Current Issue

May 2012

Print Article     Email Article

  Page 1 of 6   >>

Equipment Planning and Purchasing

Balancing the desire to make wise decisions with the need to save money.

by Jim Kumorek

Any technical ministry leadership role includes planning for equipment purchases. For the typical church tech, this can be a daunting task—there are so many options, and the desire to make wise decisions can be overwhelming. Here's what some of the experts have to say about different aspects of planning your acquisitions.

Long-Term Planning

It's important to consider the long-range goals of your ministry when adding equipment.

Donnie Haulk, President of Audio Ethics in Charlotte, N.C., promotes the Technology Master Plan approach. “We look not only at what the church wants to do for the first service after the technology installation, but what the long term goals are,” Haulk says. “This allows us to choose technology that not only works for the pressing need but can be a part of the bigger picture. When looking at the whole instead of merely individual components, we can enable a technical ministry to grow through multiple phases, with each phase become easier to manage as the long-term goal starts coming together.”

So, consider the long-term, and let that drive your short-term decisions. If your plan is to add moving lights to your sanctuary in the next year or two, and your current lighting consoles dies, don't replace it with a new console that can't handle moving lights. Doing so would force you into buying another console in the near future, wasting what you spend to solve the short-term problem.

Volunteer Skill Level

“The skill level of the operators is always a concern,” adds John Fuqua, vice president/COO of All Pro Sound in Pensacola, Florida. “We make sure that our training sessions are oriented to the abilities of the operators. However, with the ever-growing desire for more complex systems, the operators are typically working with more advanced equipment , requiring dedicated efforts.”

  Page 1 of 6   next page >>

Jim Kumorek is the owner of Spreading Flames Media, providing video/media production and writing services to the A/V/L, technology, architectural and hospitality industries. He has led audio, video and lighting teams in churches as both staff and a volunteer for over 10 years. He can be contacted at james@spreadingflamesmedia.com.