The ChurchGear Podcast

The flying drummer boys at Prestonwood Baptist Church took the social media world by storm.  Mike Smith is the Lead Audio Engineer/Live Production Lead at Prestonwood and he joined us this week to talk about that event, his method to improving, handling pressure and more.  In this episode you'll hear: 1:00 Viral social media moments we’ve enjoyed   4:55 Mike Smith joins us!  12:30 Cutting ree...

How do you go from volunteering at church to becoming the Global Production Director? Chad Moore is the Global Production Director at Bayside Community Church. We chatted with him about setting up systems for your volunteers, staying healthy enough to have longevity at your church, and more on this week's podcast. In this episode you'll hear: 1:00 Can someone rescue Toby from his snowy c...

How do you go from thinking, "I could do something with the MicRentals.com URL," to supplying the Super Bowl with the mics they use for Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes? We chatted with Stephen Arruda on MicRentals.com's origin story, culture building, and tight timelines. In this episode you'll hear: 1:00  Dad jokes and rare microphone stories  6:06 MicRental's Founder, Step...

How do we routinely build up our volunteer teams? How can we constantly improve our team's skills and lead our ministry better? Ryan Robb is the Live Audio Coordinator at Biltmore Church. He joins us this week to discuss his approach to coaching volunteers and cultivating leaders. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Toby’s snowy disaster in the church parking lot  6:50 Ryan Robb joins us!...

How do we build healthy volunteer cultures? Jonathan Malm is an entrepreneur, author and church content comedian. He joins us this week to discuss volunteer culture building and burnout prevention. In this episode, you'll hear:  1:00 Toby prepares his son for middle school bullies 6:20 Jonathan Malm joins us! (Monkeys, Fires & Modeling)  15:45 Jonathan’s many projects  18:30 Jonathan’s wo...

Have you ever put your production gear on ice to get through a service? Tyler Moss has! Tyler is the Production Director at Casas Church in Tucson Arizona. He stops by the pod to tell us about the challenges of moving to live stream, the Sunday morning cycle and his surprise meeting with Paul McCartney! I n this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Our most painful gear runs of 2022: Helicopters &...

How do we recruit and train tech volunteers so that we are not the only one who knows how to work the sound board on Sunday morning? How do we strategically say no to tech requests that would put us beyond our hours and cut into our family time? David Horning joins us from Alaska to describe what has worked for him in these scenarios and more! David works with Native New Life, a Native led ministr...

How do we create a healthy volunteer culture so our church production ministries can thrive? How do we avoid burnout along the way and focus on God's calling in our lives rather than the obstacles in our path?  Andy call is the Co Lead Location Pastor at East Lake Church and he shares his 11+ years of experience on these topics in this week's pod. He also enjoys using his experience of l...

This is our wildest podcast of the year. Join the entire ChurchGear crew as we go over the funniest stories of the year,  give out awards and end with a surprising Tech Takeaway of our own.  In this episode you'll hear:  0:30 Toby got fired at church?!  1:30 Blake's total firings and middle school ministry antics  5:50 Climbing through gear at Willow Creek  9:45 Invitation to "steal...

How do we raise up the next generation of church technical leaders? Kevin Behnke is the Production Logistics Director at Christ In Youth. They partner with churches to create memorable moments for young christians. Along they way, they also end up finding aspiring technical directors who are drawn to the production life. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Youth Night Concert at Church of the...

How do we communicate in such a way that we know the pastor and worship leader are on the same page as us? Jerod Togger came up at Real Life church in Flordia and now works full time as a Tech consultant to churches across America to help them with their production equipment, internal communication, Sunday services and more! In this episode you'll hear:  1:40 Things go badly for Blake in Orla...

How do you go from swearing you'll never work in a church to being a church tech for over 15 years? Brendon Petty is the Technical Director at North Point Church in Atlanta. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Toby does something unspeakable on stage  7:45 North Point Ministries Technical Director Brendon Petty joins us!  14:45 Brendon’s journey to North Point Church  18:20 Live Streaming...

Tim Logsdon is the Lighting Designer at Gateway Church in Texas. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Two Near Disaster Story from ChurchGear 5:20 Tim Logsdon joins us! 16:20 Tim’s Church Tech origin story  27:15 Why does Gateway church have so much gear?! 35:15 Disaster story on cues  39:00 Tech Takeaway on asking for help  Hangout with Tim on Instagram Resources for your Church Tech Ministry...

Jay Desai is the Master of Ceremonies with MxU, works with Passion Church regularly and is an overall production management legend. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Toby upgrades his church’s production gear for free 6:30 Jay Desai of MxU joins us!  28:30 Jay’s involvement with Passion  38:00 Jay’s method to de-escalate  conflict  44:55 What MxU person would win the AnchorMan brawl?  47:00...

Aaron Padilla has worked in production at Bayside church and is now a full time freelance audio gun for hire! In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Toby becomes “The Pirate Guy”  5:00 Aaron Padilla joins us!  8:50 Aaron tours with Barlow Girl!  18:00 How Aaron got into Church Production at Bayside Church  31:00 Building a great church production culture 33:00 Aaron vs. Blake “Audio Quiz”  36:45...

Many church techs leave church production to work with an integrator. Evan made this move and then returned to the church tech life! Evan Woertz is the production systems manager at Mariners Church.  He previously worked with Summit Integration.  In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Inlaws and a bait and switch show disaster 6:00 Five Truths and a lie with Evan Woertz  14:50 How he got into chu...

How many church tech directors ended up in that lane because others just poured into them in their youth? In our experience, its alot. Rusty Anderson continues to prove this trend this week as he tells us his story of becoming a video director that has worked on some big projects like Passion Conference, Chris Tomlin and MxU just to name a few. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Toby and Blak...

Dan Jarrett is the creative director at Bayside church and founder of Cargo Drop. He joins us to discuss spiritual warfare in tech, production schools, and engaging the youth for tech volunteers. In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 Toby’s flying fears and stories  7:15 Dan Jarret joins the show!  17:20 Bayside’s recent production work (Star Wars!)  19:45 Recruiting and onboarding church tech v...

Would your church tech job be easier or harder if your wife and father in law were your bosses? Jeff Watkins is the Production Director for Without Walls Church. In this episode you'll hear:  1:10 Toby’s jobs growing up  6:30 Jeff Watkins joins us!  20:00 Learning curve for the first year as a Church Tech  25:30 Executing the pastor’s vision  27:45 Without Walls Church’s Gear setup  34:45 Bui...

How do you help churches across America get the exact gear they need to improve their production setup?  Drew was the production lead for Liberty University's production team before becoming the Church Sales Director at ChurchGear.  In this episode you'll hear: 0:38 Recruiting vs. Auditioning Tech volunteers  9:30 Drew Hester joins us! 15:00 Mixing at Church of the City in Franklin TN 17...

Can ministry be done in a place that literally goes by the moniker "Sin City"? Adam Taylor is the production director for Central Church in Las Vegas In this episode you'll hear:  0:25 Blake confesses to Toby  2:30 MxU tour times, Amplio After Party, Late Night Madness  7:30 Adam Taylor from Central Church in Las Vegas joins!  12:30 Adam meeting Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul!?!? 17:00 T...

How do you go from "I will not do this" to "I will work here"? Zach was at an event for Elevation in one moment and in the next, he ended up working there and attending. He is now serving the church with Skylark Integration. In this episode you'll hear:  3:35: Toby's trip to Elevation church  6:00 Zach Kimrey joins us 16:30 Working at Elevation Church  21:30 Hard conv...

How does the touring road life compare to the weekly church tech rhythm? Gene Kim joins us this week to tell us about his time on the road, some disaster stories and a church tech hack that blows Toby away. In this episode you'll hear:  2:05 Toby gets robbed 9:45 We bring in Gene Kim  21:50 Gene’s start in tech  29:00 Disaster story 41:20 How much should I spend on church production gear? 48:...

What do you do when everyone in your field starts confessing their problems to you? Brian Tabor found this to be his situation a few years ago when he started Worship Leader Probs after being in the worship leader life for 2+ decades. In this episode you'll hear:  2:30 Toby’s worship leader fails  9:25 We bring in Brian Tabor  16:10 Brian begins to have worship leader problems  25:00 Encourag...

How do you go from working in news to becoming the production director at Sun Grove Church? Sweet Pete joins us to tell us how! He is the Program/Production Director there and has worked in the overall tech universe for many years now! In this episode you'll hear:  1:00 We play “crazy person” or celebrity sighting  7:45 We have “Sweet Pete!”  18:00 Getting his church tech director start  21:3...