He plays through a Thunder Funk bass head
– “made by a guy named Dave Funk who
worked on the space shuttle,” he excitedly
tells me – and Euphonic Audio cabinets. You
won’t find a low-end piece of equipment
anywhere near his rig.
Likewise, Britt Stein plays through a Genz
Benz Black Pearl head, run into an Avatar
speaker cabinet filled with Celestions. His
pedalboard is filled with a variety of pedals
from names like Keeley, AnalogMan and
Barber. “If I get something that I don’t like,
it literally drives me crazy,” Britt confesses.
“I think my ear changes from time to time,
because I’ve been through a lot of drive
pedals.” When asked if he encounters
gearheads in his musical worklife, Steve
Tomason of North Point says, “Absolutely.
Even after playing clubs for years, I’ve
never run into more gearheads than I have
in the past eight years, playing in churches
around the country.”
And while many of these musicians are buying high-end equipment, they are not the
only segment of the market driving the
expansion of technology within church. With
more people coming to worship services
for the show – the New York Times recently
reported that, “large, modern, nondenominational churches now provide one of the major
ways that Americans hear live music” – there
has been an explosion of church spending to
help spread the Word. Churches are refitting
sanctuaries previously designed for the massive bellow of pipe organs, or even building
all new centers, to accommodate modern
sound systems and high-tech video delivery. So-called “megachurches” like the First
Church of Christ in Burlington, Kentucky – an
85,000 square foot worship center housing a
bookstore, child care center and basketball
courts, among other amenities – are redefining the experience of worship through the
use of multimedia presentations.
Logically, musical retailers have taken notice
of houses of worship and Christian musicians. As retailers and manufacturers face
soft markets, increased costs and more competition, houses of worship with budgets
like that of Fellowship Church in Grapevine,
Texas – featuring over $800,000 of elec-
JOYFUL
NOISE
tronic equipment in the control room alone
– represent a major opportunity.
For example, Yamaha Corporation of
America launched its Institutional and
Commercial Services department back in
2004, providing information and resources
for worship leaders interested in incorporating new technologies into their services. The
company stages events around the country,
in partnership with Shure and Aviom, aimed
at parishioners charged with equipment
decisions, featuring classes with titles like,
“Mixing for Worship.” The savvy move by
major players like Yamaha seems to create a
win-win for both churches and commerce. “A
new survey has shown that if people detect
a sub par presentation, they’ll automatically
reject the message as sub par,” says Christian
Musician’s Bruce Adolph. “But if they go to a
church that’s high-tech, with good sound and
lighting, they’ll feel comfortable and be more
open to the message.”
The Challenges of Church
For an instrument long associated with the
music of rebellion, the integration of the
A packed worship service at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. The church
initially spent $400,000 on its sound system, but is now looking to upgrade.
