We all have plans. We also know that sometimes God has a different plan. How we handle those moments when God points a different direction for us can be life changing. For Colin Wells, one of those times turned him toward church tech. Today, as the creative director at Point Church in Cary, North Carolina, Wells leads the creative ministries across Point Church as a whole, supports its many individual campuses and participates in the church’s Mission Support ministry that offers a helping hand to other churches. We learn more about Colin Wells in this Five Minutes.
CPM: How did you become interested in technical arts, and how did you learn?
Wells: I have always been interested in and "good" at technology. However, I never had many plans for how that would look as I developed a career. In school, I began studying computer science. Still, after I realized many aspects of that were better suited for someone more introverted, I transitioned to study communications with a focus on new media. This education allowed me to sit at a crossroads of learning new technologies and how to communicate and engage with the broad spectrum of media and technology.
CPM: How did your creative passion intersect with the church world?
Wells: While I grew up in a Christian household and attended church regularly, I never anticipated working in ministry as a career. However, God had other plans. Upon graduating college at UNC-Chapel Hill, my Campus Minister, Dean Owens, invited me to intern with the campus ministry I was a part of. I gave him the good Christian answer, "I'll pray about it." Well, I actually prayed about it, and after God crushed every excuse I made, I found myself in this internship. I later transitioned to my current Creative Role at Point Church, but that would have never happened without me being willing to say "yes" to God pushing me into that first opportunity.
Blessed are the flexible, for they will not get bent out of shape.
CPM: What is the most interesting aspect of your current role at Point Church?
Wells: For me, it is how every day looks different. And that is something I love. While it is essential to build rhythms to your workflow, it is also important to be flexible and be able to and willing to step into whatever situation is needed. Somebody once told me, "Blessed are the flexible, for they will not get bent out of shape," which has stuck with me. Sometimes the work is helping a stranger in need who walks in the door of our church. Sometimes it can be helping to edit videos because we have a backlog. Other times it can be planning and dreaming of a new endeavor for our church. No matter the task, the variance also helps keep me grounded and reminds me how lucky I am to do what I do.
Whether it is to your boss, employee, volunteer or intern, always strive to exemplify Jesus.
CPM: What is Point Church’s Mission Support and how is it different from a traditional main campus/multi-campus relationship for the creative team?
Wells: How long do you have? I'll break this up into two parts.
1. One of my favorite things about Point Church is its less traditional primary campus/multi-campus relationship. Rather than a top-down approach, where everything is funneled from a main campus and replicated to satellite campuses, we have more of a bottom-up approach. While being Point Church's, our campuses are more unique and independent than many multisite models. They have live teaching and the freedom to plan their services, events and other local responsibilities. In leading the Creative Team across Point Church, we produce content for our church to use as a whole, but we often execute the ideas and aspirations of a specific campus and its needs. Additionally, I support the campuses as a resource whenever a need arises in the worship and tech space. Whether providing expertise in a new camera or troubleshooting why a microphone is not working, our central team is meant to be a resource instead of a director.
2. Earlier, I mentioned new endeavors. One of the latest endeavors that has grown out of Point Church is an organization called Mission Support. Mission Support exists to provide the services and expertise of a large church but at a cost that makes it available to all churches. And we recognize that most churches are smaller than 250 people in attendance.
Mission Support exists to provide the services and expertise of a large church but at a cost that makes it available to all churches.
We do this across several areas, including Operations (payroll and bookkeeping), Leadership (coaching and strategic planning), and the area most relevant to this context, Creative. Some of our creative services are consulting and support in worship and tech, website building and SEO services, and providing dedicated graphic designers and video editors. If you want to know more about Mission Support or think our services would benefit you or a church you know, you can find out more at missionsupport.com.
CPM: What is your favorite technical innovation?
Wells: There is a recency bias occurring in how I answer this question. But in the last few weeks, I have been blown away by AI and the benefits that it can bring. It is easy to dismiss AI, and you must use discernment in how you use it. However, I encourage people not to shy away from exploring how it may help them be more efficient. Just yesterday, I used a service built off Chat GPT, Copy.ai, to help me draft two video scripts that would have taken me hours. I then adapted it and made changes, but it gave me a starting point that likely saved me two hours of work. As long as you are using AI to make you more creative instead of less creative, it is an incredible tool that will help you take your team and skills further.
CPM: What advice do you have for people who want to become technical artists?
Wells: The most significant piece of advice I can give to church creatives and technical artists is twofold. First, always remember the "why." Hint: Jesus. And second, always remain open-handed. That is how I ended up in this career. God has you where you are right now. But He may guide you elsewhere. He may guide you to a different role on the team. He also may show you that your big idea is something you must do. He also might tell you that the big idea must come second to His plans and directions. We are in a unique and unprecedented time in that our roles are just now becoming commonplace among churches. While we do have a responsibility to help church leaders understand and see the importance of our positions, we also do have a responsibility to have patience and grace with church leadership as they learn how to incorporate people like us to our fullest God-given potential. Whether it is to your boss, employee, volunteer or intern, always strive to exemplify Jesus.
