I had an opportunity to work on a Friday night. Most of us in the world of production, both in the church and out, don’t think this is a big shock. Many events happen on a Friday night, and this is something that just comes with the territory. Leave your family. Watch your friends go do something fun. Miss out on family movie night or in my case, the famous Elliott family homemade pizza night.
However, this particular Friday night a few weeks ago, I was so proud to be at work. Our church held an event for our middle school ministry. At Willow Creek, nothing is small. No event is uneventful. We had almost 3000 12-14 year olds in our main auditorium. Now, my first reaction to the idea of this happening in our main auditorium was “Those kids are going to trash this place.”
How many tech people get a chance to do production for an event that has potentially eternal impact on the lives of middle school students? How many churches are willing to open their nicest space to the destructive force of 8th grade boys? How many places have so many kids inviting 2 or 3 friends, that we only have one room big enough to fit them all?
I love production. I love my church. I love doing production at my church. I love doing production at my church to help spread the gospel to 2500+ tweeners, regardless of the obvious reasons not to.
So many people who work production do it to help sell more cars, or sell more pharmaceuticals, or for inebriated people to enjoy a wedding reception.
I count it a privilege to be a production person for a greater purpose, even when it means I miss homemade pizza night.
