Dollars and sense
If your church is like most, funding resources are often a barrier to acquiring the proper audio equipment your church needs to meet the growth and vision of your ministry. It’ s not unusual for finances and urgency to be out of alignment. The good news is, like most technology, quality audio gear with advanced features is now more accessible than ever before and available at substantially lower cost.
If you haven’ t looked into updating your audio gear for a few years due to expense, there are likely better options available now with fuller feature sets and at considerably lower costs. Depending on the urgency, your best option might be to wait; however, considering your church’ s growth and your team’ s pain threshold, you might not have the luxury of waiting any longer to acquire the necessary equipment.
Thankfully, in these cases, there are several helpful financing options available for churches. For example, consider looking into leasing options to bridge your financial gap. These are typically three- to five-year leaseto-own agreements with a $ 1 buyout at the end. Most churches can be approved for up to $ 250,000 with minimal paperwork. Sweetwater can help connect you with several reputable firms that specialize in helping churches finance equipment for ministry.
Beyond the gear, invest in relationship
Finding the right partner to work with you is as important a decision as choosing what gear you are buying. It’ s not only crucial to find good value and be a good steward of your church’ s resources, but also to establish a long-term relationship with the individual and / or company you purchase the equipment from— a relationship that will last for years to come. They will( should) be responsible for troubleshooting issues, handling warranty claims with the manufacturer, and assisting your team with future upgrades.
Great partners are more likely to maintain healthy relationships with their customers and can provide a consultative sales experience, several flexible payment options, free tech support, and a quick response to warranty and service requests. For example, Sweetwater provides a free two-year warranty on most products, regardless of the manufacturer’ s original factory warranty.
During the initial design process, look for companies that listen more than they talk. A telltale sign of an unhealthy company is if they start recommending gear right away before completely understanding your needs.
For example, most wireless microphone manufacturers expect their equipment to last about five years. If you’ re working with wireless microphones that are more than five years old, it’ s probably time to look into upgrading your system.
Many wired microphone manufacturers will warranty their equipment for two to 10 years; but if you’ re like most churches, yours are much older than 10 years and are long overdue to be replaced.
Speakers also fatigue over time, which can vary depending on how much you use them and how hard you push them each week.
Training and maintenance
In the end, the value and benefits you realize from your audio system directly correlate to the training, skill and confidence of the team that is operating it. Whether on staff or a volunteer, few things are more frustrating to someone who is trying to serve your ministry than not understanding how to confidently use the equipment to meet your church’ s objectives.
It’ s important to budget both time and money for routine training for your team, making a meaningful investment in your staff and volunteers. Keep in mind, upgrading to more advanced equipment will require additional training for your team. Check with your Sweetwater Sales Engineer for helpful training resources for your team.
Your total cost of ownership goes beyond the initial expense of the gear. Another important cost to consider is the routine maintenance required to keep your equipment in top working order. That means your team needs to have a solid understanding of what is required to keep your equipment functioning at peak performance to avoid unnecessary service outages.
From cleaning dust filters on amplifiers, testing power supplies, replacing bad cables, keeping pots and switches cleaned and clear of dust particles, and replacing tubes and aging batteries to tuning and calibrating the system prior to major productions— especially around seasons such as Christmas and Easter— you’ ll want to protect the investment you’ ve made so you can maximize the service life of your audio equipment.
We’ re here to help
Sweetwater Sales Engineers can help guide your team with unbiased recommendations from our vast collection of solutions that will truly solve your room’ s challenges. We can also help connect you with competent local acousticians and installers to ensure that your new sound system is installed properly and will do what you expect it to. Give us a call at( 800) 222-4700.
Managing expectations
It’ s important to maintain realistic expectations about the service life of your equipment. We would all love to buy audio gear that lasts 30 years, but that’ s not within the realm of reality. Most people understand this point when it comes to their computers or smartphones, but they often expect much longer service times from their audio equipment, which is probably unreasonable.
Andrew Scriven loves the church. For nearly 20 years, he lived in Dallas serving in virtually every production role within the church. Since 2014, Scriven has served as the Director of House of Worship Marketing for Sweetwater Sound [ www. sweetwater. com ] and works to build the Sweetwater brand within the worship community. Sweetwater Sales Engineers can help guide your team with unbiased recommendations from their vast collection of solutions to help solve your room’ s challenges. They can also connect you with competent local acousticians and installers to ensure your new sound system is installed properly and performs as expected. Call( 800) 222-4700 for more information.
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