Our ultimate responsibility is to teach other people how to do what we do so that our skills live on for successive generations. We don’t have to be an expert at everything,
When you think of words that describe the most ideal church tech guy out there, what comes to mind? Attributes like “calm under pressure,” “quick-thinking,” “resourceful,” and “intelligent” all probably make the list.
But what about “teacher”?
When it comes to spiritual gifts that are described in the Bible, the one most often associated with church tech people is craftsmanship: working with their hands, not afraid to get dirt under their nails, tinkering and troubleshooting, and willing to grind away for hours to create something from nothing.
Paul sums it up well in Ephesians 4:11-12 (NIV) when he says, “So Christ himself gave the ... teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
All of those descriptions are both accurate and necessary in this role, but what if the goal of being a master craftsman (or an LD or an A1) isn’t just to develop a specialized skill that allows them to create things at a high level? What if the goal is to actually get them to train others how to do it as well as they themselves do?
In the Bible, midway through the book of Exodus, the Israelites have escaped their captivity in Egypt and are journeying through the desert. God has instructed Moses to make plans to build a tabernacle in which His presence can dwell, and He has specific instructions in Exodus 31 as to how the project should be managed:
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I have specifically chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts. He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver, and bronze. He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is a master at every craft! (Exodus 31:1-6 NLT)
Bezalel (and his associate Oholiab) is commonly regarded as the first true master craftsman, and perhaps the predecessor of the first worship tech directors. And why not? Look at how he’s described: “Wisdom, ability, and expertise.” “Expert.” “Skilled.” “Master at every craft.”
Sounds like the tech guy described at the outset of the article, right?
But what often gets overlooked is another verse later on, Exodus 35:34 (NLT), which says, “And the Lord has given both [Bezalel] and Oholiab . . . the ability to teach their skills to others.”
This verse proves that perhaps even more important than these two men being given a supernatural skill set is the fact that they were also empowered with a God-given ability to replicate themselves in others. God knew that they wouldn’t live forever, but someday other people had to know how to do the same things they did. So, he planted within them the ability and desire (and really, the expectation) to show other people how to do what they were doing.
The success of God’s earthly kingdom is based on a system of reproduction. In Genesis, He ordered Adam and Eve to multiply so that mankind would continue. At His ascension, Jesus told the disciples to go into the world and multiply themselves by making more disciples so that His Word and Kingdom would endure.
So, our ultimate responsibility as tech people isn’t just to be good at what we do and help create a dynamic worship experience. It’s to teach other people how to do what we do so that our skills live on for successive generations.
At His ascension, Jesus told the disciples to go into the world and multiply themselves by making more disciples so that His Word and Kingdom would endure.
We don’t have to be an expert at everything, and we don’t have to turn those around us into experts. But we are expected to take all of the knowledge we have and pour it into someone else. Our job is to make sure that our knowledge and skill are passed on to another generation coming up behind us, just like Bezalel and Oholiab did.
Paul sums it up well in Ephesians 4:11-12 (NIV) when he says, “So Christ himself gave the ... teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
Craftsmen create, and teachers teach. But for the church tech leader, the roles are one and the same.
