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Photos courtesy of Hope Community Church, Cary, North Carolina.
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…teams meet for their first Christmas planning session in January. “We can talk about what worked and what didn't while it is fresh…”
—Don Smith, Creative Arts Director, Hope Community Church, Raleigh, NC
Put Christmas in a Box
One might think that having to plan for a production across five campuses at Christmas would add more complexity, but production veteran, Don Smith, the Creative Arts Director
at Hope Community Church, Raleigh, NC, doesn’t see it that way. “Big or small, I think all our productions all have the same goal,” says Smith, “to connect with each person in our congregation.” Smith sees his teams’ goals for their special, once-a-year Christmas production at Hope Community Church to be very similar to their regular Sunday services.
“For planning purposes, I like to think of our Christmas production as a box,” he says. “The box has time slots and acts as a template for the service.” For Smith, an important guiding factor in creating his box template is knowing what the key pieces of the service will be and then fitting them into 10-minute increments. “When we look at a production as time blocks, it makes our planning easy.” Knowing Christmas will be a family event, Smith and his teams target 50 minutes as overall runtime making sure there is something for children and adults, including elements of performance using talent available at each campus, musical interludes, features with engaging moments for children and adults, etc. “Of course, we include time for carols, a sermon and some special ‘deep breath’ moments that will create memories with the story of Christmas,” he notes.
One of the benefits of having a template like Smith’s time box is that it works year after year even when show styles might change. “Five years ago, we had snow falling from the ceiling,” he recalls. “This year, our goal is different; a more intimate connection with the story of Christmas with the ability to worship. The overall theme is different from what we did in previous years, but we still plan in very much the same way.”
As for working across multiple campuses, Smith considers what resources and talent are available at each campus and employs an “80/20” rule. “We try to keep 80% of the service the same with teaching on the same topic and music the same by and large, so attending any campus still feels like Hope Community Church, then we allow for 20% for unique elements that might only be available at one campus,” he says.
Smith’s teams meet for their first Christmas planning session in January. “There’s really no better time to start,” he says. “We can talk about what worked and what didn't while it is fresh, and gather ideas that will be a rough outline for next year. It’s important to get something down before we get involved with other production responsibilities.” The team's notes will jump-start the planning process when they meet again in late July, then again in September/early October when they will start into what Smith calls “implementation mode.”
Throughout the process, Smith looks to his teams to bring their creative ideas, keeping the strong connection with worshippers the primary goal, and using the box with time expectations to organize planning. “Having parameters allows us to make sure we include all the things that have to happen while it takes the edge off creative demands for the team,” he says. “Really, when you have a framework that is acting as your guardrails you are just working with the church’s key values and time limitations. I don’t want to oversimplify it, but that makes planning easy; makes it easier to be creative; and makes the product better.”
Something to appreciate about Smith’s time box approach is that the framework is a constant reminder for planners of “the big picture”: keeping what the congregation is expecting and the core values of the church front and center. With the myriad details to plan, from parking attendants to streaming services, Smith’s most important advice for planning a Christmas production is: “Don’t forget the audience!”
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Photos courtesy of Freedom House Church, Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Plan for the Unexpected
Churches planning larger Christmas productions need to look no further for inspiration than Freedom House Church, Charlotte, North Carolina. For their highly acclaimed production The Story of Christmas - Christmas Eve 2022, Production Director, Brad Christian had to coordinate media content, choir performances, soloists, voice-over talent, a full praise band supplemented with orchestral instruments onstage, concert style lighting and sound, costumed characters and, of course, snow effects. With all that in play for one night, Christian has developed planning techniques that help his teams to succeed, including knowing to adjust when plans change.
“How you handle deviations from a plan is key. There is always a cost associated with last minute changes and that rests in the hands of the production director to articulate those to leadership.”
—Brad Christian, Production Director, Freedom House Church, Charlotte, NC
“How you handle deviations from a plan is key,” notes Christian. “I’ve learned that many team leads operate better when they can be spontaneous. So, if you know that you have a leader who is prone to last minute inspiration that actually requires the team to be more prepared and be ready to calmly make adjustments.” Christian suggests that when plans become complex, the plan should include some not-so-obvious priorities. “Get the projects that you do know about done early,” he says, “or at least enough that you have margin for those last minute ‘curveballs’ you know will be coming.”
When those last-minute changes happen, Christian advises production directors to be ready. “Production directors should always be prepared to have crucial conversations with leadership when it comes to last minute pivots. There is always a cost associated with last minute changes and that rests in the hands of the production director to articulate those to leadership.”
Of course, planning can help the bottom line, too. “I’ve learned that budget is a factor for everyone,” says Christian, “no matter the scale of the event. So when productions grow, knowing what, when, and how much to rent can become a challenge.” As an example, he offers that Freedom House Church has found that they use snow machines every Christmas season. “Instead of renting every year, we have pivoted to owning our snow machines,” he says, but he is quick to remind teams planning their production inventory to consider the true cost of ownership. “Consider the seasonal maintenance, storage and other factors,” he says. “There is always a trade-off.” For those who decide to rent, Christian reminds them to build time into their rental window to allow for proper installation, as well as to factor in not returning rentals until the new year.
When productions get more complex, budgeting for outside help can keep a production on track and prevent the unexpected. “Where outside help can be most useful is when your teams get into something hyper specialized,” says Christian who looks to an outside firm when church productions employ kinetic elements. I want that outside team partnering with us to make sure we are solid. I would say the same applies for any sort of engineering or rigging, too. This type of partnership improves the production and addresses safety concerns for the teams.” Christian adds that careful planning and scheduling is key to finding contractors for Christmas Eve. “Make sure you honor them by creating a prepared and hospitable environment for rehearsals,” he says. “Also, make sure you provide compensation for rehearsals and preparation.”
For Christian, establishing timelines and tracking progress for their Christmas production is essential. “Creatively, our teams start in the summer,” he notes. “The teams come together and prepare for a retreat overnight trip to our church’s lodge in the North Carolina mountains. We look to this as the creative catalyst for our Christmas Eve event.” Because of the more expansive production this year, the annual retreat was moved from July to June to give the teams additional time, but Christian cautions teams to use their time wisely. “There is benefit to early planning, but only if you take advantage of the longer runway,” he says. “It is easy to get distracted and if you don’t pay attention to milestones and deadlines set for each part of the service planning experience, you can find yourself trying to pull off items at the last minute.”
Christian describes not planning early as downright dangerous. “Last minute scrambling leads to unnecessary all-nighters and doesn’t provide any margin for things to go wrong. You can easily wind up not using a proper clamp, or not scheduling power properly when things are done last minute–those are real safety concerns.”
Better Planning Creates a Better Experience
Colin Wells, Creative Director at Point Church, Cary, NC, sees the act of planning a Christmas production as an opportunity to create not only a better production to celebrate Christmas, but a better experience for his creative and technical teams. “Planning,” he says, “offers a wonderful opportunity to bring people onboard and share the vision for a project.”
"No matter how big or small the production–it could be a big-budget event or Nativity scene on the lawn—planning lets you paint a picture from the start; It rallies people and sells the vision.”
—Colin Wells, Creative Director, Point Church, Cary, NC
Wells is quick to explain that planning is different from having a plan set in stone. “You don’t need to have every detail figured out,” he says. “Once you have a clear vision of the basics and some goals, planning can help you ‘spread the net’ to get people involved. No matter how big or small the production–it could be a big-budget event or Nativity scene on the lawn–planning lets you paint a picture from the start; It rallies people and sells the vision.”
Wells advises that plans not be limited to the technical aspects of a project. Instead, he suggests focusing on the vision and filling in the technical bits as you go. “Find the point, your goals and vision for the project and communicate that,” he says. “You might not know-how many camera operators you will need, but that will come with discussion about the day and the event. It’s best to lead with the why.”
Wells has seen firsthand that implementing a plan is as much about enabling people as it is coordinating their efforts. “Everyone wants to do their job well and communicating through a plan lets people know not only where they can help but that they are valued,” he says. “It allows people to say ‘Where can I serve, where do I fit in?’ versus a team having to reach out to find volunteers.”
Project planning software helps Wells keep in touch with all the people involved in projects at Point Church. One of the many benefits of planning software is its integration with the calendar. “One meeting about Christmas six months out doesn’t work well,” he says, but regular check-ins that can be easily scheduled with project planning software makes regularity a part of the plan. “Even short meetings just to keep in touch are useful,” he says, “say, every second Tuesday to keep the teams up to speed.”
With his experience using project planning software, Wells openly advocates for churches finding and using software that fits their operation. Especially for events like Christmas that happen every year, planning software not only keeps a project on track, but also provides a valuable record of the details of every aspect of the project that can be revisited. “If you are not already using project planning software, it might be too late to start this year,” he says, “but a major event like a Christmas production is a great opportunity to elevate your planning with some better systems and processes.”
