Here is a blog entry I wrote on http://techstuf.wordpress.com. I believe that it is relevant here as well:
We have all been there, well maybe not all, maybe just those old enough 
, where our Church had an overhead projector. It was great wasn’t? And sometimes the songs were hand written on a transparency, wow. Sound was probably in a more acceptable state with decent microphones for that age of technology. Seems that Sound and Audio was always just a few steps ahead of Video and Graphics. Which was probably because video cameras and digital projectors were just not practical and affordable a few decades ago. And I still think Video is catching up – and fighting for it’s place in a Sound and Audio centered Church Technology. Not a grip, a small frustration. Sound is and all encompassing factor in all aspects of a Church Service including Video and umm a mime.
But is it really all necessary? All that money thrown at the latest, greatest and best piece of equipment all for the pursuit of excellence. Thousands of people have come to know Jesus without the use of fancy speakers, projectors, video cameras etc. Jesus spoke to the 3000 and the 5000 and he did not need anything special. Ok there was not anything tech wise in that day, silly point. But how do we justify spending $100,000’s for items like the DigiDesign ICON, Barco or Christie projectors, RED cameras and insane Video and Audio editing equipment. I can put it down to excellence, to creating a comfortable experience, ensuring the message is clear, and enticing people to come back for more. But at the end of the day God can use anything, any person and any situation to connect with someone on a personal level. That could be in the awesome Tech Church experience or at a rural Church in the middle of Africa.
I guess at the end of the day it is about who you are trying to reach, how many people you are reaching and the relevance of the message. And so long as people are being reached as can be evidenced by Baptisms and amazing life changing stories.
I for one am all for excellence and Video 
, and I dream of the day when we have the Video Cameras and editing equipment that I believe is an extension of our worship and reverence of God and the message we bring to reach those that need to find Jesus. And until then and am happy that I get to be used by God with what I have at the moment. Not that I am content to be stuck at that level forever 
Good post. It’s really an issue of where to spend our resources (in this case, money) – and it comes down to, as you said, who you’re trying to reach. If the motivation behind purchasing many thousands of dollars worth of video gear is to reach a specific group of people, I can hardly fault that. But I think that if evangelistic motivation is not present, or if the reason is simply to ‘keep up with the times’ or entertain people, then those resources are likely better spent elsewhere.
Thanks. My biggest problem is that I thing too big. I see the guys at Churches like North Point Community Church and I think wow I wanna be there and beyond. But in the present, here where I volunteer I feel like it’s a long road ahead. But I see the baptisms; there’s 2 this Sunday (editing the stories for Video project right now), so what we have and what we do is effective. Just pray that we would accelerate the momentum – cos I wanna do more for God.
Of course, what a great site and informative posts, I will add backlink – bookmark this site? Regards, Reader