Tech Directors not Tech Engineers

I recently had dinner with a good friend.  He’s the Worship Director for a large church with a large staff of production and worship peeps.  They are in need of a leader in their production department.  While talking about their needs, which are unique, i realized something.  They need a leader and an advocate for their team, and that person doesn’t have to be highly-skilled in a technical area, AT ALL.  I think this is true for them, a large church, and for small churches that can only hire 1 person for their tech department as well.  They need to be able to encourage, go to bat for, manage, and lead a team (staff or volunteers) of highly-skilled technical people (FOH, Lighting Designers, Video Director, etc.).  The tendency is to make your best audio guy/gal or video director the department leader.  If they have the skills, that’s great.  But more times than not those skills do not co-inside. And that’s okay.  This makes the pool of candidates much larger, and encourages me that my friend’s church can find some one to help fill that gap.  So, if you’re a Worship Leader or Church Executive looking for a TD, PM, or whatever you wanna call it, remember they don’t need to be the best FOH engineer or lighting designer, but they do need to be able to lead the technical world of your church, the volunteers and staff in it, advocate for their team, and communicate and execute the mission and vision of the Church.  That is THE most important part of their job.