Easter can be one of the most high-pressure weekends in ministry. With so much work falling on the technical and creative teams to make it special, it can be difficult to keep the resurrection front and center as we prepare. Every church has a story about what they learned this year. Patrick Elkins, Co-Founder of the AVCoalition who also works with Bethel Church in Redding, California, sat down to talk about this past Easter with four people working in tech and creative leadership around the country. In this podcast, they discuss everything from how to keep the spiritual aspect of the Easter season in mind, while dealing with all the extra responsibilities, projects, and new gear glitches.
Hope Community Church Creative Director Don Smith says at his Raleigh, North Carolina-area church, they try to always give the team as much margin as possible by planning farther out and weaving the work into the normal schedule a little at a time. “That way people get a chance to breathe and just be a part of it instead of going like their hair is on fire to the very last minute,” Smith says. This year his church experienced the pain of supply chain issues and because of it is now planning for Christmas gear rental right now.
Ron Cochran is a full-time consultant for church in AVL with an organization called NV5 and he’s also with Perimeter Church in Atlanta. He says they talk a lot about being humble and appreciating the fact that they’re hosting the celebration on big holidays. “I always pray, ‘Lord help me to be a light to somebody today,’ and we don’t run anywhere – we walk. Because God’s in control and everything is going to be fine,” Cochran explains. His church added a larger choir and strings for the orchestra for Easter and they didn’t run into any major snafus.
Cottonwood Creek Church’s Online Minister, Will Chapman, says his Dallas-area church has developed a culture of Core, Character, and Craft. “Everything we do is about how God is wanting us to use this element, tech, or song to come together and communicate the message of Jesus Christ. I describe it as spiritual professionalism,” Chapman says. This year they found a way to mix Easter tradition with digital technology and even found a last-minute fix to a failed strip on an LED wall.
Joseph Cottle is the AVL Director at LifeMission Church in Kansas City, Kansas. He says his church tried to focus on the meaning of Easter and marked the day with video synced to live worship and live dancers. “But we followed the flow we do on a regular week. That’s part of the culture here. We want to be us, we want to be who we are and who we are the rest of the year,” Cottle adds. Last-minute network glitches and an LED wall problem raised the stress level of the holiday for them – but they found a way around it all and he says prayer got them through it.
