What is your chain of command during services?

[Paris MkVI]

Les, you ask a good question. And the answer is different for different churches.

For us, we are seeker-sensitive, and we do not want to add options to a service that can lead to possible confusion, for either the attender or the staff. We never lose sight of the fact that it takes about 200 volunteers to provide all the service to folks every Sunday, from camera ops to parking lot attendants to Kids Rock. Those 200 volunteers need and deserve an environment where they can serve with excellence. Prayed-up, planned-up, prepared-up services enable us to serve those who come most effectively.

Once a church becomes a certain size, last-minute changes can create more "adventure" than I ever imagined!

[Esoteric]

Originally Posted by Les Wilson

It seems common that Worship orders are created, approved and followed. Why not let the WL swap songs during a video or sermon? What is the basis for setting the WO and following it so rigidly (not counting Pastoral changes on the fly)?

Do you mean swap song order or substitute whole new songs? There are a multitude of reasons why both are not done, but they are different reasons in each set. But the common thread is two fold. First it reduces stress on the volunteers, second it allows for a level of excellence that allows tech to function unseen, seemlessly integrated into the experience, rather than standing out.

My question would be, why not follow it if you are going to create it?

Mike

[rkresge]

Originally Posted by Steven

We just go with it, then have a big fist fight on Monday that results in black eyes and tears.

We're a relatively small church, so when the contemporary WL makes a mistake we have found that it's best to assume that she was led by the Holy Spirit to do so. Especially since the WL is my lovely bride. In the interest of peace and domestic tranquility I've found it best NOT to review those "on-the-fly" changes with her unless SHE brings them up later. We teach our team that it's best to go with the flow and not get uptight about those changes.

In our traditional services those rare "on the fly" changes are almost always the result of someone's mistake, and the leadership on the platform will catch and correct each other right away.

Roger

[WORDpictures]

Originally Posted by Les Wilson

Why not let the WL swap songs during a video or sermon? What is the basis for setting the WO and following it so rigidly

For larger churches with multiple services especially, a tight worship order keeps everything on schedule including smooth flow throughout the church property such as parking lot transitions or whether workers have to stay after church to count offerings normally taken early in the service. LOL... have you been in a room with twice as many unhappy babies as usual when a service runs over and the next group has already arrived... all while volunteer shifts are transitioning?

Another big factor would be the number of worship workers whose roles would be impacted by last minute changes and the church's culture - primarily attitude toward excellence. A spontaneous song swap hasn't had a recent rehearsal for the musicians, sound board operator, video director, lyrics operator or producer. So obviously, there are many more opportunities for distracting technical errors or missing cues for smooth transitions. I know lyric changes can be awkward as there can be delays in locating the correct lyrics especially if the operator isn't prompted in advance of the specific song (playing "guess this intro"). I've seen situations where lyrics weren't even loaded into a database or had an entire missing verse or had different background images than current theme. All with no opportunity for correction through rehearsal check. So, yes, distracting.

I've served where flexibility rules as well as where the service was counted down to the minute. Pros and cons both ways - but, definitely, the service comes across much more coherent with a tight worship order.

[[Admin] danroth]

Our final word is with the pastor.
That's because he is wise, all-knowing, talented, and extremely good-looking.

We have the benefit of only having one worship service, so time issues are not quite as pressing.

The only exception to all of this is the occasion where the pastor forgets the offering. Then the finance committee has the right to intervene!

[waynehoskins]

As has been said already, the more people there are involved in service roles in worship (particularly in the main service), the more coordination is necessary. Consider the pastor who decides to step up on stage and interject something unplanned between songs of a set: his mic is muted, he's in the dark, the band is starting the next song, and the cameras aren't picking him up, all because nobody knew he was going to do that. I've been caught off guard by that before.

If there are things you can't control -- critical timings so a satellite room will end their song service at the same time as the main room so the sermon can be piped in live, for example -- it's all the more essential to get things right.

There was a thread a while back with a title something like "But The Spirit Only Speaks To Me On Saturday Night" about preparation. Forethought, preparation, rehearsal -- though they sometimes get a bad rap, they're not bad things. The more we can work as a creative team ahead of time, the more cohesive the service will tend to be -- the music minister and teaching pastor have had a chance to discuss the sermon topic, so the music and sermon probably will jive well together; similarly, the graphic designer has had time to make graphics that fit, the projectionist has been able to make sure the songs needed are in the library and correct and ready and loaded, and so on. The rundown makes sure everybody knows what's happening when (and who, and where, and how) -- so the announcements guy has his mic fitted and ready to go (and the engineer knows to turn it on), the television crew know who's about to do what so they can stack their shots, and the lighting guy has his lights ready so when the pastor gets up between songs (now planned), it's a smooth transition with sound and light and music and all.

And most importantly, all the elements of the service will tend to work together well, to not have A.D.D., so to speak. The different elements reinforce each other rather than pull in different directions.

[Esoteric]

Hahahahaha... You said projectionist!!

We had one of those in Austin (the only one left) he was a crazy old man who wore bells on his shoes.

Mike

[Steven]

We follow the Worship Order for three main reasons:

1.) It keeps us on time. We have multiple services across multiple campuses. We must be on time.

2.) It keeps us excellent. We cut down on mistakes when we plan ahead. "Plan your work, then work your plan."

3.) It's irresponsible not to. I am in no way attempting to downplay the work of the Holy Spirit, but I doubt He is responsible for as many last minute attempts as He is credited for. It's actually very limiting when we operate on the assumption that God can only move during the service, when we're all wrapped up in songs. It's my belief that many of the times people are "moved" by God, they're really just moved by emotion. They get wrapped up in a song and start to "feel it," altering their judgment. Most of the time, it's someone who is feeling emotional or is unprepared, and tries to change something at the last minute, and credit it to "being led by the Spirit." I find that to be irresponsible. Now, certainly God can and does do things at the last minute, but more often than not, we see God has a plan for His people, and doesn't operate off-the-cuff.

I certainly don't hope to offend anyone. I am a firm believer in the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Apart from his power, we are disabled from pleasing God. Any success that we may have in Christian service is credited toward the involvement of the Holy Spirit. I just don't like it, and am even mildly offended, when people say (through their actions) that God is more able to work in their life and mind during the second song of a worship service, than during the hours and days spent in prayer and preparation leading up to the weekend.

[RobStip]

We don't have a large congregation at this point, but I'm dealing with multiple locations as well as with somewhat different orders of blended worship, which makes it even more important for us to follow them fairly closely or it gets confusing fast!

As the pastor AND the chief tech person, I can't solve problems during the worship service so preparation is very key for us. Our people do their jobs and the team effort works, but if I tried to do it on the fly too much it would eventually break down and distractions would occur that would take away for worship.

[Expoman55]

I am hoping you could all validate or help me with some direction. We function on Sundays with the help of many volunteers for worship. Worship Leader ( covering Vocals and Band) and then a Production leader( Not manager as that title frustrates the production teams egos), Lighting, video, audio and CGI(mediashout)director. The Prod leader is overall responsible for the service to the Pastor. He or she has NO authority to make a change unless it is emergency management or emergency cue.. The AVL team takes directions from the leader as they rehearse the Service order as decided by Pastor and Deacons. The Pastor holds the Prod leader responsible for the execution so to speak of the Service program. and if there is a pastoral call it goes to the leader for process. The issue here is the AVL team leaders seem to think that they should not have to take direction from the Production leader as the leader is just a volunteer as well ( everyone is) so...... here is where you can help.. How does it work in your service. FYI the Prod person is knowledgable in on stage and technologies.. Any thoughts or suggestions to make it more workable

[WORDpictures]

In the video venue of a mega church where I volunteer, the point person is considered the Producer @ FOH sound booth. But when video is the subject, instructions are usually made directly to the Video Director in a separate video control room. Because this is a video venue of course "video" is of primary importance. Ministry staff is the head of command - they come into the control room for previews & summaries before the service and give related instructions directly to the Video Director. The Director has high tech skills, while our Producers aren't experienced in actually running the equipment. Producer's role is headset communication between technical production, worship & ministry team members mainly during the service itself and this person is based @ FOH with lights & audio operators. Because of high demand for technically skilled volunteers to run equipment every Sunday, most Producers aren't technically experienced though this would be beneficial.

Follow-up concerns are routed through the Producer as communication point person but the actual operator would account for how the issue was addressed. We haven't had issue with rogue AVL leaders doing their own thing though. Production runs as a very tight ship here and so it attracts dedicated team players who want to be a part. I seriously doubt that a rogue AVL operator would be tolerated to stay around for very long here... meaning they would probably drop off the rotation schedule. Perhaps your AVL operators may not be respecting the Producer's requests mainly because they feel the Ministry Staff doesn't understand the technical issues involved. That would involve improving education and understanding of tech issues. I've found it advantageous for the Worship Minister to spend some time in the booth during rehearsal so I can point out tech issues as they come up.

That's just how it works here. Our Directors are busy cuing multiple cameras, video & slides during services, so the Producer's communication role with music, ministry, audio & lighting operators is a vital one.

[Les Wilson]

We have a Technical Director and Technical Arts Director that work together as a team.

The Technical Director has AVL members assigned to handle staging, FOH and lighting. Everything else is done by the Technical Arts Director. For a given service, we have adults from the AVL team designated as Rehearsal Director, Worship Director and Sermon Director. Sometimes it's the same person and other times not. Whoever has the title at the moment of problem/change/decision, they are responsible.

One thing that revolutionized our in-service problem/change resolution was installing an off stage "Bat Phone" aka an Intercom handset. This gives direct communication from the stage (WL, Pastor, Musician) to the "Director" who has access to everyone via intercom and can make it happen most times without removing his/her hands from the switcher.