The Relationship On Your Worship Team With The Most Untapped Potential

On our honeymoon, Allison and I read Sacred Marriage. It's an outstanding book that every married couple should read. In it, Gary Thomas poses this brilliant question: What if marriage was designed to make us holy more than to make us happy? 

More than happy?

I had never considered that questions before, which kinda helped me make sense of the dozens of failed relationships I had before meeting my wife. And as my wife and I read this book, we got a huge head start on pursuing a strong, lasting marriage. Even today, Thomas' question challenges me to see obstacles in my marriage as opportunities rather than inconveniences. 

But here's the brilliance of Gary Thomas' question, and how it applies to you and your team: 

What if the relationships within our teams, like marriage, were opportunities for us to pursue holiness? 

It's certainly changed the way I view conflict on my team. Today, when I see tension brewing among team members, I find myself a lot less stressed. Sometimes I'm even excited. And there's one relationship on your team that has huge potential to help your team members discover more potential in themselves. 

A relationship with huge potential

When I first started leading worship at Moon Valley Bible Church, there was a set of electric drums on the stage. The second I saw them, I knew why they were there. Like nearly every other church out there, the volume of the drums had been an issue, and the church acquired a set of electric drums to give the audio tech more control over the volume. 

However, the other side of that same issue is most drummers hate electric drums. And so the battle goes on. In most auditoriums, audio technicians are typically exasperated by the volume of acoustic drums. And most drummers are exasperated by playing with an instrument that feels clunky and synthetic. 

So what did I do when I saw the electric drums? I did two things. First, I sold the electric drums and replaced them with an acoustic set (at this point, half of my readers are smiling and nodding, and the other half are looking for the 'unsubscribe' button). But it was the second thing I did that I really want to share with you. After I sold the drums, I had a series of conversations with my Audio Technicians. 

I let them know they were still responsible for creating a good mix during the church's services. But I also told them that their responsibility came with the authority to fulfill their responsibility. That means if one of my audio techs asks a drummer to play more quietly, I'll fully support him. And it's part of the drummer's job description to listen to the audio technicians. 

Now, I'm not telling you this to point out what a sensational leader I am. Instead, I want to show you something that has been a huge source of inspiration to me. 

Over the last couple of years, I've gotten to watch several of my audio technicians and drummers wrestle with the challenge of working together to get the right volume in the room. There's been a lot of Can you play with about 20% less volume? from my audio techs. But my drummers have also been saying a lot of How was my volume on that last song? 

Watching my drummers and audio techs work together, rather than against each other, has been one of the most rewarding parts of being a worship leader. My joy comes entirely from getting to watch them wrestle with a relationship that has traditionally been a source of great stress. They're learning that connections like these are an opportunity to be respectful, and respond in love to each other. And my team is healthier and more functional for it. 

Question: What relationships have given your team members opportunities to become more holy?