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May 2012

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Hone and target wise gear-purchasing decisions

by Mike Sessler

Let’s just be honest for a minute; as much as we tech guys and gals love to do it, buying new A/V/L equipment is fraught with peril. Unboxing all that shiny new gear is exciting, but it all seems to come packaged with the underlying question, “Did we make the right decision?”

A lot of churches tend to take a “crisis management” approach to purchasing A/V/L equipment. That is, they find them- selves in desperate need for something, then run out and buy the first thing that appears to meet the need at hand. While the problem might be solved for today, it’s not uncommon for that equipment to be removed and replaced because it wasn’t quite right, or won’t work with the next big thing that’s needed.

I suggest there is a better way, one that will be far more fiscally responsible and build confidence and trust in the technical team from church leadership. It all begins with thinking ahead.

Start With A Master Plan

Most growing churches (or those that aspire to grow) are familiar with the concept of a master plan. A master plan is simply a vision of the goal state—the place you want to be when you’re done. To use a building analogy, a church might start out with a multi-purpose room and an education wing. In the future, the master plan shows an office/admin building, another education building and a new, larger worship space.

All those buildings would be drawn up, at least conceptually, before the first is ever built. The master plan tells us where we are headed, so we can make good decisions along the way.

A master plan for A/V/L equipment is very similar. We start by taking a look at our existing needs, making some educated guesses about where the church is headed, and coming up with a goal state. At this point, we’re really defining functionality, not specifying equipment. For example, a master plan for video might include the desire to have four to five cameras available to shoot the service, and the ability to produce both an IMAG mix, a satellite campus/ video venue feed, and a web stream. The eventual equipment list for that system will be quite different from a master plan that requires only video archives of the service.

While the master plan would most likely be developed by the technical team, I submit it should be developed in concert with church leadership, as well as any other ministry leaders who will be affected by it. Because a master plan should be campus-wide, you should consult with the stu-dent ministry leaders before drawing up plans for the student space, for example. The campus-wide master plan will become your road map for the next three to five (or even seven years) of equipment upgrades and purchases.

Planned Purchasing

Once the master plan is developed and approved by senior leadership (don’t skip that part), begin to filter all your equipment purchases through this plan. Going back to our previously mentioned video system, you may currently have two cameras and are simply creating video archives and maybe a web stream of the message today. However, if you know that video venues and IMAG are in the master plan, and it’s time for a new in the next few years. Yes, you’ll spend a bit more now, but in the long run it will be less expensive because you won’t be buying equipment twice.

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Mike Sessler is the technical director at Coast Hills Community Church in Aliso Viejo, Calif. He has been involved in live production for over 20 years and is the author of the blog http://www.ChurchTechArts.org. He also hosts a weekly podcast called Church Tech Weekly on http://www.TechArtsNetwork.com.