It is common for the worship leader to secretly dislike the people who run the sound, lights, and lyrics. Actually, the feeling is often mutual.
Is it even possible for the worship team to get along with the tech team? I sure hope so, considering they work so closely to each other. Lets take a look at three common problems.
Have you ever realized how much detail work the lyric person’s job requires? They have to pay attention to spelling, punctuation, grammar, the order of the slides, coordinating the background with the lights, etc. In other words, there is a lot of room for mistakes.
So, as the worship leader, it is our job to do everything we can to make their job easier. Song Select provides grammatically correct lyrics for almost every worship song that is out there, and the lyrics can be easily copy and pasted into your presentation software, whether it be ProPresenter, MediaShout, EasyWorship, or anything in between.
After you give them the tools they need, patience combined with clear communication will get the rest of the job done. Make sure they know their job is important, and let them know what is expected.
We have all been in the situation where a big, emotional moment is coming up in a song, and then it just falls flat because the sound man forgot to turn up the instrument or vocal that was supposed to create the moment. I know, you would like to leave the stage and give the sound man an ear-full, but that would just make the situation worse.
Does your sound man know that he is just as much a band member as any musician? He must know the song from the inside out, just like the guitarist, if the band is going to sound its best.
Spend some time reminding the sound man of the importance of his job, and make sure you give him all the materials needed to listen to the song throughout the week. If he continues to miss the mark, you may need to find a new sound man.
This has happened to the best of us. The pastor calls for the video to be played that goes along with his sermon, except it is not working. All this is going on while the entire church has their eyes focused on the projector screen.
Embarrassing? Yes, for all involved. However, this would have never happened if the entire video has been tested well before service even started.
Most of the time, this is not an issue with the tech team, but with the person providing the video. Church leaders often seem to be well trained in procrastination. The video or slideshow is provided about two minutes before the service starts, which barely provides enough time to get it loaded in, let alone run a test.
My recommendation? If a video is to be played, require it to be provided at least an hour before service, or else it doesn't show. Then, take time to test the entire video before service starts.
Although both may seem of the devil at times, they are actually a gift in disguise. Make a decision today to conquer laziness, and embark the the journey to a well equipped, and happier team through clear communication and unbelievable preparation. It is well worth your time.
When possible, we do a complete dry-run on saturday evening right after soundcheck. The bands plays all songs, so we can take notes for solos and know what comes when. The beamer operator is welcome as well. And with a pre-service run on sundaymorning, the errorchances are low. Most important thing on sundaymorning: no stress and enough time for prayers!