Photo courtesy of Church On the Move, Tulsa, OK.
Perhaps more so than any other time of the year, the Christmas season can often be one of higher than usual production value and elements.
Whether it’s a “singing Christmas tree,” a theatrical performance, or a special night of singing, many churches structure their Christmas services differently than their typical weekend experiences. When this happens, it’s also common for those churches to want the special services to “feel” different than their usual weekends, and so production rentals are often part of the mix.
While some rentals may be inherently necessary by virtue of the event itself (think extra mics and in-ear monitors for things like vocal ensembles or stage performers), some also become needed to provide the “wow” moments or eye candy for a special service. This is where things like LED walls, extra moving lights, or even snow machines can factor in.
Yes, it might be cheaper financially in the long run to buy something outright, but is the ministry prepared to support, maintain, and store that equipment long-term?
Even though Christmas comes just once a year, and one-time rentals for that season can be necessary, should churches consider purchasing outright any of that rented equipment? Are there things that the return on investment (ROI) makes more sense as a purchase than as an annual rental? What are the pros and cons of either scenario?
Tulsa, Okla.-based multisite ministry Church on the Move has had equipment rentals baked into its production DNA for many years.
“We rent all our lighting outside of front light and house lights at each of our churches,” says Production Director, Johnathan Bazquez. “With us doing long term rentals (1-3 years), we’re able to get a rate that is a value to us, without having to purchase equipment every 5-10 years. This is also helps us keep our staff and soft cost down.”
By renting their lighting fixtures, COTM is able to eliminate massive one-time purchases by spreading cost out over multiple years. The rental company also then assumes the responsibility for maintaining the fixtures, reducing the time and staffing that the COTM team has to put into them. And anytime a set change or special event would require something different, the rented fixtures can simply be swapped out for something else that may be more appropriate for the event.
“We rent all our lighting outside of front light and house lights at each of our churches. With us doing long term rentals (1-3 years), we’re able to get a rate that is a value to us, without having to purchase equipment every 5-10 years. This is also helps us keep our staff and soft cost down,” shares Jonathan Bazques, production director at Church On the Move.
And when it comes to Christmas season, COTM is able to continue that flow, adding things for one-time used as the creative vision requires.
“In my time at COTM we’ve rented cameras, fly systems, snow machines, lights, and much more,” Bazquez adds. “But for the past couple of years, we haven’t done Christmas shows, but leaned more towards a Christmas Concert, so we’ve rented more wireless equipment to accommodate for extra band and singers, and soft goods. This year we’ll be adding a center LED wall.”
While their production value and needs may exceed that of many churches, the underlying principles are still worth considering. If vision changes for Christmas services each year, then maybe it is worth just renting gear as needed. After all, renting it in for a month at a time also eliminates the need to store it for the other 11 months of the year.
“Storage and maintenance are a big part of the conversation,” Bazquez continues. “At COTM we have a lot of facilities, but storage is always a tension point, especially if it’s going to be used once every 12-24 months. A drawback from purchasing equipment that may not be used on a consistent basis is the initial hard cost to buy the equipment and knowing it may have a 10-year lifespan on it. It’s an investment to buy equipment, especially in the production realm where 5–6-digit figures are not out of the ordinary. If I can partner alongside rental houses to help facilitate larger rentals at a fair price for non-consistent items, I’m doing that.”
Ergo, why spend a ton of money on something that’s just going to sit around for a while?
Matt Gorey is the director of technical production at Cedar Creek Church, a multisite ministry based in northwest Ohio and might have felt a brief sting of buyer’s remorse after his team made the decision to make a big purchase.
“We used to rent snow machines every year for five campuses,” he explains, “until it made financial sense to just buy them from the rental house so we could start saving money after two to three years of use.”
“Looking back,” he adds, “it sure was nice to have the rental house maintain them and make sure they were functional before I picked them up each year. Those pumps can easily get gunked up while sitting all year, which could have been avoided if I read the maintenance portion of the manual. I don’t regret purchasing them, but I didn’t fully consider the perks of renting them each year. They also take up an entire shelf of much needed storage space for 50 weeks a year.”
While the best-case scenario is that a rental plan is finalized at least 6-8 weeks out so that inventory can be guaranteed, the reality is that these things sometimes come together last minute.
Daniel Rhodes, the technical director at North Coast Church, a multisite ministry based outside San Diego, made a similar purchase, and it was one he and his team felt was necessary.
“We decided to purchase one snow machine because we liked the effect of it but wanted to have it for all of the Christmas season, for weekends and different events,” he says. “So, we bought one of the cheapest snow machines you could find with DMX control to see how it worked, since it was the cost of just one rental of the ones we were getting, and the result was good enough to keep it. We still only use it during December,” he adds, “but we’ve been able to share it with other venues, take it outside, and just do different things with it that we wouldn’t spend the money on a rental for.”
For something only sporadically used, it can be easy for them to become an out-of-sight, out-of-mind item that gets shoved into storage and collects dust. Not only can components become worn and ineffective from lack of use, but they also burn valuable warranty time, narrowing the window during which the manufacturer would replace them for limited (or no) cost.
Plus, it then takes extra time to pull them out months before the scheduled use to test (and if needed, fix) them, and those hours could perhaps be spent on other tasks, especially if a ministry has limited staff resources.
While buying an item instead of renting it may have a financial ROI after a couple of years, there may be more drawbacks as part of the COO (cost of ownership) that actually make it not worth the expense.
“We always look at how much can it be used outside of its initial intended purpose,” Rhodes explains. “The more real life uses it has, the easier it is to say yes.”
So, instead of looking at something as an item that can be used for “Christmas,” perhaps it’s better to take a step back to see where that thing can add value to the broader ministry if it’s part of the regular equipment inventory.
If extra mics are needed for the holidays, is there also value in having them year-round so they can also be used for conferences, or even be kept on-hand as spares or backups? If extra staging or risers might be required for Christmas performers, is there also a way to incorporate it into the stage layout for other events, so it can improve that experience also?
If it’s extra lighting fixtures, perhaps they can be melded into the broader lighting rig and used for conferences or youth events, so that when they are also used for Christmas, it still makes that event feel “different” because they’re not part of the standard weekend programming look?
Or maybe the “extra” Christmas gear is just stuff that’s part of the regular “what-if” flow?
“I’m a huge proponent of having backups and camp systems,” Rhodes says. “Usually, it’s not a full indoor venue we are storing, but it’s enough to keep a venue running and to provide enough equipment for camps. We use equipment from our backup and portable camp systems for special events, especially if it’s outdoors. And we just accept the risk that we don’t have a backup on the shelf for that event.”
Thus, maybe it’s worth buying that other projector so it can not only be used for some environmental projection at Christmas, but it can also be a backup for the kids’ room and can be used at the annual student summer camp.
On the flip side, maybe instead of thinking about buying or renting something, there’s value in seeing what else on campus can simply be repurposed for those one or two weeks a year when Christmas rehearsals and services fill the calendar. Is there a computer in a kids’ room that can get pulled into the main auditorium to run content? Are there lights in a student room that can get reallocated to add some extra color to the lobby?
The point: maybe sometimes renting or buying gear isn’t the answer. Maybe there’s already something onsite that can be repurposed and can save some money.
But, for the times that going outside is a necessity, it’s important to weigh the COO and ROI. Yes, it might be cheaper financially in the long run to buy something outright, but is the ministry prepared to support, maintain, and store that equipment long-term? Or is the tradeoff of a higher annual cost worth the elimination of the other headaches?
Regardless of the direction, the key part is that a church’s team take the time to step back, evaluate all resources and decisions, and then proceed with a plan. Sometimes ministries get backed into a corner where the only option left is to rent, simply because there’s no time to do anything differently.
While the best-case scenario is that a rental plan is finalized at least 6-8 weeks out so that inventory can be guaranteed, the reality is that these things sometimes come together last minute. And knowing that a rental house may end up saving your bacon at some point is a good reason to already know who to call so the relational foundation can be built ahead of time, before the last-minute issues and “gotchas” come into play.
Matt Gorey, director of production at Cedar Creek Church in Ohio, offers a word of advice to church techs: “Work hard to form a real relationship with the rental house staff. Not only do we want them to see ‘church people’ as genuine and kind, but it also makes the business of it all go much smoother.” Photo courtesy of Cedar Creek Church.
“Work hard to form a real relationship with the rental house staff,” Cedar Creek’s Gorey offers as a word of advice to church techs. “Not only because we want them to see ‘church people’ as genuine and kind, but also because it makes the business of it all go so much smoother. It goes such a long way in working together on prices, timelines, and even pickup and drop off. I’ve found if you can make friends with their team, there’s much more grace from them with little shifts or miscommunications along the way.”
And in a busy and stressful season like Christmas, that extra kindness can make a big difference.
