What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Worship Pastor | Conversations With a Worship Pastor Part I
Release Date: 02/04/2026
Your Church Livestream Probably Isn’t Growing Your Church | Stephen Sheppard
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Follow us! About This Week’s Guest Stephen “Shep” Sheppard is a church production and broadcast leader with experience serving at Elevation Church, launching church campuses, supporting multi-site production teams, and helping churches improve their camera systems, video direction, and sermon capture workflows. In this episode, Shep challenges the assumption that livestreaming is still the main growth strategy for churches. Instead, he explains how production teams can use cameras, lighting, volunteer training, sermon recording, YouTube, and short-form content to steward the...
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The Church Production Debate Ends Here | Nathan Finochio
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Follow us! About This Week’s Guest Nathan Finocchio is a speaker, teacher, and longtime worship leader who brings a sharp, theological perspective to conversations about worship, church leadership, and the role of the Holy Spirit in the gathered church. In this Churchfront Conference keynote, Nathan Finocchio makes a bold case for why church production matters. Rather than treating lights, sound, video, and AVL systems as distractions, Nathan argues that production can help facilitate the first ministry of the church: worshiping God. Nathan unpacks the biblical language of praise,...
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Why is Church AV So Expensive?
Churchfront Podcast
Follow us! Why Is Church AV So Expensive? In this episode, Jake Gosselin and Luke Jackson break down why professional church AVL projects cost more than many churches expect. They explain the hidden work behind a reliable system, including engineering, logistics, insurance, software, support, staffing, travel, procurement, and long-term operational stability. Jake and Luke also talk about why Churchfront does not try to be the cheapest AV integrator. Instead, they explain how accurate pricing protects churches from risky shortcuts, underbuilt systems, poor support, and unstable...
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Reggi Beasley Churchfront Conference Keynote Session | Getting a Graceful Rhythm
Churchfront Podcast
Follow us! About Reggi Beasley Reggi Beasley is a worship leader and ministry builder who helps churches build healthy, thriving worship teams. In this Churchfront Conference keynote, he brings a pastoral word of encouragement for worship, production, and church leaders who are doing good work but feeling weary in the middle of it. In this episode, Reggi reminds ministry leaders that a sustainable life of service starts with receiving three simple but deeply needed truths: God sees you, God loves you, and God wants to spend time with you. Through the stories of Hagar, the prodigal...
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Stephen Sheppard | Former Elevation Church Broadcast Engineer Teaches the Biggest Lessons He Learned
Churchfront Podcast
Follow us! Former Elevation Broadcast Engineer on Building a Healthier Church Production Team About This Week’s Guest: Stephen “Shep” Sheppard is a church production leader, content creator, and freelance broadcast/production specialist who has served in production roles at Elevation Church, Hope City Church, and multiple portable church environments. His experience spans volunteer leadership, broadcast engineering, campus launches, livestream systems, and coaching churches on how to build healthier production teams. In this episode, Shep shares practical lessons from years of...
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The Biggest AV Mistake Churches Make During Construction Projects
Churchfront Podcast
Follow us! The Biggest AV Mistake Churches Make During Construction Projects In this episode, Jake and Sean explain why church AV should not be treated like gear you add at the end of a construction project. AV is a specialty construction trade that affects structural planning, electrical requirements, HVAC coordination, sightlines, cabling, equipment racks, control systems, and long-term volunteer usability. They unpack when churches should bring AV into the process, why pre-design consulting matters, how realistic budgets are built, and why you cannot accurately quote a system...
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How to Build a Thriving Worship Ministry from Scratch
Churchfront Podcast
Follow Churchfront on Instagram or TikTok: @churchfront Follow on Twitter: @realchurchfront Musicbed SyncID: MB01VWQ69XRQNSN Spirit, Skills, and Systems: The Formula Behind a Thriving Worship Ministry Key Topics The three pillars of a healthy worship ministry Jake explains why thriving ministries are built on three essential foundations: the Spirit of God moving through the church, skilled leaders who elevate the ministry, and healthy systems that sustain long-term growth. Missing any one of these creates unnecessary limitations and frustration. How Rock Harbor grew from a...
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Ryan Visconti | Leading Through Growth, Culture, and Conviction
Churchfront Podcast
Follow Churchfront on Instagram or TikTok: @churchfront Follow on Twitter: @realchurchfront Musicbed SyncID: MB01VWQ69XRQNSN Guest background: Ryan Visconti is the Lead Pastor of Generation Church in Mesa, Arizona. A former Army officer who served in Iraq before entering ministry, Ryan brings a unique leadership perspective shaped by both military service and over a decade of leading a rapidly growing church. In this conversation, Ryan shares insights on church growth, staff culture, worship leadership, difficult personnel decisions, AI, and what it means to lead with conviction in an...
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What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Worship Pastor - Part 1
Episode Description
Matt sits down with Sean Bennett, one of the newest members of the Churchfront team and a 16-year worship ministry veteran, to talk about what it's really like to lead worship and production teams. In part one of this two-part conversation, they discuss what to look for when stepping into a new worship pastor role, navigating the tension between excellence and authenticity, and how to lead a production team you can never actually be with.
Both Matt and Sean have led in large churches, small churches, and multi-site churches. They've both been the worship pastor who also had to somehow lead the tech team. This conversation pulls back the curtain on the real challenges worship pastors face and offers practical wisdom for anyone in church production or worship leadership.
In This Episode
- What to look for when interviewing for a worship pastor role - Why you need to see people at their worst before taking the job, and the red flags Sean wishes he'd paid more attention to
- Excellence vs. authenticity - How to define excellence in a way that doesn't lead to perfectionism, and why "doing the best you can with what you have" changes everything
- The worship/production leadership dilemma - Why churches should stop hiring one person to do both roles, and what to do if you're already in that position
- You're a pastor first - Why your primary objective is discipleship, not musicianship, and how that changes the way you lead your team
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction: Meet Sean Bennett
03:27 - What I'd Do Differently Stepping Into a New Role
08:04 - The Tension Between Excellence and Authenticity
13:16 - Leading a Production Team You Can Never Be With
18:15 - You're a Pastor First, Leader Second
Key Quotes
"Excellence is doing the best you can with what you have. That starts with being honest about what you actually have."
"If you're leading people, you are a pastor. Your primary objective is discipleship - helping someone become more like Jesus."
"There are some churches that could not pay me enough to work for them. And knowing that ahead of time is a good thing."
Resources Mentioned
- Working Genius Assessment by Patrick Lencioni
- Churchfront free courses at churchfront.com
Connect With Us
Visit churchfront.com for free church production training and resources
This is part 1 of 2. Watch part 2 for more on discipling your team, building sustainable systems, and avoiding burnout.