The Gospel and the Sound Booth: When Technical Difficulties Make Life Awkward

What happens when something like a squealing microphone or video not playing ruins what would’ve otherwise been a “worship moment?”

The answer lies in your understanding of technology and the role that it plays in the gospel.

I have been leading worship for almost 10 years, and by now I like certain things just so: the stage neat, the lyrics correct, the sound balanced accordingly. But what happens when the levels during sound check are NOTHING like the levels when the band plugs in? Or when the video that your pastor was so excited to show isn’t playing on Pro Presenter or Media Shout?

Here is the human, trigger response:

1. Look at the guys in the booth with a shrug and glare…immediately absolving yourself from responsibility
2. Try and crack some sort of joke, mask the technical error with humor to defend your frail reputation
3. Try and push through, but do so rolling your eyes or grimacing that the sound is so bad.

I’m sure there are more things that have happened, but I just picked the ones that are fresh in my mind (because I’ve done them all). I say all of those things to say this crucial solution to the issue:


CARE LESS.

That’s right. Don’t give a flying bludger about it. 
A howling holler. A backwoods barbecue even. 
Okay that was carried away.

Whether you are a worship leader, pastor or just someone who is worshipping in the congregation, it is crucial to understand what it is that connects us with God.




Actually, this is ESPECIALLY for someone who is just worshipping in the congregation.

Christopher-Robin Falzone, a worship leader at Two-Rivers Church in Cooper City, believes that mission is more important than difficulties that come up during method:

"Things happen from time to time during a worship set." said. "The important thing is to continue to stay focused.Trust your sound team.They have their ministry just as you have yours. Part of your job as a worship leader is to lead people into the presence of the Lord. No matter what happens around you." 

Daniel Romero from Christ the Rock Community Church in Cooper City agrees.

" As a sound guy, I think its pretty safe to say that technical difficulties are inevitable and WILL happen to everyone. Its just a matter trusting that God will bring you and the worship team through it. It's not about the music or the lights anyways, it's about giving all you have to worship Him."

Obviously if our motives in coming to church are to be impressed with lights or even music, then it's safe to say that we have drastically mismanaged our priorities. If on the other hand, our focus was the God that the songs tell of, then we should understand that we live in an imperfect world, and imperfect things happen.

Now, does this mean that we should not strive for excellence? Absolutely not. God always deserves our best. But this DOES mean that we need to leave room in our hearts for things to go wrong. Often, when we are standing on the stage upset that things are going wrong with the service, it is because we refuse to look bad in front of an applauding (or laughing) audience. This is pride at it’s very best, and we need to cut that junk out asap. 

The gospel of Christ is that Jesus died the perfect death to free us from sin, absorbing it in Himself on the Cross, and giving to us His perfection. If we can understand this…I mean really understand it, it will free us up to be patient with sound people, calm in circumstances where we feel like things are out of control, and humbled when we have moments that leave us awkwardly saying things like,

“Okay…say hi to someone you don’t know while we figure this out.” 

-Adrian






Stuff to watch:

This worship leader gets attacked by his own drum cage. Stinking awesome.