Clean Tech Areas: Not the Norm!

White sugar donut powder coats EQ knobs. Coffee cup rings leave sticky circles next to equipment. Cables are left strewn on horizontal surfaces. Labels are mysteriously missing from most connectors. Dust is layered on top of equipment and clogs the filters and fans of electronics.

In short: it’s a mess.

Maybe it’s because media people would rather plug in cables than label them, or maybe it’s that we have a tendency to do things quickly to “make it work” but don’t take the time to “make it right”. I’m not sure what the reason is, but in every church I’ve consulted with since the beginning of this year there has been a mess in the tech areas.

You have not because you clean not
OK, that’s not exactly what John 16:24 says, but I’m convinced that media folks usually don’t get new equipment because the leadership doesn’t see them taking care of what they do have.

When I first started at my third church staff position, I inherited a young assistant named Daniel. This quiet young man and I had spent less than a week together before I had to leave and go teach at a conference. Before leaving, I had toured the entire campus and looked at everything (Audio/Video/Lighting) that we were responsible for and had made the announcement that we were going to clean up and organize those areas. My rationale was for three reasons:

1) I was new to the church and wanted to have a complete inventory list of every piece of equipment;
2) I wanted each tech area to be organized so we could easily operate and repair the equipment;
3) I knew that the business administrator and executive pastor would appreciate our new list for both insurance purposes and for a fresh start towards excellence in our ministry.

Daniel took the lead and pulled together staff and volunteers to do some major cleaning, organization and labeling. When I returned four days later, he and his team had it completed!

Now beyond the moral of the story (get it done and do it right) is a great ending: when I was able to show the church leadership what equipment we could re-use and what needed replacing (instead of expensive repair for outdated items), getting a P.O. signed was a piece of cake!

Your leadership wants you to have the right tools
I know some of you don’t believe that statement but I submit that if you show that you’re using what you have to the best of your ability and you research and document the cost for replacement vs. repair, the money will show up.

    People don’t give money to need – they give money to vision.

When you show that you’re taking responsibility for what you do have and you create a vision for what should be, people and resources will show up. Every time.

Get it right. Keep it right.
I know, it’s not fun to clean. It’s a daunting task to chase cables (hundreds of them), test them and label them. All of them. It’s not easy or a quick task to create start-up and shutdown checklists for every position in every venue. It’s certainly not easy to break habits of sloppiness. But it all must be done.

By Anthony Coppedge (http://www.anthonycoppedge.com/)

Anthony is a respected consultant who has committed himself to the church
marketplace.  Sought after by today’s fast-growing churches, Anthony brings
a wealth of knowledge, experience and practical know-how to the table.  By
focusing on helping churches develop Media & Communications technologies and
team-building strategies with clear upgrade paths, Anthony helps churches to
be good stewards of their resources and personnel.  He can be reached at [email protected].