Gear Follows Vision | A Church Leadership, Vision & Tech Systems Podcast

How do you tell the difference between technology your church actually needs and technology that just looks impressive in a demo? This episode gives church leaders a framework for spending wisely.In Season 2 of Gear Follows Vision, Deron sits down with Jake Cody (formerly with Yamaha and Bayside Church), who works the front door of Summit's projects and talks with churches across the country at the very start of their planning. Together they draw a clear line between bleeding edge technology (brand new, risky, still on an island) and leading edge technology (proven, well-supported, rock solid) and how to decide which one is right for your church.Jake and Deron get into the questions that actually matter before you spend a dollar: what problem are you really trying to solve, is it a technology problem or a process problem, what's your appetite for risk, and do you have the staff and volunteers to support what you're buying. They dig into real examples from immersive audio to 4K video to multi-site, why the newest gear so often needs a Rube Goldberg machine of adapters to work, and why knowing your bailout plan matters more than owning the latest thing.Because buying more technology doesn't automatically solve the problem underneath it, and the churches who steward their budgets best are the ones who fix the problem first and dress it up second.When you're weighing new church technology, are you solving a real problem or chasing a feature? We'd love to hear where you've seen that line.Prefer video? Watch this conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YdnCBogAjYcGear Follows Vision is a podcast from Summit about church audio, video, lighting, acoustics, and the people who use them. Each conversation helps church leaders and production teams design technology around their ministry's vision, simplify their systems, equip their volunteers, and create more reliable worship experiences.Subscribe for more conversations about church technology, production leadership, volunteer training, worship technology, and designing AVL systems that follow the vision of your church.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summit.is/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@summit.isFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SummitIntegratedWebsite: https://summitintegrated.com/Discovery Call: https://summitintegrated.com/contactSummit is a Denver-based audio, video, lighting integrator serving churches nationwide. We don't just install AVL systems for churches — we come alongside teams to build strong culture, leadership, and confidence in every room we serve. Learn more at http://SummitAVL.com/

What happens to church lighting design when a giant LED wall takes over the stage? Great lighting hasn't died – it's changing, and the best designers are the ones who treat that wall as one more fixture, not the whole show.In Season 2, Episode 4 of Gear Follows Vision, Deron sits down with Chase Donald, one of Summit's project managers, to talk about how church lighting design has evolved alongside LED screens – and why the craft is far from dead.Drawing on years of designing and programming for worship at Red Rocks Church and beyond, Chase breaks down how to keep a stage from turning into a flat wall of light: using dimension, depth, and perspective instead of hardcore saturation, rediscovering side light and floor-based fixtures, giving the camera more information to work with, and controlling LED content straight from the lighting console (with tools like Resolume and Vista) so it moves song to song instead of flipping between static graphics. He and Deron also dig into the discipline of designing fresh every week instead of pulling last week's cues out of the library, why "blow-through" LED is exciting but probably a special-moment tool rather than an every-Sunday one, and how to spend wisely on a wall you'll actually use well.The thread running through all of it: Gear follows vision. A 40-foot LED wall doesn't make a service better on its own. What makes lighting come alive is the partnership – production listening to the worship team, the worship team, and the pastor, and getting out of your own way so the technology serves the moment instead of shouting over it.What's one lighting habit you're rethinking after this episode – and what would it take to design fresh again this week?Gear Follows Vision is a podcast from Summit about church audio, video, lighting, acoustics, and the people who use them. Each conversation helps church leaders and production teams design technology around their ministry's vision, simplify their systems, equip their volunteers, and create more reliable worship experiences.Subscribe for more conversations about church technology, production leadership, volunteer training, worship technology, and designing AVL systems that follow the vision of your church.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summit.is/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@summit.isFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SummitIntegratedWebsite: https://summitintegrated.com/Discovery Call: https://summitintegrated.com/contactSummit is a Denver-based audio, video, lighting integrator serving churches nationwide. We don't just install AVL systems for churches — we come alongside teams to build strong culture, leadership, and confidence in every room we serve. Learn more at http://SummitAVL.com/

What happens when your church technology fails during a Sunday service? A reliable church AV system needs more than good equipment – it needs backups, redundancy, hardware protection, and a clear recovery plan.In Season 2, Episode 2 of Gear Follows Vision, Deron sits down with David Forman, Systems and Support Lead at Summit Integrated Systems, to explain how churches can prepare for audio, video, network, playback, and power failures.David breaks church technology reliability into three categories – backups that protect your system configurations, redundancy that protects your signal paths, and power protection that protects your hardware. He explains which church AV configuration files should be backed up, where those files should be stored, and why one backup isn't enough, then joins Deron to dig into network redundancy, Dante secondary networks, playback computers, spare equipment, UPS battery backups, surge protection, and the hidden complexity that redundancy can introduce.Along the way, they cover why backups should live both locally and in the cloud, the differences between hot, warm, and cold spares, and why battery capacity and maintenance matter as much as having a UPS in the first place.Every technology system will eventually experience a failure. The goal isn't to eliminate every possible point of failure – it's to identify what is mission-critical, protect it appropriately, and give your church production team a practical recovery plan.What's one point of failure in your church's system that isn't protected yet? We'd love to hear it – find us on Instagram or TikTok @summit.is and tell us.Gear Follows Vision is a podcast from Summit about church audio, video, lighting, acoustics, and the people who use them. Each conversation helps church leaders and production teams design technology around their ministry's vision, simplify their systems, equip their volunteers, and create more reliable worship experiences.Subscribe for more conversations about church technology, production leadership, volunteer training, worship technology, and designing AVL systems that follow the vision of your church.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summit.is/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@summit.isFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SummitIntegratedWebsite: https://summitintegrated.com/Discovery Call: https://summitintegrated.com/contactSummit is a Denver-based audio, video, lighting integrator serving churches nationwide. We don't just install AVL systems for churches — we come alongside teams to build strong culture, leadership, and confidence in every room we serve. Learn more at http://SummitAVL.com/

How can your church build a stress-free Sunday for its tech team? It starts with preparation, clear processes, and technology designed around the volunteers who actually run it.In Season 2, Episode 1 of Gear Follows Vision, Deron sits down with Greg Splitt, one of Summit's system design engineer legends, to talk about how churches can equip and empower their production teams for success.Greg shares lessons from years of supporting church tech teams – covering preventable equipment failures, untested system changes, wireless interference, inadequate documentation, and the quiet pressure production directors feel to constantly "save the day."Deron and Greg dig into why church audio, video, and lighting systems should always follow the ministry's vision – and why buying more gear doesn't automatically create a better worship experience.What's one change you could make this week to better equip your church tech volunteers? We'd love to hear it – find us on Instagram or Facebook, or reach out through the website. And if this episode was useful, a quick rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more church leaders find the show.DOWNLOAD THE STRESS-FREE SUNDAY CHECKLISTHelp your church production team prepare, test, and troubleshoot before the next service:https://summitintegrated.com/sunday-stressingGear Follows Vision is a podcast from Summit about church audio, video, lighting, acoustics, and the people who use them. Each conversation helps church leaders and production teams design technology around their ministry's vision, simplify their systems, equip their volunteers, and create more reliable worship experiences.Subscribe for more conversations about church technology, production leadership, volunteer training, worship technology, and designing AVL systems that follow the vision of your church.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summit.is/Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@summit.isFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SummitIntegratedWebsite: https://summitintegrated.com/Discovery Call: https://summitintegrated.com/contactSummit is a Denver-based audio, video, lighting integrator serving churches nationwide. We don't just install AVL systems for churches — we come alongside teams to build strong culture, leadership, and confidence in every room we serve. Learn more at http://SummitAVL.com/

Church production problems rarely start with bad gear — they start with misalignment.In this episode of Gear Follows Vision, Deron sits down with Chase McCall to unpack one of the biggest challenges facing churches today: alignment between worship teams, production teams, and senior leadership.From frustrating weekend service moments — bad audio mixes, missed cues, late lyrics, and communication breakdowns — to major AVL system decisions that impact the future of the church, this conversation explores how small “trust leaks” quietly grow into larger ministry and leadership problems.If you’re a church production leader, tech director, worship pastor, executive pastor, or volunteer serving in church audio, video, lighting, or livestreaming, this episode will help you build stronger systems, healthier communication, and better team trust.In this episode, you’ll learn:• How to improve communication between worship and production teams• Why small technical mistakes create larger leadership trust issues• How church leadership alignment impacts audio, AVL, and weekend services• Practical ways to lead better production meetings and team conversations• How to approach church AVL projects without competing agendas• Why mission, vision, and outcomes matter more than personal preferences• How healthy church production culture creates stronger ministry environmentsThe biggest takeaway: great church production is not just about better audio, lighting, or technology — it’s about alignment. When worship, production, and leadership teams move together with clarity and trust, everything gets stronger.If your church production team feels disconnected, frustrated, or stuck in constant tension, this episode is for you.________________________________Summit is a Denver-based audio, video, lighting integrator serving churches nationwide. We don’t just install AVL systems for churches — we come alongside teams to build strong culture, leadership, and confidence in every room we serve. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SummitAVL.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@summit.is⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@summit.is⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SummitIntegrated⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SummitIntegrated⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠