WHERE PRODUCTION, FACILI
CFX 2026 brings church leaders and ministry teams together for practical education on everything from building projects and technology to safety, content and leadership.
Church Executive: The format for this year’ s CFX is two co-located conferences: the Church Production Conference and Worship Facility Conference. What are the primary differences between them?
Jim Wagner: Oh, the primary distinction is the audience and the topics covered. We want to make it easier for the audience to understand what topics and education are offered and how they’ re tailored to them. So, we structured these two events around, more or less, the production team and the facility-related team. That could include operations, maintenance, as well as safety. Where they overlap is around leadership, as well as planning and executing projects and upgrades. Our general philosophy is that, particularly in a building project, there are a lot of parties who need to be part of the process. And because churches don’ t do projects all the time, they have a lot to learn and understand. They will benefit from seeing and hearing from experts who’ ve been through it.
CE: The location for this year’ s CFX is Birmingham, Alabama. What makes this city a great host city?
Wagner: Birmingham sits right in the heart of the Bible Belt, so the density of churches within a drivable radius is good. CFX is still a national event, and we have attendees from every state in the union. But we know that attendees also come from the region, so Birmingham is a good location for that. In addition, from an airport or flight standpoint, there’ s good availability. It’ s a good city for vendors to fly in and out of.
Stephanie Lippi: And then, on the flip side of that, it’ s kind of an up-and-coming city. The food options there are really great, and there’ s a lot of hiking opportunities outside of the city. So, it’ s just a nice place to visit, not just for a work trip like attending CFX would be, but also to bring your families.
CE: Let’ s talk about some of the keynote and session highlights / speakers that senior and executive pastors, in particular, might find most beneficial.
Lippi: Our keynote theme this year is“ Built to Last,” and it revolves around First Corinthians 3:10-15, which talks about what we throw into the fire: Is it going to be consumed, or will it last and endure and be something that is beautiful and useful for the Kingdom? All of our sessions are helping us make sure that we’ re focusing not peripherally on the tasks but on making sure that our identities are
Jim Wagner Vice President CFX
Stephanie Lippi Event Director CFX grounded in Christ. That’ s where our keynote sessions are going to take us. Beyond that, we have some really powerful sessions. Our building projects track is probably the most popular, I would say, for pastors and executive pastors who are planning any sort of facility upgrade, building project or large system upgrade. We’ re covering a lot of things, from multisite expansion and renovations to AV upgrades, as well as capital campaigns and financing options— not just for building projects, but also for upgrades to your existing facility. We also have some really powerful sessions on helping people stay connected, from first-time visitors to getting connected with serving teams, and communicating really well with your team leaders so that you’ re able to make better decisions. We’ ve done some research recently and discovered how vital it is for so many churches to create interesting content for social media or church services. We’ ve got some really great sessions to give pastors, specifically, ideas on how to create some of that video content really well.
And then one last thing— one thing our safety track focuses on is helping people better understand the health and safety aspects of their churches. One session in particular that I’ d like to highlight is one that will help people understand how to handle it when a church member discloses that there’ s violence happening inside their home.
CE: Tell me about the Church Filmcraft Festival awards that will be given out at CFX 2026. Is this a new program?
Wagner: The Filmcraft Festival has been something that the Church Production team has been doing for a number of years. Our research shows— and I think everyone’ s aware— that the importance of creating content is growing and growing and growing, not just in sermons, streaming and broadcast, but in things like series introductions, various announcements and various creative things people need to do now to attract and serve those in the building, as well as on social media.
20 CHURCH EXECUTIVE | JULY / AUGUST 2026