I treasure the songbook that belonged to my great-grandfather. He was the song leader in the small church in rural Virginia, sitting on the front row of the church every Sunday, wearing an indention in the wood flooring as he kept the rhythm of the hymns with his patting foot. He didn't stand in front to lead hymns; he stayed seated and "heisted" they hymns, as they called it, singing in a strong, resonant baritone voice that the other 60 people in the congregation could follow.

The days of heisting hymns is long, long gone, and no where is that more evident than in the application of sound and video technology in churches. Even traditional worship services today are likely to require serious investments in audio technologies, and most contemporary services aggressively seek unchurched people with musical and video presentations that rival what exists in the popular media.

This expansive reliance on technology has created a new class of church servants, the Worship Technicians. Those of us in these roles are usually volunteers, frequently eager amateurs in our crafts, and we offer a ministry in worship that is transparent when done well, and glaringly, disruptingly obvious when done badly. We're not the only ones who are under this kind of pressure; Jacque Plante, the Hall of Fame hockey goalie for the Montreal Canadiens, once observed, "How would you like a job where, if you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?" Worship Techs have that job...

In this series of Bible studies, I want to speak specifically to church Worship Techs, but what I say applies to any Christian who God has called to serve in an area that is demanding, lacks glamour, and is largely ignored. Those who provide nursery care, those who tend the building and maintain the lawn, those who fold bulletins, those who make phone calls to prospects -- this study is for all of you, too. In that regard, I dare say God calls every Christian, at some point in our Walk, to such a task, for we all so desperately need to remember that at our best and finest moments, we are nothing greater than slaves, bought with an astounding payment, of the Almighty God.

This study is divided into four sections:
Being Faithful -- worshipping God through our craft
Being Patient -- showing God's love to others, and ourselves
Being Focused -- giving God our best
Being Humble -- finding our place through our ministry