Over the past year, I have taken on side projects to help fund Open Church. A few months ago, I was given the providential opportunity to join the team at Skylark Audio Video to lead their rebranding and ongoing communications.

Formerly known as AVi Worship, Skylark Audio Video was founded in 2005 by recognizing churches’ need for more attentive care and financially responsible audio, video, and lighting systems without compromising high-end performance.

Although young, Skylark is one of the few church audio video companies that LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) chooses to work with. While popular among multi-site churches, Skylark also helps church plants take their first steps and 100-year-old landmarks overhaul their church audio while still preserving their historic character.

4 REASONS WHY I JOINED SKYLARK

What I appreciate most about Skylark is their emphasis on high performance, frugality, relationships, and the client’s best interests.

1. High Performance Technology
   If you are going to get a church audio, video, and lighting system, you need an AV company that stays current, knows their stuff, and can turn all the talk into reality. While you should never base your decision solely on an AV company’s technical prowess, you should never choose one that lacks it.
2. Frugality
   This is where Skylark really stands out. Some churches think they need the most expensive equipment or to build everything now for the future. What they don’t realize is they can almost always slash their expenses without sacrificing tech quality by choosing more reasonably priced gear and designing the church AV system for scalability and add-ons when needed. The opposite is also true. Penny-pinching to the extreme costs more in the long-run because cutting-corners leaves you with gear that can’t perform until you upgrade. Skylark gives each church advice on where to spend and where to save in order to meet their goals.
3. Relationships
   Skylark regards their clients as friends and family. We work to understand how your church operates and then customize their approach to mesh with your team. The goal is to create less work for you and your organization. When the focus is on relationships and not a business bottom line, it is much easier to ensure each church is happy, taken care of, and using Skylark for years to come.
4. Your Best Interests
   Making your best interests Skylark’s top focus doesn’t make sense to some businessmen. It means spending more time. It can mean sacrificing some paycheck to get you the best solution (not the priciest one). But Skylark does audio, video, and lighting because they love it, and they learned quickly that focusing on your best interests is Skylark’s best interests because it keeps clients coming back, and it helps the cause of Christ.

Before I joined the team at Skylark, Marcus Walker (the founder) and I had several conversations to determine if we were a mutually good fit. I asked, “What values unify your team and drive their performance?” And I love his answer.

We don’t say what are values are. They just are. What unifies us is the constant pursuit to be better than we were on the last job. The quest to learn more and do things better unifies us. We love our job. We are doing what we love and getting paid for it, and it actually means something.

FREE CHURCH CONSULTING

One of the ways Skylark serves churches is by offering free audio, video, and lighting consulting. No strings attached. You need a church AV system that meets your goals, fits within your budget, and works for your facility. We would love to start a conversation to identify what is the best solution for you.

Call 888-365-7770 to get started.

Imagine church without sound.

I do not mean removing things that make noise - sound systems, music, people. I mean imagine experiencing your church as it normally is but not being able to hear anything. Would the non-audible elements be enough to minister to you?

If you were to take away sound, would people still be ministered to?

If someone saw a muted video of your church service, what would they think?

ASK YOURSELF

• Would your environment create a sense of awe for the Creator like the churches of the Renaissance?
• Visually, how does your worship music seem? Authentic? Passionate? Like a rock concert? Worshipful?
• When you take away the words, are the greeters authentic?
• Is the tone and subject of the message evident in the preacher’s body language?
• What about the sermon branding?
• Is the life changing power of Christ evident on the congregation’s faces?
• Is there a sense joy, hope, and love?

People can spot a fake smile. People can discern authenticity. If someone who was not a Christian watched your congregation worship, would they want what they have?

Albert Mehrabian’s research shows that communication is influenced only 7% by words, 38% by tone of voice, and 55% by body language. All too often, we focus on the 7% of words and forget to invest in non-audible influencers, such as body language and environment.

For Discussion:
- How do think we can have better churches without sound?