FRONT OF HOUSE
THE MIND GAME | Kent Morris
Photo by Bee Balogun on Unsplash
There is a classic old Shure wireless microphone ad I love that shows an audio engineer at the helm of a Front Of House console festooned with Littlites all in a row and a one word caption above the photo: Ready? The implication is obvious; it is“ go time” and whatever happens next better have some prep behind it. What passed for preparation then versus now centers around Dante networking and scene presets, but the challenge remains. We all know, as the old saying goes,“ Sunday is coming” and we have everything listed in Planning Center Online( PCO), but sometimes, we just aren’ t ready. Let’ s change that now.
The mental and emotional rollercoaster that is Sunday morning leaves many of us spent by the afternoon, ready for nothing more than a nap and then pizza with the family. However, a few minutes of personal or corporate debrief on the way out the sanctuary door can do wonders for the following week. Simply writing down one thing that went sideways and how we can correct it will improve every service that follows. When the problem surfaces during the Tuesday staff session, a solution will already be in place, leaving the problem an orphan on leadership’ s chart.
Nagging small issues with forced workarounds take their toll when aggregated with the inevitable new issues arising each week. Finally replacing the faulty headphone ¼” adapter solves the problem for less than $ 5 and ziptying the monitor cables to the back of the unit will forever create an empty horizontal space where it is needed most. Leaving the booth one item better than we found it will matter in the long run. Even just refilling the Sharpie drawer and Keurig pods in the spinning tree holder on our way out the door will improve the lives of the techs who have to fill roles during the week for chapels, weddings, and conferences.
For more in-depth preparation, there is no substitute for walking through the worship service in real-time on PCO. Instead of glancing through the set list and blowing off the notes, we truly must listen to each song thoroughly, especially when the notes scream,“ New Arrangement!” It takes 40 minutes to listen to each song, make notes of when and where solos and leads take place, jot down announcement personnel, and then lay out the console to match what will happen. The first time we follow this protocol and walk into the church on Sunday morning will feel entirely fresh as if the burden of the moment has been removed, because it is has.
Given enough repetition, last minute second guessing of“ did I do that?” can be eliminated.
The fear is real when the senior pastor is walking on deck and the thought of“ Did I check the element?” swirls into the mind’ s forefront, eclipsing the urgent need to unmute the microphone and now an obvious error has taken place. Building muscle memory starts by doing exactly the same moves every time. From the way the mic is carried to the finger used to unmute the channel, to how the cable is wrapped when finished, doing the same thing the same way every time creates a wall of preparation. Likewise, testing the choir, orchestra, and band mics should follow the same procedure each time, creating assurance that all the channels are working and putting the mind at ease.
Lastly, taking a few minutes the evening before the service in quiet time alone with God will have the largest influence on the technical outcome of the service. There is nothing greater than taking in the peace that passes all understanding and allowing God to quiet our hearts and minds as only He can.
Kent Morris Kent Morris, recipient of the 2025“ Roby Duke Creative Life Award” presented at the Christian Musician Summit, is a 47-year veteran of the AVL arena driven by passion for excellence tempered by the knowledge all technology is in a temporal state.
90 September 2026 Subscribe for Free...