We all recall the fun children’s Sunday School song, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so!”
In technical ministry we are serving the Lord (or should be); we are involved in the day to day work of allowing people to hear, see, and experience the Word of God as presented in our services. But even while doing the work of the ministry, one of the easiest things to forget is the Word of the Lord. The exact thing we are a part of communicating, is one of things easiest for us to forget.
Allow me to illustrate…
It’s rehearsal time, and things are not going according to plan. There are technical issues, “source” issues, and overall things are getting pretty tense. People are getting edgy, and tempers are starting to come out. Get the picture? We’ve all been there, and if you haven’t, you most likely will be at some point. I’ve unfortunately been there many times over the years. In these kinds of situations, things tend to keep getting worse and worse… but that does not have to be the case. We can handle this kind of situation because… the Bible tells us so. God’s Word gives clear instruction on handling conflict like this. We can go to 1 Corinthians 13, Matthew 5, Matthew 18, Ephesians 4, and the list goes on. All of these passages have application to what we are dealing with in this situation.
No matter what our job or our experience, we are believers first and technicians afterwards. I have met many techs that somehow think just because they have a particular “job” certain biblical principles don’t apply to them. Nothing could be more false. Our personal lives affect our ministry.
We need to be prepared to minister just as a musician or the pastor would. We are no different. Christ has given us the roadmap to our Christian lives and to our ministry as well. The Bible tells us so. We need to read it, heed it, and take the needed time to know it and ultimately know God better. It’s not about how long you have to work, it’s not about how good your gear is… it’s about your relationship with God.
So going back to our previous disaster-in-progress… try this for a solution. Things are tense, and you stop the rehearsal. You walk up and have a chat with everyone. You take the initiative and apologize. You are not doing your best, you were not ready, etc., and ask them to forgive you. Generally, in my experience at least, that type of response opens the door to more humility. Everyone takes a few minutes break, we get our eyes refocused on what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and then with our heads screwed tightly back on, we continue on. It takes work to do that, it takes humility, but the Lord has laid out the plan for such things in His Book. The Bible tells us so.