I was never a Boy Scout, but I’m told their motto is “Be Prepared.” My church had a boys groups called “Royal Rangers,” which was basically a more Christian version of the Boy Scouts. Our motto was “Ready. Ready for anything.” Clearly, we had our own thing going.
But my childhood aside, both mottos are something that all church techs should aspire toward—being prepared for whatever might come your way. Of course, you can never be prepared for everything, but I think we can all admit that there are some basic steps of preparedness we can all take to minimize the impact of those unforeseeable catastrophes. Let me give you a basic example from my own experience, and then we can discuss some basic steps.
Amp Damage
I teach middle school, and one of the most important parts of my class’s atmosphere is playing music for my students. For this very purpose, I use my old 60w Aiwa stereo that I got for Christmas when I was thirteen—I’m thirty, now! Clearly, this system had seen better days before I brought it out of retirement and set up in my class four years ago. It’s been showing signs of aging for years: the volume knob stopped working, the CD player quit, etc. For the past ten years, I’ve only been able to use the auxiliary input and the tape deck; the rest of it has given up. Finally, though, the stereo’s final end began to appear on the horizon: the right channel stopped working.
This was only days before I was to show a movie, for which I would need lots and lots of sound. I didn’t have the time or money to replace the system, but fortunately, I did have something else in my corner: preparation.
I’ve written before about how I have a Cocoon GRID-IT in my laptop bag, which I use for keeping various cords and adapters handy, and this easy bit of prep did come in handy because my GRID-IT was holding an 1/8″ (headphone jack) audio splitter. That, combined with an old set of USB-powered speakers that I keep around “just because,” I was able to “repair” my system, using those small speakers as a replacement right speaker. Is it a perfect setup? No, because technically I now have two speakers acting as the left channel of my stereo system. Will it work until I can buy a new amp? Certainly, and that, dear readers, is all I need right now.
Preparation is Not Problem-Solving
Being prepared isn’t solving your problems ahead of time. It is anticipating what could go wrong and taking some basic precautions.
1. Emergency Fund
I think the single greatest maxim of church tech is a question and not a sentence, “When will it break and how much will cost?” Technology—crucial to the flow of your worship service technology—will wear out and will break, and it will be at the worst possible time. So, try to set aside a little bit of cash. Enough to buy a new system? If you can sure, but my thought was just to have some squirreled away to help replace what breaks. A couple hundred dollars set aside for problems can help assuage the immediate pain of a thousand dollar replacement.
2. Old Equipment is Your Friend
Why must we get rid of old equipment just because it’s old? Sure, if you want to give it away charitably, that’s great, but don’t just trash it. If it still works, keep it back “just because.” Maybe set aside easily-repaired-but-old-enough-to-replace technology. While things are good, make time to make some repairs. Then, you’ll have a back up amp/speaker/mic/whatever.
3. Build Backups Into Your System
My church is not very big. We’re a solid medium-sized church, but we’ve been trying to think big for a while. Part of this has been our desire to do big things, like the community-wide fireworks display we put on. When we took on this massive project, we realized that we needed to “diversify” our tech inventory. Previously, we’d used our house systems (youth and kids) to put on events. Suddenly, we realized how that wasn’t going to work, so we went out and purchased an “event” system specifically for moments like this. This system turned out to be so good that we bought a second one two years later. (It’s such a good system that we bought a third for our youth room. For that matter, it’s so good, that I saw a DJ/rapper use two for their mobile shows, back when I worked in the hood. Curious about what system we use? I reviewed it here.) Now, we have two event systems that we can set up anywhere at anytime if something should go wrong. We’re not wasting any resources by having these systems, since they serve a regular purpose, and yet they also serve as a backup solution for us, built right in without extra effort.
Be Warned
Dear friends, if you’ve never read our Tuesday Tech Wreck series, take a quick gander and understand that bad things will happen. You need to be prepared. Your church’s strategy will be unique to your circumstances, but trust me, your circumstances include living in a world that is falling part, which includes your amp/computer/speaker/mic/whatever. Be prepared. You’ve been warned.
How does your church prepare for the worst?
[Images via DesignBoom, Rodrigo Chiong via Compfight cc & tm-tm via Compfight cc]
Eric Dye says
I love this. Great stuff, Phil — especially when you combine it with Jeremy’s post: https://churchm.ag/stuff-church-techies-say-ive-got-this/
Phil Schneider says
Thanks, boss! A Phil-Jeremy blog post sandwich? Awesome!
Eric Dye says
Or OREO.
Phil Schneider says
And that’s why you’re the boss.
That and you own it all.
Eric Dye says
Well, there IS that I suppose…