By aggregating trends from the past, we have a significant indicator of future trends and shifts in the House of Worship market. The word cloud graphic for this article lists the top 25 recurring words from all of the previous columns written here about the church market on rAVE, and they are an excellent look […]

Do you think of the typical church buying audio, video and lighting (AVL) technology as the old church down the street with a few cars parked in front of it on any given Sunday? Or has your firm yet experienced the technology shift that’s happening in the House of Worship market in churches that are […]

It is incredible to consider that less than 100 years ago, the original video signals had about 210 lines of resolution, evolving to 512 lines in 1952 with the advent of color television, to the eventual jump to 1920×1080 (pixels instead of lines) for High Definition (HD) video. It’s now possible to get 4K resolution […]

I made a prediction in 2014 here at rAVe that 4K video would start to become the normative in large, multi-site churches by 2020. I think I’ll still be accurate with that prediction, though I’m now dividing that future-glance into current realities and applications where 4K — at least in part — can be a […]

The house of worship market is like any concert venue when it comes to the impact of real-time mistakes in front of a live audience. Years ago, I had a humiliating experience that shaped how I taught church tech teams and later designed audio, video, and lighting (AVL) systems. This true story illustrates how a […]

Compared to huge government contracts or big commercial deals, the church market may not seem nearly as compelling for manufacturers and systems integrators selling audio, video, and lighting technology. And while there won’t be $50MM dollar AVL deals in the House of Worship space, there also won’t be the massive complexity and low margins of […]

What percentage of your products and integrated solutions are ideally fit for the house of worship market? Of that percentage, how many of those products and services are requested by churches out of their need instead of offered to churches out of their potential value? There is an opportunity gap between products that solve problems churches […]

In even the smallest of churches, the decision to purchase complex solutions is handled by a small group. In some denominations, this is a leadership staff, in others, a volunteer committee. Aware of this truth, vendors often try to bring consensus to these groups through price, benefits or a crisp value proposition. But time and […]

There has not been a time in history when it has been simultaneously easier for any brand to reach far larger audiences than ever before and exceedingly more difficult to cut through the noise to share your message. The democratization of the Internet has been the single greatest advancement of the 21st century, but with […]

To ensure your technology solution ends up in more churches, you simply must solve the one problem all churches have. And to do that, you’ll need to understand why, exactly, they’re having the problem in the first place. It’s not that technology hasn’t been widely adopted, or that the exponential increase in performance coupled with […]

Back in 2002, I wrote a widely-publicized article about all churches needing to make the move to 16:9 aspect ratio widescreen. Nearly 15 years later, it turns out I was right — well, almost right. I saw dimly into the future of church video technology and was ahead of the curve in predicting the future of […]

Like the sound systems of old, large screen displays have undergone a major change that would benefit churches with lower cost of ownership and far greater visual support. And, also like old sound systems, it’s time for an upgrade. Especially when it will be less expensive and more effective within even the next five years. […]

There is a saying that churches buy a sound system three times. The first is the one the building “comes with” that was most likely designed by the general contractor or a local music store. A well-meaning but ill-experienced volunteer who adds some new equipment typically installs the second system. The third system is usually […]

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 […]

“We don’t have enough sales in the church market,” laments an audio/video/lighting (AVL) integration firm owner. “We need to find a way to do more of these church installs…” he says, letting his sentence trail off as an open invitation for me to answer with some huge epiphany or closely-guarded secret about having success in […]

I’m not a fan of link baiting titles (“Five ways to better…three steps for…”, etc.) but I was tempted to entitle this article “The Five Questions to Ask Churches” because, well, that’s what I’ve written about. However, there’s a warning that comes with this article: These are not sales techniques, but are a paradigm shift […]

When a church technician asks a question about video, are they also thinking about lighting? As the saying goes, ‘without light, it’s just radio.’ In online forums or at conferences, I’ve heard the same type of questions focused around a specific technology, narrowly focused on one aspect when the bigger picture needs to be considered. […]

A casual perusal of the house of worship facilities and technology magazines is enlightening: the majority of advertisers push marketing pablum to reach every church, yet fail to identify with almost all of the audience. Their failure is not the inclusion of church lingo or boring stock photography, but in missing the first maxim of […]

Vision drives need. Need drives technology. Technology drives budget. This simple truth is needed not only within the AVL industry, but within local churches, where purchasing decisions are often made in a vacuum of vision. Solving today’s issue may be a temporary fix, but ‘band-aids don’t fix bullet holes’ that are left from poor planning […]

“We’re a church with a limited budget. How much budget do we need for this gear?” “We have ‘this amount’ of budget, what technology do you recommend?” Or, my least favorite, “We need to set a budget for our audio, video and lighting. What’s a good amount?” I hear these question from well-meaning people who are […]

The debate between those who want technology turned off during church services versus those who not only want it on, but want to actively use it as part of the church-going experience, is a matter of personal preference. That being said, there are plenty of churches using passive technology that would jump at the chance […]

The old sales trick of providing a list of desired features and benefits to overcome purchase barriers may still work with some church leaders, but the Internet has taught consumers a thing or two about what is offered and what they really want. To justify the expense, churches need metrics from real data. Rethinking Repairs Technology […]

I posted an article here on rAVe I wrote about IMAG (Image Magnification — live video projected onto a screen) and stated that it was overused in small venue churches where it wasn’t difficult to see the action on the stage without a live video image. There are times where limited usage of live video for infrequent […]

Audio. Video. Lighting. Budgets. Safety? When churches think about audio, video and lighting (AVL) technology, safety isn’t on the radar for the vast majority of pastors. However, with the exponential increase in the use of flown speaker arrays, screens, and lighting fixtures, keeping the technical staff and congregants who sit below these devices safe needs to […]

How much should a church set aside for making audio, video and lighting (AVL) upgrades? As each church is unique and budgets are vastly different from church to church, the best way to answer that is to look at what drives their budget. Considering about 50 percent of a church’s annual finances are dedicated towards […]

When churches realized the value of video had also intersected with high brightness and low cost, the multi-site and satellite campus model went from a handful of mega churches (churches with greater than 2,000 in weekend attendance) to tens of thousands of churches. With this exponential explosion of multi-site churches — that is, a separate […]

There’s a great quote from an article by John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, about hacking into systems: “There are two types of companies: Those who have been hacked, and those who don’t yet know they have been hacked.” While Mr. Chambers point is about securing data, networks, and storage, the quote prompted a different […]

As a house of worship consultant to manufacturers and systems integrators, I’ve seen and heard from a wide array of companies in the Audio/Video/Lighting (AVL) space about their experience with the church market. I think your experience at a manufacturer or dealer will likely follow one of these patterns of thought and leadership. All the […]

Churches. They’re still not on the front page of many manufacturers and systems integrators based on past experiences with this market segment or perceptions about what church even looks like today. And, still, there it is: The underserved market that’s got money to spend and a need for what you make and sell. 2015 has […]

Near cinema-quality field video capture is available for well under $10K, a price point so low that the A/V/L industry feels threatened by low cost technology dazzling the focus and buying power of consumers. A visit to InfoComm or NAB quickly reveals a rush to service the exponential growth of the sub $10K market space, […]

Perhaps no other technology is as poised to be used in more churches than LED. Seemingly the perfect balance of functionality, size, cost of operation and product lifespan, LED is almost perfect for the house of worship market. LED Is Everywhere Once reserved for those in the rarified atmosphere of near-unlimited budgets, LED technology has […]

Manufacturers love to hear these words: “Whenever I see [nsert-brand-name-here] on my equipment, I feel confident about our production.” This is a powerful endorsement from an end-user that is hot marketing copy for creating brand loyalty ads. But how often do you see the opposite happen? “Whenever we see [insert-church-tech-director-here] using our gear, we feel […]