In recent months, First Church has been strengthening the technology that supports our worship, communication, and day-to-day ministry. Much of this work happens behind the scenes, but its impact is already being felt across the life of the church. Associate Pastor Kory Pritchett has been leading these efforts, focusing on improving how our technology systems work together.
“My main focus has been on streamlining and unifying our A/V, network, and organizational systems by taking a holistic look at the technology we installed as part of the building remodel and diving deep into our existing technologies to see what capabilities we were not fully utilizing,” Pastor Kory shares.
This work includes a range of improvements, including:
- Migrating our master calendar to Planning Center so that information is centralized and easier to access
- Writing a new calendar plugin for the church website so that events are easier to view and sort (www.fumcwl.org/calendar)
- Building a custom application that automatically generates weekly announcements, worship slides, bulletins, and leader guides
- Connecting our presentation and camera systems so that worship service livestreams run more seamlessly
- Reprogramming the Allen digital organ with updated audio software and aligning it with our upgraded sound system (Our new organ sound has been sampled from the organ of St. Bartholomäus church in Friesach, Austria!)
- Enhancing the sanctuary sound system to support multilingual translation through the hearing loop
“My hope is that by more fully leveraging the technical capabilities that the church has invested in, we will improve communication on our digital platforms, reduce the overall ‘tech friction’ to lower the barrier to entry for volunteers, and strengthen the worship experience for our congregation,” Pastor Kory says.
By simplifying systems and reducing manual work, staff and volunteers are able to spend more time focused on ministry.
“The biggest wins are the ones people never see,” Pastor Kory says. “[The improvements] save staff hours during the week and lower the stress level for our weekend volunteers. They also help us better collaborate with our community partners and broaden the scope of the events that are hosted at the church.”
Pastor Kory is especially excited about how these updates are opening the door for greater participation in the technical side of worship.
“What really drives me is the volunteer aspect,” Pastor Kory says. “We’re making it possible for anyone to join the tech team, regardless of experience. Seeing volunteers confidently run a service because the tools are working for them is incredibly rewarding.”
These updates are also improving the quality of First Church’s livestream, helping us better welcome those tuning in online.
“For modern church seekers, websites and online services are the ‘front door’ of the church,” Pastor Kory explains. “By making our threshold more appealing, we are actively inviting more engagement with our community.”
This work builds on a strong foundation and reflects the collaboration of many within First Church.
“A huge thank you to Don and David Caddy, who laid the groundwork for our technical infrastructure; to Pastor Duane Carlisle, Charis Vander Plaats, and Ronda Kroeschen, who have partnered with me in building and adopting these systems; and to our volunteers, who faithfully serve each week and remain flexible as things continue to evolve,” Pastor Kory says.
Pastor Duane Carlisle also reflects on the impact of this work and the gifts Kory brings to the church.
“I am so thankful for all the gifts of ministry that Pastor Kory brings to our work at First Church. He uses his gifts of preaching, music, and relationship-building to strengthen our First Church ministry in so many ways,” Pastor Duane shares. “In these past several months, I’ve been especially amazed by the technical expertise he has brought to integrating our newly installed worship technology—programming and automating our video, sound, and lighting systems, and helping all these pieces work together in ways that will make our worship life more seamless and sustainable into the future. I am deeply grateful for Pastor Kory and his ministry among us.”
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