So I got the sweet opportunity to go to the live finale of the hit show The Voice this week, VIP status. Perks of having a wife who works for our Worship Pastor who has worked with Mark Burnett, the producer of the show. I have to admit, it was pretty awesome. I also have to admit, it was not what I was expecting. They taped some things before hand, not live. They told us to stand up and cheer, clap, yell if we saw others doing it because I don’t always know what is being said. In total, we were there for 6 hours for a 1 hour show. The stage was amazing, there were people everywhere, and everyone worked together like I have never seen before. It made me look and reflect on a few things when it comes to leading our ministries.
Who is the spotlight on? There was one guy who’s one job is to hype us up and tell us when to clap, cheer and yell, even when we didn’t want to. He worked his butt off, working the crowd in between shots and on commercial breaks. He was all in. Which made us all in. Even though he told us when to do certain things and we were not feeling it, we did them because he was all in. Then the contestants began to play and our enthusiasm turned genuine and we forgot about the hype guy. In ministry, sometimes we tend to be the hype guy. We run around to try to make sure our students are in, having fun, engaged and stay engaged. But our main goal should be like the hype guy, get us to the point where we forget about him and focus on the performers. Our jobs as ministers to get our students to the point where they no longer focus on who we are, but focus on the One who we are worshipping. We need to be the hype people in our ministry, because if we are not, no one will be, but we should not be the focus of ministry. We need to continually point our students to Jesus and get them in a moment where they focus on Him, experience Him, and it could change their life. If the hype guy at The Voice kept focus on him, he would be fired. We need to not be the focus of our ministry, but help student focus on Him.
How well does your team work together? One thing I was amazed at was how many stage hands there were. After a segment there would be a set change. Out of no where, 50 men in black come out from the back and would begin to change the set. I’m not talking about a moving this to there, but I’m talking about ginormous set and design pieces hanging from the ceilings, lights dangling from the sides, fire and fireworks. It was incredible how well they worked together and were able to change everything in 3-6 minutes to make the entire stage look completely different. How well does your team work together? It could be paid staff people, it could be volunteers, whatever your team is, we know when things are running smooth major change can happen. It might not take 3-6 minutes, but when your team is on the same vision, same goals and they have a clear direction, the culture of your ministry begins to change. God shows up in a major way. God begins to work through your team and loves start to be changed. It’s amazing what a team with a clear vision can do.
All in all, it was a cool experience. I would do it again. I was amazed at what a well oiled machine it took to put on such a great show. All I can do is wonder how more epic it would be if we took some of these notes and realized we have God who can work amazing things in our lives and ministries. The experience would be so much cooler than a TV show.
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