"I don’t just want to sit and listen to someone. I want to be able to engage my senses at multiple levels and feel like I’m part of something as a participant, not just an observer." Justin Firesheets, Production Director, Church of the Highlands, Birmingham, AL
Justin Firesheets is production director at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Ala., a position he has held since 2009. In his daily role, he manages the video and lighting systems for all 19 campuses of the church, and he has also been a project manager for church-wide AVL projects.
Justin Firesheets, Production Director, Church of the Highlands, Birmingham, AL
In addition, Firesheets regularly spends time investing in other church technical leaders through conferences and roundtables. He shares his insight and passion regarding the constantly evolving landscape of media and technology and its impact on local churches nationwide.
Why do designers need to create compelling worship spaces for media presentations (video, sound, lighting) to effectively reach media-savvy audiences?
In general, we are now living in a media-savvy culture and everything we do is now media-driven. Many of us spend our time watching content on demand, and high quality video and audio content is everywhere. If something doesn’t immediately catch my attention and show that it’s worth my time, I’ll mentally disengage and move on to something else.
The current landscape boils down to engagement. Am I creating an environment that drives and encourages engagement? Based on what people see and hear, they are creating a perception of our value: are we worth their attention, and are we worth listening to? If it is, am I creating something shareable so they can engage with their friends and invite others from their community to come be part of it too?
"If [media] doesn’t immediately catch my attention and show that it’s worth my time, I’ll mentally disengage and move on to something else."
In the “old days,” there was only one way for people to learn, since most of society had limited literacy skills. They would gather in a large group and listen to someone teach them in a lecture format. One person communicating to a large audience.
"I don’t just want to sit and listen to someone. I want to be able to engage my senses at multiple levels and feel like I’m part of something as a participant, not just an observer."
Now, though, people are drifting farther away from lecture models. Now people enjoy feeling like they are part of an experience. I don’t just want to sit and listen to someone. I want to be able to engage my senses at multiple levels and feel like I’m part of something as a participant, not just an observer. When people have the ability to experience something on multiple fronts, it allows them to digest and internalize the content more effectively, and the mind is able to engage on more levels.
So the creation of engaging content is paramount...
Content is king! People are discerning enough nowadays to know if something is just “flash and trash”… all style and no substance. And I don’t think most people come to church looking for entertainment value. People come looking for a message that will be both spiritually impactful and real-world practical that they can use during the week.
"... the medium through which you deliver the content in a media-rich environment is just as important as the content itself. Often, the medium is the difference between the audience actually connecting with the message."
Back in college, I remember learning the words of media theorist and author Marshall McLuhan, who coined the phrase, “The medium is the message.” In other words, the medium through which you deliver the content in a media-rich environment is just as important as the content itself. Often, the medium is the difference between the audience actually connecting with the message.
As a church, we have the most incredible message in the history of the world. But so many times, people tune out and never hear that message because it wasn’t packaged right or it wasn’t delivered in a way that the audience could easily understand and digest.
That’s where media content is just as important as message content. One without the other keeps us from being as effective as we could be.
How does the digital revolution impact the church community and everything we're speaking about?
Again, I think a lot of it boils down to engagement.
While it’s important to create environments for people to gather en masse for a worship experience, there also has to be an emphasis on creating engagements outside of those planned, weekly experiences, and that’s where social media carries such a weight nowadays.
Having a healthy social media presence allows a church to keep discussion and engagement going all during the week, to either emphasize what happened on a weekend, or to help create momentum for something that’s upcoming.
Unfortunately, so many people live their lives strictly through a lens of social media engagement, which isn’t really a “social” platform at all.
Unfortunately, so many people live their lives strictly through a lens of social media engagement, which isn’t really a “social” platform at all. So, in that context, the responsibility of a church is to then use that platform to engage and connect, but then entice people to take steps to be part of an actual, in-person community.
In that moment, the enticement only works if the audience experiences something worth latching onto. It has to extend beyond just the flashy, glitzy, bite-sized world of digital promotion and actually have something of substance behind it.
People can find good quality content anywhere. But the message the church has is unlike any other platform in the world. We have a message of hope and salvation that so many people need and, deep down, want, whether they realize it or not.
We just have to keep people engaged long enough for them to realize the power of the message.
"We just have to keep people engaged long enough for them to realize the power of the message."
People live in an “on-demand” culture, and churches owe it to themselves to deliver to the congregant a high quality experience at the click of a button; a sound system that is clean and intelligible, video technology that creates excitement, and an overall experience that is attractive and compelling. The ability to capture audio and video enables the church to share programs that people cannot attend. The church must have a way to archive programs online, expanding the audience and enhancing spiritual discourse.
Back to you personally in your technical position at Church of the Highlands--what role do you have in making sure that message is effectively delivered?
On our team, we always say that the ministry need determines the technology response. So in many ways, we aren’t really setting the pace of organizational vision, per se. Other teams determine how they need to do ministry effectively in order to reach people, and it’s our job to come up with a technology solution to make that feasible.
"... it’s our job to come up with a technology solution to make [the ministry vision] feasible."
But in the same way, we sort of do determine the pace of how that vision gets implemented. Even though we didn’t come up with the original idea or dream, it’s often that we do have to come up with the actual means by which that vision is put into play. And if we’re not aware of emerging industry trends or new technology development, our lack of knowledge or ability could hinder the organization’s ability to take new steps.
... it’s also critical for us to have great relationships with technology partners who know more about things than we ever will. We have great resources at manufacturers who help us demo products and come in to teach our staff about new equipment. And our integration partners are huge. They are constantly spending time in R&D....
So, it’s our job to constantly be learning and growing in our industry knowledge and skill. We constantly emphasize professional development and personal growth. We have guys taking tests and earning certifications, we go to tons of conferences and tradeshows, and we’re always talking with peers from other churches.
"We have guys taking tests and earning certifications, we go to tons of conferences and tradeshows, and we’re always talking with peers from other churches."
But it’s also critical for us to have great relationships with technology partners who know more about things than we ever will. We have great resources at manufacturers who help us demo products and come in to teach our staff about new equipment. And our integration partners are huge. They are constantly spending time in R&D to learn what’s new that we need to be aware of, and that allows us to lean on them during big projects that may be beyond the scope of what our team can handle internally.
With technology constantly changing and improving, how does it impact your mission moving forward?
What worked 20 years ago doesn’t work now. When I was in high school youth group, we used an overhead projector and transparency slides to display words for people to sing along with. Now, it’s all computer-based, and many churches build their own custom video content that has animated words. The whole landscape has changed.
"I don’t think we ever have the luxury of getting comfortable. Just because we used a solution once doesn’t mean that it will be the silver bullet for everything moving forward."
I don’t think we ever have the luxury of getting comfortable. Just because we used a solution once doesn’t mean that it will be the silver bullet for everything moving forward. We have to keep pushing ourselves to learn and grow. Plus, since we are a multisite church with locations all across the state, we have to always be seeking out ways to be more efficient and cost-effective. As you start scaling out technology solutions across 19 campuses, the cost can add up quickly.
Since we are implementing ideas using the generosity of the congregation, it’s our job to be effective stewards of what we’ve been given, and we’ll ultimately be held accountable for that. But the common misperception is that stewardship equals cheap. And that’s not necessarily true.
I could buy a cheap widget for $10, and I may have to end up replacing that widget two or three times over the next two years. Add in travel time, manpower, and lost productivity from other projects, and I could have ended up spending well over the $50 I would have spent by buying a different widget the first time.
That’s not to say that the most expensive widget is always the best either. I think it’s very situational and the decision should be weighed on every project. But I would never want to just default to the lowest cost. And as quickly as technology is changing, costs of long-term efficiency continue to decrease.
