After playing piano and drums as a child, Tone excelled in math and science in high school and was invited into a program for Mathematical Opportunities in Engineering Science and Technology (M.O.E.S.T.) But when the program ended, he became socially adrift and on his 16th birthday he found himself at the wrong end of a gun - being robbed on the way to a concert. Because of this trauma, Stephens’ young life spiraled into drug use. But when he finally hit bottom, he met Jesus. At a small urban church, he also discovered church tech and audio production. Exploring this new passion, his expertise grew from a church volunteer – to traveling production in secular music - to circling back to Christian music and being hired as touring production manager for artists like Taya. Since then, his work on church staffs has shown him the great need church techs have for community and education. Stephens is now doing all he can to bring those around him that training and fellowship. We learn more about him and his efforts in this Five Minutes.
… my gifts have led me to be most passionate in helping others.
CPM: Where did your love of technology begin?
Stephens: There are stories of me as a kid taking broken things apart and putting them back together. In the audio world, I think all it takes is plugging a mic into a soundboard and then plugging that soundboard into a speaker to take anyone down the deep rabbit hole of technology. I love signal flow, putting together console packages, and making show files that allow others to put paint on canvas so to speak.
CPM: How did your tech skills collide with the church?
Stephens: The church brought out my tech skills. I was a musician first. I found my way as a teenager in the studios of NYC. I've always been a nerd. I love being a nerd. There was a season of my life when I tried to run from being a nerd to being one of the cool kids, which led me to chasing money to add false value to the public perception of me. In New York where my uncle worked on Wall Street, I saw everything that popular culture was copying on display, but in real life you know, people who could really afford Gucci, Mercedes, Rolex without going broke. I was inundated by having things rather than producing things and ended up in a lot of trouble that led me to find Jesus and the church.
A quote I live by encapsulates it the best, “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist,” which is accredited to Pablo Picasso.
I've always loved music, but like any passion, you have to put in the work to grow your ability. The church gave me an outlet to discover and develop how to put my creativity to good use. So, I played drums for a while, then elevated to playing keys, and there was always a tension with me not liking playing the song like the record that kept me from going too far as a musician. Running sound ended up being the place where I could selfishly feed my love for the energy that music creates. It was also the place that challenged me the most. A quote I live by encapsulates it the best, “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist,” which is accredited to Pablo Picasso.
CPM: What is your current role with Worship Center?
Stephens: I currently don't have a role outside of being a member, which I'm trying to do better at. I was the audio manager there from May 2014 until May 2020.
It was probably Fall of 2017 when the ministry finally caught ahold of me. I had been participating in a program started by Jeff Sandstrom (M.X.U.) called “Sonnet House.” Jeff was helping me get used to the way things worked for the church and it just hit me that I loved helping others grow the church.
From that point on, the journey of developing into a teacher became my passion. Being married to a high school music teacher has probably added to that as well.
CPM: Tell us about the organizations you’re starting like the Central PA Worship Collective.
Stephens: In my studies of the local church, I discovered that more churches are fully volunteer-run. For a long time, I thought that the churches around me felt like little islands and in that discovery my initial opinion was that ministries wanted to be isolated. The funny thing is, this actually applies across the board to church. It's not that people don't want to connect with each other, in most cases they're too busy to find ways to fellowship with each other.
In the volunteer-driven church, the volunteer serves after putting in a full day of work or on their days off. In the staffed church, after they've put in their hours at church, they generally just want to spend the rest of their time with their families. In both of these circumstances neither have the bandwidth to find a meaningful way to connect.
It's not that people don't want to connect with each other, in most cases they're too busy…
So, I've taken it upon myself to be the bridge of connection for my region. The cities of York, Lancaster, and Harrisburg are known as Central Pennsylvania. What I started doing post-pandemic was simply creating fellowship opportunities for worship and tech folks, whether it be a breakfast pop-up, or a hang at my house that allows me to put my pellet smoker to good use. We all have different gifts that serve the purpose of building the kingdom. When we come together and share those gifts with one another, our ability to serve and grow the kingdom becomes exponentially stronger.
Now, marry that with meeting the needs in the gaps of the collective strength of a group like this, whether through training or developing mentor-protege relationships. In those efforts I've witnessed something really wonderful start happening in our little community.
That said, October 9 & 10 we will be hosting “Go 4 Berry Productions” featuring d&b Soundscape 180° (mix kitchen hands-on). James Berry will be presenting his clinic on mixing in-ears. Then on the 10th, Daniel Ellis will be mixing on the d&b Soundscape 180°, and we’ll have a session from FIR Audio on proper maintenance of in-ears.
CPM: Do you have a favorite piece of AV gear for use in the church?
Stephens: I'd say it all starts with the microphone at the source but talking about my love for microphones would be a bit boring, so I will say my favorite piece of gear would be my Waves rig. Coming from touring as far back as pre-digital desks in the analog world, where we had to add in all our outboard gear, to being able to downsize, when necessary, from outboard gear to using Waves software is definitely one of my favorite things to talk about. Waves makes having the world of analog texture and functionality available when space and budget are at a minimum.
I'm a gear nerd. I could talk about workflow and resources all day. At the end of the day, developing ourselves is the greatest resource we can add to the gifts we bring to our churches.
CPM: Is there anything else you’d like to add that we haven’t asked about?
Stephens: At 45 as of April 2, 2023, my gifts have led me to be most passionate in helping others. The production space is where I'm most known. Production has become a vehicle of connection for helping others develop beyond their primary skill into either teaching others or multiplying their efforts through starting a business. In all the chaos of my story, my educational path led me to pursue business and economics and a business degree.
I don't think it's easy for anyone to find their way in life on the first try. What I do love is how things can go from one thing to the next until we do find it feels like it is ours. Then sometimes, when we leave ourselves open to possibilities, the other things we chased find their way back into who we are. Music and live production are my primary passion. Serving the church brought out a deep desire to help others, and that desire has been magnified in my entrepreneurial and investment efforts.
