Yesterday, I laid into senior church leaders, especially those who like to make last minute changes and tweaks to “improve” the weekend services. Changing things on the fly usually has the opposite effect, with the additional drawback of being a morale-buster for your staff and volunteers.
Here’s what I’d suggest instead – think longer term. Instead of trying to “fix” something mid-stream, come back to it after the fact. Every church (IMO) should have a weekend evaluation meeting on Monday or Tuesday. As I work with churches, I’m amazed by the fact that very few of them have any sort of formalized service review process – and you can tell. A 45-min meeting is usually enough – just bring together area leaders and break down what happened (and not just in the auditorium, think church-wide). I’d suggest asking each person to give one thumbs up about something that went well, and one thumbs down about something that could have gone better, with NO rebuttals or excuses allowed. Each person gives their two items, and then on to the next…
Now the most important part – track it. A mic being muted at the wrong time isn’t a serious issue if it happens once. No biggie – people make mistakes. If it’s happening every week – or if kids workers aren’t regularly following procedures, or if there’s an avoidable traffic jam in the parking lot after service each week – then you know that it’s an issue that needs to be addressed.
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