When I think about the people that voluntarily sacrifice their time for the cause of Christ, I find myself without words to express my gratefulness for them. These people might be ushers, greeters, musicians, parking attendants, a part of the prayer team, nursery workers, or food preparers.
But, what about those people who are always responsible for the missed slide on the screen, feedback coming from the sound system, or the lights being out of whack? They seem to be grossly under-appreciated and, at times, overworked. Yea, I’m looking at you Audio/Visual gang. (Sorry if I missed any other volunteers, but I’m focusing on the A/V guys and gals here.)
All that I want to say is, you guys rock!
I mean, think about everything that needs to get done on a Sunday morning, or whenever a service is held:
- Arrive at the church before everyone else.
- Turn on the lights.
- Grab some coffee, or make it if there isn’t any prepared yet.
- Check the sound system.
- Verify computers are working.
- Test cameras.
- Create lyric and presentation slides for worship and the sermon (if you havn’t yet).
- Make sure other video sites are functioning.
- Band arrives.
- EQ the band.
- Go to the bathroom.
- Set the lighting to flow with the set list and sermon.
- Turn on some filler music.
- Grab some coffee.
- Print CD labels to place on the discs that will need to be burned after the sermon.
- Service begins.
- Dim lights, turn on stage lights.
- Fade in worship team.
- Make sure slide transitions go well.
- Adjust mic level for speaker.
- Begin power-point.
- Start recording sermon.
- Service ends.
- Fade in after-service music playlist.
- Start burning CDs.
- Leave after everyone is gone.
A verse comes to mind when I think about all of this work:
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men …” (Colossians 3:23).
Your work makes a huge difference.
And that work is only possible because you are connected to Him:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Now, of course, these are generalizations in some sense, and all this work tends to be done by a team, but that’s a lot of work.
So, A/V gang, thanks for everything you do. Remember that you are appreciated by the Creator of the Universe.
[Image via Gratisography]
How do you say thank you to your team? Leave a comment below and we can start sharing our ideas!
[…] quality of service and humility. What we do is on display for all to see but we rarely receive the thanks and gratitude for what we do. Instead, if we forget to advance a slide or their is feedback, we get nasty looks. […]