Your playbook

The Church Production Playbook.

Here’s the whole thing — no fluff. This is the run sheet, gear guidance, and cheat sheets I actually use with church teams. Print it, hand it to your volunteers, keep it forever.

Start here: the 6-minute production walkthrough

A real church production setup, start to finish. Watch this first — it frames everything below.

Part 1

The Sunday Service Production Checklist

The run sheet that keeps Sunday calm. Work it top to bottom.

During the week

▢Build every lyric/slide in ProPresenter; spell-check; confirm song arrangements with the worship leader.
▢Import sermon graphics, announcements, lower-thirds, and videos — and test that every video plays with audio.
▢Confirm the service order with whoever’s leading. Flag baptisms, communion, kid dedications, anything special.
▢Charge wireless mic batteries and stage your spares. Update this week’s stream graphics (title, scripture, date).

Soundcheck (before doors)

▢Power up in order — console first, amps and speakers last — to avoid the pop.
▢Line-check every input: each mic, DI, and playback. Confirm phantom power on condensers.
▢Set gain structure (trim before fader), then build monitors/IEMs, then a rough FOH mix. Run a full song.
▢Confirm ProPresenter is hitting every screen — audience, stage display, and the stream output.
▢Bring the stream up in standby; confirm the encoder is healthy (stable bitrate, no dropped frames).

Pre-service (15 minutes out)

▢Loop the countdown / announcements on the screens and the stream.
▢All mics muted until needed; confirm the host/pastor mic works and sits at the right level.
▢Operators in position (lyrics, audio, stream, lighting), comms working. Pray with the team.

During the service

▢Lyrics: stay one slide ahead and watch the worship leader, not just the chart.
▢Audio: ride the vocals, mute open mics between elements, catch feedback before it catches you.
▢Stream: keep the active shot on whoever’s talking or singing; cut to graphics on transitions; watch chat for “no audio.”
▢Lighting: bright and even for teaching, dynamic for worship — match the moment.

After the service

▢End the stream cleanly (outro/loop), stop the recording, confirm the archive uploaded.
▢Power down in reverse — speakers/amps off first, console last. Pull wireless batteries.
▢30-second team debrief: one thing that went well, one thing to fix next week. Note any gear that needs attention.

Part 2

The gear that actually matters

You don’t need everything — you need the right few things, solid. Here’s the order I’d buy in:

→A dedicated presentation computer. Don’t share the ProPresenter machine with anything else. Reliability beats horsepower.
→A digital audio console (X32 / M32-class). Recallable scenes + a clean, separate stream mix change everything for a volunteer team.
→One good camera beats three bad ones. Add a switcher (ATEM-class) only once you actually have multiple cameras.
→A control surface (Stream Deck + Companion) to turn complicated actions into one button your volunteers can’t get wrong.

See the exact products I recommend, at every budget

Part 3

ProPresenter quick-start cheat sheet

→One presentation per service, built in service order, so you’re never hunting mid-service.
→Set your default slide size to match your output resolution, and use one consistent theme.
→Turn on the Stage Display with next-slide preview + a clock — your worship leader will thank you.
→Map outputs on purpose: audience screen(s), stage display, and a separate stream output so you can show different content online.
→Keep dedicated “Clear” buttons (clear all / clear slide) so lyrics never get stuck on screen.
→Pre-load videos into the playlist — never drag from the desktop live. Test the whole service before doors.

Read the full ProPresenter church training guide

Part 4

Livestream, simplified

→Audio is 80% of it. Send a dedicated mix to the stream — not a mic pointed at the room. Consistent levels beat fancy.
→1080p30 at ~4,500–6,000 kbps is plenty. On a weaker connection, 720p at ~3,000 kbps looks better than a stuttering 1080p.
→Hard-wire the encoder with ethernet. Leave headroom — your upload should be at least 2× your bitrate.
→Always keep a “We’ll be right back” loop ready, and record a local backup separate from the stream.
→Frame at eye level, fill the frame with the stage, and kill backlight from windows.

How I automate the booth with Companion + Stream Deck

Part 5

Keep going — it’s all free

When you’re ready to go deeper, this is where I put everything:

500+ free church-tech training videos on YouTube

Want me to look at your setup?

If you’d rather not piece it together alone, we can hop on a call — I screen-share into your system and we fix what’s actually stuck, together.

See how a one-on-one session works