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Filling a void

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Zach Amason:
So, at my church we are in a somewhat sticky position. We are music minister and media minister-less(so we called him that, he couldn't even keep up with replacing mike batteries.) at this point, and everything is in a temporary mode. I can feel a sense of halfway-ness in lots of things. We have great equipment and resources, but they are sitting in a closet somewhere, left when the last media director resigned. I really feel a need to...well..."take over" in a sense in the media department just to get things back to full operation. But, I am only 16(i've been around mixers since i was eight). I'm somewhat unsure how I could take this position of leadership and gain the respect of everybody else. I might be the youngest, but I'm the only one of us that can go through a service without feedback or missing a cue.
So...down to the meat...how can I bring myself to a place of leadership and get our broken media ministry back together and take advantage of all the expensive equipment that is sitting getting dusty?

Aaron McQueen:
Where is the pastor?  You need to talk to him about your calling.

Zach Amason:
dur.
im an idiot.
   

Derrick Bassett:
Hey Zack -

Like Aaron said...you probably should talk to your pastor first. Share with him what you've been noticing and how you feel you can help. Hopefully age won't be a huge concern here, but unfortunately it often is. Take lots of time to pray over the situation.

If you come to the place where the pastor has handed you the reins - it is going to be mega important that you build relationships with the other volunteers and work WITH them; not above them. Lead the way by example, offer suggestions, and use lots of encouragement. I'm assuming now that many of the other volunteers are older then yourself. Due to your higher skill level and your younger age - other volunteers may feel uneasy with you in a "position above them".

I grew up in a church where I was the strongest tech on the team; I understood more of the equipment function, my ears were trained from my vocal and instrumental training (also helping me to communicate and understand what musicians need), and I had more free time to meet for sound checks. I was probably the most requested sound tech for sound checks and special events. However - I didn't handle it well. I was condescending to the other techs and would try to solve problems and take control in places I had no right to be in. Obviously - that hurt me and others. It took a long time to build some of those relationships again. After a while of just stepping back and running my weeks with high quality the other guys started to approach me for assistance and suggestions.

Best wishes.

Zach Amason:
That sounds an aweful lot like what our situation is. We have 3 people right now that can operate the board. One is me, the other has been overworked over the past year, and the other is a loudmouth idiot who is too busy trying to put on a show for the folks in the balcony than actually do his job(he thinks that since he was a disk jockey in his college days that it qualifies him to be the head honcho of everything electronic). Also, there is one woman that coordinates the people to run sound tech/screens/instrumentalists on her own time that she doesn't have and I would like to help her out as much as I could with scheduling people to work.
After this week (VBS-and I was the only sound tech available), most of the people on staff have realized my skill and it has really helped to build my reputation as a respected A/V technician.
Thanks guys.

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