Case Study
Church Technology Modernization
Led a staged modernization of Townville Baptist Church's aging technology systems, prioritizing reliability, simpler volunteer operation, and long-term maintainability across sound, presentation, and livestream workflows.
Problem
I softly took on responsibility for the church's technology around November 2024, and by spring 2025 it was clear the core systems needed a real overhaul, not another patch. Much of it was fifteen to twenty years old: both sanctuary projectors were failing, the soundboard was broken and barely carrying a service, wireless microphones were aging out, and damaged cabling caused regular dropouts and pops. The gym sound system was effectively unusable, and the livestream and camera setup were poor enough that the online experience didn't reflect what was happening in the room. Mid-service audio and projection failures were the most damaging problem of all — exactly the kind of thing that pulls a congregation's attention away at the worst moment.
Requirements
Reliability came first — a system a volunteer could run without babysitting it. Beyond that: a soundboard simple enough for volunteers to learn quickly, a move to a silent stage with in-ear monitors, dependable high-quality projection with a confidence monitor for the platform, equipment built to last, and fixes that solved a problem for good instead of patching the same failure repeatedly. I also had to preserve the sanctuary's look, work within infrastructure that mostly couldn't change, and stay inside a limited annual operating budget, supplemented by donated equipment and separately approved purchases — all while keeping the load on whoever was running the board that Sunday as light as possible.
Key Decisions
Three decisions mattered most. On the screen, I evaluated a single central projector against two side screens, TVs, and an LED wall. I chose the central projector to best balance cost, durability, and long-term maintenance for the church. For in-ear monitors, I deliberately avoided both bargain hardware and unnecessary premium overspecification, settling on a solid mid-range system after comparing options and consulting peers with experience running it. And for the operating model, I intentionally simplified and automated the normal Sunday setup so one volunteer can run the whole service with minimal training and few required actions — the human factor mattered as much as the equipment itself.
Implementation
This wasn't a clean-sheet project — it happened in stages: find the weakest point, prioritize it, repair or replace it, test it thoroughly, and put it into service, with Sunday as the recurring deadline that never moved. Some fixes were temporary while better equipment or installation time became available. Over that stretch, a donated soundboard and camera came online, OBS took over recording and the livestream, ProPresenter now runs slides and the visual stream, the stage moved to an in-ear-monitor workflow, cabling and gear got reorganized and racks cleared out, gym sound came back to usable service, and older equipment found a second life in lower-stakes spots. I trained volunteers and documented the Sunday run list so the service holds together with or without me in the room. I led the overhaul, with invaluable guidance from a friend at another church and hired installation support for the work outside my expertise.
Results
The overhaul materially improved both reliability and service quality. Mid-service audio and projection failures became far less common, the in-room presentation improved substantially, sanctuary audio is significantly stronger and more controlled, and the livestream now looks and sounds good. Just as important, the normal Sunday workflow is intuitive enough for a single volunteer to operate with minimal effort. The systems still need normal upkeep — livestream troubleshooting hasn't disappeared entirely — but everything is running smoothly today.