This post is lifted almost verbatim from an interview and paper I did for a class. Apologies in advance for the academic nature of this post 🙂
I think every worship leader ever has received a complaint about the worship being too loud at their church. While this is not a problem, it raises a question: When or what do we change to make 1-2 people happy? This applies to all areas of ministry and creates a consumerized mindset among churches often. I turned to two friends of mine to ask for their thoughts on consumerism in the church. Since it is a very relatable issue, they both had a lot of wisdom to share about it.
David Jones, Creative Arts Pastor at Jesus Church in Glendale, Arizona, said that one of the biggest problems for his church based on preference is the overall length and volume of worship (anyone familiar with my writing knows that David is my mentor and worship team leader). David says, “it is impossible to make everyone happy with the loudness levels of our front of house audio mix, poor room sound treatment, and other uncontrollable factors.” He also adds, “it can quickly become more about us and less about God, if we’re not careful.” The production and worship ministry team at Jesus Church has made a lot of changes to the sanctuary, including a new drum cage, sound treatment for the room, equalization on the soundboard, attempting to mix at lower volume, and more. Unfortunately, some members of the congregation still experience discomfort in their ears during worship.
Ian Mavity, Worship pastor at Redemption Hill Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado responds to this issue as well. However, Ian has addressed this issue in a slightly different way. The system in their sanctuary is tuned very carefully, so often, when people ask why it is so loud, he explains why it is so loud in different parts of the room and quieter in others. Sometimes, people respond positively to this and choose to sit elsewhere, other times, not. One thing that has helped Ian is asking people “what specifically is too loud about it?” This helps him pinpoint what can be changed and give feedback to tech volunteers.
Through all this tech talk, there is a point: As Ian put, “ I have learned you can’t change your goals to make 1 or 2 people happy when the majority are happy.” The church cannot be consumerized just to make everyone happy or be culturally relevant. David said, “the word of God will always be relevant, we do not need to change the message at all.” Ian pointed to worship specifically, saying our culture likes good music, so give them good music about the Gospel. The two of these answers work well together because we can use modern music to deliver our age-old gospel message to the world.
Though not part of this set of interviews I did, I had a related conversation with my boss a few weeks ago that I thought was good insight to share. He has been a professional audio engineer for years now and mentioned that in any church he has worked mixing front of house, he has always requested that the ushers of the church have earplugs to give out to parishioners. This way people don’t have to bring their complaints to the FOH engineer. As he put it, “There is nothing more demeaning for an audio guy than being told you’re hurting someone.” Earplugs that are free to grab and are out of sight and mind of the tech team are another great consideration for churches to make.
What I learned from these interviews and conversations taught me that what is most important isn’t how we lead worship, how loud it is, or who is singing, but rather that we are getting the message of the gospel across! we cannot make our churches totally consumer-minded.
In closing, David and Ian had some advice to give new worship leaders. David says, “Stay humble and be intimate with the Lord. Through your intimacy with the Lord you will learn and understand, what no gifting can teach you, to truly know how to lead His church. Surround yourself with leaders who truly believe in you. God will promote you, and wait on the Lord.” Ian adds, “the advice I would give for a new worship pastor or leader is to volunteer at your church to do almost everything. Get to know your people so you can serve them. Remember to serve your volunteers, and take care of them. get them food every now and then, and throw parties outside of Sunday or band practice night. Plan your services a month ahead but leave room to change your plans and adapt. And lastly, if all your technology stops working before, or during service, it’s okay. The worst thing that happens is that you worship the lord [without] it all.”
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Daniel Floring Music 