Back to Basics: Media Ministry - Why Are You Here?

Why are you involved in media or technology ministry?  Here are some possible answers:

“I like working with _____ (chose one or more: sound/video/web sites/computers).”

“The pastor said we need to serve so I had to pick something.”

“I work on computers for a living so I’m helping out the church.”

If any of these are your reasoning for being involved in media ministry then you need to get out of it right now!  If you are looking at being involved at church just like any other activity such as sports, clubs or volunteer organizations then you are there for the wrong reason. The correct answer should be something like this:

“I want to serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His church with the gifts and talents that He has granted me to the best of the ability He has given me.”

Media ministry, as with all ministries, is not about us or our abilities.  It is all about serving Jesus Christ and serving others.  By showing up to operate sound or video equipment or designing a web site or making publications you are not doing the pastor, or technical director, or worship leader or the congregation any favors.  If you come in with that kind of mindset then it becomes about you.  It becomes an issue of selfish ambition and pride.  Trust me it is easy to get caught up in being selfish and prideful.

In the mindset of serving God and serving others I believe there is nothing wrong with being pleased with our accomplishments.  If we are doing a great job mixing a service or produced a video that touches people or designed a web site that brought people to the doors of our church then we can be proud of that because we did it as a representative of Jesus Christ.  The Apostle Paul told the church at Galatia “Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else,”. (Galatians 6:4)  When we measure ourselves up against someone else then we are serving with a wrong motive.  Should we strive to do our very best?  Absolutely!  God deserves nothing less but our best may not be someone else’s best.  To paraphrase 1 Samuel 16:7 man looks at what we do outwardly but God knows our heart.

I believe that you should also see your service as an offering to God.  Our offerings should be unblemished and without defect.  Does that mean perfect?  No, there was only one perfect offering and that was Jesus Christ.  We should make every effort to make sure that our offering is the best we have.  We covered how in the last post.
We also went into more detail about our offering and how it correlates to worship in a previous post in May titled “It’s Really About Worship”  Please take a moment to read that post.

God is THE Creator.  He is very creative but He is also very detailed and structured.  You need both in media ministry.  You have to have creative people and you need structured people and you need unity between the two and on occasion you will have someone that is both.  Bonus!  They will have various talents and personalities.  Those various talents and personalities unified to accomplish a common goal is what makes up a team.  On a personal level, as a director, God has entrusted me with discipleship of the team.  He has given me a stewardship responsibility over media and technology at our church.  He has entrusted me with a vision on how to proceed using the tool of media and technology to serve Him, serve others and further His Kingdom.  I don’t do this on my own.  I need each and every member of the media ministry team.  I prompt discipleship but ultimately they are responsible for their spiritual growth.  I work toward solutions with equipment by listening to the needs of others and by what the team tells me.  I work toward the prize of pleasing my Lord by using media and technology to do the very thing that He has called me to do.  The verses around Galatians 6:4 that I quoted earlier speak to teamwork.  

Galatians 6:1-5 (NIV) 1Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, 5for each one should carry his own load.

Your team should all be helping each other with spiritual growth and with meeting the needs of each other as well as the staff and the entire body of Christ. Your team should understand how to proceed with the tools given them to help facilitate serving Him, serving others and furthering His Kingdom.  Your team should be striving for excellence in their service or offering.  Every team member should be responsible to take care of whatever task has been given to them therefore carrying there own load.  It is a team effort!  Everyone must do their part otherwise the burden is much heavier for someone else and will eventually get to the point that they collapse under the weight and then you have lost a team member.  It is the responsibility of tech directors and team leaders to make sure that the weight stays evenly distributed even if that means restructuring your team or making unpopular decisions.

We adopted a Media Ministry Team mission statement a year ago which I will not repeat here because we have changed it some to better represent our mission.

The goal of the Media Ministry team is to provide services worthy of the worship of Jesus Christ.  We will accomplish this goal by utilizing prayer, planning, preparation and practice while keeping our priorities of God, family and church in order.  We will seek how to best serve every ministry with media and technology to help facilitate bringing people to know Jesus, helping people to grow in Jesus and sending people to show Jesus.

That is why you are here.