Unreasonable Hospitality in Church Production
I don’t consider myself an avid reader. My flavor of ADHD makes it difficult to stay focused on a book long enough to finish it. Still, I usually try to read at least six books throughout the year because I believe in the positive value a few books can add to my life. This year, one of those books was Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara.
In the book, Will documents his journey of building a New York restaurant he co-owned into one of the best restaurants in the world by offering what he calls Unreasonable Hospitality. Now, you may be wondering how restaurant concepts apply to the world of church production, and that’s a fair question. I believe the concepts he shares in this book apply to most, if not all, types of businesses. Whether we like it or not, churches are in the hospitality game. From pastoring and meeting our people in their highest and lowest moments to putting on a weekend service, hospitality is woven into every part of what we do.
After reading Unreasonable Hospitality with my team, I identified three major takeaways from this book that I want to apply to both my leadership and how my team approaches our jobs as production staff.
“When you work in hospitality—and I believe that whatever you do for a living, you can choose to be in the hospitality business—you have the privilege of joining people as they celebrate the most joyful moments in their lives and the chance to offer them a brief moment of consolation and relief in the midst of their most difficult ones. Most important, we have an opportunity—a responsibility—to make magic in a world that desperately needs more of it.”
Fun fact: I didn’t grow up going to Disneyland. It wasn’t until I became an adult that I first went. I’ve now been 3 times, and every time I’m in awe of the magic they can create. As a tech nerd, I’m amazed at the attention to detail, the design and use of the space, and how they seamlessly transition from one section of the park to another. As a consumer with kids, Disney creates a magical environment for my kids (as well as us parents). To me, this is peak hospitality. It doesn’t matter how stressed we may be getting to the park or what’s happening in our lives; whenever I go to Disneyland, I forget all of that and get lost in what’s happening around me—creating new, fun memories with my family.
The church isn’t Disneyland. We should consider our work and contribution far more important to the world.
I want our team to ask, “How can we create environments that help people, in their highest highs and lowest lows, to press pause on their lives and create a meaningful connection with Jesus and a community that worships him?” This could could be ensuring our lighting effects match the energy and tone of our worship or audio engineers ensuring that mics are unmuted on time, ensuring our service is as distraction-free as possible.
“Intention means every decision, from the most obviously significant to the seemingly mundane, matters. To do something with intentionality means to do it thoughtfully, with clear purpose and an eye on the desired result.”
From terminating a cable to directing video for a weekend service, Production has a wide gamut of areas where intentionality matters. It’s easy to lose sight of the big picture when you’re buried in a rack of gear making Cat6 terminations or managing cables on the stage. Remind yourself what your desired result is and how it supports your church's vision, even in the boring, mundane work. You should never just tick a box to get the job done. Will also talks about how you do one thing is how you do everything. You should always understand how even the smallest task you do positively (or negatively) impacts your church because how well you do that task is how well you’ll do other tasks.
“People will forget what you do; they’ll forget what you said. But they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
This is a significant leadership nugget for me, and it sums up a journey I’ve been on over the last few years. I’ve always leaned more on my knowledge than on investing in relationships. For most of my working life, I’ve fallen into the trap of believing that my value to an organization should solely be defined by what I do and the quality of my work. That’s not practical or realistic, especially for a leader. I’ve likely fallen into this because I have social anxiety and I’m afraid of what others think of me (even though I pretend not to care). Over the last few years, I’ve worked hard on being vulnerable with my staff and coworkers. I’ve had to learn how to press pause on the technical aspects of my job and the never-ending to-do lists, and prioritize the health and well-being of my staff. I’ve learned to celebrate the happiest moments in their lives and sit with them in their darkest. I’ve had to curb my feedback, so it’s not so sharp. I’ve needed to push through my social anxiety and connect with coworkers and other department leads to build better relationships.
I do not have this figured out yet and I imagine it will be a lifelong process. However, I believe prioritizing people and relationships (paired with quality work) will make me a better leader and make my team healthier and more effective in their ministry.
I hope you’ve found this blog helpful. I’d encourage anyone involved in church production to read Unreasonable Hospitality. I learned so much from this book, and I truly believe it will help you in your journey!
