The Church Tech Person

First, a little about myself. I am a tech guy, plain and simple. I am currently employed for a local school system in the IT Department. I also help run the Tech stuff at my church. Now that the introduction is out of the way, I can move on.

We all worship in different ways, whether it be through music, drama, speaking, or prayer. In any case, you will most likely run into some piece of technology to assist you in your worship experience. Your church needs a tech person(s) to keep things running smoothly and efficiently. Church Tech Guys (and Gals) are hard to come by. Volunteers often times don't have the skills necessary to lead, else they would be leaders and not volunteers. Professional technology people (like you), don't have time to give. But the senior pastor knows that you're “good with this kind of stuff,” and would like you to take a look at it. At this point you're not a volunteer, you're a draftee. That means when the church secretary needs some free tech support, she calls you. That means when the giant church down the street is showing videos on their screen and several of the elders want to see videos on their screen, you get to figure out how to do it.

I've put together a list of things to help get a Church Tech Draftee Person started:

1. Understand what you have and don't have.

You don't have an unlimited resource pool, so understand that you can't “test” things on the church equipment. You do have skills, otherwise you wouldn't have been drafted into this position. Use them. Also, don't be afraid to make mistakes. Just because some members of the congregation think that Hymnals are the only way of showing words to everyone doesn't mean it's right. The Bible tells us to make a joyful noise unto the Lord (Psalm 100:1). Explore your options. As long as it's worshipful of God, it can't be that bad.

2. Surround yourself with volunteers.

When Abraham Lincoln took office, the first thing he did was surround himself with people who didn't like him so that he would always be challenged. I'm not suggesting you do that yet. Surround yourself with people you know and trust to get a job done. Then branch out to the people you don't know as well. This will help prevent trouble from the start. If you can get this “thing” off the ground without dealing with your followers, life will be easier once you do venture out into the Unknown Place of Volunteers. The volunteers you start with should be helpful and willing to learn. Agreeing with everything you say can be helpful, too.

3. Acknowledge your limitations.

Acknowledge the fact that you can't do everything all the time. You do have to worship yourself, you know. If you've followed Suggestion #2, the volunteers will help pick up the slack when you need to worship. Also, understand that you can't have Movie Night on a 5' screen to 500+ people. It simply won't work.

4. Plan to spend time.

There are three things that you need to be a success at anything: Time, Time, and Time. It will take time to get things going. Try not to promise the senior pastor that you'll have the projector and computer up and going by the 9 o'clock service at 8:45. You need time to get things figured out, implement them, and test them to make sure nothing foreseeable will go wrong. One of the great things about having services on Sunday is that Saturday is the day before. Use it.

These guidelines are just a start. Hopefully, things won't be hectic for you when you get drafted. Hopefully, it'll be a well-thought out project your “committee” votes on. Just be prepared to do a lot of praying. In the end, it's all worth it.