Last week, I visited my favorite coffee shop. It’s my favorite because of the aroma when you enter. The mood lighting and calm ambient music are perfect for meeting a friend or getting work done. The baristas not only demonstrate amazing customer service, they clearly enjoy working together. It’s hard to leave this place. Oh, and the coffee? Decent. Not the best cup I’ve ever tasted, but it’s not gas station coffee either. My perception of this coffee shop has everything to do with atmosphere.
You can own the latest and greatest, top of the line, most expensive gear in the world, but it won’t affect your atmosphere without a trained and unified production team.
At church, pastors and worship leaders spend countless hours hearing from the Lord on what message and songs He desires for His people. Preparation is critical. This message must translate to the hearts of congregants, who walk into the building with their own troubles. It’s been a long week and probably an even longer morning getting the family out the door and to church on time. Our job as the production team is to steward the atmosphere of the space between the ministry on the platform and the peoples’ hearts. We help the congregation connect by providing an auditory experience as we mix the band, lights and haze to create the visual atmosphere, lyrics on screen, and in some cases live camera shots on a screen. The way we steward our atmosphere can either help or hinder the intended message.
Organizations and individuals put significant energy into stewarding budgets, properties, health, and so on. We all have a budget, and unless we put thought and effort into it, the money disappears at worst, and at best, sits in the account with no gain or benefit. The atmosphere of our churches works the same way. Do we put equal effort into stewarding the atmosphere as we do our budgets and properties?
“So, how exactly does one steward the atmosphere,” many churches have asked me, discouraged by their lack of mega-church financial resources. “We don’t have an intelligent lighting rig, a digital audio console, or even cinematic cameras! Where do we start?”
Steps to stewarding your church’s atmosphere:
1. Steward your people.
Your most worthy and effective investment begins with your most valuable asset: your people. You can own the latest and greatest, top of the line, most expensive gear in the world, but it won’t affect your atmosphere without a trained and unified production team. First, minister to and train your team to be the best they can be. An effective team will know how to get the most mileage out of your gear, even if it’s antique. Spend time and money on training your key techs and then, emphasize replication so your leaders can train and develop other leaders.
2. Steward team unity.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked through a congregation where everyone was experiencing an incredible move of the Holy Spirit as they engaged in prayer and worship. But as I walked back into the production booth, it’s as if I went through an invisible wall, and that feeling had vanished. Stress, tension, hidden resentment and frustration between team members was just as tangible as the Holy Spirit on the other side of the booth. In a healthy production culture, there is no room for this. If we are going to be effective, we must take our team’s relational unity seriously. Typically, our tech teams are the first in and last out of the building. So, build in structured time before rehearsals to bring the team together in prayer, worship, team building activities, and lead with Biblical unity in mind. Leave no room for animosity, gossip, or complaining attitudes. Even though many production techs prefer being in the background, they are still representing your church and are critical to making the services successful; so every team member should take personal ownership and pride in doing what they love for the Lord. Prioritizing unity and ownership will make a big difference.
3. Steward the health of your team.
We’ve all experienced burnout and the effect that has on a person and a team. A healthy team starts with a healthy leader, and part of this is remembering that those volunteering during a service are not able to receive the in same way they would if they were attending. Even if your title is not “pastor,” you have the opportunity—if not duty—to shepherd your team. You don’t need to be ordained in order to love and care for the people serving alongside of you. The majority of technicians are extremely introverted, and behind the booth may be the only place they feel safe. Though I have never held the title of Pastor, I still pray for, listen to, and counsel my volunteers and staff, who often would not feel comfortable approaching an altar minister for help. Be the hands and feet of Jesus, even if it stretches you.
…it’s important to determine a live “brand” for your production team to follow. What dB level are we mixing at? Do we emphasize vocals or instruments? Do we always use IMAG or only for some songs? Haze or no haze?
4. Create a live production “brand.”
Once you have prioritized training, development, team health and unity, your team is basically unstoppable. Now, it’s time to refine the team’s creativity and develop a live production brand. Many organizations invest in logos, colors, and fonts to create a cohesive brand for marketing, fliers, graphics, and so on. The same type of branding is important when stewarding the atmosphere. Because creativity is so subjective, three sound engineers can mix the same band and make it sound completely different. One lighting designer may prefer strobes and effects, while another uses one static look for the entire song. I’ve had a graphics operator who really enjoyed comic sans for the lyrics font. Some video directors prefer to cut while others like a slow dissolve. Is there anything inherently wrong with any of those examples? Not at all…except for maybe the comic sans… Therefore, it’s important to determine a live “brand” for your production team to follow. What dB level are we mixing at? Do we emphasize vocals or instruments? Do we always use IMAG or only for some songs? Haze or no haze? What font is most clear for lyrics and sermon notes? Come up with a set of written production standards to serve as a framework for your techs to operate within. This keeps the church experience consistent for the congregation and helps them to enter in. At the end of the day, our teams are stewarding the atmosphere of the church, not an individual’s preference.
…our teams are stewarding the atmosphere of the church, not an individual’s preference.
5. Execute well.
The church production world puts much emphasis on “excellence,” and this is often an unspoken code word for perfection. Do you define “a great service” as one without mistakes? Live production inherently has many opportunities for failure. This is why a properly trained crew is so important. What do you do when a piece of gear fails? Are you having hard conversations and offering training to the tech that continues to miss the mark? Or do you just let things go unspoken? A great service is one that operates passionately within the guidelines of the brand and has a crew that’s able to make quick adjustments when things don’t go as expected. As believers, we are called to a higher standard, but only God is perfect; so focus on how our wins and mistakes affect the congregation’s ability to enter the atmosphere.
Yesterday, I visited a new coffee shop that just opened. When I walked in, I smelled ammonia from a recently cleaned restroom, all the walls were white, and the 30 fluorescent overhead lights nearly gave me a migraine. The menu was on a TV screen that was too small to read. There was no ambient music, and the employees were indiscreet with complaints and gossip. The coffee was actually pretty amazing. But I won’t be back.
How are you stewarding your atmosphere?
