Practical Music Ministry

Serving God Through Sight, Sound, and Song

Striving to Grow: Overcoming Obstacles in Music Ministry (part 5 – Time Wasters)

Are time wasters killing your ministry’s effectiveness?

As with anything, time wasters are effectiveness killers. Time wasters cut into our preparedness, and, as we mentioned in part three of our series, lack of preparation clouds our purpose.

There’s a “trickle down” effect when it comes to time wasters and preparation–a cause and effect relationship. Much like workers on a conveyor belt, if one person falls down on his/her job, there’s inevitably a backup created. Here’s an example scenario, let’s say someone is having a conversation with the sound tech while he should be preparing for the final sound check/rehearsal for the morning service. By the time the band arrives, unaddressed sound issues delay the band’s rehearsal. The band becomes frazzled, so they’re no longer focused on worship. In hopes to finish their run-through, they hold the doors to the sanctuary, thereby making the congregants antsy or impatient, negatively influencing the worship of some. The pastor sees this negative vibe from the congregants, thereby increasing his concern and drawing his focus away from his purpose. One single incidence has hampered the entire service.

While it may sound extreme or exaggerated, situations like this do happen, and they happen considerably more frequently than we would like to admit. Here are some points to consider to keep your machine running smoothly:

Develop a schedule and stick to it. It’s not enough to only know when the doors open and the service starts. Set a schedule for specific things like equipment tests, line level checks, sound check with band, rehearsal, doors open, service begins.
Reinforce roles and jobs. Once jobs and roles have been established, it’s important the people take those jobs seriously. Not serving your role or function delays other team members. In fact, someone their job may be completely reliant on whether or not someone else does his/her job.
Know the difference between practice and rehearsal. Practice is what each member does on his/her own time. Rehearsal is the time where the band comes together to work on the band’s sound. Rehearsal is not the time for individuals to learn parts or work on difficult ones. Rather, rehearsal is the time to make sure that all of the parts each member learned at home work together in a unified way.
Rehearsal/sound check is not social time. When band or tech crew members arrive for sound check or rehearsal, they have a job to do. I know it sounds callous to say that members shouldn’t chit-chat, but socializing eats into someone else’s time. It hampers someone else’s job and is a detriment to the efficiency of the group.
Keep equipment maintained. Rehearsal is not the time to find out a particular piece of equipment isn’t functioning properly. I completely understand unfortunate surprises happen. However, certain things should be check and addressed prior to rehearsal time, and even prior to sound check. Technical and sound crews should be among the first people to arrive. They should check all equipment, batteries, cables, and signals before the band even arrives. That way, if there is an unfortunate surprise, then there may be time to make other arrangements.

What time wasters plague your team? How did you deal with them? Comment and let us know.

See other posts in the series Striving to Grow: Overcoming Obstacles in Music Ministry