Production

The Importance of a Run-Through

One of the most important things you can do to ensure the success of a service is a pre-service run-through. 

In our current age of technology and the multitude of uses it has in our worship services, combined with the complexity of multiple people being utilized in the services, it is more important than ever before to do a full run-through before the service.  We have a responsibility to our congregations both live and online to make sure that they are receiving a clear presentation of the gospel. With that as our goal we have a responsibility to make sure that everything from tech to people is working at its best.

The two biggest challenges we often face with this are time and people.

1. Time- Let’s look at this right off the bat. Time constraints are usually the biggest hindrance to having a run-through before service. We get to church and have barely enough time to go through the songs before service let alone the tech cues that need to be rehearsed with those songs. In order to have a successful run-through you need to give your staff a realistic amount of time to do the job right. That may mean getting there much earlier than you’d like to (trust me I am not a morning person), but if it prevents a singer from hitting the wrong note or an audio guy not turning on a mic it’s worth it. Remember that what we do every worship service is meant to draw people to the Lord. With that in mind an extra hour is worth it to make sure that we are prepared to present a clear and undistracted message to our congregations.

2. People- The piece that makes it all work! The situation I run into a lot myself is that my volunteers are working all week at a job and the last thing I want to do is add one more thing to their plate. As difficult for me as that is I have to remember all of the people who are also coming to our services. As nice as it would be to be able to tell my team to sleep in a little longer and just come in at service time, we have a responsibility to bring together a service that will help bring the congregation to an attitude of worship and attention that will allow God to speak into their lives. To do that effectively we need to be here to run through all of our cues and to make sure all of our mics are functioning so that when our worship team and our pastor hit that stage they are being heard and are able to communicate the message that God has for us that day.

The run-through is not an option it’s a necessity! We are tasked with reaching people with the message of the gospel. It is not a light responsibility; it is sometimes the only way someone will here about the saving grace of Jesus. With that responsibility we cannot afford to let things slide by not doing everything we can to ensure the message is delivered successfully. 

AARON SPENCER
Production Director
Trinity Baptist Church | Jacksonville, FL
tbc.org

Aaron started learning A/V as a volunteer in his church the age of 15. He became interested enough to continue volunteering through college and eventually began a career in Media Production. He spent five years on staff as the Manager of A/V Services at PRI Productions in Jacksonville Florida. During his time at PRI he was also part of the Game Day Crew for the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team. He spent his first 2 seasons as a Camera Operator and his last 3 seasons as an Instant Replay Operator. In July of 2014, Aaron begin working on staff at Trinity Baptist Church as the church’s Production Director. Trinity is a multi-campus church located in Jacksonville, FL.