CHURCH TECH TRENDS [7 OBSERVATIONS FROM 2021’S GEAR]

1. Churches are Breaking into Broadcast
2. The “It” Speakers have Changed
3. Seeing the Light
4. iPad Mixing
5. The D.A.S Speaker Secret is Out
6. Mega Church Production Continues to Excel
7. Church Tech Trends continue to change

In 2021, we bought around 4,000 pieces of used production gear and met tons of tech directors around the country. Over the course of this year, we noticed the following church tech trends.

1. Breaking into Broadcast

Many churches are starting to broadcast their services. While mega-churches have been doing this for some time, medium and even small churches are now jumping on this church tech trend. Covid has brought a myriad of challenges to the church world at large. With this shift, we’ve seen churches buying the gear they need for broadcast and selling off their old broadcast gear. Everyone is trying to get to the 4k level. 

This will be a trend we watch a lot in 2022 to see if churches continue to broadcast post-Covid. Once all the gear has been bought and the habit has been made, we could see this move from the ‘church tech trends’ column to the ‘church tech standard’ box. If your church is looking to get into broadcast and get more video production equipment, check out our “Top 10 Platforms to Buy Used Production Gear” article here.

2. The “It” Speakers [Church Tech Trends]

Everyone wants L-Acoustics and d&b audiotechnik speakers. We’ve bought some amazing speakers from churches this year because they were upgrading to these two brands. These speakers are as excellent in their branding as they are in their quality. However, there is still a very long list of amazing used speakers for your church. Check out our other 2021 used speaker observations here. 

3. Seeing the Light [Church Tech Trends]

LED lighting is all the rage right now. These lights draw less power, are more efficient, and require fewer replacement bulbs. Having lights that reduce the number of times you have to go up 50 feet to change a bulb is a big win and an understandable church tech trend.

4. iPad Mixing [Church Tech Trends]

Mixing on an ipad is increasing in younger tech directors. With millennials making up the largest amount of current American workers this isn’t shocking to have on the church tech trends list. This generation has grown up with an iPhone in their pocket and a laptop in their house. 

However, physical mixing boards are far from done. We have seen mixing boards sell in droves this year and continue to see tech directors desire the board brand they’ve always had. If a tech director has always used a particular type of mixing board brand, they typically stay with a physical board in that family. Furthermore, current millennial tech directors were still getting trained on physical boards when they started as volunteers in their younger days. And the world at large is still using physical boards now that used mixing boards are very affordable.

When iPad mixing started, many wondered if physical boards would be replaced completely. Instead, it has become an option rather than the only option. In the same way that electric vehicles didn’t replace gas-powered vehicles, iPads have given church techs another option. All of these factors point to physical mixing boards still being a staple even as mixing on an iPad increases.

5. The D.A.S speaker secret is out [Church Tech Trends]

The D.A.S speaker brand has been something of a secret in the speaker world. While they are lesser-known, this brand is high quality and affordable. When we get these in, they sell quickly. The secret may be getting out at a scale that this brand is an amazing, affordable speaker for churches. At this rate, it is very possible that our 2022 church tech trends article will have “D.A.S speaker continues to move up in notoriety.”

6. Mega Church Production Continues to Excel [Church Tech Trends]

Have you ever watched a “Christian” movie and thought: “that was a clear drop off from the secular movies”. Church production doesn’t have this drop-off. With a mega church budget comes a better set up so this trend is not shocking. However, it is impressive to note that mega-church production quality excellence is continuing. Visitors feel like they are experiencing the same quality at church as they do at a high-end concert. In some cases, churches are outfitted even better than big music venues. Excellence in church tech has always been a goal and the young tech directors we are meeting have taken up this mantle well. Some megachurches are equipped so well that they are the testing ground for tech companies that want to test their production equipment. Of all the church tech trends, this was our favorite to see.

7. Church Tech Trends still change a lot

As we reflected on this year’s church tech trends, we started to get nostalgic about all the changes we’ve seen over the years. A motif became apparent as to just how often church tech trends change. 2022 will have its own church tech trends just as 2021 has. 

Stay ahead of the used production gear tech trends with the Early Service

We send our best, rarest gear out on Monday morning each week and give Early Service members 48 hours to buy our gear before the entire world has a chance to buy it on our site, eBay and Reverb. 

Some of our best gear sells within an hour of it going live. Don’t miss out.