TOP 5 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR 2025
#3: Support your production team.
One of the toughest positions on any church team is the sound engineer. Why? The parameters and dynamics of role are rarely understood – many times even by the worship pastor (who often has oversight). A standard weekend might have the soundperson working with a guest worship pastor while simultaneously dealing with a guitar player who keeps changing his volume, live stream kicking in and out, and a cry room with no audio for some reason…
If you rotate people in and out of the worship team weekend by weekend, things are even more complex. Different guitarists have different pedals. Some keyboard players are busy, some play sparingly. Some drummers hit like they are patting a baby on the head, some like they are chopping logs.
So, what to do? Give them time, training, and transitions:
TIME – Sound engineers need time to get to know the gear and get to know the team. It’s a rare individual who can jump in cold and make things sound great.
TRAINING – Once a sound person is on your team, invest in them. FILO in Chicago is a great start. Understand that technology is changing wildly for each of the dozens (or perhaps hundreds) of pieces of production gear of the church.
TRANSITIONS – A worship team needs to be able to run songs from start to finish in rehearsal to make sure that things are solid. A sound engineer needs that, as well, but they also need to practice the transitions BETWEEN different elements of the service. EVERY weekend should include a full runthrough with everything exactly as it will be done. Don’t make the first service your dress rehearsal…
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