What's the ideal candidate for a media director/minister

[cw4u]

I'm a sophomore electrical engineering student right now. Over the past two years, I've felt an ever growing call to serve full time in media ministry. I still plan to finish up my degree. Afterwords, I plan to pursue a Master's in Digital Media or Mass Communications.

I have tons of OJT in analog broadcast (local and tri-state), theatrical lighting (high school, little theater, church, and large productions) analog and digital audio, and installation, design, and maintenance of multi-campus IT/Telecom systems. All this coupled with 7 years of media ministry work and 2 years of IT work at my home church.

So what are you guys looking for staff media positions? Would you rather have a media degree from a non-theological school with church oriented OJT to back it up or a Master's of Divinity or something of the sort with all OJT in media/IT?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks so much!

[Paris MkVI]

Here's the things I would look for first.


1. They need to be a committed Christian.
2. They need to have leadership gifts and abilities.
3. They need creative and technical skills to realize your tech potential.

They need to have these first three qualities first and foremost. And in that order – committed Christian, leader, tech skills.

4. They need to understand praising publicly, critique privately – and constructively.
5. They need to value affirmation and appreciation.
6. They need to be willing to work with team members who may need extra grace.
7. They need to be an effective communicator.

These qualities help grow those baby Christians in their midst into more mature followers of Jesus.

Once they’re on the job, they should be looking to replicate their spiritual DNA, looking for an apprentice – not an assistant. An assistant is just off somewhere running errands for them. An apprentice is learning at their side. They are pouring themselves into this apprentice, preparing for the future of this ministry.

In my view, without these essentials, an individual will struggle as a servant leader. With these leadership skill sets in place, they can find and build teams of people even better at various disciplines than they are themselves!

I would look for people who wanted to work themselves out of their own job, so to speak. Someone who has the mindset of an equipper, not simply a doer, with Ephesians 4:11-13 as the foundation of this thought.

[Gracetech]

So it all depends on the job. I for one prefer OJT vs. schooling. Most of the time i have to retrain people once they get out of school so i find it's better to start with someone with OJT because they have a better grasp of the "real world", YMMV. Now if you have gone to a school and really know your stuff then that always benefits you but you are still going to have to put in some "real world" work for me to take you seriously.

I've been involved with alot of churches and the one thing that i always like getting asked is are you a devout follower of Christ? I believe that is key to working well in a church environment. I've worked for a few churches that didn't care if you were a Christian or not and you could always pinpoint the non-Christians as they would clock in and clock out nothing more nothing less. That drove me nuts because even in the background we are setting the tone for the Church and i believe that can only be done by true followers of Christ.

Patience- This is key when doing what you do and working in a church with staff and volunteers. Without this you will fail at your job and cause lots of issues.

Conflict management- If you don't know how to handle conflict i suggest you read the parts of the bible that deal with it. Being able to handle conflict will go along way to dealing with "church folk". Most of what i see in the church is passive aggressive behavior which is not biblical right and is destructive to unity. Dealing with conflict directly with love in your heart is the only way to proceed with the real work. Word of WARNING! Most pastors don't like the CONFLICT word. This destroys their preconceived notion that their church is a harmonious place. This may hurt your chances when mentioned in a job interview unless they specifically ask about it. Be warned!

Cheerleader- You have no idea just how far you can go with some well placed positive comments and a cheery attitude.

Teacher- Hone yourself in your gifting and then share that knowledge with others. Being able to replicate oneself keeps you from burning out. Taking just a few Sundays off a year can mean the difference between self-implosion and Joy for your work.

Everything else will be very job dependent. If you are a TD then you will want to have a general knowledge of all of your areas. If you are a Technical Assistant you can get away with strengths in particular areas. If you are working more on the media end then you will need to have full working knowledge of your area(graphics, camera, editing). Some churches hire out all technical positions but most have volunteers for all. In the middle we find churches that have one technical staff person that literally keeps the church afloat. That person is usually the person through which the the whole operation is hinged on and it becomes very important very fast that in order to survive that person must build teams of volunteers to cope with the work load. So being a team builder will be a big plus in this case.

In the end your strengths and weaknesses have to balance into the job you are applying for. If you are week in an area but more than compensate for it in another then 9 times out of 10 you will get the job unless the magical perfect candidate comes along. Most of the time churches right job descriptions asking for everything under the moon then often settle on who shows up. So you just have to be better than who shows up to get the job. Take job descriptions with a grain of salt. Most of the time at my job interviews i ask more questions than the interviews ask simply because they don't know anything about our world. Usually i get jaw dropping stares. In fact i actually went into one job and was the first to get interviewed and while i was there i noticed they didn't know what questions to ask so i made up a list of questions with the answers to conduct the rest of the interviews.

I hope my ramblings are understandable.

crt