FIRST IN LAST OUT
TENACITY TO LEAD | Todd Elliott
Learning to be tenacious with the basics of production is the foundational work that we all must do in order to bring production up to the level our churches deserve . Going after each relationship and working hard at collaboration are keys to the next step in our development of being fully functional members of the body of Christ in our churches .
For some of you reading this , you are leading a production ministry at your church and if you are anything like me , you are a tech person and you have been “ hands-on ” until this point . Now , as your church has grown , you need to take on more of a leadership role . Whether it is leading staff or volunteers , figuring out how to go from the “ hands-on ” doing of the task to mobilizing others to get the work done can be a huge leap .
When I first started making the transition from operator to leader , I tended to feel like I wasn ’ t doing anything . I spent many of my early years working in one of the production disciplines , getting it going , then handing it off to the next person . Once the hand off was complete , then I would move onto the next discipline . At a certain point , I ran out of disciplines , and my boss told me that I needed to not pick up some new task , but to focus my energy on leading the team .
Being a leader of tech people , and frankly any kind of leader , requires a great deal of tenacity , a very different type of tenacity than you ’ ve had to deal with so far . Being tenacious with the basics and in relationships are all about things that you have direct control over : your response , how you ’ re going to handle yourself in a given situation .
When you start talking about leading a team of technical artists , you are now transferring what you know and how you handle each situation to a group of people . This group is made up of individuals , with minds of their own . With opinions of how things should or shouldn ’ t be done . This group can choose to follow your lead or not .
Making the transition to becoming a leader can be one of the most difficult challenges you will experience . It involves losing a little bit of your identity as a technical artist . If you thought you were in a “ behind-the-scenes ” role before , now you are a leader who is even more behind the scenes , working towards giving your team what they need to succeed as technical artists .
Leadership can be a lonely place , as you have found out or will soon find out . I often have the familiar statement “ first in , last out ”, in my mind , as it pertains to technical artists . For the leader of this group , it can be even more extreme . “ Firstest in and lastest out ”.
In this lonely place , you will need to learn how to lead yourself to keep moving forward . If you can ’ t keep going , you can ’ t expect to be able to lead your team forward .
Leadership will be the most difficult thing you ’ ll do , but it can also be the most rewarding . When I think back on the highlights of my ministry so far , they all involved watching the teams I ’ ve led doing amazing things together .
At a certain point in my own journey , I kept waiting for someone else to pick up the leadership baton , until I figured out that everyone on my team was looking at me . I love what I ’ ve been able to do and to see how God has used my experiences to help my church grow and become better along the way .
As someone who ’ s gone on the journey from operator / booth sitter to leader of tech people , I hope that this section on leadership helps you make the transition . Not only for your own sake , but for the sake of the teams that you lead . It takes guts , and hopefully the ideas that follow will help give you a practical road map to become the leader that your team and your church need you to be .
An excerpt from “ I Love Jesus But I Hate Christmas ” by Todd Elliott
Todd Elliott Todd is a writer , speaker , technical artist in the local church and founder of FILO , which stands for First In , Last Out . FILO was born out of his own need as a technical artist in the local church to be in community with other church tech people , to learn new ways of doing things and to be inspired that what he did mattered . The more FILO-type people he met , the more convinced he was that these are things we all need . That ’ s why FILO exists : to equip , encourage and inspire technical artists in the local church to become the best version of ourselves . Formerly the Technical Arts Director at Willow Creek Community Church , he started FILO in 2015 to help other technical artists become more effective so that the local church can be more effective .
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106 August 2024 Subscribe for Free ...