The ChurchGear Podcast

What should a  church tech's starting salary be? Tim Foot joins us this week to kick off our Church Tech Pay Series! In the first of his two episodes with us we discuss church tech starting salaries, current tech hiring trends and  which tech role is the hardest to hire right now. In this episode you’ll hear:  1:00 How we Hire at ChurchGear  6:46 Tim Foot from Slingshot joins us! 13:00 Two Tr...

What have our friends at MxU been up to?  We chatted with Jeff and Jay on how much a room can excuse a bad mix, MxU's upcoming events and which fast food burger is the best.  In this episode you'll hear: 1:00 CA Mega Church Visits, Floor Buying & In and Out 7:20 MxU’s Jeff & Jay join us! 8:30 Burger Battle: McDonalds, WhatABurger, In and Out  14:30 Two Truths & a Lie “Church...

How do you build a big production team in a healthy way? What is the ethicality of hiring techs from other churches? Tyler came up at Bayside church and now he is leading the production team at Flatirons church. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Company culture, hiring patterns  6:15 Tyler Kaneshiro joins us!  9:30 Disney Princesses & Tyler’s implants   12:00 From Bayside to Flatirons ch...

How did Toby create ChurchGear? We are covering the failures, successes and surprises that culminated into ChurchGear's creation and success this week! In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Toby’s horrible poison ivy and meth house  7:00 Toby’s first recording studio  13:50 Toby’s first business betrayal  18:00 Toby’s many new ventures and worship ministry run  21:55 Toby’s first gear flip ...

What's it like producing services in the largest church in America? Matt Walden gives us the details on Lakewood's services, a fantastic tech takeaway and some spectacular disaster stories. In this episode you'll hear: 1:00 Fast cars and Toby’s Lakewood Experience  6:20 Matt Walden joins us!  7:50 Outer Space, the Pope and Audio around the Globe 18:00 How Matt Walden got into Video...

How do you go from cold calling Willow Creek about their cool production setup to becoming their Creative Director? Rebekah Weidenfeld joins us this week to talk to us about creative direction, working between production and worship and much more! In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Organizing Services 4:55 Rebekah Weidenfeld joins us!  6:30 Biking across America and flying upside down  14:00...

How do you become Thomas Rhett's lighting designer and win the Pernelli award for lighting designer of the year by age 28? Alec Takahashi joins us on the podcast this week to tell us. He also touches on the importance of mentorship, his approach to lighting and gives the infamous disaster story that resulted in the destruction of many of Bayside's lights. In this episode you'll hear...

How do you handle your church's tech needs when you go from 3 campuses to 24 campuses? Justin Firesheets has grown a great deal in his years at Church of the Highlands. He joins us this week to discuss his top tech leadership traits, communication style and ways to improve. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Toby’s disrespectful children  4:55 Justin Firesheets joins us 18:00 Going from...

How do you constantly improve your mixing skills in a cutting edge environment like North Point Church? David Stagl mixed at North Point for years before striking off on his own now as a freelance mix engineer for live and studio settings. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Electrocution, Shaq’s crew costs and near robbery  7:15 David Stagl joins us!  15:40 Northpoint disaster story  22:00 Pi...

How do you outfit your church with the best system to spread The Gospel? Nick Kofahl is the co-owner of Summit Integrated Systems and his team outfits churches with customized gear solutions. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Toby’s hairy body  4:30 Nick Kofahl joins us  7:00 Nick’s love of HiFi 20:40 How Nick landed at Summit Integrated Systems   26:00 What sets Summit apart  29:20 How Summ...

How do you become a world class mix engineer?  Daniel Ellis has been mixing for over two decades, so he dropped by the podcast studio to bring his wisdom our way! In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 A recruiter asks Blake to be the head of audio at a church?! 4:55 Daniel Ellis joins us!  12:15 Kicking Chris Tomlin out of FOH 18:25 Sneaking into Universal Theme park with Crowder 24:25 How Danie...

What lessons do you learn when you've lit some of the biggest churches in America like Willow Creek, Bayside and Cherry Hills?  Chris Thomas has worked at all three and he drops by the podcast to give us his wisdom on how he has improved his lighting by improving the key relationships that he has with other roles in the church. In this episode you'll hear: 2:00 Ross’s favorite Early Serv...

Should your church buy an LED Wall? How do we know the right wall, price and application? Davis Kornegay joins us live from the FILO conference to give us his wisdom on how to decide if your church needs an LED wall and how to pick one out. In this episode you'll hear: 1:00 Toby’s kids like Ross more  7:05 Davis Kornegay joins us!  15:00 Planning the Passion Conference  18:00 A morning at Pas...

Did you go to FILO's conference this year? Join the crew as we recap the best moments from the trip. Toby and Dave have some stories and then we list all the ways Blake failed. Join us for the FILO Afterparty on this week's podcast! In this week's episode you'll hear:  1:00 Birthday disasters and Toby’s Betrayal of Blake  3:40 Dave Roediger joins us!  9:30 Five Truths and a Lie...

How do we check in on ourselves to ensure our ego, identity and mental health are in a healthy spot? Stephen Brewster helps worship teams turn their original music into worship albums. He drops by the podcast studio to drop some wisdom on how we can take care of ourselves well. This episode will help you ponder some new questions and will minister to your soul. In this episode you'll hear:  1...

How can Worship and Tech have the hard conversations that'll allow both departments to serve the church well? Josh Fisher and Chris McClarney would recommend just becoming best friends! They started out as pals in Jesus Culture. The duo is now working together at Church of the City Franklin where Chris serves as the Worship Pastor and Josh serves at FOH in a tech role. In this episode you&apo...

How can we have the hard conversations with the key relationships that are involved in our lives as Church Techs? Todd and Bissy Elliott joined us this week to kick off our "Hard Conversations" series! We talk about all the ways our spouse can be affected by our church tech role, how to know when it's time to switch churches, and the marital red flags to look out for.  In this episo...

What was it like mixing for Hillsong United? James Rudder joins the podcast to tell us about his adventures with Hillsong United, his favorite gear and he even has a few Mick Jagger stories! In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Mosh pits and sitting next to The Edge  6:45 Getting lucky in Vegas and Table Tennis with guns! 12:10 Winning five bucks off MickJagger  18:45 How did James Rudder land...

Can you prioritize your own health and production work simultaneously? Chad Vegas is the director of video production at Transformation Church in Tulsa Oklahoma. He tells us how he started prioritizing his health, why Transformation Church values high quality production services and more on this week’s episode. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Toby & Blake’s failed exercising habits  4:...

Can Venueflex fix any room? Luke Vogel was the Audio Director at Church of the Highlands for years. He is now the Director of Immersive Solutions at Venueflex where their company makes rooms handle audio better. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Celebrity pastors and shoes  6:45 Luke Vogel joins us  17:30 Luke’s journey into the church production life  21:30 Mixing Church of the Highlands Ch...

Harold has mixed for every major name in christian music. (Crowder, Steven Curtis Chapman and Mandisa just to name a few). He joins us on the podcast to tell us how he got into church tech, how he found himself running audio for one of the biggest churches in America at 24 years old and more! He also has some disaster stories that dance with death that you won't want to miss. In this episode...

What happens when opportunity and skill intersect? You become the drummer for Jesus Culture! Josh Fisher was the drummer for Jesus Culture, and he is now serving on the production team for Church of the City. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Toby and Blake shooting guns  5:15 Josh Fisher joins us from Church of the City!  15:00 Josh steals the stage from Dave Mathis!  21:00 How Josh ended u...

What is it like to work with the gear from DiGiCo and Klang? Kyle McMahon cut his teeth as Chris Tomlin's FOH Engineer and Monitor Engineer. He has taken that experience to his new role as the Trainer and Application Support for Group One. Kyle joins us to chat about every console under the sun, how DiGiCo thrived during the pandemic, and more. In this episode you'll hear:  1:30 FOH setu...

How did Red Rocks Church grow its reach during the covid lock down? Furthermore, how did they raise the production level of their services without a giant budget increase? Mark Wray is a Technical Director and Lighting Designer for Red Rocks Church, and he joins us on the podcast this week to tell us all the innovative ways Red Rocks has improved their services and community reach. In this episode...

Church techs are asked to do more, know more, and reach more people. We know the demands have risen, but have their salaries and support equally increased?  We talked with Tim Foot (Slingshot Group's President/CEO) on the podcast this week about the current church tech talent landscape, how churches are rethinking staffing and more! In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Toby getting fired a...