My name is Chris Hodges and I am the founder of 38 Ghosts Productions. Unlike most production companies, we focus on the creative elements of making live and recorded music happen. Another thing that sets us apart from other organizations is our deep connection with worship music and the “big C” church. Personally, I have more than 25 years on church stages with over 12 years on staff in music direction and programming roles. I am blessed enough to have ongoing, (contractual) working relationships with 15 churches under 8 organizations. Three of which – Buckhead Church (Atlanta, GA), Johnson Ferry Baptist Church (Atlanta, GA), and Wiregrass Church (Dothan, AL) – I once held staff positions at. Everyone on my team comes from church world, too, and they all share my passion for connecting people to God through worship.
One thing I’ve learned over the decades is that, for worship staff in particular, there is always a pinch point where duties and shepherding intersect. Sunday is always coming and meetings, staff obligations, picking songs, song keys, arrangements, creating band resources like charts, reference tracks, Ableton Live sessions, and other musician/production related assets takes a lot of time. So where does that leave team building and development? Shepherding? Acts of appreciation? Overall loving on volunteers and contractors? You know…pastoring?
If your team is small or has a temporary hole in it, these tasks can pile up leaving overworked staff with little or no time to love on their teams, execute creative ideas, innovate, or grow in their walk. What’s more, it can affect the quality of your environments leading to distractions in your services. Distractions kill engagement by taking the attendee out of the spiritual journey you are creating with your programming.
The bottom line is two fold: An avoidable distraction during service means your message isn’t as effective as it could be. And, a team that isn’t healthy and led properly, eventually loses moral, creativity, and connection to God. What you do is too important to let that happen.
This is why I developed budget friendly, remote music direction and Ableton Live services. I’ve seen the burnout…I experienced the burnout…and I don’t want it to happen to your staff. It undermines what God is doing through your ministries and it jeopardizes the spiritual walks of your staff, volunteers, and contractors.
Our packages are designed to equip your musicians while freeing up the staff to pastor their flocks. We can work WITH your music director – providing resources/tracks/playback – or we can work AS your music director – handling everything your team needs to pull off amazing, spirit filled worship sets. We can do the tedious work so you can spend time being the church.