Church AV planning software for worship teams

Why church production is hard to document

Church tech teams run a production every week, often with more gear than a small conference, and mostly with volunteers. The system grows over years: a camera donated here, a new console there, a stream added in a hurry. The knowledge of how it all connects tends to live in one or two people's heads.

Church production volunteer documentation that people actually read

Good volunteer documentation is visual, short and current. A ten-page manual goes unread. A clear diagram showing that Camera 2 goes into SDI 2 on the switcher, and that the stream mix comes from aux 7 and 8 on the console, gets used every week.

In H2R Gear you draw the system with real gear from the community library. If your exact camera or converter is not there, build it in the gear builder with the right inputs and outputs. Then drag cables from outputs to inputs. Cables only connect to compatible ports, which catches mistakes like plugging SDI into an HDMI input before anyone buys a cable. Add text labels for things like camera presets, IP addresses or "do not turn off this switch".

Once the plan exists, share it. On Personal and above, a Private + Link plan gives anyone with the link a read-only view they can pan and zoom, with no account needed. Drop the link in the volunteer group chat and everyone sees the latest version, not a photo of a whiteboard from 2022. Read more in the sharing docs.

How H2R Gear helps church AV teams

Documenting a permanent church install

For a fixed system, build one plan that describes the building. Use zones (Pro) for the platform, the booth, the equipment room and the overflow room, so the diagram reads like a map. Label every cable with an ID and a length. The patch list (Pro) then lists every cable in one table, which you can export to CSV and keep with the building records. When a contractor adds a new projector, update the plan and everyone sees the change.

Keep a separate plan for the weekly stream if it changes more often, and archive old versions rather than deleting them. Archived plans do not count towards your active plan limit.

Portable and mobile churches

If your church sets up in a school hall or cinema every week, the packlist is the feature you will use most. It is generated automatically from your plan: every gear item and every cable, grouped and counted. Add extras for the things that are not on the diagram (tape, batteries, the welcome table banner). Tick items off at load-in, and again at pack-down so nothing stays behind. Progress shows on the plan card so the team lead can see how far along the pack is. The packlist is on every plan, including the free Starter tier.

Weekly service changes

For special services, duplicate your standard plan and edit the copy. Add the extra mics for a guest band or the camera for a baptism, and the packlist and cable counts update with it. Give each plan its event dates in plan info, and use the Upcoming and Past tabs in your plans list to find this week's service quickly.

Pricing for churches

You can start on the free Starter plan: two active plans, the community library, gear, cables, labels and the packlist. Most church teams move to Personal at $5 per month ($50 per year) for read-only share links and PDF export, which is what makes volunteer documentation work. Pro at $15 per month adds zones, the patch list and projects for install records. For a staff team, Small Team at $25 per month includes three team members who share plans and a team gear library. See full details on the pricing page.

Start with the church template

Not sure where to begin? The church live stream setup diagram shows a typical worship stream with PTZ cameras, a switcher, a lyrics computer and a stream mix from the console, with a patch list and packlist you can download. For the bigger picture on gear and running a stream each week, read live streaming a church service.