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Churches from all over the world are getting ready for one of the biggest holidays of the year. Easter. Some will produce larger-than-life productions complete with live animals, flying angels and troops of Roman soldiers, while others will strive for more intimate times of sharing communion and reflecting on the resurrection of our Savior. One thing that is common across them all—they will all strive for excellence.
Although each church is unique in how it presents this message of hope and salvation, they all put immense amounts of time, energy and preparation into making sure that their gathering is full of meaning and wonder. Traditionally, more energy is spent producing Easter and Christmas services than any other service throughout the year. It is with good reason, because those are also the most well attended gatherings of the year.
Seizing opportunity
As Easter approaches it would be easy to just sit back and try to meet the needs that the creative team may have. They need a blue spotlight? Check. Need eight wireless mics? OK, got it. Or you can be proactive and bring your own creativity to the table.
Special services are great opportunities to try new things and, if you do it right, it could even end up being something that translates into your normal weekend services, as well. Many of the things that my church does on a weekly basis were first tested out during a special service. As you plan for your Easter services, keep in mind those things that you have wanted to try out for a while. It may be easier for you to get approval to try something for a special service and then let the leadership see (and hear) the value that it brings.
Equipment is probably one of the most obvious things that you can try out for your Easter services. If your church has the budget for it, then you could propose new equipment purchases. However, if the powers-that-be are a little hesitant to spend money, you could suggest renting the equipment first to try it out. Most rental houses will allow you to put a portion of the rental fee toward the purchase if you end up deciding that it is a worthwhile investment.
The church where I serve (Faith Living Church in Plantsville, Conn.) has often been able to use its special service budget to buy equipment that will be used for the remainder of the year.
When you are considering your Easter equipment needs, make sure that you are also thinking ahead into the future. If you are able to show that the equipment will serve not only in the short-term but also will be able to improve the quality of all of your future services, the senior leadership may be more likely to approve it.
Here are a few equipment upgrades that you could consider for your upcoming Easter services. For each area I will also include some helpful “talking points” for you to use to help your senior leadership understand the importance of your suggestion.
Lighting
Easter productions with angels appearing and resurrection scenes will often test the limits of even the most advanced lighting system. Improving your stage lighting is something that can quickly take a good Easter production and make it a great one. This is a great opportunity to add some intelligent lights or even a handful of LED stage lights. And speaking of….
LED Stage Lights
"...even non-churchgoers will climb out of bed on a bright Sunday morning and go to church. Will you be ready for them?"
"...be proactive and bring your own creativity to the table."
The great thing about many LED lights is that they are made up of an array of red, blue and green LEDs that can be mixed and blended into an infinite array of colors. Instead of having dozens of gelled Par cans, you can have just a few LEDs that will cover every color you could possibly need.
Another benefit of LED lights is that they consume far less power than their incandescent counterparts.
Since LED stage lights can be controlled directly by DMX, you will not need to add any additional dimmer packs; and due to their low power consumption, you can add far more fixtures on a circuit than you could with normal stage lighting. Also, LED lights do not generate the high temperatures that traditional stage lights do, so they are safer, especially when you have them near combustible materials.
Sound
The sound system is something the senior leadership can often overlook until something goes wrong. Good sound systems are never noticed unless there is a problem. They just sit quietly in the background doing their jobs, but there may be much more that you are able to do with a few equipment upgrades.
Digital Mixing Console
If your production is relatively complex, you may be able to justify upgrading to a digital console to allow you to program in the scenes and settings that your production will need. In the past several years the price of digital technology has come way down—so that even the smallest house of worship can afford to have a quality sound mixer.
You will want to make sure that the board has more than enough channels because you will never regret having too many, but you might kick yourself for not having enough. In addition, make sure that the board has enough aux sends to meet your monitoring and recording needs. Another feature that makes a digital console such a great deal is the amount of effects, EQs, compressors, and more that make huge racks of processing equipment obsolete. The effects feature alone can save you tens of thousands of dollars.
Many of the modern digital consoles also come with support for iPad, iPhone and other tablet devices that allow your sound technician to become mobile and move around the room as they mix. They can also be configured to mix stage monitors effectively, giving the musicians and singers the ability to control their own mix.
Video
What good is an amazing Easter service if no one can see it? In our media-saturated world using video has become a necessity, and the cost of video equipment has come way down in the past several years. Using video allows your congregation to watch the service in multiple locations and even get a recording to share with a friend or relative. This is a great time to invest in the video system of your church.
Live Streaming
If you are not broadcasting your services live on the Internet, now would be a great time to start working on that. There are many online services that make streaming very easy for even smaller churches without much in the way of technical resources. There are also a few free alternatives out there, but be careful because many of them will roll commercials at the beginning of the broadcast and they may not always reflect your church's values. I learned that the hard way.
Be sure to start promoting the live feed to the congregation to build excitement. Encourage them to invite their family and friends to view the service online if they are not able to come in person. This is a great resource for shut-ins, people who are traveling, armed forces, and others that would love to view your services but are unable to attend.
Volunteers
Many people will offer to volunteer for special services that normally don't get involved at other times throughout the year. This is a perfect time to ask people to get involved helping to run sound, video, lights, and so on. Keep in mind that most of the time these people will tend to slide back into the shadows once the holiday is past. Don't let this happen.
Prepare in advance for how to get them involved on a more regular basis. One of the first and most basic things that you could do is to show some appreciation for their service. You can thank them verbally and maybe even send them a “thank you” card the week after Easter. Then you can gently ask them if they would consider serving more regularly—you may be surprised at their response.
If you put a little bit of effort into recruiting new volunteers it will be a great benefit to both them and to your team. Most ministry leaders struggle with recruitment, but a big event like Easter can make it pretty easy to do. Even if you are only able to pick up one or two new volunteers during Easter, it will be well worth the effort.
Try New Things
Easter, or any special service, is a great time to try things that you have wanted to do for a long time but just haven't taken the time to work on yet. Don't be afraid to take a risk or try something new—in fact, try something new and bold.
The great thing about having a service like Easter is that it gives you a deadline to work toward. With the constant waves of weekend services coming at you it can be hard to pick one to be a deadline to implement something new. What often happens is that the new ideas get pushed off and neglected, and it becomes harder and harder to make them happen.
Let Easter be your deadline. If you start working now, you will be able to do some great things by the time Easter gets here. Doing this will not only help you to improve the quality of your Easter services, but in addition, you will be able to work these things into your regular ongoing services. It allows you to take the momentum of your special service and carry it throughout the year.
