Look! A Distraction!

by Tim Swanson

A few years ago, I got to launch a brand new Sunday evening service at a church in north Phoenix. It was supposed to be a service for younger families. The idea was that a younger preacher, louder music and cooler graphic art would be more attractive to newlyweds or couples in their 30s. We were launching this new service just as Winter had turned into Spring, so it was a particularly beautiful time of year to boot. Our whole team was charged up by the idea that we would have a crack at appealing to 20 & 30 somethings. When we launched, the turnout was okay. We had 40-60 people attending weekly, but there were plenty of new faces.

At the time, I was the quintessential contemporary worship leader. My style was the ‘fly by the seat of your pants’, picking out music just before rehearsal, paying little attention to musical dynamic, preaching the philosophy that says, “I don’t plan ahead because I just follow the Spirit”,

I can’t imagine what the expression on my face looked like in that moment, I’m sure it was priceless. I watched as my church family ducked their heads to avoid the swooping flapping bat. They were clearly uncomfortable. But song we were singing still had a solid 60 seconds left before we would be done. I had no idea what to do. So, I did what any good church leader does when an obvious problem presents itself. I just acted like it wasn’t there. I hurriedly finished the song with the band, and wished everyone a good night. Every person was on the heels of the person in front of them trying to get out of that building. That was the worst ending to a service I have ever experienced.

Later that week, in a meeting with some of the other church staff, I learned that bats had been nesting in the auditorium for years. The church had spent lots of money trying to correct the problem, but those bats would eventually find their way back in there. The church had never held any events in the auditorium in the evening during that part of the year. And as we planned and launched our Sunday evening service, nobody even thought about the bat problem. But that was probably one of the big things that we should have thought of and taken care of before it landed us in a batastrify.

isorganized worship leader. As we planned services I often thought, “This is a waste of time. We should just go out there and do it. It’ll be fine”. The idea of deciding exactly how things would go felt too confining. Since then I have learned a few really hard lessons about planning and preparation. One lesson I learned on a night just after we had launched the Sunday night service.

It was just after the sermon, and we were doing one last song to wrap everything up. I always picked a loud song to end services. The sun had just gone down, and remnants of orange and red sunset colors were still visible from the massive windows that flanked the stage in the church auditorium. As I sang, I looked out into the seats at the people who weren’t singing, which was nothing new. As my eyes scanned the people, I saw a few of them begin looking upward. “YES!” I thought, “The music has become so moving that they cannot resist looking toward the heavens! Hallelujah! I’m awesome at this!” (I was really prideful back then... and now). Before long my suspicions were confirmed, more eyes began to wander skyward. I immediately focused on singing harder in an attempt to knock the service completely out of the park. As I did, more and more people’s gaze turned upward. Before long, every single person in the room was looking at the ceiling. Then I watched as their stares began to move back and forth across the ceiling. Suddenly something felt off. It seemed like they were all looking at something. I looked toward the ceiling and spotted it. A bat fluttered madly around the room. Confused by the deafening music, It thrashed about the ceiling fixtures as if it were having a seizure. I glanced back at the people, who looked panicked. Everyone was distracted from worship. And the bat didn’t appear to be worshipping either. One mother grabbed her children by the hands and dashed out the auditorium doors. Some of the others saw her and looked like they were contemplating panic too.

I have learned that even on a Sunday without a bat flying around, planning and preparation make all the difference. While I used to believe that planning limited the opportunities of the Holy Spirit. I now see things a little differently. The Holy Spirit's opportunities do not depend on anything that I do or don't do. He is powerful and I am not. When I plan further in advance, I maximize the Spirit's opportunity to work through me. As I pray and contemplate services a month or more in advance, I have more time to be creative. I communicate better with my team. I internalize the message of the music better. And, when the service begins I'm not trying to remember how the songs go. Instead I can focus my attention on my job, which is to facilitate a place for God's people to get together and worship Him. Planning meetings are still not easy for me to sit through. I like doing things, but I'm not a big fan for sitting around talking about doing things. But when I focus on interacting with my planning team, I maximize my effectiveness for Jesus. And while I know I can't count on everything; and there are plenty of tough lessons left to learn. One thing is for sure, I'll never overlook bats ever again.