Your Church Livestream Probably Isn’t Growing Your Church | Stephen Sheppard
Churchfront Podcast
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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Light Your Church Like a Pro | Pro Church Lights
Churchfront Podcast
Follow us! About This Week’s Guest This episode features Frank and Wade from Pro Church Lights, teaching from the Churchfront Conference in Melbourne Beach, Florida. They help churches build practical, volunteer-friendly lighting systems that support worship, hospitality, and ministry impact. Church lighting is not about manipulating emotion. It is about setting the table so people can walk into a space that feels intentional, welcoming, and ready for worship. In this episode, Frank and Wade explain why lighting matters from both a biblical and practical perspective, then walk...
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Why We Don’t Give Churches AV Bids
Churchfront Podcast
Follow us! In this episode, Jake Gosselin and Luke Jackson unpack why Churchfront does not start AVL projects by handing churches a quick bid or quote. They explain the difference between an estimate, bid, quote, proposal, and RFP, and why accurate pricing for church AVL work depends on design, engineering, site context, system goals, and clear specifications. Jake and Luke also walk through Churchfront’s pre-design and consulting process, including the on-site visit, discovery conversations, inventory, program report, budget ranges, phasing recommendations, and the path from...
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The Church Production Debate Ends Here | Nathan Finochio
Churchfront Podcast
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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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 church plant to nearly 600 people
Reflecting on the past three years, Jake shares how Rock Harbor transitioned from a small mobile church into a rapidly growing congregation. As attendance increased, the worship and production ministry had to mature alongside the church through better leadership, stronger musicianship, and intentional systems.
Why momentum attracts talented volunteers
One of the biggest lessons from Rock Harbor is that excellence attracts excellence. Competent leadership and healthy culture naturally draw gifted musicians, production volunteers, and future staff members who want to contribute to a ministry that’s moving forward.
Finding the first key volunteer
For churches starting from scratch, Jake and Matt argue that all it takes is one exceptional volunteer to begin changing the culture. They share stories of volunteers who recruited entire teams simply because they experienced healthy leadership and an encouraging ministry environment.
When churches should start paying worship leaders
Rather than waiting until a church becomes large, Jake encourages smaller churches to budget for skilled worship leadership intentionally. Investing in one dependable, competent leader often creates the momentum needed to attract additional volunteers and raise the overall standard of the ministry.
Navigating difficult conversations with volunteers
Not every musician is best suited for every role. Jake and Matt discuss how healthy leaders lovingly help people find the ministry where they’re most gifted instead of allowing poor role alignment to frustrate both the individual and the team.
Building systems that prevent burnout
Many churches struggle with constant staff turnover, not because people lack passion, but because poorly designed systems create unsustainable workloads. Jake argues that healthy planning, scheduling, communication, and preparation are essential for protecting ministry leaders over the long term.
Why great systems matter more than most churches realize
From Planning Center workflows to service planning and AV infrastructure, effective systems allow volunteers and staff to focus on ministry instead of chaos. Healthy systems create consistency, reduce stress, and make growth sustainable.
Small churches don’t need unlimited budgets
Jake pushes back against the idea that churches need expensive equipment to thrive. Even churches running older consoles and limited technology can create excellent worship experiences by maximizing their existing resources with better leadership, training, and intentional systems.
Vision without systems leads to burnout
Visionary leaders often excel at inspiring people but struggle to build the infrastructure needed to support long-term growth. Jake explains why churches must develop organizational systems alongside their vision if they want healthy, sustainable ministry.
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