FRONTOFHOUSE
GO OR NO: UNDERSTANDING THE CHAPTERS OF LIFE
On stage, worship team members tend to ebb
and flow in a regular cadence. The current
guitarist may have only been a part of the
church for a few months, and this may be the
drummer’s first Sunday. Techs, on the other
hand, usually stay in the same position and
location for years. The nature of AVL tasks,
with their inherent stability and repetition, fit
the psyche of most techs well. However, the
time for change does eventually reach the tech
booth and, whether it is due to circumstance
or evolution, how you handle it will create a
positive or negative legacy between you and
the church. Here is how to know: “Should I stay
or should I go?
ARE YOU QUITTING OR EXPANDING?
Emotionally driven decisions rarely produce a
good outcome, so, turning in your tech-team
resignation after a particularly difficult and glitchladen Sunday is not the best idea. Many senior
the band.” Much truth is contained here, so
consider yourself a knob-jockey or a specialized
pastors mentally resign on Sunday night and
becoming self-aware of the fallout from our
IT pro, you are missing the point: technology is
re-enlist on Monday morning. It is human nature
failings at guitar, keys, drums, and vocals can
a disposable means to an indispensable end
to walk away from seemingly insurmountable
help us rein in our worst tendencies, such as
where temporary products permanently affect
obstacles, but we have a Godly nature at work
pretending to move knobs when asked for
eternal souls. When the vision i s fully realized
within us that we must rely on to see past
“more of me in the monitor” or answering with,
and sustainable at the current location, it is then
the current issues to the guaranteed eventual
“there’s not a talent knob here to turn up.”
safe to move on.
victory. Plus, we are dealing with other fallible
Tech is a skill driven by passion, while music
people, just like us, who can only envision a
is a passion driven by skill. The best tech
Now, the question beckons anew, should you
single perspective. If we are offended, chances
result is obscurity; so desiring the limelight is
stay or should you go? Prayerfully consider the
are they are as well and we have to diligently
counterproductive to a tech career. Moving to a
results of both answers and do as you are led.
prefer others before ourselves, which, while
new place won’t change that fact.
hard, is not an impossible task. On the other
hand, if an opportunity arises (and remains)
DO YOU HAVE A CLEAR VISION OF YOUR MINISTRY?
that is suited to our gifting at the next level it is
Remember; techs are the only members of
worth serious consideration. If, after prayer and
the stage team within the congregation, so
council, the opportunity fits and we can depart
we have the best vantage point of what is
without harming the current ministry, it can
transpiring. As such, we are valuable not just for
be taken.
the execution of tech, but also for connecting
the congregation laterally to the worship team,
ARE YOU JUST A FRUSTRATED MUSICIAN?
and both congregation and team vertically to
In most of my tech training classes, I offer up a
God. The role of a worship tech is to create
plethora of musician jokes, but then I end the
an environment conducive to worship. We use
routine with the statement: “Techs are simply
technology to lay out the best possible scenario
musicians who weren’t good enough to be in
for the Holy Spirit to perform His work. If you
34
May June 2016
WorshipMusician.com
KENT MORRIS
35 year veteran of the
worship technology arena
with a passion for excellence
balanced by the knowledge
digital is a temporary state.