March 5th, 2008
The Empty Chair
Posted by Greg Atkinson under Church Media, Churches, Consulting, Continuing Education, Greg's Favorites, Ideas, Leadership, Media ministry, Random Thoughts, TrainingLately, I’ve been giving lots of tours to friends from other churches. One thing that they notice and I’m proud of is our extra chairs located beside each tech position. There is a stool beside our FOH audio engineer, there’s an extra chair beside our Service Director, there’s an extra chair beside our lighting tech, there’s an extra chair beside our video director and video engineer/shader and an extra chair beside our graphics operator.
Hear me friends: this is something I do VERY intentionally. When I’m a little sad is when that “extra chair” is an “empty chair”. We almost always have someone in training/learning at every position. If there’s a week when I see an empty chair, I look to my leaders and ask, “Do we not have someone training this week?” I (and my volunteer leaders) work hard and again, very intentionally, to see that the extra chair is not left empty. As I’ve said countless times on this blog, you must continually be recruiting and training… recruiting and training… recruiting and training. It never ends.
PERSONAL:
Why do I write with passion? Why do I travel away from my family to go speak at a conference? Why do I consult with other churches? Because for what ever reason, God has given me a heart that bleeds for His Church. I love Christ. I love the Gospel message. I love my church home and place of service (Bent Tree) and I want to be a good steward of the knowledge, experiences, education and tough lessons learned that God has given me and my church.
What’s my pet peeve and drives me crazy? When a thriving or successful church, especially a larger church, keeps secrets. You ask him how they got to where they are and they don’t share. There’s nothing Kingdom-minded about that. If you’ve ever interacted with me at a conference, you know that I pass on everything I can think of - the good, the bad, the ugly. I share ideas, thoughts, philosophies and challenges with anyone that will listen. This is what a “Church 2.0 leader” does (more on that in my upcoming book).
Do I think I know it all? Hah! Not even close. That’s why I’m constantly meeting with peers and picking their brain. I ask a lot of questions and try to learn from their lessons, philosophies and experiences. I, and my church, am an open book. Come, visit, share, ask, learn. We’ve had tech directors from around the country visit our church to attend a service and see behind-the-scenes. I welcome each of them with open arms. Usually, I feed them, too (just look at me). I’m a big boy.
Sorry for the little rant. I just had this on my mind and heart and wanted to express it publicly. I love you. I love hearing about what God is up to in your church, ministry and community. I want to be a friend and help to you and your ministry in any way I can. We’re in this together, friends. Put away any spirit of competition - that’s not of God. Let’s share our resources, our ideas, our struggles - that’s the Body of Christ!
ON ANOTHER PERSONAL NOTE:
We will miss you Brett Favre!
March 5th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Greg:
Thanks so much for your openness, both in sharing your ideas AND your rants! Not only is God using you to inform His church, but to empower and inspire us as well.
I have started employing the idea of constant recruitment, and in just the last two weeks, I’ve picked up an extra camera guy and a TV audio person! Both will be in training this weekend.
Speaking of Kingdom-minded sharing, and recruiting volunteers, anyone reading my reply can go to http://www.mycrossroads.org, and see what we did this past weekend. Go to the NORTH page, then watch the sermon (it will be up until March 11th or so). It was our annual volunteer signup campaign. The theme was “Covering the Base.” If anyone wants the sermon opener and signup cards, Crossoroads Creative will send them to you free of charge. I’ll even throw in my pastor’s sermon notes. Just email me at:
richard@mycrossroads.org
Greg, thanks again for all that you’re doing to help out. I check your blog EVERY DAY, and I’m praying for you, that God would strengthen you and BLESS you for all the hard work you put in to strengthen and bless us. Your deeds don’t go unnoticed.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Hey man, saw your link on a buddies site. Really like your blog. Very nice feel. Hey I also saw your music that you listen to….you might like our band as well? Check us out if you want..kind of the same feel as what you already are listening to! Be blessed. http://www.myspace.com/thewaitingkind or http://www.thewaitingkind.com
March 6th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Like many of the folks on this blog, I check in everyday! The wealth of knowledge that passes through here is amazing and when you couple that with a sincere desire for true Kingdom Worship…WOW! I like the idea of the “extra chair”. I’ve never really consciously thought about it, but that is when we usually get our best (and longest lasting) volunteers. They usually just stop by to say hi and get hooked. It’s not really all that difficult but it requires practice and, as you say, training. The thing that is difficult is getting people to open themselves up to their spiritual gifts and talents. AV has always been a hobby (since the age of
and knowing that it is one of my talents that I can use for His glory makes it special to everyone. Keep up the good work!
April 7th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
[...] The best recruiting technique was suggested, was, word of mouth. INTERESTING! So I’m going to try something I’ll dub Empty Seat, Open Spot. Granted that means I need to buy some more chairs for my production areas, but I want to see if my students can get some friends involved to fill those empty seats. I originally got this idea from Greg Atkinson. Very ingenious, and something I want to try. I’m curious to my limited readers out there, what recruiting tricks work for you? Leave a Comment [...]
September 12th, 2008 at 6:00 am
[...] newcomer is being considered as a potential future Video Director and is spending time in “the empty chair“. Some camera operators make good shaders, some don’t. Some shaders go on to be Video [...]