To the Pastors of the Future

This is an open letter to the future church pastors who will have grown up with the Internet, mobile devices and real-time social media their entire lives so that they can leverage future technology to serve the local church effectively. The local church you’ll lead will not look much like the churches of today because […]

To the Pastors of the Future

Contracting Staff for Three Months at Churches

In my experience, churches need professional training over time to grow their volunteer tech teams. Selling contracted professional services for extended times helps address this huge need in the house of worship market. On-Site Training for Three Months 1) Mentoring by a Pro — There’s something powerful about being invited and asked to participate in something […]

Contracting Staff for Three Months at Churches

Change. Cost. Control. Commitment.

Every local church should be making a difference — a notable impact — on and in their local communities. Technology is a force multiplier and can be a helpful part of churches making an impression and fostering an environment for attendees. There are four aspects to helping facilitate this kind of impact that technology providers […]

Change. Cost. Control. Commitment.

The Age of the Me-Too Products

The perfect product has not yet been built, but that doesn’t stop today’s audio, video and lighting manufacturer’s engineers from trying to build it. If they did, they’d end up building the product they wanted to use, right down to the subtle minutiae of every killer feature and ergonomic design. And it would be a […]

The Age of the Me-Too Products

Content Marketing Automation for AVL Industry

Is selling into the house of worship market about more and better leads or about better follow-up to existing clients? The answer is ‘yes;’ the better question is ‘How?’ to get both. Content marketing automation is not new, but it has grown up. The digital sales pipeline represents a huge opportunity for getting more leads, […]

Content Marketing Automation for AVL Industry

Prediction: Pastor of Digital Connections

It’s just a matter of time. The house of worship market has grown up, and with it, has come the need for specialized staff, beyond the technical arts directors, to include a new team member focused on leveraging the digital communications channels that crop up daily. We are about to see a Pastor of Digital […]

Prediction: Pastor of Digital Connections

The Future of Selling to Churches

As an entrepreneur, I’ve discovered, lived and taught that change is a constant. When I started consulting with churches, the focus was on audio, video, and lighting system design. This tech-centric focus increased with the addition of teaching and speaking opportunities where I was able to rattle off the latest model numbers and point people […]

The Future of Selling to Churches

The Cloud, the Church and Content Curation

Hopping down from the church stage platform, iPad in hand, the church technical director sees one lighting fixture not quite overlapping the center point upstage position. He casually selects the fixture on his iPad and drags his finger while keeping his eye on the scalloped edges of the light moving slowly, stopping only when he […]

The Cloud, the Church and Content Curation

4K Resolution and Multi-site Churches

In 2003, I stood in front of a room of church leaders at the National Religious Broadcaster’s Convention and said: “Churches won’t need to spend the extra money on high definition video for the next five to 10 years.” I positioned my theory that quality NTSC video (SDI in 16:9 format) was more than sufficient […]

4K Resolution and Multi-site Churches

Selling to Churches? Create Social Media Campaigns

There’s been a real push for brands to engage on social media. Whereas the Internet gave voice to the masses, social media has created something more: personal availability — which can even be accomplished by a brand. To ignore the unprecedented growth of this communication medium is perilous to any brand, but perhaps worse still […]

Selling to Churches? Create Social Media Campaigns

The End of Hype

In 1989, filmmaker Robert Zemeckis took the immensely popular Back to the Future franchise and painted a picture of the future in the year 2015. 25 years later, we don’t have hoverboards as the movie Back to the Future II depicted, but we do have stunning technologies that were simply beyond our comprehension at the […]

The End of Hype

The Day the AVL Industry Changed

One need not envision a distant future of me-too products and companies vying for market sales when considering the future of the AVL industry. Our future is upon us and the end of features and benefits has already slipped past, like a buoy fading with the Doppler effect of time on the sea of sameness. […]

The Day the AVL Industry Changed

Church “Plants” Booming

There’s a booming segment of the house of worship market that is led by young, tech-saavy pastors looking to leverage audio, video and lighting in creative ways. This group is made up of new churches starting from scratch or new churches launched by either a “sending” church or denomination, with some funding to help kick […]

Church “Plants” Booming

Church Online

It’s been said that video without lighting is just radio. The point being that it takes great lighting to make great video and a story isn’t complete without compelling audio (most of the time, at least). With YouTube stats setting records every year, we’re clearly a video-obsessed culture here in North America. It is no […]

Church Online

Industry Trade Shows: The Golden Ticket

Manufacturers, rep firms, consultants, integration firms and freelancers all attend the same shows, year after year with the differences between exhibit floors all a similar blur. Orlando. Las Vegas. Long Beach. Dallas. Atlanta. The cities change, but the conferences begin to take on a one-ness to those who regularly attend either as an exhibitor or […]

Industry Trade Shows: The Golden Ticket

Less and More is More

By Anthony Coppedge The perfect church service, technically speaking, happens when no one says anything at all to the tech team after the service ends. That’s because when they do their job seamlessly, the technology both supported and enhanced the service in a way that did not draw attention to the technology. Things just worked and […]

Less and More is More

Syncing Church Services

By Anthony Coppedge As the multi-site church movement continues to expand like wildfire, another trend has quietly happened simultaneously, albeit with much less fanfare: multi-venue churches. Whereas the multi-site model has seen the most growth with large, well-funded churches, offering multiple services — or even multiple service styles — simultaneously has gained traction in even […]

Syncing Church Services