Business-like mindset guides church technical team at Westover Church

By Stephanie Narron
Greensboro, North Carolina- Operating as almost a subcontractor within the church, WAV(Westover Audio Video) Technologies does much more than just serve as the technical team at Westover Church. Developed from a business-like mentality, they have a logo and a brand name. They also have an individual who serves in a role as their “public relations” person. As calls for help from other churches, as well as local schools, have come into the church, this team has repeatedly answered. Not only does WAV Technologies respond with recommendations about audio, video, lighting equipment, but they have been known to provide personnel in building relationships within the community.  WAV Technologies now serves as a training ground for local college students enrolled in a technology program.

Hidden from sight on most occasions, the church's brand new 3,000-seat auditorium has another element that makes it unusual. It is the first facility in the world to install Midas’ XL8 digital audio mixing system . However, equipment is irrelevant without the people to operate it. WAV Technologies' team members on staff are: Danny Slaughter (Director/Audio Engineer), Jeff Neubauer (Lighting/Staging/Rigging), Doug Jennings (Video Production), Danny Price (Digital Media), and Cheryl Hall (Technical Support). Recently the team took some time with Church Production to discuss their ministry.

CPM: What makes this technical ministry unique?

WAV (Danny): Besides the work that we do within the church, we also minister to those in the community. This began a several years back when we received a call from a local high school, Northwest. They were having a fundraising event and needed a PA system. When we got there and saw these kids trying to do big things with limited resources, we knew we had to help. So, now, every year we help with their annual fundraiser as well as other events that various departments have throughout the year. Also, we get calls from other churches who hear about the things we are doing at Westover. Doug [Jennings] has been out to several churches helping them work with their equipment or making suggestions for new equipment. By reaching out, you make partnerships with other churches. For example, there is a church in nearby Burlington, North Carolina that called for guidance as they embarked on a major video upgrade. Because we answered that call, we have a partnership that has allowed us to encourage each other during this transition. Also, we are now discussing the idea of having a program where people from their technical team can work here and our team can go there. This is just our way of giving back to the community.

CPM: What is your philosophy on recruiting volunteers?

WAV (Danny): We have a unique program here at Westover in the way we get volunteers. We have a program called First Connect. Every Sunday, we have people stationed at various booths in the atrium where folks can sign up to serve in areas of interest to them. Each ministry within the church is represented by a person who serves as a connector. This person is responsible for doing all the necessary recruiting for the ministries. It is almost like a public relations position. We are blessed to have Anita Wolfe as our connector.  This works especially well because she focuses on the people while we focus on the job at hand. With this side of the ministry being supported by Anita, it gives us more time doing what we are here to do.

CPM: Do you require volunteers to have experience?

WAV (Danny): The only requirement is a desire to serve. Occasionally, we will find someone who has experience running lights or doing camera work. However, this is not always the most optimal as some folks may have pre-conceived ideas about how to do certain things. But, we have a system in place and many times, it is easier to train someone with little or no experience depending upon the area of interest.

CPM: What is the training process for volunteers?

WAV (Danny): Again, Anita is a big help to our team. She welcomes the new volunteers and discusses the areas within the technical ministry. Then, according to his or her interest, the volunteer will shadow in a particular area. Finally, we use rehearsals as an opportunity for training and familiarizing them with a station. Band rehearsal is great way to give someone a learning opportunity without impacting thousands. The biggest part of it is having the desire. If someone has a desire to serve within the technical area, the training is easy.

CPM: What if a volunteer is not doing a quality job in a particular area?

WAV (Danny): If there is an area where they are not doing well, we will try to guide them to another area. At times when we have openings in the schedule, this may be a good time for a new person to train in a new area. Currently, with opening of a new facility, we have not been operating with a typical schedule. However, we normally have three teams that rotate two weeks on, four weeks off. This way, they have time to get comfortable in a new area but don’t get burned out from working all the time.

CPM: Describe your involvement with the local college, Guilford Technical Community College(GTCC).

WAV (Danny): The relationship between Westover and the Entertainment School of Technology program at GTCC basically came out of our expansion of growth at Westover. While we were in the old building, the attendance of our morning services grew at such at rate that at one point we were doing five Sunday morning services spread between two venues: the old worship center and the gym. In order to do this, we needed extra help especially in the area of audio. So, I called GTCC. Although I had heard about the program, I did not realize an internship opportunity was available. After visiting the school and meeting Jeff Little, director of the program, I was excited about the prospects of coordinating an internship at Westover. Currently, we have been hosting interns for over two years with as many as three students at time working at the church. The advantage for the student coming into Westover is that they get exposure to other areas of entertainment production that is not covered in their curriculum such as video production and theatrical stage management. I have had students throughout the year as a part of this program - they are required to give 160 hours a semester but we have actually have students who still come back to volunteer even though their hourly requirements have been fulfilled. This program brings a technical skill set to our volunteer team that is most helpful in critical areas of production. 

CPM: What is one thought that you’d like to pass along to other tech teams that may be of help to them?

WAV (Danny): There are technical needs all over the church and they occur every day of the week, not just on Sunday morning. However, it is our responsibility to handle all of them. In order to do all of this, a person working as an interface for the ministry really helps tremendously. Most of the time, we have found that our strength is not the people part of the job, simply because our minds are focused on everything that needs to be done. Additionally, I have started asking people for help within their own ministries. For example, we are getting ready to start a program called Wednesdays at Westover. This means that every Wednesday there will be a beehive of activity all over campus, all needing tech support. So we are going to all the various ministries and saying, “We need some people from your ministry area that are earmarked to help on Wednesday night with the technical needs of your room.” Then, we will train those individuals to help on this particular night. Otherwise, if you try to put it all on your shoulders you’ll do a lousy job — that is just the nature of this business.

WAV (Jeff): It is easy to get a bad attitude if you’ve got a lot of work to do and no one really understands this unless you are involved. At Westover, we have an open relationship where we can blow off steam at each other and five minutes later it is back to “all good”. For us, teamwork is huge deal and none of us can do all we need to do without the other people.

WAV (Doug): As Jeff said there are many stresses and strains that people do not understand. So, you must learn to say no. We dig our own hole more times than not to make something happen. But we are all learning how to say no and we are getting fairly comfortable with it.

WAV (Cheryl): The one thing I have learned the most is about volunteers. When volunteers are overworked, they do not have enough time to connect with the people. And, many times that connection is what serving is all about. So, I would tell volunteers to be sure to take the opportunity to stop and worship, to experience the service without worrying about something going wrong. After all, there’s always next Sunday. If they don’t take the initiative to do that, they will get burned out.

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