"How can we get more volunteers on the sound team?"
It's a question that gets asked all the time in church tech circles.
But having "more volunteers" doesn't really solve anything. In fact, it can make matters worse.
"How do we grow our tech team with the right people and get great sound?"
There are some important steps you can follow to do it right, and there are four key things you need in order to get consistent technical results every week.
The first crucial thing is to get the right people involved.
Having the wrong person in the wrong position of service is never a good idea.
So, how can we do a better job getting more of the right volunteers on our sound team and helping them do their best to deliver great sound?
This often has to do with our approach to "recruiting" volunteers.
It is entirely possible that a tech team cannot grow simply because of the way would-be volunteers perceive the sound team or leadership.
Do volunteers feel openly invited? Is there a space for them? Are there growth opportunities? What are the commitment requirements? Are they expected to serve every single week? What kind of support can they depend on?
Because of this, it's important to take a close look at how serving opportunities are presented to potential volunteers.
There are plenty of stereotypes about the average sound engineer.
Instead, try looking for people who show an interest in music, the arts, or production.
Musical expertise is not required though.
In fact, a lot of church sound techs are not musicians. They just love listening to music, or enjoy being part of a production team.
Many great sound techs can tend to be "behind the scenes" kinds of people, so they don't always go out of their way to be in the limelight. Sometimes a simple invitation to help out is all it takes to get your next volunteer engaged and excited about joining the team.
Remember, the primary requirement for any ministry volunteer is a servant’s heart and a desire to learn.
The next important consideration is how you prepare and empower your new volunteers to achieve the great sound you and your congregation deserve every week.
We all know that putting a new volunteer behind the mixing console and saying “good luck!” doesn’t really help.
Unfortunately, that exact scenario occurs far too often – even when we don’t mean for it to happen.
It’s important to establish a clear process that your tech team members can follow when they join a team.
What type of training will they receive? Are there any formal benchmarks or technical requirements they need to know about? How many training sessions do they have before mixing on their own?
Training new tech team members doesn't need to be an academic affair, but you do need to provide the right balance of hands-on practice with a dose of helpful live sound concepts.
This approach allows the new team member to grasp the big picture and and know the "why" behind what they are doing, as well as developing the skills of building a mix and working with the worship team.
Defining expectations and providing opportunities to grow and learn will go a long way in preparing your sound techs for success.
We've briefly covered three of the four critical needs that affect just about every church tech team.
This is such an important topic that I created a free email course to help address all of this in a lot more detail.
If you don't currently have a sound team or depend on just one person every single weekend, you definitely need this.
If you have a sound team, but can't seem to get everyone on the same page, you absolutely need this.
And if you're just getting started with sound or volunteering on a tech team, this will be the perfect introduction to church sound and team building.
This free email course is perfect for pastors, worship leaders, team leaders, and even new volunteers.
You’ll receive about 8 emails over the next week or two with helpful information, supporting documentation and guides, and some cheat sheets that will get your team started in the right direction.
Simply sign up below for this free email course and get the first email packed with some great info in just a couple minutes, including "6 new ideas for growing your tech team."