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Machinery or mission? Product or people? I am guilty. I know the “correct” answer to both of those questions; we all do. However, when it comes time to “go live,” the production can often usurp the purpose.
I recently returned from Osaka, Japan, where I served on Panasonic’s 2018 Higher Education Advisory Council. One major highlight among the week of meetings was a visit to the Panasonic Museum which had just reopened after a major renovation to honor the 100th anniversary of Panasonic Corp. I was convicted by the core philosophy founder Konosuke Matshushita ingrained into the company’s beginnings. One plaque reads:
“Konosuke spent a day visiting the head temple of a popular religious sect upon the invitation of an acquaintance. He was struck by the sight of followers joyfully giving off their time and energy, which got him thinking about the parallels between religion and business. ‘I now see that religion guides people out of suffering toward happiness and peace of mind, and in that sense is a holy pursuit. Business, too, can be sacred in that it provides the physical necessities for improving one’s life.’”
And thus, the company philosophy of meichi, “to know the mission,” was born. In reading this plaque, I could not help but recognize the parallels to the work we do as church techs.
1-Konosuke was invited to attend.
How often do we complain as tech leaders that we need more staff and volunteers? If a century-old multibillion-dollar tech company can be inspired due to a personal invitation, no doubt we could fill our teams through one. I, like most of us, can often treat the tech booth as my sanctuary away from everyone else. Our invisible “get off my lawn” signs guard us from having to mingle with the congregation. But of course, we know that God desires the opposite from us. We change people by touching people. We know that we can train just about anyone to do something on our team, and many would love to help if the equipment didn’t look so intimidating. Maybe it just takes a personal invitation from us to inspire our church’s next lifelong tech volunteer, or even billion-dollar tech company.
Our invisible “get off my lawn” signs guard us from having to mingle with the congregation. But of course, we know that God desires the opposite from us.
2-The people were joyfully giving time and energy.
Long hours? Yup. Hard work? Yup. Complain about it? Probably so. Ecclesiastes 7:14 reminds us: “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other” (CSB). In other words, be joyful during the good times and the bad. God has granted us the opportunity to serve him through our talents. He personally selected us and granted us the skills necessary, and for that we should be joyful no matter the circumstances. It is the hard work we do that brings the true reward. The book of Acts cites the apostles as travelling through Asia Minor “strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, ‘it is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God’” (14:21, CSB). The work may be hard, but the joy is found in the constant reminder of our eternal reward.
God has granted us the opportunity to serve him through our talents. He personally selected us and granted us the skills necessary, and for that we should be joyful no matter the circumstances.
3-The result was leading people from suffering to peace.
What we do impacts others. People find and experience God through the sacred space we create through our blending of sound, lights and visuals. When people enter our created environment, we foster how they will meet God. We lead them to the only true place for ending earthy pain and suffering: a relationship with Christ.
We lead them to the only true place for ending earthy pain and suffering: a relationship with Christ.
How we acoustically and visually interpret the songs and preaching impacts the intelligibility which impacts the congregation. We take ordinary voices and turn them into expressions of worship that invite people to allow God to work in their lives. 2 Chronicles 5:13 demonstrates the effect of well-crafted arts in action: “The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the Lord with one voice. They raised their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the Lord: For he is good; his faithful love endures forever. The temple and Lord’s temple, was filled with a cloud ... for the glory of the Lord filled God’s temple” (CSB). When we perform our craft well, we invite people to experience the glory of the Lord, leading them from suffering to His peace.
4-It is a holy pursuit.
The goal of our job is not beautiful sounds and pleasing visuals—though it includes those things—it is holiness. Our role here on earth is to be further conformed into the image of Christ so that we can use our lives to lead others to be conformed into his image. The focus is not on the stuff that creates the experience but rather upon using the sacred space to grow disciples. In the tabernacle experience—a place of high artistic value—the high priest was to wear a turban with the words “holy to the Lord” (Exod 28:36) engraved onto it. The high priest’s role, like ours, was to lead the worship of the people, with the purpose of making them holy. The tabernacle was “for glory and beauty” (Exod 28:2). I know that I can often get so wrapped up in the craft and the way I believe a perfect service should run that I forget that God wants to use the sacred space to work within his people for their holiness and mine. But how can we grow in our holiness when we are only focusing on gear and procedures, and not God?
I know that I can often get so wrapped up in the craft and the way I believe a perfect service should run that I forget that God wants to use the sacred space to work within his people for their holiness and mine.
5-Business is to provide the physical necessities to improve people’s lives.
We do not often think of our role as providing something physical to the participants in the same way the meals or jobs ministry might. But, Konosuke recognized that his organization has a duty to the people who invested their lives to it. The result is the fact that Panasonic has one of the lowest turnover rates in the entire tech manufacturing industry. What do we see from our teams? Are we investing in them personally and ensuring that they feel invested in. I know that sometimes our people can become simply names to be filled in on a PCO request. But they are more than volunteers. They are people with their own struggles and needs. “For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints—and by continuing to serve them” (Heb 6:10, CSB). Our sound booth should be a sanctuary in one sense: it should become a place of restoration for those who we are charged with shepherding over. As tech leaders, what if we viewed our role not as overseeing the production but the people? What would happen to the quality of our team, both in production value and spiritual health, if our investment was in human resources rather than capital? In our volunteers rather than our gear?
Our sound booth should be a sanctuary in one sense: it should become a place of restoration for those who we are charged with shepherding over.
Konosuke recognized that to build an empire, he had to begin by investing in people. Does not God ask the same for building His kingdom? We have been gifted with the opportunity to build God’s eternal empire, presenting meichi by investing in one volunteer at a time, personally inviting them to joyfully serve, giving of their time and energy for the holy pursuit of leading others from suffering to peace, physically improving the lives of themselves and one another.
