“ARE
YOU CALLED, OR DID YOU GET A CALL?”
(to be the soundman)
My audio career started out in the late 60’s working in the sound dept. in my home church.
The sound team was like family…we communicated with each other and we were tought to respect the pastors, praise team, and who ever was in charge on the stage..
I say this because today a lot of the churches I go to do NOT have any of these attributes working in their sound departments!
For the most part, the church sound people today are there because… there is no one else that wants to commit to being in the soundbooth every service, or they don’t want to sit in the pews with the rest of the congregation , or they think they know more than the previous sound person, or they got a call from the pastor to help out with something in the church so they chose running the sound instead of helping in the nursery or ushering, OR they are called by God and have a passion to be a sound person!
While working with a church a few years ago, I noticed how the soundmen were always cheerful and eager to help not only me but everyone that came into their path.
I then observed how they arrived at the church no later than 1 hour prior to any service. They immediately went about re-setting the stage, refreshing the wireless mic batteries, checking the main sound system, they went to meet with the minister of music and/or the pastor prior to service, and then going to the soundbooth and waiting for the service to start.
When the service was over, they went into action again…collecting all the wireless mics, straightening the cables on stage, making sure the praise team was (sorta) happy, and the biggest issue I noticed was that they all communicated!
On the other hand, I have had church soundmen tell me “…that they are in charge of the sound here, and they tell the people on stage how the sound will be and it’s not their job to clean the stage!”
One of the biggest problems I see in local church media depts., is a lack of care and attention to what is happening on stage during the service! Once the service has started, ALL attention should be focused on who ever is leading on stage.
Another thing missing in the church today, is unity among the praise team & sound people.
If you want your media dept. to go to the next level then start holding group meetings prior to every service with all the praise team AND all the media people to discuss the order of service and to pray TOGETHER.
I’ve been told that the soundperson is to be seen and not heard, but let there be feed-back or they forget to turn on the Pastor’s mic…THEN the soundman will always get noticed.
The church sound dept should have 1 person who is in charge.
That person does not have to know everything technical about the equipment, but needs to have good management and communication with the other audio people and the ministry team.
The audio people should enjoy what they do no matter what challenges may happen during a service.
The audio people should be encouraged and thanked by either the pastor or the praise team leader on a regular basis. Then if there are challenges during a given service, everyone envolved should meet afterwards or as soon as possible to resolve the problem.
Do not let attitudes or feelings linger for weeks or even months among the audio people and/or the people on stage!!!
If the sound person is “called by God” to that position, then no matter what happens they should pray about and return to the next service cheerful and ready to serve again and again and again.
Everyone that works in the media dept should have a “servant’s” heart.
This means that they are there to serve and do whatever is asked of them (pertaining to their position) by the person in charge on the stage at that moment.
Here are some things I believe will help the church sound departments…
1 The people running the sound need to have good attitudes.
2 They should be willing to help with any request from the pastor & music dept.
3 They should arrive at church at least 1 hour prior to the service to walk the stage making sure all monitors are working correctly and all cables are straight.
4 Make sure all wireless mics have fresh batteries
5 Recording devices are ready to record the service.
6 They make sure the audio booth is always as clean and neat as it can be.
A person that has “The calling” (to be a soundman) will have the desire and passion to be attentive, be alert, be creative, be respectful for those on the platform and fulfill all request from whoever is in charge on the platform, be kind, be patient but quick to resolve challenges, and will do whatever it takes to get the job done quickly and professionally!