Techies, we love you!

Above the sound desk in our church is a sign that reads: ‘Teamwork makes the stream work’. It’s a very techie gag, but I have been spending a lot more time with our techie brothers and sisters during this last year, so I’m also learning to appreciate their humour.

The sign is also Biblical! Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4 – wherever we see the body of Christ working together in the Bible, we see language like ‘build up’, ‘serve’, ‘common good’, ‘one body’, ‘unity’, ‘humility’. We see the various gifts given by the same Spirit, all given with the purpose of building up the wider body, and all under the head of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we work together to make the truth of God known in love. We also see the importance and precious value of every gift, whether considered ‘honourable’ or ‘dishonourable’.

This year has seen one of the more under-appreciated parts of the body of Christ become one of the more essential parts as we’ve had to rely so heavily our online ministry. It’s been an important lesson in humility for me as a church musician as I’m usually at the front of church, and the tech team at the back. Musicians are easy to spot, and therefore it’s easy to be appreciated. However, those on the sound desk are at the back of church, and are invisible until something goes wrong. Often, the only ‘appreciation’ they receive are from scowling eyebrows on twisted necks!

I’m writing this article as a personal appreciation to say: ‘Techies, we love you!’

Church musicians especially have every reason to be grateful for the work and support of those on the PA/streaming team. That’s because if they do a bad job, then we sound bad too, but they can also make us sound good when we have an off day (though there’s no hope of making me look good on a video)! For this reason, and in a self-serving kind of way, I’ve noticed myself thanking the sound crew more than I’ve ever done before, but I still feel as if none of us appreciate our sound crews as much as we should. They are a central part of our word ministry, and throughout this last year especially they have been working tirelessly to make sure that the word has continued to be broadcast while our buildings have been shut.

What’s more, they don’t just work in the background in a meeting, but they often work till the small hours making sure that they can do the best job possible. Invariably they are the last to find out what’s happening in a meeting, and they often have to scrabble around at the eleventh hour looking for the right adaptor, wire or mic. They have to put up with all our various foibles and ever-more inventive projects, whilst having to remain patient when we explain that we don’t know what an xlr is!

I can honestly say that I’ve never had to work with a ‘difficult’ sound crew, though I’m sure that I’ve been a difficult musician for them to work with at times. Of course, you may be a pastor/musician/PA operator/ toilet cleaner all rolled in to one, but if you are privileged to have techies in your congregation, please join me in thanking them for their godly and committed service. Caveat alert! … Not that they need thanking by us, because we’re all working for the Lord and not for men etc., etc., but it’s good for us to keep learning that we are all equally valuable members of the body of Christ, working together to make sure the word of God is proclaimed in as many ways as we’re able, and especially while we can’t meet fully in person.

And when we can meet in person (which I hope will be very soon) it would be a wonderful thing to continue our appreciation of those who work so hard on our behalf to make the word of God audible – and to make our music bearable!