What's a Sound Deacon?

Are you the "sound system deacon" at your church? Were you elected to that post, or did you volunteer? As it turns out, some of us were called to be "sound deacons".

I got my start while I was still in college. I suddenly became re-interested in music, bought a bass guitar, joined a band, and then proceeded to find out that I was very interested in running the soundboard for the band. This gave me a position of some status, because virtually no one else was interested in standing in the back at the mixer while everyone else got to be in the band.

While in college, I joined a church that had a praise band that included electric bass and drums and an exciting "contemporary" worship style. I introduced myself to "Bob", who was standing behind the mixing board and volunteered my services. He was happy to have me relieve him every other week or so. That was in 1988. At the time the congregation was borrowing space to meet every week, which meant that everything had to be brought in to the room, and set up every week. This included a portable sound system that had it's own rolling case, speakers on stands, about 3 microphones, and so on. It all packed together and rolled away into a closet, along with about 300 chairs, at the end of every service.

Our church finally acquired it's own property from another church that was dissolving. When we moved in, we basically retro-fit the 1950's colonial style room with all of band equipment and the portable sound system became a permanent sound system. The music director, in his administrative capacity, made sure mixing duties were evenly divided between all the volunteers. That was me and "Bob".

"Bob" left the church a few years later. He left without saying goodbye to me. He just handed his key to the music director, who immediately handed it to me and said, "You're it". According to the music director, "Bob" had "had it" and was tired of the "hassle". I have always suspected that "Bob" was tired of a young know-it-all like me coming in and changing the EQ every Sunday.

It's 2008 now, and 20 years later I'm still standing in the back of the church. Many changes have taken place, both in our congregation, and in the world of technology. The largest change, however, has probably been in my heart.

I've gone through many phases in those 20 years, and struggled at times with my own attitude on Sunday morning. Generally speaking, the "sound guy" is often the first one at the church and one of the last to leave. For the large part, it's not a paid position. The job is under-appreciated and not very visible. After all, we do stand in the back! I have felt misunderstood, criticized, and taken for granted at times when I felt I was pouring all my energy into my efforts. At other times I have been passive and apathetic, showing up at 7:45 am Sunday morning and performing perfunctorily. Some weeks I wish that I church sound was my full-time job. I could not imagine anything better than to make a living in a church setting, especially if it was my church!

For must of us, though, money and fame are not why we started volunteering in the first place. While I hesitate to call what I do a "ministry", I understand one that one common usage of that word means that we do what we are ABLE to do, in the service of the Lord. Performing a technical service for a body of believers is serving the Lord, not some menial or perfunctory task.
Our church has grown from a small close-knit community church meeting in borrowed space to a large,urban church with a large staff, two Sunday morning services, multiple buildings, and a very strong community outreach program. Technology and media have begun to become commonplace in our church, and weekly events require use of all of our equipment and resources. The need for staff in place capable of handling the tech needs and providing equipment and engineering services has increased steadily. Volunteers, while being well-intentioned, may not have all the skills necessary to perform each task. Additional administrative duties become necessary to keep track of the event calendar and all the requests from various departments.

As I stand at the back of the church on Sunday morning, I am faced with the challenge of the growth and development of the Tech Department, and I sometimes believe I am alone in my efforts. Technology and equipment needs are oftened relagated to the bottom of the priority list, below of host of ministry and outreach projects. Many times, the sound of the morning worship service may go unnoticed- unless something goes wrong. If you are the person in charge of the sound system at your church, you have experienced this yourself more than once.

The struggle that I deal with every week is one every sound deacon faces- how to do an important job without developing an over-inflated sense of self-importance. This requires humility and grace. The change in my heart did not happen overnight, and in fact I resigned for a couple of years, and then returned. Worship services did not grind to a halt, despite my absence. The lesson that I learned was that instead of despite all of my best efforts to prove otherwise, God was still in control of the sound, the music, the worship and that He calls some people to preach, and others to turn the microphone on.

When I realized that I had been called to this service, I became the Sound Deacon.