Five Minutes with Patrick Elkins, Co-Founder, Church Creatives Network

Church creatives are looking for ways to be more connected to one another, to continue growing and learning, and to also be able to offer their own knowledge and experience to help inspire others. Fulfilling that need is why the Church Creatives Network exists.

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Church Creatives Network (CCN) Co-Founder, Patrick Elkins’ experience as a worship leader, professional musician and entrepreneur has kept him running in church creative circles most of his life. His professional experience includes touring as the lead guitarist for artist and worship leader Daniel Eric Groves. Later, while working for an AVL integration team, the Lord showed Elkins a need for greater accountability when churches are navigating AVL projects. So, he launched the AV Coalition with a group of friends. Although they had the ability to offer accountability and engineering services, they realized there was also a deep hunger for community among church creatives. This sparked the idea for the Church Creatives Network. Elkins is now helping to lead and elevate the vision for a global network of church creatives who share a passion to equip and empower the Church. We learn more about him in this Five Minutes.

Church creatives often have a massive heart to share their own experience and inspire others.

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Q1: How did you first become involved with church tech?

I got involved in church tech at a very young age due to a fairly fast-paced and always evolving tech environment at my home church. Our youth group was always “cutting edge.” In fact, we were one of the churches that adopted Church on the Move’s “180” youth model back in the 90s, to the degree that they offered us use of their actual branding, logo, etc. As the years progressed, we eventually built a youth facility called “The Ground Floor,” which became one of our region’s premier venues for concerts, etc. We had tours (every Christian artist you can imagine) coming through with all of the latest technology week after week for many years. Being exposed through many early morning setups and late-night teardowns, I was always fascinated by the tech we would encounter. That said, my primary focus personally was to be a musician. Rather than sitting behind a console, or running lights, cameras, or FOH, I was usually playing keys, bass, electric guitar, or leading worship, but still very engaged in the AVL aspects of services and events.

I’ve always had a high value for presentation and excellence. Fast forward multiple years, and I was given the opportunity to work for a national integration company based out of Seattle. Providing AVL solutions to churches really opened my eyes to the deep well of tech, and required that I become more personally equipped to “talk shop.”

AVL roles can be especially isolating, and since they’re behind the scenes, they’re often very thankless responsibilities as well.

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Q3: Why did you create AV Coalition? 

AV Coalition was born from a deep longing to protect the church throughout the process of AVL projects and integrations. Having sat on both sides of the fence (like many of us have), either as a part of a ministry that is pursuing an upgrade or as a part of an integration team that is providing consultation and solution design, seeing “behind the curtain” from either side began to expose that there’s a real lack of accountability in the process.

Churches often begin conversations with integrators prematurely. They approach them with wish lists that are 250% of their actual budget. In turn, the integrators start to “design the moon” based on simply responding to what they’ve heard. This can create a real mess, which happens to begin with the best of intentions (from both parties).

On the flip side, integrators often steer churches in certain directions due to their level of access to equipment, their dealer relationships, and often upsell solutions to churches. In my opinion, most often, this isn’t due to any lack of integrity. It’s simply the integration team providing what they truly believe will be the best solution. However, if the church doesn’t have an accountability partner who can help them decipher the language of contracts, the actual need for certain equipment, and not to mention what other types of equipment are out there that are not being presented, they often end up spending more (or less) than is required to align with their actual vision. Ultimately, it ends with a less than satisfactory experience, and some upset emotions.

A bunch of us that were all thinking in the same direction after witnessing this revolving door experience time and time again decided to create a team that has zero connection or incentive to the end result (the sale) and can truly sit in the equation as a non-biased accountability partner for the church. That said, this level of accountability also serves the integrators, and helps to protect their team and time as well. You might even call AV Coalition a “translator” between a church and the integrator(s).

Q4: What sparked the Church Creatives Network and what is your goal for this organization? 

Throughout our journey, many of us who have been in ministry and/or church tech have felt a longing for stronger community. It’s one thing to provide services to the church, but it’s an entirely different thing to be the church. AVL roles can be especially isolating, and since they’re behind the scenes, they’re often very thankless responsibilities as well. Many who are serving in the production industry are looking for ways to be more connected to one another, to continue growing and learning, and to also be able to offer their own knowledge and experience to help inspire others. This also goes for other creatives like those in worship, communications, dance and theater, you name it.

…our goal is to get as many valuable resources and creators as we can to set up camp within one base…

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The Church Creatives Network was born from a conglomeration of multiple realizations, desires, and emotions that come from serving the church as creatives. One major goal we have is to curate content and resources designed for church creatives into one location.

As it stands, there are thousands of influencers, Facebook groups, YouTube channels, websites, schools and tutorials, conferences, cohorts, tools, etc. to follow, stay up to speed on, and try to connect with. It can be exhausting to keep up! On top of this, many of those channels and platforms discourage self-promotion from anyone who’s not a part of what they’re doing. We’re flipping the script. Similar to Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, our goal is to get as many valuable resources and creators as we can to set up camp within one base where church creatives can discover inspiring content, helpful training and resources, and also socialize with one another under the same roof. To top it off, it’s a space that’s completely set apart from the noise, feeds, and algorithms of Facebook, Instagram, etc., and it’s designed to be an environment that’s linear in its purpose of connection and content for church creatives. 

Q5: What is the main reason you have such a passion for supporting church creatives and what advice do you have for churches that are struggling in this area? 

I heard a great saying once that goes something like this, “We often strive to create that which we lack.” I can say this personally, but I believe I can also speak for the others who have been a part of the CCN development journey.

Church creatives often feel a lack of connection, a lack of community, and struggle to stay connected beyond their own four walls. I like to say it this way, “We’re really good at being churches, but we really struggle at being the Church.” What I mean by that is this, we’re often incredibly focused and efficient at running our own ministries, designing our own events and services, and connecting with our own congregations, but how often do we come up for air, get beyond our own four walls, and connect with what God is doing in the rest of our cities, communities, and the churches around us?

I would also add that church creatives don’t just want to glean and consume. They often have a massive heart to share their own experience and inspire others. Our heart is to provide a platform where we can empower more creatives to give back and invest and deposit their wisdom and experience into one another. In turn, facilitating a great exchange between individuals, ministries, and influencers, but also organizations that are providing services and tools for the Church. 

Q2: Describe your current role at Bethel Church and how you came to be there. 

My wife, children, and I transitioned from the Midwest to the West Coast in September 2017. Our journey to Bethel in Redding, California was deeply rooted in desiring to understand how they, as a church and as a community, foster a 24/7/365-day revival culture. We were always convinced that there was “more” to encounter in our walks with the Lord, and our ability to move in the gifts and power that Jesus (and his disciples) walked with…be it prophecy, healing, etc. We had always been part of spirit-filled, full-gospel, charismatic churches, but we still felt like we were lacking discipleship in how to move in the gifts of the Spirit.

As we invested ourselves into the environment of Bethel, we began to develop relationships in various ministries. This led to opportunities to serve, and then to begin to take some leadership roles. We’re currently volunteering as worship leaders in Bethel Kids’ services and I play lead guitar as a part of their youth program called Young Saints. I’m also helping to develop a program to raise up the next generation of worship leaders, musicians, and production techs by creating opportunities for our youth to serve and be trained within our services. 

Q6: Do you have a favorite piece of gear or tech that is blowing your mind currently? 

I have to say that my favorite piece of equipment right now is a kit provided by Remote Control Studios. They have a monitor that functions both as a video capture/teleprompter device, but also functions as a secondary monitor for your computer. Because it’s set up with a camera shooting from behind a mirror like a teleprompter, you can literally look someone directly in the eyes on a Zoom, or any video call. It feels almost like VR. It’s a truly dynamic and incredible experience. I would go as far as to call it a complete revolution in the monitoring industry. I don’t say this lightly, but it truly is a mind-blowing experience. It’s my favorite new product that I’ve encountered recently.