Churches in search of excellence

Are you amazed like me at how fast technology is increasing? In 2001, more information could be sent over a single cable in a second than in 1997 it could be sent across the entire Internet in a month. Additionally, 220 million tons of old computers and other technological hardware are thrown away in the United States each year.

Whether we want to exempt it or not, our churches are part of this statistic. In the United States, our churches are searching for a standard of technological excellence. There are many who have reached this standard, but many more who have not. This article is not about whether it is right or wrong for churches to look to technology. It is about those churches that persecute him and do not find him.

I volunteer at my church myself, where every Sunday we load up all the audio equipment in a rented school gym, set up and run a 16-channel mix (from the stage), sing, play guitar and keyboard, and conduct. praise and worship team. Talk about a challenge. Right in the middle of a song, I have to put down my microphone, stop singing and stop playing the guitar, move the swing arm in a circular motion to my bassist, singer and flutist to “go ahead”, while I turn around and adjusts the screeching mix, while the drummer didn’t get the hand signal and stops playing. That pretty much shuts down everything that’s going on. This scenario is not the case for many churches that have their own worship facilities and are not faced with a facility every Sunday.

Legend Theatrical, Inc., a lighting design, audio/video, staging and rental company based in Scotts Valley, California, devotes much of its time to churches with an emphasis on integrated media systems. Dave Dunning, CEO of Legend Theatrical, Inc. says, “Many churches and schools we meet with want to see all the options available to them, from new audio, video and lighting system installations to upgrading their current systems with technology We look for the most cost-effective way to introduce new technology and improve existing conditions, and/or help them restore their outdated systems.”

Technology changes fast. The same equipment used in churches today will be obsolete within two years. Many churches I have been to have; bowed wires, flickering stage lights (intentionally unprogrammed), muddy, unintelligible sound and lighting systems draining money from churches electric bill.

Unfortunately, what I see happening is that many pastors are asking their “Sound Booth” volunteer to go online to websites and try to find cheap equipment. Oh yeah, don’t forget to make sure they have free shipping. The result is a cheap pile of components, poorly connected, that will likely need to be replaced within a year or so, if they use the equipment at all. And at best, one or two “Sound Booth” volunteers will really know what the equipment does and how to use it. What is essentially happening is that the funds that the congregation gives to promote the vision and take steps towards “Excellence” are being misused and the “good steward” needs help.

Another problem I have seen with many churches, as they grow, is that they are very eager to incorporate video into their services. They can offer it to the congregation and to the online community through video streaming and Pod-Casts. The problem that has arisen is that many churches have spent vast amounts of money on video cameras, switchers, monitors, screens, and recording systems, only to discover that their Pastor is blue or orange and distorted. In turn, the pastor, who has just spent truckloads of money on new technology, watches the volunteer video and says, “What happened, fix it?” He doesn’t know the answer because it’s a lighting problem, which the video sales company didn’t tell them about. And that’s where the money pot factor comes into play. The Pastor wants it fixed because he doesn’t like the new blue color his skin has turned to. So he spends more money fixing what could have been avoided in the first place if the church had hired professional technical designers. Legend Theatrical claims that we “repair and undo” many permanent installations of lighting and audio/video systems that were supposedly “professionally” installed. The result, the church was led down the “good old man, my friend knows how to do these things” path.

Suggesting and implementing ways to help save money on your utility bills is attractive to pastors and congregations involved in a rebuild or upgrade. By converting and/or complementing many conventional lighting systems with low energy consumption, high performance LED lighting technology is the path many churches are taking.

I once attended a church that had professional mains and subwoofer cabinets installed. His problem was the sound quality. They had spent thousands of dollars on audio equipment, but the installation company was unable to set the gain structures on the console, tune the room, or do acoustical measurements, resulting in an empty processed sound with poor quality, tone, and muddy . This facility even had a digital speaker management system that would turn on but never get programmed. Unfortunately, the factory defaults are not enough. Pastors should ensure that after an installation, an in-depth training follows where all volunteers are shown how to set up the equipment.

I even heard a story recently where an audio contractor was called into a church to see why their sound was so horrible. On the site visit, looking at the sound console and EQ, to his amazement, all the faders were arranged in a beautiful curved sine wave looking pattern on both the console and EQ. When asked if these were the current settings, the response received from the “Sound Booth” volunteer was hilarious. “This is what the image looked like on the boxes, so we put them this way.” That’s why it’s important to have a technology design team accompany him, early on, and also provide training to his team. What good is it for your church to spend the money on technology only to have you fall prey to “this is what the picture looked like on the box”.