"Okay, we're back now." Keeping your security team and greeters connected.

Right away, I have to tell you that this won't be a typical equipment review.  In fact, it's not a review of how a product works, but simply an observation of how the church I attend keeps its Outreach Team (the guys that serve in the parking lot) connected during our worship services.

Our weekend worship service starts at 9:30AM and at 10:03AM, I felt the sound desk vibrate.  "Hey, what happened to our service?"  My friend Marty had sent me a text message to say that the guys outside had lost the signal from the service.  I thought, "Hey, they ARE listening." and quickly shot back a text message to let them know that we were in the Meet and Greet break.  Since I didn't have an ambient microphone in their audio feed, when the band mics and the pastor's mic went off for the break, they heard dead air.  I quickly sent them some sound to let them know that they were still okay and the service restarted within a minute or so. 

Each week, Marty stops by the tech booth to pick up radios for the three or four guys who faithfully serve in the parking lot.  Rain, snow, 100 degree Ohio summers or ice cold rain, these guys greet people, keep an eye on the cars, and they make sure that anyone who needs anything gets what they need.  And normally, once the receivers are picked up, I don't give it another thought -- except this week was different. 

A few years ago, we purchased an assistive listening system for the hearing impaired, never thinking that our small church would find a use for the system other than...

... helping Mr. Borton hear the service.

Almost by accident, I've learned that the same assistive listening systems that we use for hearing assistance can be really effective to keep our Outreach Team (parking lot attendants, greeters, and others who are outside the main sanctuary and often outside the building) connected. 

Keeping your volunteers engaged in the service (even if secondarily) allows them to feel like they didn't miss the worship service while they were serving.  In a church with multiple worship opportunities, that may not be so important, but for smaller churches, it's a big deal. 

Assistive Listening Systems from Listen Technologies, Telex and others can be used to extend audio for language translation, hearing assistance, to the nursery, the parking lot and anywhere else on campus that you need to have people hear what's going on. 

Please call us to discuss how to better utilize assistive listening to keep all of your members connected during your worship service(s).