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Church Production Magazine General Manager Rebecca Stahlbusch has been with Production Media for 14 years. She’s worked with software implementation and training her entire career, and she is CPM’s guru of all things business and financial, as well as the coordinator of Capture Summit 2022 and its Church Filmcraft Festival.
It would be impossible to list all of her contributions in just Five Minutes. Even though she’s known by her co-workers as “Techy Becky,” her volunteer role on the tech team at Apex, North Carolina’s Triangle Community Church is her first adventure into hands-on church production. As their kids headed off to college, Rebecca and her husband, Andy, decided to learn more about the tech side of their church. This interview with a CPM insider explores being an outsider coming into the church tech world.
CPM: Tell us more about your decision to become involved in church tech.
Stahlbusch: Andy and I are volunteer Biblical counselors at our church. Through that ministry, we’ve learned how important it is to be intentional and purposeful about how we spend our time. Volunteering together allows us to spend time together serving others, which helps strengthen our marriage. At the end of a service our worship leader said that they really needed help on the team—not just for the worship band, but also for behind-the-scenes tech. Andy is very interested in video and technology and I also wanted to learn more about AVL for my role at work. Becoming volunteers on the tech team was a perfect fit for us.
CPM: What are your volunteer positions?
Stahlbusch: I started off with the live presentation role. There’s a small room at the back of the church high above the congregation to be able to see the screens and the stage. From there my role is to make sure the screens are displaying the right content for pre-service messaging, worship, [the] sermon message, and post-service messaging. I started learning the video production side of things once we started live streaming during COVID. There is the producer who lines up the camera shots, color balances the cameras, chooses the shots, and switches the camera. And there is the operator who starts the live stream, assists with camera shot line up, and moves the cameras during the service as prompted by the producer. I’ve mostly been in the operator role, but will soon be trained as a producer. I jumped in once to run the lighting board for a special event when there was no one else available. I’m part of the production planning team made up of volunteer producers, volunteer operators, and worship team staff.
CPM: How steep was the learning curve for you?
Stahlbusch: Not too bad really …
The live presentation process has changed a lot. Originally in that role we had to download the Sunday service files, import them into ProPresenter, and make sure they were set up all the way. But our worship leader took that over so now you just show up during rehearsal and run the slides. So, you turn on the computer, monitor, and projectors and then you push the arrow button for the next slide during the service. Mostly you just have to get used to the timing of the words on the screen, and the pastor. You also have to learn when the worship team is led by the spirit and ad libs by adding additional choruses.
For the video operator role, that was a little different. It wasn’t hard necessarily, but it just took time to get familiar with the process and comfortable with the flow. I think I “watched” someone for training once and then worked the next one. But in that role, you are being directed by the producer who can also assist you with questions during the live service while you are getting used to the process.
CPM: Have you had any input into changes in the way things are done?
Stahlbusch: Our team is always looking for ways to improve. In fact, our worship leader really leaves it in the hands of the video team (operator/producer) to make decisions about the camera shots, lining up the cameras, color correcting, etc. He is always open to suggestions.
“It brings you back to the days when you were in a club at school. You all have this thing in common that brings you together, where otherwise you might not have really hung out. We have a lot of fun and laughter.”
CPM: What surprised you most about volunteering on a church tech team?
Stahlbusch: The camaraderie. I have volunteered on several teams throughout the years. For some of them, you are scheduled different weekends than the rest of the team. You may not even know who everyone is on the team that is serving. But with the worship team, I think especially being there together, the same crew for almost a year because of COVID, it was really bonding. We pray together and for each other and we celebrate together at Christmas. It brings you back to the days when you were in a club at school. You all have this thing in common that brings you together, where otherwise you might not have really hung out. We have a lot of fun and laughter. I think it has a lot to do with our worship leader and the tone he sets for the team.
CPM: What advice do you have for others who may want to volunteer on a tech team?
Stahlbusch: Just go for it. There are so many ways that you can serve on a tech team. I started slow, with the easiest of the roles and then gradually moved into the others. You might surprise yourself on what really resonates with you or you might find some hidden talents. And you might find that it’s not for you, but then you know and you try something else.
CPM: What advice do you have for church tech leadership, based on your experiences?
Stahlbusch: Change is hard for everyone, but over the past several years we all have had to change and adapt. Now it is really important to take a fresh look at how tech is changing the way we worship and how we reach people. Remember that the remote audience is just as important as the one in-house.
