A lot of music and worship ministry is about the condition of our hearts, and the way we use our music skills in God's service to lead our brothers and sisters in his praise and adoration.
Something that we don't often talk about is the necessity of knowing how our equipment works. I realised this in a big way last Sunday morning, when I was left to lead the final hymn with a dead guitar, owing to my ignorance about how my guitar worked.
During the 3rd song, I noticed I was out of tune. During the reading, I hit the Tuner/Mute button on my guitar's preamp, in order to tune silently during the reading. As I did so, I noticed a light flashing green on the display. I've used plenty of preamps before, so my first thought was, "The battery's dying! But the good news is that I came prepared with a spare in my guitar case."
I opted to change the battery during the collection to be ready for the final hymn. When I did so, the battery connector fell down inside the guitar body, and I was stuck.
After the service, I used my Leatherman (vital for any church muso!) to unscrew the whole battery compartment, find the connector and put it all back together with a fresh battery. Now here's the joke - the light still flashed green.
You see, dear reader, what I didn't know was that the light flashes green to let you know that you're in Tuner/Mute mode, and the battery is in fact healthy as a young stallion.
I would have known this had I actually read the manual that B-Band supplied with my guitar, instead of confining it my 'guitar stuff drawer' at home.
So the moral of the story is this: in order to serve well, read your manuals. Make sure you know exactly how that stage piano/synthesizer/bass amp/preamp/wireless mic, etc. works, so you aren't caught by surprise when it throws you a curve ball. If you're looking for a manual for a piece of church equipment, ask your music director or your sound guy. If no-one knows where the manuals are, start Googling...
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