Adjusting to Catastrophes in Worship

Last week at my home church, we had a catastrophe. 

I live in the Midwest, and we are famous for our spring thunderstorms that bring torrents of rain, thunderheads that dominate the landscape, and the ever-present threat of tornadoes tearing through farms, homes, and communities. 

Anyways, our church was finishing up the last of repairs from last year's storm to our roof, and all that was left was the ridge cap to be fitted in place. As fate would have it, one of those famous thunderstorms rolled in over the weekend, and the ridge of the roof was affixed with a temporary covering, which blew off in the blustery gales...

...allowing water to seep into the sanctuary, directly over our sound booth. 

At 6:30am Sunday morning, I walked into a flurry of people frantically unplugging digital sound boards, wireless mic receivers, computers, and a lot of other precious (and expensive) pieces of equipment that had been soaked from the leak in the roof. Immediately, I knew what I had planned for music that day had to be scrapped—it relied too much on our technology to pull off. 

The morning required a hard pivot—and it worked out really well. Here's what happened...

Resetting the Configuration (6:30am)

The first thing I did was check on my team members, especially the ones who had to travel through flooded areas, and reassign duties to them. We ended up letting our bass player take the morning off, along with two vocalists who were unable to make it in due to water over the roads. Our drummer switched to djembe, I grabbed a spare acoustic from our youth department, and set up a small and unmic'd configuration below the front of our stage. Our total roster was:

• Two acoustic guitarists (who also sang)

• One additional vocalist

• One djembe player

In the meantime, our tech team pulled the mobile sound system from our youth building and set it up in the main sanctuary to make sure the person speaking was amplified, as he would be delivering a sermon for two services.  

Within about 30 minutes, we were set and ready.

Revamping the Songs (7:00am)

Because we had no projection capabilities, I had to draw from a bank of songs that mostly everyone was guaranteed to know, or could at least easily follow. The set list ended up being:

• "How Great Is Our God"

• "Jesus Messiah"

• "I Exalt Thee"

These songs paired well with our Scripture passage (Mark 8:27–30, Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ), and they worked well because of their:

• Familiarity

• Singability

• Repetition

It was an easy task to pull the sheets from the filing cabinets in a storage wing. Pretty soon, we had run through each tune, adjusted parts here and there, and we were ready to go—with over 30 minutes to spare!  

Refocusing the Congregation (8:00am)

Our pivoting didn't stop there, though. The biggest task ahead was getting the congregation to move closer to the front of the room, which proved to be a bigger challenge than I had anticipated. Some folks were more than happy to leave "their spot," while others, upon hearing that only the sermon would be mic'd, said, "We'll stay here, the sermon is all that really matters." (*big sigh*—that's a WHOLE 'NUTHER post...)

When the service started, I welcomed everyone and refocused their attention away from the damage and water receptacles catching droplets, inviting them to worship a God who is the master of the storm (and to also pull up lyrics on their phones if needed). With that out of the way, we began singing...

...and it was powerful.

To hear the voices of our church family blending together, making sure I was cuing the lyrics as we went along, was moving. It was a wall of sound, projecting out and up, drowning out the drip drip coming from the ceiling, and most every person praised God with hearts and hands lifted up. 

What a morning—what had initially looked to be dismal and demoralizing ended up being a time of resounding, invigorating worship—and God's Spirit moved as we sang and heard His Word preached.

The Takeaways

Here's what made the pivot possible:

• Past preparation: Our team was seasoned in our instrumental and vocal abilities, and we were familiar with the new songs; all it took was a quick run-through to make sure all parts were covered.

• Singular serving: Our focus was not on pulling off a grand spectacle—we were there to serve God and our church family. We chose not to be hampered by the lack of technology to offer excellence and authenticity in our worship.

When this happens to you and your team (yes—"when," not "if"), just keep those two aspects in mind: successful pivoting is only possible if you are prepared to deal with it and you must maintain your focus on the "why"—to glorify God and edify His people.

Be blessed 👊✌️