Relatively small Olivet Baptist Church (OBC) in Austin, Texas has a media ministry that's doing big things. Through the teamwork of consistent weekly players, Olivet's volunteer media ministry handles everything from sound, lights, and video in the church's two televised Sunday services to making sure the informational kiosk in the lobby is working properly.
Four hundred to five hundred worshippers attend OBC each Sunday morning, at either 7:45 a.m. or 11:00 a.m. And Technical Engineer Clarence Conner takes seriously the time and talents that each team member contributes to help make that worship time moving.
"Our 'Executive Producer,' Pastor Kennedy Young, Sr., has given the team the support it needed to expand its reach from a one-time entity that brought a community drama production to Texas' first African American neighborhood museum?The George Washington Carver Museum?to a ministry that has just hosted a media workshop for a fellow church advancing in the same direction," Conner relays.
Church Production Magazine caught up with Conner before he headed out on a week's vacation from his "day job." And in true Olivet form, Conner was eager to stop and share about his church's exciting team-based media ministry.
CPM: Give us an overview of Olivet Baptist Church's technical ministry team.
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Olivet Baptist Church technical production team. Front Row: Johnna Nelson, Hurline White. Back Row: Clarence Conner, Arthur Atwood, Jake DeBose, Michael Simms. |
Conner: Olivet's Media Ministry is all volunteer and is broken into two groups, those who work on Sunday mornings manning the camcorder, running software, or mixing audio and lights and the production side that handles all the pre/post production work. These [production] individuals create announcement slides, update the website, edit video recordings for television broadcasts, create sermon presentations based on our pastor's sermon notes, and update information on our kiosk called the 'Olivet Information Center.'
These two groups are separate but very dependent upon each other to supply or to be supplied various forms of information. On the Sunday mornings side, I have two steady audio technicians, one for each service, with several backups.
Then I have three camera operators who have been on the team since I joined a little over a year ago. We also have a High School sophomore who has taken a strong interest in the behind-the-scenes work in drama plays at church and in his school. Then, I run Easy Worship on the computer with two other team members.
[My] co-leader of the media ministry leads the production side of the ministry. OBC Productions is a group of seven extremely dedicated members of Olivet that are instrumental in developing plans for expansion and outreach for the ministry.
These seven are made up of a 'Producer' who calls meetings, sets agendas, and edits all sermon recordings for broadcast on Public Access TV.
We have a 'Creative Consultant,' and she helps the team find new and exciting ways to engage the congregation and keeps the entire team on task when we get sidetracked in meetings.
Our 'Audio Engineer' handles all audio during recording sessions for promotions and commercials.
We have an 'Artistic Editor' who develops PowerPoint announcement slides, lends her critique on all publications, and also helps develop new ways to impact the church via media.
Then our 'Website Administrator' handles all updates and changes to the website, and she also doubles as a backup computer operator on Sunday mornings.
Our 'Consultant' creates sermon outlines in PowerPoint for each service that our pastor preaches. She helps us with collecting demographic information on the church, and she has developed surveys to help assess congregation skill sets.
| OBC Media Ministry Team Members | |
| Media Ministry Leader | Clarence Conner (Sunday Mornings) |
| Co-Leader | Michael Simms (Production) |
| Sunday Mornings | |
| Audio Technicians | Willie Taylor, Jake DeBose |
| Audio Tech Backups | Arthur Atwood, Jr., Stanley Stokes, Grace Reaves |
| Camera Operators | Lorenza Day, Charlene Daniels, Joseph Spears |
| Easy Worship Operators | Hurline White, Michael Simms, Clarence Conner |
| OBC Productions | |
| Executive Producer | Pastor Kennedy Young, Sr. |
| Producer | Michael Simms |
| Technical Engineer | Clarence Conner |
| Creative Consultant | Charlene Daniels |
| Audio Engineer | Arthur Atwood, Jr. |
| Artistic Editor | Tabitha Guyton |
| Website Administrator | Hurline White |
| Consultant | Johnna Nelson |
| Radio Engineer | Jake DeBose |
Our 'Radio Engineer' packages and delivers sermons to the local radio station to be aired throughout the week.
And my job as technical engineer is to simply come up with solutions for all technical problems and develop plans for all ideas that are brought up in production meetings.
CPM: Describe Olivet Baptist Church's outlook on the technical ministries.
Conner: Olivet is becoming more media savvy with the implementation of online announcement requests; we've been able to streamline [them] and get information to the proper individuals in a timely manner. I can see Olivet increasing its use of media, especially in drama productions, with pre-recorded skits and innovative use of current lighting. The production team is also exploring integrating the website, budget, membership directory, and Sunday School attendance/curriculum into one software that shares information throughout the ministries and the church.
CPM: What are some of the most keen ways that Olivet's technical ministry team helps pull people into the service and make it more meaningful for them?
Conner: We've recently developed a monthly program that airs during worship service called OBCTV. We have anchors from the production team who deliver all the announcements for the month in an engaging format. For example, we've recently added a kiosk and a flat-screen television in the front of the church. I've heard comments that the kiosk looks like an ATM and have gotten questions about the television hanging from the wall, so in this month's OBCTV we staged one of our anchors trying to withdraw money from the kiosk and then being informed of its true purpose as an information center.
CPM: For you personally, how did you get started in technical production? And how did you know that this is what God wanted you to do?
Conner: I've always had a strong interest in computers and electronics, but didn't want to join the ministry because I was busy with singing in the choir, miming, drama ministry, teaching Wednesday High School Bible study, and leading the Young Adult Ministry. However, one Sunday while watching the sermon outline on the screen, something happened that bothered me. The computer reset, I watched as the computer booted back to Windows and the program was started again. Now this might not seem like much to some people, but to me it just shouldn't have happened in the middle of worship service. I could see the operator scrambling trying to figure out the problem and it was then that I knew I needed to lend a hand, if for nothing else than to turn off the projector if the computer needed to be reset.
When I decided to come on board the media team, I helped to develop several new strategies on CD/DVD duplication. One thing that gave me confirmation of my calling to this ministry was that almost every class I was taking at DeVry [University] had a project that I could relate to my ministry. For example, in a business class I had to create a fictitious business, so I developed the strategy that we use today for recording, duplicating, and distributing CDs and DVDs. It has been an awesome year where God has shown how he can take the ordinary and create some extraordinary results.
CPM: What's your favorite part of the job, and what's your least favorite?
Conner: Your question actually denotes the part that really surprised me about working in the ministry, that this is actually a 'job.' I clock in on Saturday mornings to make media orders from the previous week, edit video clips to be aired during service, make any hardware changes that I feel are necessary to enhance the service, and clock out late Saturday afternoons. Then on Sundays I make it to church around 7:30 a.m., verify that all the equipment is up and running, and essentially work until 3:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. when I've taken the last order and have shut down the last piece of equipment.
There have been times when I've had to work harder in my volunteer 'job' than the one that puts gas in the car. However, I've quickly learned that this work is not a 'job' per se, but my personal ministry.
One of the most awesome parts of the work that I've been blessed to do is that a year and a half ago I didn't know a thing about Easy Worship, sound boards, video mixers, 3CCD camcorders, three-point lighting setups, or what Betacam tapes were, but by tapping into the multitude of resources available online I've been able to learn.
CPM: What does it take to be a good technical production team?
Conner: What makes our team so great is that we can joke around with each other. It keeps production meetings interesting, as they can last from two to six hours. [Yet,] they are the most productive meetings that I've ever been a part of and everyone leaves the meetings with a list of tasks to be completed by a specified deadline. Another factor that helps us is that individuals on the production team have designated titles; this gives each member ownership over a specific area of the ministry which helps alleviate 'stepping on toes.'
CPM: Where do you think technical ministry is headed in the future? How might it evolve?
Conner: One big change that I'm seeing is the integration of high-end light, sound, and video technologies in weekly Sunday worship services. Where it's not about simply using technology to have regular Sunday service, but using technology to create an atmosphere where congregations can have a worship experience-one that is completely engaging ... and demands participation, not just congregational presence. I can see the impact of technology in ministry expanding to every aspect of worship, from the attendance in Sunday school, to the automated ordering of supplies for various ministries.
CPM: What advice do you have for your technical production team contemporaries at other churches?
Conner: Whatever you do, do it for the Glory of God. You may not have million dollar equipment, but you serve a God who has given you the ordinary and expects the extraordinary.
Quick Links
COMPANY: Olivet Baptist Church
QUICK-LINK: (512) 478-7023
URL: www.obcaus.org
