I feel like this is gonna be the easiest core value blog entry to write. We should have a sense of fun in everything we do, and everything works better when everyone is having fun together.
I'm always excited to get together with a creative arts team, whether it's a Thursday rehearsal, hanging in the video production room on Sunday, or helping put a set together. It's fun for me- I like to be with other people on the team, working for a common goal, and doing really neat activities.
I hope everybody reading this feels the same way!
Here's the thing- the key to having a great time in Creative Arts at Crossroads is to internalize the first three core values. If we have love for one another, if we are on time and doing things at the right time, and if we are always prepared when we serve, fun will follow.
I've seen what happens when one or more of those values is missing. People are snarky. Rehearsals bog down because someone didn't prepare and we have to repeat the songs over and over, or stop all the time to correct errors. Time gets short because people showed up late, and the resulting rush to get it all done kills the joy. Life is short...who wants to waste their valuable free time that way? Nobody!
So let's encourage one another toward fun- Yeehaa!
JIM
@CreativeArts Crossroads Community Church Ottawa Lake, MI www.crossroadson23.com
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Monday, January 5, 2015
Preparedness
Happy New Year! I'm so pumped to be serving with you at Crossroads in 2015...I think it's going to be a great year for our church, and a year where we see numerical and spiritual growth in our church and on our team.
We've been talking about the core values of our team. We started with Love- without love for God and each other, we won't be able to move forward together and we won't be able to speak truth to each other. Then we talked about the value of timeliness, and how being on time honors God and each other- it's actually an extension of love when you really think about it. We also mentioned how communication is an important part of timeliness: accepting/declining serving in a timely manner, connecting with the team leader in advance if you will be late to a rehearsal or need to cancel, etc. Having integrity with each other in these simple but important areas will build trust and quality into our team!
Now let's think about preparedness. Preparedness is a mindset that results from taking our volunteer opportunities seriously and believing that what we do is important for us, for our church and for our guests. When we truly believe something or someone is important, we will always be prepared.
Being prepared for a musician or singer means completely knowing your music and parts ahead of rehearsal. When I come to a rehearsal without full preparation, I can tell right away. I miss entrances. I don't know how long the transitions are between sections of the music. I miss riffs and lyrics because I'm not sure of them. I know that means the team suffers because everyone will have to work around my problem, the whole rehearsal takes longer, and the quality of the music suffers.
So over the years I've made a commitment to myself that when I accept a position on the team, I know I'm committing not only to the actual serving, but to taking the time in advance to be prepared. Even though I'm a professional musician....someone who could "fake" my way through a rehearsal and still be ok...I know that wouldn't be fair to the rest of the team.
Being prepared as a tech person means knowing my equipment, checking it in advance to make sure it's working, looking over my content to make sure it's accurate, and looking over the service order to make sure I know what I'm doing and when I'm doing it.
This is why I'm asking tech volunteers to start coming in at 7:45 on Sundays- so we can be prepared. Unlike the band, we don't really need to spend advance time preparing at home. But we do need to spend some time on Sundays, before the rehearsal, looking/checking/reviewing to make sure we are totally prepared for the dress rehearsal. That 30 minutes of preparation will result in improved quality throughout the day!
One more quick thought- sometimes I'm at a Broadway show or watching a live production on screen and I think, "wow, that is so polished and excellent. How do they get to that level?" Well, millions of dollars probably helps! But since I have a few friends in professional level production, I happen to know that this value of preparedness, taken to it's maximum level, is one of the ways they achieve such high levels of quality. The neat thing about that is that anyone can be prepared. It's not something only the pros can do. Anyone can be consistently prepared. So we have within our reach one of the secrets of success, whether we consider ourselves pros or not.
So thanks for being prepared. Thanks for taking our work seriously. It's making a difference to 100s of people each week! And it will strength our team as we honor each other by consistently being prepared.
We've been talking about the core values of our team. We started with Love- without love for God and each other, we won't be able to move forward together and we won't be able to speak truth to each other. Then we talked about the value of timeliness, and how being on time honors God and each other- it's actually an extension of love when you really think about it. We also mentioned how communication is an important part of timeliness: accepting/declining serving in a timely manner, connecting with the team leader in advance if you will be late to a rehearsal or need to cancel, etc. Having integrity with each other in these simple but important areas will build trust and quality into our team!
Now let's think about preparedness. Preparedness is a mindset that results from taking our volunteer opportunities seriously and believing that what we do is important for us, for our church and for our guests. When we truly believe something or someone is important, we will always be prepared.
Being prepared for a musician or singer means completely knowing your music and parts ahead of rehearsal. When I come to a rehearsal without full preparation, I can tell right away. I miss entrances. I don't know how long the transitions are between sections of the music. I miss riffs and lyrics because I'm not sure of them. I know that means the team suffers because everyone will have to work around my problem, the whole rehearsal takes longer, and the quality of the music suffers.
So over the years I've made a commitment to myself that when I accept a position on the team, I know I'm committing not only to the actual serving, but to taking the time in advance to be prepared. Even though I'm a professional musician....someone who could "fake" my way through a rehearsal and still be ok...I know that wouldn't be fair to the rest of the team.
Being prepared as a tech person means knowing my equipment, checking it in advance to make sure it's working, looking over my content to make sure it's accurate, and looking over the service order to make sure I know what I'm doing and when I'm doing it.
This is why I'm asking tech volunteers to start coming in at 7:45 on Sundays- so we can be prepared. Unlike the band, we don't really need to spend advance time preparing at home. But we do need to spend some time on Sundays, before the rehearsal, looking/checking/reviewing to make sure we are totally prepared for the dress rehearsal. That 30 minutes of preparation will result in improved quality throughout the day!
One more quick thought- sometimes I'm at a Broadway show or watching a live production on screen and I think, "wow, that is so polished and excellent. How do they get to that level?" Well, millions of dollars probably helps! But since I have a few friends in professional level production, I happen to know that this value of preparedness, taken to it's maximum level, is one of the ways they achieve such high levels of quality. The neat thing about that is that anyone can be prepared. It's not something only the pros can do. Anyone can be consistently prepared. So we have within our reach one of the secrets of success, whether we consider ourselves pros or not.
So thanks for being prepared. Thanks for taking our work seriously. It's making a difference to 100s of people each week! And it will strength our team as we honor each other by consistently being prepared.
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