“Bites from the board”- by Scarlett Harrington

There are many things the Lord has seen fit to teach me behind a sound board.

Lesson 1: anything can be a form of worship to God.

Most of the time we think of worship as the songs we sing, but we can worship while running tech, singing a song, serving others, or just walking. Something I’ve learned recently is this: “the better the marinade, the better the steak”. This saying means the better the preparation, the better the outcome. As facilitators of worship, the better we prepare for the worship service (be that with our skills, spirituality, emotions, or mind), the easier people can worship in that particular service and the better overall experience of the worship service.

Lesson 2: tech folks are just as important as those on the stage.

1 Corinthians talks about how everyone in the body of Christ is equally as important as the other parts.

Specifically, the role of the tech team is to eliminate any distractions from worship, whether that being fixing drums that are too loud or properly EQ’ing something. This also can alleviate stress from the people on stage to focus more on leading worship rather than focusing on the externals.

Lesson 3: proper levels can not be underestimated.

As said, the main goal of the tech team is to eliminate distractions from the worship experience. This could look like providing lyrics, adjusting the lightning, and fine-tuning the sound. After eliminating distractions, the tech team can enhance the worship experience by reinforcing ideas. For example, if there was a song in a set about the hope we have in Christ, the slides can have a light, bright color background and the lighting can be slightly brighter to reinforce the idea about hope.

These are just a few of the things a tech team can lean into in order to use their gifts for the glory of God and to make sure the worship offering is what it ought to be: our very best.