A Scary Thought

When you are the only “young adult member who has technology experience,” you can get asked to do a lot of things. None of which have been more difficult than the decision I have been asked to make recently. I have been asked to be on the Trustees Committee. They are seeking a young person who has technology experience as they plan to expand much of the current technology within the church. I am already active as a Tech Team member as well as one of the Senior High Youth Group leaders. The major concern I have is this: When asked for advice on which direction we should go as a church, will I be able to give them the correct advice? Everyone I've talked to seems to think yes, but I still wonder how they can say yes while I am still stuck on no.

One of the things I have been reading about on other Tech Guys' blogs is that confidence is something you must have in order to succeed in leading anything. It's odd that my career skills leave me questioning my confidence while leading Senior High kids doesn't.

When making any decision, I always turn to my Voice of Reason...Mrs. Tech Guy. She has always been good about quizzing my on why I want to do this or that. She is immensely helpful in figuring out whether something is worthwhile or not. She immediately said no. Her reasons were due to the amount of time in the term. It's a 3-year commitment. We simply don't know what we'll be doing in 3 years. We have our own goals, but anyone who works for the Lord knows that making your own schedule and thinking He's going to follow is only kidding themselves.

I did all the research about what a Trustee member is and does. I even interviewed one of the current Trustees members to see what their future plans are. To my horror, everything they are planning on doing involved technology. By horror, I don't mean keep technology out of the church or don't add any more technology. I say, Bring It On! My horror is that if I don't accept the nomination to the Trustees Committee, they may make decisions about technology that I will later question, or worse, gripe about. Nothing is worse to a Tech Guy than having a technology decision handed to you that not only doesn't work, but one that you are expected to make work. Might as well be on the committee that makes all those decisions, right?

In the end, after weighing several things I haven't mentioned here, I feel like I should accept this nomination and see where it takes me. I may not even get voted on for all I know. One of the things I have learned (again, mind you) while pondering this decision is that I spent far too much of my time thinking about what I wanted to do instead of what God wants me to do. I need to just let go and let God.

We'll see what He has in store for me. I just hope it isn't too rough. Sail on and God-speed!

Skillz VS. Ministry

**The geek word, “Skillz” refers to skills or abilities. The 'z' on the end of the word makes it “cool” for some reason.

As a Church Tech Guy volunteer, I have a paying job outside the church. Sadly, I have bills, too. I am employed for a local school system in the IT Department. I am one of four full-time employees in my department (and also the youngest, but don't tell them I said so). When I first started working for this school system, I did it solely for the experience and I told my boss as much. “Pay me whatever you feel is fair, I just want to be able to graduate college and say that I have experience.” Five years later, I'm now a salary-paid employee still working on my degree (long story, don't ask). Why am I still here after five years? Easy, for the education. Yes, I work for a school system and education seems to be its purpose, but that's not what I mean. What I mean is that every single day I'm at work, I learn something new. It could be about technology, leadership, software, hardware, the list goes on and on. But I have never failed to learn something new, both the easy way and the hard way. One day, I'll eventually leave this job to move on to something “bigger and better,” but not today.

Recently, my wife and I had dinner with a close friend of ours (whom I'll refer to as Steve). Steve is a young pastor who is a church-planter. He mentioned to me that I should really consider what my ministry is. Having grown up being taught that God reveals His plan to you at His pace, I was confused. How can I have a ministry? Doesn't God show me what He wants me to do? I asked Steve what he meant. He told me that even though God reveals His plan at His pace, He equips you for His purpose long before you ever know His purpose. That statement was radically different than what I had been taught for years. It makes so much sense, though. Ever since I was a child, I wanted to be a Marine Biologist, but would spend much of my time tinkering with the family computer. It wasn't until high school that I decided to go into computers. All the while, God was building His foundation of technical skills within me, long before I knew what my ministry was.

My job is a great job. I love my job, but it's not my ministry. I've discovered that my ministry is serving the church through technology or what my wifes calls Technical Minister. Usually, a Technical Minister position is volunteer only. Many churches simply don't have the money to pay someone to do that job. There are churches, however; that do hire people full-time as Technical Ministers. As the curious person that I am, I decided to scour the Internet job posting sites for any job relating to Technical Ministers or Directors of Technology (my boss's official title). I found several that look really appealing. In fact, I even considered applying for a few, thinking that I could do my ministry and get paid!

Knowing your skills and knowing your ministry are two very different things. Once you have figured out your skills, pray and focus in on your ministry.

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.