I’m a technical artist. I want the execution of the service to be flawless. You see me as an uptight, perfectionistic, idea crusher.
You are a creative artist. You want to keep things loose and organic. I see you as lazy with a lack of regard for what it really takes.
These are pretty severe extremes. I’m not sure that we ever talk in these terms, but they do tend to exist on some levels, on many teams.
I would argue that in reality, we are closer than we appear.
I believe that in most of our churches, the technical artists (the people in the booth) and the creative artists (the people on stage) essentially want the same thing. We want to create an environment where God moves in our services. We want to see our gifts and talents used in ways greater than ourselves. We don’t want to fail…we want to succeed.
The challenge is our perspectives. I have a list of things that really matter to me that you don’t seem to care about at all. And you have your own list of things that I frankly don’t care about either. From these perspectives, when we start talking about how to make our services amazing, it is no wonder that we experience some tension.
So what do we do about this tension? I don’t think we can wish it would go away because as Andy Stanley says, it is a tension to manage. I would maybe go one step further and say that it is a tension to celebrate.
When we look at our services, it takes the full range of talents and expertise to make it all work. Musicians, lighting designers, worship leaders, CG operators, pastors, audio engineers…the list could go on. Without each of these people contributing their part, the whole thing wouldn’t work.
God made each one of these people a certain way. He wired each one to care about certain things and not about others. He created the camera operator to see interesting compositions and the vocalist to interpret music with their voice. With each skill and each type of person, there are corresponding development tracks and preparation techniques and execution requirements to achieve the desired outcome for each discipline.
With this diverse group of people comes…wait for it…a diverse group of people.
To isolate ourselves and only care about our own process is not how God designed the body of Christ to function. Yes, we all need to care deeply about our talent, but we also have to be willing to let go of our grip for the benefit of the whole.
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. – 1 Corinthians 12:4-6
When you boil it all down, we all want the same thing: God to move in our services through my individual contribution.
We all have different contributions with different needs.
How can I fight for what I need, while at the same time celebrate you fighting for what you need?
We all want the service to be great, we just have different ways to get to great.
