The church audio-visual team arrives at 8 AM to set up. Service starts at 10. By 9:55, the projector is showing the wrong slide, the microphone has developed a personality of its own, and the laptop with the songs is on a different version of the software. This is fine. God will handle it.
🎭 Characters
- Tech lead Sola — Has been troubleshooting for ninety minutes and is currently operating on sheer will and anointing oil
- Pastor — Who just smiled and told the congregation "we're experiencing a small technical challenge"
- Random member — Who "knows computers" and has arrived to help by pressing buttons at random
📍 Setting
The AV booth at the back of the church. 10:03 AM. Service has started. The screen is showing a birthday announcement from three Sundays ago. The microphone is feeding back every forty seconds.
📜 Full Dialogue
Sola: (whispering desperately into headset) The presentation is not loading. It says “file not found.”
Pastor: (from pulpit, to congregation) Our tech team is blessing us this morning with some patience testing. Hallelujah!
Congregation: Hallelujah!
Sola: (to self) Hallelujah is not helping the file.
[Random member arrives at the booth, slides past Sola, looks at the screen.]
Random Member: What is the problem?
Sola: File is not—
Random Member: (already pressing keys) Have you tried control-alt-delete?
Sola: That will restart the whole—
[The screen goes black. Then a reboot screen appears. In front of the entire congregation.]
Pastor: (covering the pause smoothly) And as the screen… darkens before the light… so too does our spiritual—
Sola: (quietly, fiercely) Please do not touch anything else.
Random Member: I have a laptop in my car. Let me bring—
Sola: NO. Please sit down.
[The microphone feeds back at full volume. Several people cover their ears.]
Pastor: (from pulpit, not missing a beat) The enemy is fighting this morning! But we are not moved!
Sola: (to himself) That was a gain stage issue, not the enemy.
[Finally, the presentation comes back up. Correct slide. Correct service. The congregation applauds.]
Pastor: Give the tech team a hand!
Sola: (putting head down on the desk for three seconds of private relief)
🎬 Acting Tips
- Sola's desperation should be professional — not panicking, but deeply internally stressed.
- Pastor's smooth improvisational sermon around technical failures should be genuinely good.
- "That was a gain stage issue, not the enemy" should be absolutely dry.
- Random Member's ctrl-alt-delete energy is pure confident incompetence.
📷 Camera Ideas
- AV booth close-up showing multiple screens, cables, chaos.
- Wide church shot showing the reboot screen visible to everyone.
- Pastor's face making up theology on the fly.
- Sola's head-on-desk moment after victory.
🔊 Suggested Sound Effects
- Microphone feedback squeal
- Computer reboot sounds
- Congregation hallelujah
- Typing and button-clicking
📱 TikTok Caption Ideas
- "That was a gain stage issue, not the enemy. The most accurate correction. 🎙️"
- "The enemy is fighting this morning! Sir that is a feedback loop. 💀 #ChurchTech"
- "Ctrl-alt-delete in a live service. He pressed it. In front of everyone. 😂"
- "The head on the desk for three seconds of private relief. We have all been Sola. 😭"
- "The AV team carries churches spiritually and nobody gives them their flowers 🌸"
🔀 Alternative Ending
Alternative ending: The random member's laptop from the car actually works perfectly. Sola is gracious about it. After service, Sola quietly enrolls the random member on the tech team. He is now the best technician in the booth. Sola never tells this story publicly.
The church tech team are the unsung heroes of every Sunday service. They operate in pressure, serve in silence, and deserve an extended round of applause. Share this with your church tech team.
