week out. But when there are issues like this, stress and tensions can run high and people are people and sometimes they just react in ways they shouldn’t. It doesn’t make it right though.
In my experience, part of being a bridge, involves getting walked on. Sunday morning can get stressful…tensions can run high and it can get difficult to push forward and carry the weight of what is going on. Maybe the problem you’re dealing with isn’t your fault or you are simply struggling with the weight you’re carrying.
Maybe Satan has knocked you down earlier in the week and you’re afraid that you aren’t strong enough or good enough to do the work of God. And actually, that’s true. You aren’t strong enough or good enough on your own. That’s why we need Jesus
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