A Must-Have Sunday Morning Tech Team Checklist
Sunday is the busiest day of the week for production teams, and the pressure to produce a live Sunday morning worship service can be immense at times. I’ve worked as a Media Director for the last 4-5 years and over time, my team and I have created an internal checklist that helps our Sunday mornings go a lot smoother. Whether your ministry or organization is small, medium, or large, I hope that you find this checklist helpful.
Sunday Morning Tech Team Checklist
Internet/Livestream Computer
Check the Internet! I can’t stress this point enough! This is the FIRST thing I do when I come in on Sundays. I learned the value and importance of making this first on my checklist during the pandemic as we were all thrown into in a virtual only environment. During the pandemic, if the streaming computer/encoder was malfunctioning or the internet wasn’t working, people had no way of viewing the worship services. While churches are no longer virtual only, this is still a vital part of any tech team’s checklist because the Gospel definitely lives and reaches beyond the four walls of the church now! I check this computer religiously!
Video Switcher
Your Video switcher is extremely important. It is how viewers see your content. We use Blackmagic products which are amazing. They are reliable and durable.
Computer Running Propresenter
A lot of people miss the importance of the computer that runs Propresenter. This computer needs to be in great condition and a good graphics card and RAM storage wouldn’t hurt either. While your video switcher handles your video, ProPresenter typically handles everything else. (e.g. lyrics, announcements, lower thirds, promos, sermon bumpers, slideshows, graphics, motions background, etc). It is a very important software and therefore, should receive priority attention on your check-list.
Projectors, TVs & Confidence Monitors
This check is to make sure everything is projecting correctly; Correct color, dimensions, white balance, etc.
Microphone Batteries
There is nothing worse than someone singing, preaching or talking during a service and the microphone goes out. Batteries must be changed and replaced with new batteries (not refurbished ones) every Sunday. This will save you from an unnecessary headache in the long run.
Video/Audio Recorders & Consoles
This check is to make sure all of the necessary flash drives, SD cards, or hard drives have enough space on them to record the service. Making sure the audio consoles are properly connected is also a must. Nothing worse than recording an entire service only to realize the feed had no audio.
Check-in With the Music Ministry
Our Minister of Music sends out the music for the upcoming Sunday every Tuesday. This gives us time to get the lyrics into ProPresenter and have everything ready for Sunday. But, there are times when they will change a song on Sunday morning and to avoid displaying the wrong lyrics during a live worship service, our team checks in with the music ministry to make sure everything is still the same.
Check-in With the Senior Pastor/Leader
Checking in with the Pastor is often my last and final task before service, and there’s a reason for that. Typically, I check in with her on Saturdays to see if she has any additional notes for the media team or require any graphics, lower thirds, etc. to accompany her sermon. But, on Sunday mornings, I do a final check-in with her just to make sure nothing has changed since we last spoke and to inform her of any mishaps or technical issues on our end. This is a vital and necessary part of any Media Director’s or Tech Leader’s checklist.
While this list is definitely not exhaustive, I hope it was helpful!
*Disclaimer* Technology is technology, and no matter how much you plan and troubleshoot, sometimes it JUST DOESN’T WORK! But, I hope this checklist helps you as it has helped me over the years.
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