Level 1: Setup Crew

As Setup Crew, you can be given one or several aspects of the room and get it set up, checked and packed away again. Somebody else will be responsible for the whole logistics operation.

You will be expected to learn how specific pieces of equipment work and how they should be set up.

You are not expected to know everything at this level. But you are expected to communicate with whoever is responsible if there’s anything you’re unsure about.

Trusted with

Technical

Helping carry the equipment between the car and the room, safely
Knowing which items are fragile or expensive, and handling them accordingly
Knowing where a cable can and can’t run, so nobody trips and nothing gets pulled out
Rolling cables with the over-under technique, every time
Knowing how to get Hope Terminal into position and powered up
Putting up every kind of stand safely and stably: speaker, mic and music stands
Helping get the speakers onto the stand, positioned, connected and powered
Knowing how the mics go together for whoever is using them
Checking whatever you set up actually works before you walk away from it
Helping pack down, with everything going back into the right bag or place
Helping load the car at the end

Communication

Coordinating what you’ve picked up so nothing is done twice or missed
Saying when something is missing rather than assuming somebody knows
Asking for help early when needed
Telling the lead early when you can’t make it to Sunday

Recovery

Staying calm when something doesn’t work rather than panicking
Reporting anything broken instead of putting it back in the bag

Heart

Turning up when the crew turns up
Staying to the end of pack down
Treating the equipment as though we had to pay for it ourselves
Pitching in where the gap is, rather than only doing your own bit

Modules

M1.1 Caring for the equipment

The one that matters most. What’s fragile, what’s expensive, what can’t get wet, and what shouldn’t be stacked on. How to carry the heavy and awkward items without hurting yourself or the equipment, and why we never force a plug or drag a cable by its connector.

M1.2 Loading and unloading

Getting the equipment between the car and the room: what comes out first, what’s heavy, what needs two people. Also how the car gets packed at the end so everything fits and nothing slides around.

M1.3 Cable runs and trip hazards

Where power comes from in the building, and how to get a cable from there to where it’s needed without anyone catching it. What to route around, what to tape, and how to spot the hazard you’ve just created.

M1.4 Rolling cable

The over-under technique, until it’s automatic. A cable that’s been coiled badly for a year is a cable that fails on a Sunday, so this is not a small thing.

M1.5 Hope Terminal

Getting Hope Terminal in position and powered up. It’s the first thing to do on a Sunday because everything else connects to it, and it’s the most valuable single item we own.

M1.6 Stands

Every stand we put up: speaker tripods, mic stands and music stands. Getting them up safely, at the right height, weighted and stable, and folded back down without forcing anything.

M1.7 Speakers

Getting the speakers onto the tripods, positioned properly, connected and powered, with the settings on the speaker itself checked.

M1.8 Mics

Setting up the mics people speak and sing into: vocals and the wireless mic. Which cable, which input, checking the batteries, and handing the wireless mic to the preacher.

M1.9 Packing down properly

The half of the job people rush. Everything back in its own bag or place, nothing loose, nothing left on the floor. Ends with the room looking like we were never there.

M1.10 Effective communication

Claiming an area out loud, saying when it’s ready, and reporting what’s missing or broken instead of quietly working around it.

M1.11 When things go wrong

What to do when something is missing, damaged or won’t power on. At this level that’s one thing: make it safe, then tell the person leading the room.

M1.12 Heart of service

Why carrying speakers is worship and not just labour, and why we’re the first to arrive and the last to leave.