Chad Higgins is Consolidated Baptist Church’s director of music and media. But when virtual church went from maybe to mandatory, technology became his full-time job.
"Church Production Hero of the Month” is a collaboration between Church Production Magazine and Ross Video. We’re looking to highlight the men and women who consistently exceed expectations for your local church. So tell us—who looks like a church production hero to you? Nominate your hero here.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” Hallelujah! Meanwhile, many church techs will tell you that 2020 had the same effect on church services. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
Change has been a constant theme for everyone, including so many churches since the lockdown began in March 2020 - throwing out the old way of worship and bringing in the new way of virtual services. And today many in church leadership will tell you how thankful they are for a tech who brought them through it. For Consolidated Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky – God placed Chad Higgins there for such a time as this.
So tell us - who looks like a church production hero to you? Nominate your hero here.
“Chad has been instrumental in insuring we have not lagged behind any way in the technological side or the production side,” says Consolidated Baptist Church Worship Pastor Micah Gaines who nominated Higgins as the Church Production Hero of the Month. “He’s really gone above and beyond and when I was made aware of what this award entails, it really embodies the spirit with which Chad has served the last year and a half. He’s really been our MVP insuring things have remained consistent and done in an excellent way.”
"...when I was made aware of what this award entails, it really embodies the spirit with which Chad has served the last year and a half. He’s really been our MVP insuring things have remained consistent and done in an excellent way.” - Micah Gaines, Worship Pastor, Consolidated Baptist Church
Higgins is Consolidated Baptist Church’s director of music and media. Before the pandemic, that meant he was in charge of the music and had a growing interest in technology that he was learning on his own. “There was no real formal training. A couple of years ago I had a chance to go to FILO at Willow Creek and went with our sound man and that even more so piqued my interest. As far as technology initially, we were just doing Media Shout and moved over to ProPresenter. Since then, it’s just a matter of going to see friends or colleages that are already doing it and sitting around them and saying, ‘how do you do this?’ Literally, just kind of like learning on the fly! And that was the same even once we started live streaming.”
The church is now planning for a hybrid model with live services and a continued stream. But the team says a lot will be changing to make the in-person service live-stream friendly.
A few years before Covid as the church started to live stream, Higgins was a musician trying to help create a live stream at the same time. “I was playing an instrument keyboard or organ. So sometimes live stream would be hit or miss - I’m trying to play and listen to a Facebook feed at the same time so that was a whole lot!”
But when virtual church went from maybe to mandatory, Higgins’ technology interest has become his full-time job. “Once the pandemic hit and we began our pre-taping then I actually just kind of moved upstairs and was overseeing tech and that type of thing so that’s what I’m doing now. So, I’ve not completely gotten away from music, I’m just not playing on Sundays. Now I’m upstairs mixing live stream and overseeing sound – the live stream portion as well as ProPresenter.”
Sunday services are recorded on Thursdays and longer worship recordings happen twice a month. At first, Higgins and Gaines tried to do it on their own with personal equipment, but they quickly realized they needed a higher quality product for their congregation. “Once we realized this was going to be a lengthy period we outsourced. We have a guy who comes in with his own equipment does our editing, producing, filming and all that and sends us a file back on Saturday that we play twice on Sunday,” Gaines explains. “But with that we are in conversations now about technology upgrades: cameras, lights, staging and all that because we recognize things are shifting and we’re still running the same equipment we did in 2017 and with everything evolving and shifting its time to look at higher quality production equipment.”
With a plan to return to live in-person services August 1st, the church is now planning for a hybrid model with live services and a continued stream. But the team says a lot will be changing to make the in-person service live-stream friendly. “One of the things the pandemic has taught us is what we don’t need. There are a few different aspects of live service pre-pandemic that we’ve not done to tighten up the service,” says Higgins. “For instance, one that would take time was our favorite which was the meet and greet. Walk around meet everyone shake pastor’s hand – for seven minutes! The offering is going to look totally different now so I think offering is going to be as people are on their way out the door. We have altar prayer where people come up and pastor would pray with people coming to the altar – that’s no longer going to be there for now.”
Gaines adds, “So, it’s really what do we have to have and what can we do without. So once that became the conversation it really shifted our focus and our mindset to what was essential and what do we just enjoy it. And now going back to in-person with hybrid and people are used to an hour and 15 minutes why would we bring them back to a two-hour service. That makes no sense. So, we’re really trying to figure out what this stuff looks like in a hybrid space in a shifting church culture that really may never go back to the way it was.”
The old life is gone; The new life has begun.
So tell us - who looks like a church production hero to you? Nominate your hero here.
