Write About Now

During the years I worked at the NACC, my very favorite part was hanging out with the paid and volunteer tech crews that make the main sessions happen. For one thing, the job is inherently glory-free, so it only attracts those with a servant’s heart. This is true of the professionals we work with each year, but even more so the 8 or 10 volunteers from around the country who fly or drive to the convention at their own expense, spend long afternoons and early mornings performing soundchecks and herding worship teams on stage, and run around dealing with last-minute problems. They give up their time to do this for little more than a hotel room and a per diem for meals. The worship services at the convention couldn’t happen without them.

They are also a supremely fun group of people, who I still look forward to seeing each year. In fact, I volunteered to serve on the morning tech crew this year just so I could spend time with some of them again. (And to help the convention, of course, but mostly my motives were selfish.) I used to think preachers had the best stories, but I laugh harder with this crew than any other group I see all year.

I know, as only a one-time employee of the convention can know—the main services don’t please everyone all the time. They’re too loud, too long, have too many sermons, have too few sermons, have the same familiar speakers, don’t have familiar speakers, sing too many choruses, have one band the whole week, have a different band each service. I know the difficulty of creating a worship atmosphere in a concrete convention hall. But as I sit in my hotel and type this a few hours before the opening service, I’m looking forward to what’s going to happen in there tonight, bad acoustics and all. And I’m so grateful for the team that’s working even now to make it meaningful.