Conduct From The Score

In high school, our symphonic band performed Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5. I played French horn. Poorly, I might add, but I loved the ride. Shostakovich wrote this during the Great Purge in Soviet Russia, a period of deadly political terror under Stalin. It's dark, bombastic, brooding, and then suddenly triumphant, before ending in a minor key that feels like a quiet grief for everyone lost. When you hear it, you feel the mockery of a government protecting its self-image while destroying its people. The lyrical themes compound and contrast, flying at breakneck speed toward brilliance and back into despair.

I can't imagine living through that and having the determination to use creativity to rail against it. But that's exactly what Shostakovich did, and Symphony No. 5 is the result. If you've never heard it, find the hr-Sinfonieorchester recording conducted by David Afkham on YouTube, especially the fourth movement. It's worth the hour.

What does a church communications director actually oversee?

Working through that score in high school was the first time I really understood what a conductor does. Mr. Henry, our director, seemed to know every part of that complex piece simultaneously. He could perceive a wrong note from across the room, dial in on a single instrument, and hear how it was failing the whole. He wasn't just following the music. He was leading it.

The conductor's score is different from what any individual musician holds. It has every note every instrument will play, laid out in linear order from the flutes at the top of the page to the tubas at the bottom. The conductor sees everything at once in the same measure, looks ahead to what's coming, and anticipates where the group needs to go before they arrive there.

I had audibly lost my place. The discord was obvious. And it became apparent not just to Mr. Henry but to everyone around me.

Why does your church need a communications strategy?

The different channels in your communications plan are instruments. The strategy is the notation. It allows for interplay and repetition of a melody without tedium. You stay in the same fundamental structure while exploring different versions of the theme. You vary the voicing of instruments over time, building on what came before as you move through the music. When all the instruments are playing in time, the song becomes something people feel, sometimes involuntarily.

Tone matters too. If something is in the wrong key, it stands out as a distraction. A social media voice that doesn't match the church's bulletin voice. A ministry promotion that breaks from the visual identity. A sermon series campaign that sounds like it belongs to a different church entirely. These things disrupt the music even when each individual part is technically fine.

How do you get ministry leaders aligned on communications?

Clarity in roles and responsibilities is essential for executing a communications plan well. Defining who is responsible for what, and by when, creates accountability and ensures work gets done with excellence rather than chaos.

A good communications strategy answers two questions simultaneously: how do we as the creative team stay on the same page, and how do we keep pastors and ministry leaders there with us? It sets expectations. It creates accountability. It gives a clear path toward unity in communications while circling everyone back to the purpose underneath all of it: reaching people with the gospel.

A strategy for anything in life gives guidance back to purpose. Without it, you're just playing notes. With it, you're making music.