This space has talked about the Christian music market before, and that industry remains a growth area and a place where live-sound talent can fit itself into nicely. But also worth looking into is the church sound market itself. So-called mega-churches are rising in number and in sheer displacement. The largest in the U.S. is Lakewood Church, in Houston, which seats 16,600 faithful in what was once the Houston Rockets' 150,000-squarefoot arena. What sets it apart from its former incarnation as a sports venue? The Jumbotrons are bigger and the sound system is better. Lakewood is part of a trend that now comprises the nearly 1,000 worship facilities in which Sunday attendance exceeds 2,000 at a time, according to Church Growth Today, a sector research firm that further estimates that another mega-church forms on average every two days in the U.S. California has the largest mega-church congregations (or studio audiences, if you prefer) and the largest number of mega-churches, but the trend is mainly seen in the South, centered in Texas, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida. (of the entire state population of georgia, 1.6% attends one of these mega-worship centers, according to www.adherents.com, which tracks Christian demographic trends.)
But what's also useful to note is that the growth of media of all types in churches of all sizes is putting a strain on the technical talent to takes to run all that technology–besides sound systems that most sheds would envy, large churches also run video operations that simulcast services on huge video screens and broadcast them over the air and cable, then edit them, in their own postproduction suites, for release on DVD and streaming distribution. However, in all but the largest of these mediasavvy churches, the technical talent tends to be volunteers, many of whom are getting onthe- job training every Sunday.
The situation is obliquely but nicely illustrated by the number of church-oriented technical training programs popping up. "Church Audio Secrets" is a Web site selling a live-sound training program on DVD aimed precisely at church volunteers manning the FOH console. The areas of expertise the program covers would be familiar in any audio school curriculum, and unless the laws of physics are somehow suspended in a house of worship (and some may believe they are), the only thing that makes this a church-audio-training program is the clever insertion of the word "church" into the title.
This is one of the rare situations in which a new market opens up for the live sound professional with only the slightest of perceptual adjustments. There should be no correlation between a mixer's spiritual quotient and his or her technical talent; if an untrained volunteer is running the sound, then so can someone who is not a member of the congregation. In other words, get thee to a house of God and explain why they need what thou canst offer. I can think of more than one road dog who might be interested in a steady gig close to home, or the chance to get paid to train the media volunteers at the corner church, especially if the church takes up the corner of an entire county.
Besides the direct route, audio professionals can approach the market through one of scores, if not already hundreds, of systems designers/installers that have targeted the market. A Google search of "church + audio + sound + system" returns thousands of hits, many from companies that have discovered the burgeoning church market and some who now focus on nothing but. Most of these companies are regional, but the widening cast of the church network is taking some of them farther afield, and the idea of leaving operations, training and maintenance in the hands of someone local is appealingly cost-effective. Brent Mullett, project manager at CSD, a systems company that deals exclusively with churches, agrees. "I find that typically, for contemporary-style churches, they will hire a full- or part-time technician when the church size exceeds 700 to 1,000 seats," he says. "As the church leadership discovers the need for a staff person to take care of this area, I am sure the demand for technicians even in smaller churches will grow at a rapid pace. Most pastors are ready to pull their hair out over their sound systems and the inconsistency. Now it's a matter of integrating the need into their budget."
Music is one of the fundamental components of contemporary Christian worship services. The churches not only use full bands during services, but also often allow the venues to be used for concert performances not connected with services. A church now may not only be as big as Madison Square Garden, but just as busy too. The need for full-time, experienced audio personnel is clear.
The church audio market has one dimension most other mixing gigs don't usually have–a highly-specific point of view on life and what comes after it. One of the reasons that audio companies specializing in church sound have had a relatively clear field of play is because some mixers might not agree with the message, or might feel uncomfortable bringing only expertise instead of spirituality. That's a personal decision, but when you think about it, the mix of every live show is helping someone bring across a point of view or a perspective. When the Dixie Chicks dissed George Bush from a London stage three years ago, they caught a lot of flack, but no one blamed the FOH mixer.
So don't wait for Pollstar's next unnerving report on the touring industry. Look for the niche, then fill it.
