A great church technology team member needs to know how to use the equipment that they are using in and out. When something goes wrong, what do we do? We blame the tools, right? Not my fault, it’s your equipment or software.
The reality is that you need to not only know how to use the equipment, you need to be masters of it. How do you fix it when it breaks, what caused it to break in the first place, and how can you prevent it from failing next time?
Master Your Tools
We have too many different tools that we use within the church technology realm, from the soundboard and the presentation software for Sunday’s message, the website that hosts the blog, social media accounts, and streaming networks, ethernet cords, projectors, and wifi connects, that it is too much to cover in one blog post. But we have three tips for you to stop blaming the tools.
- Connect Online
Find other church tech bloggers and social media experts. If you find the same level as what I have found, you will be learning something new every week and it will be glorious. - Go To Conferences
If you are church leadership is not sending you to conferences free of charge, give them my email and have them talk to me. You need to be surrounding yourself with people that think like you and growing not only in your wisdom of tech, but how you can serve the Church and Christ to your greatest capacity. - Cross Train
The reality is that we will not be there for every service, every week for 50 years. Cross training is the idea that you make at least one other person on your team as much of an expert as you are so that if you are sick, you move to a different part of the ministry, or simply need to bow out for a period of time, you have an instant backup that is just as good as you are. Train them and have refresher sessions too. Seriously. Get on it now!
What steps are you taking to not blame the tools and be masters of your equipment?
Paul Alan Clifford (@PaulAlanClif) says
So what tool is to blame for the mispelling in the quote from phillip320? Shouldn’t it be “unless you’re a church sound guy” unless it’s a direct quote and then it should be “unless your (sic!) a church sound guy.”
I couldn’t resist the joke.
On a serious note, blaming the tools doesn’t set people, who are in charge, at ease. It’s like saying, “Nothing can be done. The whole shebang could fail at any moment.” Claiming problems that you caused says, “I screwed it up and I can make sure not to do it again.”
Paul
Mike Sessler says
“You’re” is a contraction of “you” and “are,” thus the quote should always be, “…unless you’re (you are) a church sound guy.”
“Your” is possessive, as in, “Does your church sound guy always blame the equipment?”
Grammar. She’s a cruel mistress.
On to the point, and to be fair, sometimes it is the equipment’s fault. I’ve tried to help many a church that expects concert level sound out of equipment that hasn’t worked correctly in 15 years. Churches often refuse to repair or update old, outdated and broken equipment under the guise of being “wise stewards,” and then destroy people in the process by expecting them to somehow magically make it work.
I agree that blaming the gear doesn’t get the job done, and no one likes a grouchy sound guy. The real challenge is learning how to explain to non-technical people why the equipment needs to be updated. Often times, it means bringing in a really good integrator or a tech from another church to help evaluate the needs, develop a plan and present it to leadership.
I’ve spent most of my career tearing out old, broken down and poorly designed systems that were nothing but sources of frustration for everyone in there tech booth (and most of the people in the congregation–they just didn’t know it). Churches that expect great results from their sound guys need to step up and at least give them decent equipment to work on. It doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest, or the one with the most shiny buttons, but at a minimum, it should work every weekend.