By Dennis Choy
It probably started something like this. You volunteered behind the scenes and somehow you ended up on the sound console. You were a fast learner and continued to strive to make it sound the best you knew how. Volunteering every weekend because you love serving and found this new ability or talent (or maybe you already had it).
Then one weekend the church leadership asks you if you wanted to come on staff part-time because they desperately needed someone for the tech ministry. You feel the calling and want to serve so you agree and quickly jump into an overwhelming number of needs – from weekend service systems to check-in machines – conference room TVs to streaming the service online.
Part-time quickly turns into full-time. The church loves what you do, and the needs grow even more as the church grows. You start to feel like you can never catch up. One equipment problem to the next. Something is always not working. What was once an incredible opportunity to serve turns into frustration and bitterness, and you don’t feel you have enough time in the day to make everything happen. You are overwhelmed, bitter, frustrated and burned out.
Sound Familiar?
You don’t know how many times I’ve heard this story. And most of the time, people blame the church or the fact that they’re serving Jesus. But – it’s not the church’s fault, and it’s not Jesus’ fault – it’s YOUR fault. You need a team no matter how big or small your church is. You need time and rest, but the work of the church never stops, so what do you do? It’s your responsibility to create a team. There are many ways to do that, whether it’s a volunteer group or paid staff or a combo of both. Regardless it’s up to you to build it. I know what you’re thinking – how can I spend time doing that when there are so many other things to do?
How Do You Start?
Here are a couple steps to get you going on building a team:
- First step is to PRAY for God to send the right people. We underestimate the power of prayer and calling on Him for help. Believe it or not, but the same God that parted the Red Sea is the same God that will help us find the right people on our team if we earnestly ask.
- Second step is to EVALUATE what immediate areas you are not good at and find someone that is good at them so you’re not spending most of your time on something you will never really get. Sorry, but let’s face it; we all are not great at everything (even though to outsiders, tech is all one big thing and not separated, skilled disciplines). If we can determine our most urgent needs and find people to help, our stress level will lower.
- Third step is to make it a PRIORITY to do the first two steps. Otherwise, it won’t happen. It’s funny how many times in my past I prayed, then evaluated, then prayed some more for the right people (and sometimes just people), and God delivered a name out of the blue for just the right time. But when I didn’t make it a priority, things took much longer because I wasn’t actively seeking.
Every great championship team, successful company or hero in the Bible had help from someone else. Even Jesus himself called a team to help spread the word. Don’t underestimate the God we serve, so call upon the same God that raised Lazarus from the dead to help you find someone for your team. It all matters to God.