Ministry Tech Magazine - October 2018

CONTENTS

10.18

8 doing church beyond sunday morning Are your social media & service times in sync?

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10 reasons your worship recording needs a producer

Brushfire’s Event Solutions: Game-Changing Help For Ministries Many churches have settled for off-the-shelf business solutions; they don’t have to any more.

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A producer is a skilled professional in your corner who helps your artistic vision become reality.

why you should consider working in ministry The church NEEDS skilled tech workers!

16 simple worship ministry hacks to save your sunday TECH CHECK 10.18............................................................................11 MinistryTech.com OCTOBER 2018

After 18 years of leading worship, Mike O’Brien has learned a thing or two!

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A Word from the editor Ray Hollenbach

Managing Editor

Ray Hollenbach

Art Directors

Troy Irvin, Henny Vallee

Contributing Editors

Matt Farrand, Russ McGuire, Caleb Neff, Nick Nicholaou, Mike Norris, Yvon Prehn, Jonathan Smith, Steven Sundermeier

Copy Editor Laura Severn

ADVERTISING VP Advertising Sales

Jared Bryant

National Media Consultants Cody Binder, Nikki Dirks, Malari Foster, Joseph Landry, Seth Rankin, Barbara (McDonald) Wolfe, Ryan Yoder

Account Associates

Leslie Massey, Bethany Payne, Syndie Porter, Nicole Vargas, Lara Whelan

Administrative Director Rebecca Meyer

Publisher

Outreach Inc. 5550 Tech Center Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80919 (800) 991-6011 Ministry Tech® is a registered trademark of Outreach, Inc. Written materials submitted to Ministry Tech® Magazine become the property of Outreach, Inc. upon receipt and may not necessarily be returned. Ministry Tech® Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materials submitted for publication that are deemed necessary for editorial purposes. The content of this publication may not be copied in any way, shape or form without the express permission of Outreach, Inc. Views expressed in the articles and reviews printed within are not necessarily the views of the editor, publisher, or employees of Ministry Tech® magazine, or Outreach, Inc. © Copyright 2018 Outreach, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

MinistryTech.com OCTOBER 2018

These days it seems like every church (big or small) needs a technology staff position. Every church routinely manages email lists, uses SMS, has online offering, has a social media presence, and employs presentation software.

I’ve often wondered whether the first century church struggled with the use of technology in their time. We may not think the early church used technology, but it was certainly present: The great highways built by pagan Rome provided connectivity, not so different from the Internet today.

The church kept track of each and every member even without databases. And the apostles communicated with churches all around the Empire. It brings up an important question: What is it that makes the church unique? In every generation churches have reached the lost and cared for their members, and it has always required organization and planning.

And yet the unique calling and mission of the church requires us to first stay true to the gospel before turning our attention to things like technological efficiency. That’s why I love this issue’s article by Brushfire

Technology. It recognizes that doing church in the 21st century differs radically from our brothers and sisters so long ago, but that the essence of the church has not changed. The article also reminds us that the technological tools available today still must be adapted and adjusted to meet the needs of the church—we cannot simply use business tools without first determining whether or not these tools reflect the love of God. In particular, I like the fact the Brushfire Technologies considers itself a partner with its client churches and ministries.

At Ministry Tech magazine we consider our advertisers to be our partners as well. Our task is to address the intersection of faith and technology, and we cannot complete our task apart from a warm relationship with our corporate partners. That’s why, from time to time, we feature corporate sponsors.

And we hope this serves you as well!

We are, all of us, joined together for the gospel.

"What is it that makes the church unique?"

Ray Hollenbach is the Editor of Ministry Tech magazine. He has previously served as the editor of Outreach’s Better Preaching Update, and as the editor of the Pastor channel at Churchleaders.com. You can reach him at rhollenbach@outreach.com.

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ADVERTORIAL

brushfire's event solutions: game-changing help for ministries

Ministry is different; its tech solutions should be, too

M

ost marketplace technological solutions are made for the secular world, requiring churches to adapt their practices, and to fit into the marketplace solution.

Brushfire Technology, the provider of online ticketing and registration for churches and ministries, was built out of necessity due to a glaring problem that existed for decades.

The founder of Brushfire, Stan Coker, realized a need to build something for the intricate and nuanced events that churches and ministries manage on a daily basis.

Now, 15 years later, Brushfire has become synonymous with church event ticketing and registration. Brushfire is known globally for partnering with the largest-of-scale events for Hillsong Church, comedian Tim Hawkins, Gateway Church, Prestonwood Church, Joyce Meyer Ministries, James River Church and similar organizations.

In addition to these high-profile clients, Brushfire enthusiastically serves thousands of local and start up ministries for their small events and gatherings as well.

While Brushfire is committed to the church as a whole, it has been shaped by its unique relationships with individual churches and their technology teams. In order to serve these churches well Brushfire has listened to the needs of these ministries and adapted to their very specific requests.

This has resulted in unique features like group registration,

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brushfire has become synonymous with church event ticketing and registration. It’s known globally for partnering with the largest-of-scale events for Hillsong Church, comedian Tim Hawkins, Gateway Church, Prestonwood Church, Joyce Meyer Ministries, James River Church and similar organizations. assignment tools for room allocation, payment plan options and dynamic promo codes. Each feature was specifically requested by a Brushfire customer, and was implemented into development. The same holds true with integrations.

Brushfire has developed dozens of integrations for payment gateways, CRMs, email marketing platforms and verified signature tools: each one based on the request of a specific client. Through experience, collaboration and listening to the needs of its customers, Brushfire continues to strive for better software and service. Here are some examples of reallife collaboration between Brushfire and their clients:

Unique Solutions From Collaborating With Hillsong Church One unique relationship that has been forged is the partnership between Hillsong Church and Brushfire Technology. After collaborating with Hillsong on their

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ADVERTORIAL worldwide events, the leaders of these organizations desired to to take the next step. Through much deliberation and planning, a new joint venture, Hillsong Technology, was born.

Hillsong Technology is an initiative determined to see the church adopt innovative technological solutions that bring people closer to Christ. Working closely with churches of all shapes and sizes provides an understanding of the problems technologists frequently face. Hillsong Technology is developing a vibrant community of like-minded followers of Christ who are passionate about using technology to help churches fulfill their mission, where ideas are heard and considered, and where they work together to make a real difference, whether it’s to reach the lost, plant more churches or serve communities.

“One tool that has already come from this technology partnership is a church events app that can be branded and used for any type of event while remaining tied to attendee details managed through a Brushfire integration. Brushfire, as a team, now operates as an extension of our own events and technology departments.

Through their flexibility and commitment to excellence in customer service, it's difficult to remember that they are a supplier and not part of our family.” ~ ROB BLEACH, GLOBAL CIO, HILLSONG CHURCH

credentials in an instant. The Brushfire iOS app allows Hillsong to serve attendees more efficiently—and requires attendees to spend less time waiting in line.

Groups Management A crucial component of successfully seating communities is attendee groups. Event attendees can organize a group of friends, co-workers or congregation members into a group so that they can experience the event together. Group organizers receive access to notifications when their attendees join or leave their group, as well as the ability to manage the attendee details of their group members.

Attendee Fulfillment Distributing thousands of attendee credentials around the world is a logistical challenge. Brushfire worked with Hillsong to create printing and fulfillment tools to increase efficiency and track progress in issuing event name badges. Tracking attendee changes and recording previous prints help maintain safety and security during an event. Alongside Brushfire's iOS App Check-in and Print Kiosk, attendee fulfillment tools have reduced the time spent managing and distributing attendee credentials.

Unique Solutions - Gateway Church Gateway Church partnered with Brushfire after searching for online event registration software capable of putting people first. Together, Gateway and Brushfire have journeyed to make people the main focus of all their events, including women’s conferences, Christmas events, camp registration, concert ticketing, and seminars and classes.

Hillsong transitioned to Brushfire to provide excellence and scalability in event management on a global stage. The partnership has produced an online ticketing and registration experience that meets the unique challenges presented by a church organization operating internationally. Some of the customdeveloped applications are: iOS App Check-in and Print Kiosk The event check-in experience is one of the most crucial aspects in event management. Brushfire partnered with Hillsong to provide an iOS app that allows attendees to check in and print their MinistryTech.com OCTOBER 2018

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ADVERTORIAL Robert Morris, founding pastor at Gateway, is enthusiastic about his partnership with Brushfire: "We are so grateful for this company, its software and the people behind it.

They took time to learn about our vision and objectives and worked to give us exactly what we need for each event we do, no matter how large or how small. We are so thankful Brushfire has partnered with us to reach more people for the kingdom.�

Volunteer and Vendor Management As the Gateway/Brushfire relationship blossomed, it became apparent that the management tools used for attendees could also be valuable in other areas.

Volunteer registration requires an overwhelming number of time shifts, along with consistent, detailed communication. Vendor management is a complex process, from sponsorship options to payment plans to asset requirements. By creating an all-in-one event solution, Gateway can now track all aspects of sign-up and registration in one convenient place.

Registration Payment Plans For several of Gateway's events, 100 percent of the registration cost is no longer required up front, and payments are permitted. If done manually, email communication and subsequent payment application for these attendees can be a monotonous, timeconsuming process. Using automated and filtered emails

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that include direct links to each attendee's payment page, this process has been streamlined and simplified.

Unique Solutions - Prestonwood Baptist Church The partnership with Prestonwood began in 2003 with the Dallas Christmas Festival, now known as The Gift of Christmas. From an on-site and call center support for tens-of-thousands of ticket purchases in a single day to making sure attendees have a great ticket-buying experience, this partnership is tried and true. Each Christmas, Prestonwood hosts more than 50,000 attendees for The Gift of Christmas and an optional dinner buffet over two weekends.

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ADVERTORIAL Assigned Seat Ticketing Brushfire and Prestonwood have worked to create a smooth assignedseat ticketing tool for productions and events with multiple performances.

Patrons can quickly select seats to more than one performance either online, in person, or over the phone, and complete their transaction in a matter of seconds. Administrative users have the tools necessary to monitor ticket sales in high-demand sales periods and prevent held seats from being sold to the public.

Call Center Support for On Sale Events The Gift of Christmas is one of Dallas/ Fort Worth’s most anticipated yearly events. When tickets go on sale each fall tens of thousands of tickets are sold in the first 24-hours. The Brushfire call center takes the burden of customer service off of the church for simple informational requests and provides assistance placing orders over the phone. The call center provides people who would normally show up to a box office to buy tickets on-site the peace of mind of making a purchase with a qualified representative.

Connect Your Ministry W I T H YO U R CO M M U N I T Y

Introducing Outreach Digital! Easy and affordable website and social media tools to help you expand your reach.

Church Technologists, Unite!

As a tech company working in the church landscape Brushfire understands the unique challenges that come with the territory. Features and software aside, Brushfire’s mission is to listen to the needs of each church through consistent dialogue, and to provide the best event experience by meeting those needs. If your church or ministry has event or technology ideas, desires and challenges, or simply to connect and learn more, visit Brushfire here. They’re listening! MT

MinistryTech.com OCTOBER 2018

Websites Designed For Churches

Church Social Media Made Easy

Learn more at Outreach.com/digital |7

COMMUNICATIONS

DOING CHURCH BEYOND SUNDAY MORNING A Bold Idea: Have Church Services When People Can Actually Come

by Yvon Prehn

W

e expect a lot of our digital tools today and many articles on social media and various forms of digital advertising and outreach cause us to assume that if we simply use the latest tool and use it in a certain way, we will have people flocking to our church.

While there is no denying that many of these tools are powerful and engaging, if you aren’t getting the response you want, it may not be the fault of your tools. It may be when you are holding your church service. Let me clarify what I mean and then offer some suggestions for getting your digital communications and advertising in line with the reality of your church.

I recently re-read Tony Morgan’s, “Thursday Is the New Sunday,” a thought-provoking article that underscores something I've encouraged churches to do for a long time and that is to have a service on a day other than Sunday.

From the article, here are some of his statistical reasons for doing this: A third of the American workforce works on the weekend.

At least 60 percent of families with children between the ages of 6 – 17 take part in organized sports, with many of those having weekend events. We are in an area where a large

MinistryTech.com OCTOBER 2018

number of people have camps/vacation homes that affect their attendance during the summer. Throw in both parents working and chores to be done, lawns to be mowed and families just wanting to spend time together, and church on the weekend wasn’t always making it on the calendar.

My husband and I have served in churches in bivocational roles for many years and now, to support our ministry habits, my husband sells Work schedules are not a choice manufactured for many people today. Most homes. A majority employers today don't consider of his work (and I wanting to go to church a valid help) takes place on weekends and reason to take the day off.

Sunday afternoons.

With all we do at church I sometimes find myself dreading having to put in the hours at church on Sunday before continuing to work the rest of the day. Though we do it, we don't have to juggle children at home or add activities into the mix. If we had that, church on Sunday would most likely be impossible.

Work schedules are not a choice for many people

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COMMUNICATIONS

today. Most employers today don't consider wanting to go to church a valid reason to take the day off.

Application to our digital communications Before I make some other suggestions (and I urge you to read the article above for their great ideas), an important thing for church communicators to realize is that no matter how hard you work to communicate about an

event or program at your church, no matter how complete the social media campaign or how compelling the graphic design of your online marketing materials, if the only time your ministry is offered is on Sunday morning, many of your target audience simply cannot attend.

I recently heard a church leader talking about how one program on Sunday morning had very low attendance and his solution to this

To fully fulfill the Great Commission

RESOURCES FOR CHURCH COMMUNICATORS

Suggestions for change

Training Templates Strategy Resources Podcast

www.effectivechurchcom.com MinistryTech.com OCTOBER 2018

was to have the Pastor announce it more often and more forcefully.

I didn't even bother to comment as I knew the church he referred to gave the announcements before the service started and most people were still walking in and didn't hear any of the verbal announcements, no matter how important they might be. In addition, pastoral authority to motivate people is not what it used to be—people may like and admire their pastor, but authority figures in any area of life have little influence on behavior today.

Beyond these reasons, even if people did listen to the announcements and do what the pastor suggested most of the time, if their child has a game or they must work on Sunday, attendance simply isn't an option. Following are some ideas that may help make your church reality something your digital communications can successfully support.

Years ago when churches started to realize the importance of church held on a day other than Sunday, I was inspired by a church that was near a very large mall. Many of their members worked there and always had to work through the weekends.

To serve their people, the church had an alternate service on Monday nights (many restaurants are closed then and stores had shorter hours)—they called it “Retail Church.”

It was a HUGE success, not only because regular members who worked at the Mall could attend, but, because the church cared enough to offer it, many others came who wouldn't

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normally go to church.

Your community will likely have specialized needs and you will need to come up with the days or times that will be best for the people you want to reach.

Some communities with large college age groups who stay up late for social activities or who for other reasons don't like to get up early, have had success with a Sunday night service. When we were doing Single Adult ministries, for a time we had a service on Friday night that included either a meal or refreshments and it was very popular with Singles who wanted an alternative to being alone on Friday night or going to a bar.

If doing another service seems overwhelming for the staff, you might consider alternate services led by lay people. The staff may not be able to handle all the demands, but there may be many in your church who could do that. Give the service the same status as the Sunday morning service so people don't think they have to go to both. It isn't about a "professional" service vs. a "lay" service, but about reaching the largest number of people for Jesus—no matter what day or time we hold the service.

We’ve make extraordinary progress in the tools we have to communicate about and market our church services, let’s make sure we hold church services at times our audience can attend. MT Yvon Prehn’s ministry to church communicators has two parts: effectivechurchcom.com, a site of FREE templates, strategy and resources, and churchcomtraining.com, a Church Communicators Online Training School.

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tech check

10.18

An IMAX Screen in the Palm of Your Hand OK—that’s a slight exaggeration—but not by much. Remember when projectors were massive pieces of hardware (with equally massive price tags)? AAXA Technologies has a tiny projector you can throw in your gear bag and still have a few dollars left over for more gear.

The P2-A Smart Pico Projector connects wirelessly to most devices and allows you to turn any environment into a presentation room. It really is tiny: a perfect cube, less than three inches, battery powered, and a 130Lm LED Optical engine. If your ministry is mobile, this is a low-cost, vital accessory.

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your website: only cooler Sometimes TechCheck finds a product or feature that isn’t exactly new but it needs a wider audience. That’s the case with Reftagger, a unique plugin that allows any web property to have the look and feel of a big-time, expensive site.

But What If You Need to Shoot Your own Video?

Reftagger allows you to insert a Bible verse on a web page or blog post and create a pop-up of the reference without needing to insert a link to another site. We know: that sounds a bit complicated (or obtuse!) but watch this YouTube demo and you’ll be saying, “We need this for our church!”

Since we’ve recommended a projector, perhaps you need a tiny camera as well? GoPro promises “insanely smooth video” (is that a technical term?) from its Hero 7 (and yes: that means there have been six other iterations of this insanely small, rugged, 4K video camera).

Brent Rose, tech writer for Wired. com has a nine-minute review of the device, which is simply fun to watch even if you don’t need a camera.

But watch out! You’ll really want one after watching the review!

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Who can possibly keep up with all the tech options available these days? TECH CHECK highlights tech news and new gadgets that save you time, energy, money—and keep you from re-inventing the wheel. Have a hot tech tip or news item?

Email rhollenbach@outreach.com.

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10 reasons your worship recording needs a producer

Warning: DO NOT Go It Alone!

by Caleb Neff

S

o your church is thinking about producing its own worship album.

Great. But before you take one more step, let me say this clearly: Hire a producer.

There’s a lot of confusion about what a producer does. Maybe when you hear of a producer, you think of the slick corporate guy from the latest rock doc you’ve seen or, more likely, you think of the legendary Bruce Dickinson demanding more cowbell. In reality, a producer is a skilled professional in your corner who helps your artistic vision become reality. There is a huge difference between what a producer brings to the table and what you may get if you simply rent out some studio time and take a swing at creating something.

Here are 10 things a producer will do for you that you won’t get if you record in a studio without one.

1. Perfecting your song.

Music isn’t always objective.

Songs are meant to be improved and perfected. It takes a collaborative effort, as well as talent, skill and even industry knowledge to move a song from good to great. Take, for example, “Yesterday,” which was originally titled “Scrambled Eggs,” MinistryTech.com OCTOBER 2018

until someone—thank the good Lord— stepped in to improve it. If your song is seven minutes long and you want it on the radio, some editing might be necessary. With the help of a skilled producer, even well-constructed songs can be pushed to near-perfection.

2. Pre-production.

With the help of a producer, you’ll be able to hear your song in a new way.

Are the kick and bass parts conflicting during that second verse? Do we need to consider a key change when the singer is struggling to reach some of the notes? Is that damn cowbell still not loud enough? A producer will be able to give you priceless insight into the inner workings of your song so you can make decisions before you’re paying for studio time and the pressure of a limited budget leads to bad decisions like “oh well, we don’t have time to redo it, we will just fix it in the mix.”

3. Finding/hiring of musicians.

As a worship leader/songwriter, you may need help filling out a band of top players to finish out your instrumentation. Instead of grabbing a few random friends of mixed talent levels, a producer can find the right

people who are genuinely equipped to play in your genre. These musicians will get recordings done faster (which saves you money in the studio) and your song will sound astronomically better. Even if you have a band, you may realize cello/didgeridoo/cowbell would be really cool on that bridge.

A producer can help find the right musicians to make it happen.

4. Choosing the right studio.

(It’s NOT your church!) A producer usually has experience in working in a few different places, and knows that every studio is not equally equipped or experienced for recording your style of music. They may also be able to negotiate a better rate for you based on their relationships and quantity of work in these places.

5. Planning of sessions.

Organization before you record and anticipation of issues that may arise during a studio session will save you hassle and money. Are you going to record your parts individually or as a band? What things will get overdubbed and in what order? Will you use a click track or do you prefer a looser feel?

Maybe, to optimize your budget, the

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foundation tracks (drums, bass, maybe guitar/keys and a scratch vocal) will be recorded in the studio and other overdubs can be done later in a home studio environment. Going in with a clear plan always saves you time and money and delivers better results.

You want the freedom to … reach out … minister to people

6. Choosing the right tones for your style and song.

Once in the studio, decisions must be made that will be crucial to your finished product: What microphones are you going to use on which instruments? How should the drums be tuned? Should you use the guitar player’s amp or the studio amp or take a direct signal to re-amp later? How much bleed between instruments is acceptable? Commercial studios tend to be formulaic only because they’ve nailed down a safe way to get a good sound, yet their method may or may not be the right thing for your music.

Using a producer to track the best sounds for your particular song is the most important thing you can do for your mix.

7. Encouragement and direction at your session.

When is a take truly good enough and when do you need to record it again? When do you need to take a quick break to alleviate some stress?

In what moments are you not quite communicating the emotion of the song, requiring a little push? When it comes to recording—especially regarding vocalists—there are millions of ways to perform. When you’re already in the studio, it may be difficult to determine whether you’re recording the next Thriller or slapping together the next Friday (no offense to all you Rebecca Black fans out there).

Encouragement from a good producer MinistryTech.com OCTOBER 2018

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www.PowerChurch.com • 800.486.1800 can keep you in the right emotional space—giving you room to deliver your best. They can also offer just the right amount of direction to improve or alter trouble spots in your recording.

You can avoid the time-wasting frustrations of being trapped in a creative rut and yielding diminished results. Not only does this save you time, but it saves you money as well.

8. Protecting you from listening to your rough mix a million times.

No kidding, this is crucial. Countless musicians have been there. You just did your first recording at real studio and you’re blasting the rough-mix in your car on repeat on the way home where, for the benefit of your mom and your girlfriend, you blast in on repeat some more. You might even be tempted to post it on social media. By the time

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you get a real mix, you’ll hate it (even though it’s amazing) because you fell in love with the subpar rough by listening to it too much. This is a documented disorder called “demo love” and together, we can eradicate it forever!

opinion that enables the band to hear whether the mix is right for the song, rather than the usual “my bass part isn’t loud enough” arguments that come from a group of individuals not really used to listening to the song as a whole.

9. Advocating for you with those 10. Therapist/Counselor.

No seriously, we’ve all seen the who are finishing your song(s).

Often your producer will mix your songs. However, if this isn’t the case, your producer’s been through the mixing process before and can be amazingly helpful. He can guide you in choosing the best mix engineer available for your budget—someone who has experience and a fantastic track record in your genre. When your first mix comes back and you gotta have more cowbell, your producer, who in many cases has a previous relationship with the mix engineer, communicates things in a way that is helpful, not harmful, to the process. Also, your producer can provide an objective

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movies. As we all know, the hardest part of leading worship is dealing with the humans, and the number one thing that derails good projects is the emotions, egos and drama created by relationships. A producer has been through this many times, and is skilled at navigating the common tension spots that arise in the very emotional process of making a great record.

So when a band has a record you really love, check who produced it.

Odds are if you follow that producer, they’ve made records with other artists you love too. This is because producers have huge influence in the process of

creating your art. A recording studio is a by-the-hour business whose job entails setting up microphones, waiting until you’re ready, and then hitting the red button. Most studio engineers are masters at what they do, but being invested in your project isn’t part of their job, and they probably aren’t going to tell you if what you’re chucking into their microphones sounds like a cat caught in the garbage disposal. The misunderstanding of the roles of a producer and a studio engineer—often on the part of first-time recording artists—is why good musicians, who are simply excited about being in a “real studio,” so often come away frustrated, with costly and lackluster recordings in hand. If you would rather have a better sound, spend less time fumbling through mistakes, save money in the studio, and have loads of fun making your songs a reality, you really should consider working with a producer. MT

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why you should consider

working in ministry Calling All (Christian) Geeks!

by Jonathan Smith

T

he economy is doing great, have you noticed? The market is up and unemployment is near record lows. Finding someone to hire for just about any job is a challenge. With such low unemployment, you could argue we are reaching a labor shortage where there are not enough workers for the available jobs.

A roaring economy like this also impacts the church. It can be difficult to find staff at all levels when there are so few employees available. Even if churches are able to compete with corporate salaries, the pool of people to hire from continues to shrink. While this affects hiring pastors, support staff, custodial, facilities, secretaries, admins, etc., for the purposes of this discussion, and since this is Ministry Tech magazine, let’s focus on tech staff. By tech staff, we are talking

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Working in ministry is different: it requires a person who wants to serve the King first. about information technology, audio/ visual, sound and lighting techs, programmers, web design, social media, and other geeks.

I was talking recently with a project manager at a large technologyconsulting firm that primarily serves the corporate and government sectors. He was telling me the challenges he is facing hiring engineers, programmers and IT support staff. One project he is working on requires 15 additional programming engineers. He’s been looking for a year and has only found three. When he does find and hire an engineer, it is a struggle

to maintain them because there are so many other job opportunities for more money and better benefits, making retention difficult. And this is out in the real world.

There are clear differences between working in ministry and working in the corporate world. A good economy makes those differences greater. Recent salary surveys and studies show for technology jobs most churches are competing pretty well on the salary level, and trailing a bit on the benefits level. The biggest difference tends to be the workload.

The salary may be the same but the workload is significantly different.

While making the same amount of money, the corporate job is only about a quarter the work of the ministry job. Obviously, there are exceptions, especially for higher-level corporate jobs and C-Suite type officers, but I’ve

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worked with several folks lately who have left ministry and made the same amount of money in the corporate world, while enjoying significantly less work. This makes hiring in the church world even more challenging.

So why are we talking about this?

Two reasons. First, I’m dealing with this now. I have job openings on our technology teams I’m struggling to fill. While I can compete on salary and even do better in most cases on benefits, I can’t compete on workload.

Second, I’m not alone. I know of many churches and ministries who are desperate for trained technology staff and unable to find them.

There is no doubt working in ministry is different, and requires a person who wants to serve the King first. With the economy thriving, we need folks called to ministry who are willing to work hard for an eternal reward. Many are hesitant to work at a ministry, not because they will make less money, but because the job often requires more.

To those whom God has gifted with skills in the areas we are talking about, let me implore you to consider serving in ministry. We need you! God has given you gifts and abilities and there may be opportunities around you to put them to use in a vocational fashion at a church or ministry. Don’t be afraid of hard work and laying up treasures in heaven. The economy is good, there is no doubt, but don’t hide behind that as a reason not to use your skills in vocational ministry.

For those struggling to fill jobs at your church or ministry, have faith.

God promises to take care of all our needs and I believe that includes hiring technology staff. God cares about the sparrow, knows the number of hairs on our head, and will provide the geeks. They are out there. The good news is in many cases you aren’t offering a pay reduction to serve MinistryTech.com OCTOBER 2018

at a church. The bad news is those folks may need some mentoring and discipleship.

There is no doubt ministry is not for everyone. My encouragement to you is to consider it. Whether at a church near you or maybe at one I know in Lafayette, Ind., (my contact info is at the end of this article). I’m thankful for a good economy. I’m

thankful unemployment is low, and I’m thankful God will take care of our needs and the needs of His church.

Maybe you are part of His plan. MT Jonathan Smith is the Director of Technology at Faith Ministries in Lafayette, IN. You can reach Jonathan at jsmith@faithlafayette.org and follow him on Twitter @JonathanESmith.

By MinistryTech Contributor and National Speaker

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simple worship ministry hacks to save your sunday (You Can Thank Me Later)

by Mike O'Brien

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fter 18 years of leading worship for the same church (14 of those in the same building), I’ve had the privilege of over time adding some helpful tools to our setup that serve the congregation and band in simple ways. Check out these five simple Worship Ministry hacks you can do now to help your team and church engage with the Living God.

1. Provide Earplugs at the entrance to the sanctuary

Most of a church's volume issues can be handled before sound gets to the loudspeakers and ears of the congregants. With that in mind, it’s a nice gesture to supply earplugs at the entrance for anyone that might prefer a attenuated experience. I have found that even when the sound is appropriate by any standard of measurement, there are still a small percentage of congregants that would benefit from a set of free earplugs. We refill this bin only once or twice a year and that’s taking into account that some kids think it’s candy.

good vocal health! As I mention in the $200 Voice Lesson (free if you register to my newsletter), hydrating our bodies with room temperature and lukewarm fluids is crucial for a great vocal.

3. Make a Diagram of the Stage and Put Them Everywhere 2. Buy a Backstage Tea Kettle For Inputs We’ve all been there. Screaming Your Singers back and forth from the sound team Christianity is a SINGING FAITH! Adding an affordable electric hot water kettle is a great way to bless the singers of your worship team and encourage MinistryTech.com OCTOBER 2018

and stage to “turn up this or that.”

In addition to numbering cords and DI boxes, it’s a great idea to POST

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the inputs for the WHOLE STAGE at the soundboard and on the stage somewhere. Musicians and sound personnel can easily locate each numbered stage input with a legend that shows the whole stage at once.

Instead of only you and Elder Bob knowing that 5 is now 7 and 8 is 9, let everyone in on the info!

music stand. Use this for the call to worship, communion, tithe or exit language. Visitors will thank you. MT

thing…”As worship leaders we lead the congregation with simple instructions every week that can become mundane. Instead of each leader creatively using his or her own language for those transitions, TAPE the most CRITICAL information to a

Mike O'Brien holds a B.A. in Music from Kennesaw State University and a Master of Worship Studies from the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies. He has worked as a producer, engineer and mixer at Lucko Sound Studio, and with a collective of 25+ musicians called Poured Out Like Wine.

Together, they produced seven albums with over 15 published songs with Vineyard Worship USA. He lives in Atlanta, GA, with his wife, Susan, and son, Ezekiel. You can reach Mike at vineband@hotmail.com.

Pinned near the stage

4. Attach A Drum Key to the Drum Set with a String As I covered in Winning the Volume War for Drummers, the drum set is one of, if not the MOST, crucial instruments on the stage.

Think of how many times those drums are hit during the course of several songs—tuning something that gets hit several times is a great idea!

Many times drummers will not have a drum key and attaching one to the community drum set (hi-hat stand) will keep it handy at all times.

5. Permanently Tape Worship Leader Cues on the Music Stand “Uh, it’s time for the announcements… uh…welcome to Faith Chapel…uh, now is when we do the pass the MinistryTech.com OCTOBER 2018

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THE LAST WORD

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

2 CORINTHIANS 4:6