That Time We Murdered the Little Drummer Boy

Let me clarify that we murdered the song Little Drummer Boy, and not an actual small child that plays a drum. That would be beyond awkward. That would be a felony.

No, I'm talking about my most botched attempt at playing a song in front of an audience, of which there are many.

It was a dark, cold December night in Wisconsin (shocking), and I was leading worship at Crosspoint Community Church in Oconomowoc. This particular worship set was a challenge. We had planned a 5 songs set, but one of the songs was actually a medley of 3 Christmas carols. Just because it's a medley and you're only playing one verse and chorus of the song, you're still basically learning the song. On top of the medley, we were also doing the Jars of Clay version of the Little Drummer Boy, which has a funky, syncopated rhythm happening. Very cool, but a little tricky and very unlike the standard version we've all heard a million times.

A few minutes before the service, I was chatting with the senior pastor, Terry about how the rehearsal went, the transitions, the amount of material there was that week, typical Christmas work load ramp up, etc. He said something to the effect of I hadn't had any major screw-ups that year, so I had a mulligan coming. Thanks. I think.

We started the service with the medley, which I considered the most challenging part of the set - three embedded songs with transitions. I think it was Holly Jolly Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock and some other hokey, Burl Ives type deal. Anyway, smooth sailing. That was followed by a worship song. Odds are 3:1 it was by Chris Tomlin.

Then the real fun started.

The drummer started the click track for Little Drummer Boy and then began playing his beat. Unfortunately, I didn't recognize it. I tried to focus on what he was playing, but it didn't even seem like his beat was following the click. "This could be a problem," I remarked to myself. Or maybe I said "oh crap." Hard to remember. I tried to fall in line on guitar, but I could not find the rhythm. I stopped playing and stopped the drummer.

I asked the drummer to try again with similar results. It was around this time I started hearing comments from the back of the room. Good times. Turns out it was the senior pastor heckling me about not having a screw up yet. Yes, hilarious. At least the congregation was in a good mood about it.

At this point I was just a bit flustered. I tried attempt number three without drums. I still could not find it. I was hearing the standard version melody and rhythm in my head, which only made things worse. However, despite my anxiety level spiking you could sense the audience pulling for us. Then someone else in the band gave it a shot. Nothing. Still more laughing and smiling and a supportive energy in the room. I can't remember how many restarts there were in what felt like seven and a half hours standing there trying get the train rolling again.

Eventually I remembered a 3 note riff in the verse that brought me back. I started the song on my own and got through verse one, line one. The crowd went wild. Okay, not wild, but they cheered and you could tell they were still rooting for us. The rest of the band fell in and we made it through the song. It was a little clunky. It didn't matter. There was much rejoicing by the band, the crew and the congregation. And the senior pastor.

A few things I took away from that night...

One, be careful about working at or over capacity. Especially in a ministry position at the busiest time of the year.

Two, no matter how bad the train wreck is, church is gonna happen. I've participated in services where the drummer had to cancel at the last second, where a singer lost her voice minutes before service, where we lost power and had to set up in the lobby with no PA system. I can be prepared for lots of things, but not everything. Trust God that it'll work out.

Three, my church family is family. And they love and support me even when it all falls apart. Maybe especially then. And because of that, what felt like a total disaster as it was happening ended up being a unique, funny, touching moment we all shared together. Pretty awesome.

Merry Christmas, all!! And if you'd like to check out Jars of Clay doing their version and not murdering it, here you go!

https://youtu.be/Mb0hAPimGrU

Panic First, Ask Questions Later

In my experience, there are two types of people on a tech team, probably any team. Those you want standing next to you when the building starts on fire, and those you hope have that day off.

After reading Change Your Brain Change Your Life I believe it’s just the way people are wired. It’s fascinating to watch though, especially if it’s not an actual emergency where someone’s life may be in danger.

Let’s say, we’re talking about putting on a church service. Is this important? You bet. Is someone going to die if we mess something up during the service? Unlikely. For example: the band is about to finish the last song and transition into a bumper video before the pastor comes out to deliver a message. The person at the Media computer says there is a big question mark where the video is supposed to be. There is about half a minute left to find the video and start playing it, or come up with a plan B.

Image by Ryo Chijiiwa

There is a type of person that when subjected to this scenario is going to freak out. Blood pressure will skyrocket, face will turn red, aimless running, perhaps some screaming. Maybe you pictured someone you know. Or perhaps you are that person. That's ok. Even better if you know it.  

The second type of person will calmly search for the video while simultaneously communicating to the team to get the pastor ready to go on early. You can almost see the internal clock ticking down while they are determining at what point they bail on the search and load the Pastor. This happens to be an actual event and there were less than 10 seconds left when the video was found, relinked and ready to play. The congregation never knew there was a problem. Despite the chaos created by several freak-out prone people in the booth at the time .

I raise this observation because I think it’s important to know how your key people are going to react in a stressful situation before the situation becomes stressful so you can plan for it. If you have a talented person in your FOH booth that you know is going to cave when the ship bumps into an iceberg, it doesn’t mean they can’t serve in the booth. It means you might want to have a buddy in that booth that can handle the pressure. Also, you probably don't want to leave two freak-out prone people alone in the booth at the same time. Although entertaining, that may be more of a disruption than it’s worth.

I have come up with a handy little checklist to help determine if a person is prone to panic.

Is swearing louder than 92 dB this person's first response to stressful situations?

Does this person lose all ability to communicate when something goes wrong?

Under stress, is it normal for vomiting or loss of other bodily fluids to take place?

If you answered yes to any of these, that's what we call a "red flag".

Luckily, I have been very fortunate (actually, as a Christian I think I'm required to say "blessed") to work with people who I'd want next to me if the building literally started on fire. I think it's good to have an educated guess on how all your key people would react if that actually happened. You might want to take it into consideration when you build and schedule your teams too.