The MxU Podcast

How do you grow a production team from 18 volunteers to 50 in just two years? In this episode, we sit down with Cody, who actually did it. If you've ever said:  "We can't find volunteers."   "The same people serve every week."   "Nobody wants to join production."  ...this conversation is for you. We break down the exact mindset shifts, systems, and leadership principles that helped grow a healthy...

About six months ago, Spencer called Cody out of the blue from a gym treadmill — and that call turned into the biggest move in MxU's history. In this episode, Spencer and Cody sit down right after the keynote to walk through the full story of how MxU and ProdLink joined forces, what Cody was actually building when he first developed ProdLink (a producer's dashboard he built for his own church, bec...

Most churches don't document any of their weekend process — it lives in the heads of a few key volunteers, and that's the entire reason you can't take a vacation, can't trust a backup operator, and keep getting Galatians spelled wrong on the slides at 9:58am on a Sunday. They get into why the conversation about checklists usually loses people in the first ten seconds (it sounds like "monkey work,"...

Spencer and Dillan spend the next thirty minutes unpacking the honest diagnosis, which is that the volunteer almost never is the problem. Dillan opens with a story he heard recently: a congregant who finally responded to the pastor's "get off the bench" sermon, said yes to joining the summer choir, and woke up Monday morning to nine Planning Center emails and zero relational follow-up. They use th...

Spencer and Dillan open on a stat that should reframe how every worship and tech leader thinks about their team — most churches aren't one volunteer away from crumbling because they only have one volunteer, they're one third of a team away from crumbling, and that's just as fragile. They split the conversation into two completely different church realities. For the 100-200 person church where you...

Most worship and tech teams are running on five too many apps. Planning Center, Trello, WhatsApp, group texts, email, a Facebook group, three different timer apps, an SPL meter, ProPresenter notes scattered across someone's laptop — and somehow we keep adding more. In this episode, Spencer and Dillan get into why the answer is almost never another tool, why every new app you adopt actively hurts y...

In this episode, Spencer, Dillan, and Jeff open with a line that's going to make some people close the tab — churches should stop hiring so many people. They pull that statement apart for forty minutes: why hiring is almost always the easier path instead of the better one, what gets stolen from a church when leaders pay people instead of recruiting and developing them, and the leadership disconnec...

In this episode, Spencer, Dillan, and Jeff dig into a stat that should reframe how we talk about church on this podcast — the median church size in America is 70 people, and it just ticked up for the first time in two decades. We get into why the podcast (and most worship/tech conversations online) tends to revolve around large multi-service, multi-campus churches when the vast majority of churche...

In this episode, Spencer and Dillan are joined by Jeff Sandstrom for a follow-up to "Can You Be Too Young for Ministry?" — but flipped. When is it time for older worship and tech leaders to step aside? Or is that even the right question? Jeff brings decades of perspective from working alongside Chris Tomlin, Steven Curtis Chapman, and others, and the conversation gets honest fast. We dig into why...

This week, we're tackling the conversation everyone in church tech is dancing around — what happens when AI starts running Sunday morning. Spencer and Dillan dig into where AI actually fits in worship and production ministry, why the under-resourced church might win this era, and the real cost of replacing volunteer roles with automation.  It's not a hot take or a doom prediction — it's an honest...

This week, a text exchange between a pastor and a livestream provider went public — and the church production community lit up. We walk through what happened, why it's bigger than one bad situation, and what it reveals about how we treat people in this industry. Check out our FREE Team Night Guide: https://getmxu.com/resources/team-night-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_camp...

Dillan and Spencer get honest about church hiring practices — why churches often fill positions with low-risk, low-talent people instead of investing in the pros who could actually raise the bar. In this episode: ⛪ Is the church full of incompetent people? — the loaded question nobody wants to answer 💰 Low-risk vs. high-risk hires — why churches default to "Kelvin" over the $120K pro 🎚️ Over-inv...

Is your church pulling out all the stops for Easter... only to go back to normal the very next week? Dillan and Spencer get honest about the Easter "Super Bowl Sunday" mentality — and whether treating one Sunday as the big event is actually doing more harm than good. In this episode: ⛪ Easter as "Super Bowl Sunday" — should every weekend get that energy? 👔 Why church stage wardrobes are becoming...

If you’re asking “can you be too young for ministry?”… you’re not alone. The church often pushes people into leadership too early—or holds them back for the wrong reasons. So where’s the line between calling and readiness? And how do you know if you’re actually equipped? Check out our FREE Team Night Guide: https://getmxu.com/resources/team-night-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&amp...

If your auditions feel awkward, intimidating, or ineffective… you’re probably doing them wrong. Here’s how to build auditions that actually grow your team. Check out our FREE Team Night Guide: https://getmxu.com/resources/team-night-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=audition FREE RESOURCES 🆓 Take advantage of all the free resources for worship and tech teams that Mx...

Most churches don’t have a content problem… they have a flow problem. In this episode, we break down the tension between underproducing what matters (transitions) and overproducing what doesn’t (unnecessary moments, videos, and noise). Check out our FREE Team Night Guide: https://getmxu.com/resources/team-night-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=overproduced FREE RESO...

Someone walks up after service and says, “How do I get involved?” The worst thing you can do is say you’ll follow up… and then never respond. In this episode we talk about one of the biggest mistakes churches make when onboarding new volunteers and why quick follow-up matters more than you think. If someone has the courage to offer their time, leaders need to respond. Check out our FREE Team Night...

First-time guests are showing up at churches every week… but many of them never come back. In this episode, we talk about why that happens and what leaders often miss when thinking about guest experience. From unclear communication to disconnected volunteer teams, small systems can create big friction for new people. If you want to create an environment where guests feel welcomed, understood, and...

Check out our FREE Team Night Guide: https://getmxu.com/resources/team-night-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=burnout FREE RESOURCES 🆓 Take advantage of all the free resources for worship and tech teams that MxU has to offer (growing weekly):  https://getmxu.com/resources/?utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=burnout&utm_medium=social IMPROVE YOUR SUNDAY SERVICE...

Check out our FREE Team Night Guide: https://getmxu.com/resources/team-night-guide/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=why-serve-pod Jesus said, “These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” That’s not a production issue. That’s a posture issue. If you lead worship, mix audio, run lights, speak, or serve in any ministry role — this conversation is...

Check out Toby's new book: https://churchgear.com/pages/toby-walters Production isn’t just for mega churches — it matters at every level. In this episode of the MxU Podcast, we sit down with Toby Walters from Church Gear to talk about why production matters even in a church of 200, and how excellence doesn’t have to mean complexity or massive budgets. Check out our FREE Team Night Guide: https://g...

Bad attitudes on worship teams aren’t a personality problem — they’re a leadership and systems problem. In this episode, we explore why worship teams become frustrated or disengaged, what’s actually causing it beneath the surface, and how leaders can create a healthier culture without pushing people harder. If your team’s attitude feels off, this episode will help you diagnose why. Check out our F...

Most churches don’t measure their worship or tech teams — they just feel when something is off. That’s the problem. In this episode, we break down why worship and production ministries struggle with inconsistency and how to fix it using three measurable pillars: Quality, Consistency, and Care. Check out our FREE Team Night Guide: https://getmxu.com/resources/team-night-guide/?utm_source=youtube&am...

In this episode of the MXU Podcast, the team breaks down the production, worship, and leadership habits that look impressive online—but quietly hurt volunteer teams, the room, and long-term sustainability. From designing moments for algorithms instead of congregations, to confusing excellence with complexity, this conversation challenges leaders to rethink what actually matters if we want worship...

Is Instagram shaping church leadership more than we realize? More and more church advice is coming from people with platforms — not necessarily people who share the same realities as most churches. What happens when the loudest voices represent the smallest slice of the Church? In this episode, we talk honestly about how Instagram has become an exit ramp for church leaders, how “public figure” sta...