FILO Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 055: Alec Takahashi Jan 04, 2021

Show notes

Alec Takahashi is a FILO Faculty Alumni and a touring LD that Todd got to sit down with and talk about collaboration, details and Disney's obsession with both.
Show Notes:
Advent: Looking to catch up on the FILO Advent Series? Join Todd on a four-week journey to center your heart this season. Read or watch 4 guided Advent devotionals at FILO.ORG/BLOG.
Book: I Love Jesus But I Hate Christmas: Tackling The Challenges Of Being A Church Technical Artist, by Todd Elliott. Learn more at FILO.ORG/BOOK.
The Imagineering Story: Watch on Disney +.
A Faster Horse: Watch on Amazon Prime.
The Donut King: Watch on Amazon Prime.
Follow Alec on Instagram: @alectakahashi

Episode 054: Lee Fields Dec 14, 2020

Show notes

Todd sits down with Lee Fields from MxU and Bayside Church to talk about the importance of having a life outside of work. Whatever your occupation, it is key to have interests and hobbies that have nothing to do with your job. The rejuvenation that comes from having a hobby makes us better humans.
Show Notes:
Join Todd on a four-week journey to prepare for the arrival of Jesus. Read or watch 4 guided Advent devotionals at FILO.ORG/BLOG.
We are grateful for Vertigo's support of this podcast episode.
When it comes to all things rigging, Tracy and his team at Vertigo are the best. Whether you need to fly someone at your next service, need your rigging systems inspected or simply want to have your team trained on safe rigging practices, the people at Vertigo can help you out. Visit their website at www.getvertigo.com for more information.

making space for memorable moments Nov 23, 2020

Show notes

It’s the week of Thanksgiving in the United States. Be honest now, how many of you have put up your Christmas tree already? It’s OK if you’ve put up your outdoor Christmas lights because you definitely need to take advantage of any warm weather you can. But your Christmas tree? You’ve got to wait. In my house, not only do you not put up the tree until after Thanksgiving, but we have a rule that you can’t just start playing Christmas music whenever you feel like it. You’ve got to wait. And when the time does come, the first song has to be “Mele Kalikimaka” by Bing Crosby. It is the only way Elliott’s can enjoy the rest of the Christmas season. For many of us technical artists, the build-up to our Christmas began well before this week. That first brainstorming meeting about Christmas that happened a few months ago was our version of “Mele Kalikimaka”. And as we enter into this week of Thanksgiving, our final push to the finish line of Christmas services will begin. This has always been a tough week for me...knowing that the long days and late nights would start up and last for a while. Normally, I would already start putting my head down and just push to the finish line. But this year, before we do that, I would encourage all of us to take this week to look down the road and figure out a few key moments to pick your head up and stop pushing so hard. Just for a moment. Our lives are made up of many parts and it isn’t good for us to only focus on that one thing for so long. Family Moments Look for places in the calendar to make some memories with your family. Your spouse and your children need you. It is important for them to build strong memories of this time of year. Doing it without you isn’t the best idea. And all the memories to be made will be better with you in them. Don’t just leave this up to your spouse to figure out. Work it out together. Take some time this week to strategically make plans to have meaningful time as a family together. If you are single, you still have a family. Be strategic with them. Or maybe it’s with your friend group. Make plans. Don’t just spend all your energy on the Christmas services. Team Moments Our teams are cranking on making Christmas amazing for your congregation. At this time of year especially, it is very easy for the task to take over, which in turn leads people to feel like simply a means to an end. Make sure that there is time and space built-in for community, where people can just be people. At Willow Creek, our systems team used to provide “Holiday Cheer” for the rehearsal and services. It was basically cheese balls, dips, munchies, cookies, punch, etc. It was a chance to simply enjoy being together. When there is so much work to get done, it is easy to push relationships to the side. If you are the leader of the team, be strategic and be intentional to make time around the task to experience team moments. Self Moments It can be very easy to empty yourself out completely for a Christmas service and have nothing left at the end of it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been basically comatose on Christmas Day with my family. Find some time to set aside and connect with why you decided to get into production in the first place. Get back in touch with those thoughts. Hang onto them when things get tough. Along with this exercise, consider reading the Christmas story in Luke 2. Or possibly going through an Advent Reading to experience the promise, anticipation, peace, and joy of Christ during this season. (John Piper’s “Dawning of Indestructible Joy” and Dietrich Bonhoeffer's “God is in the Manger” have been good for me.) We can be so busy “doing” Christmas that we don’t ever stop to remember what Christmas is about in the first place. Whether your church is doing services as normal or you’ve got some new schedule with pre-recorded content and a drive-through Christmas experience, don’t let the season swallow you up. Make time this week to prepare yourself for what lies ahead. Need some community and prayer during this time? Reach out to us and let us know how we can pray for you, your family, your team, and your church this holiday season!

Episode 053: Dennis Choy Nov 23, 2020

Show notes

Good friend to FILO, Dennis Choy shares his story of burnout with Todd. They work through how we can sometimes let burnout creep up on us by doing really good things, but by saying yes to too much, we end up saying no to things that matter.
Show Notes:
Book Recommendation: Leading On Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion by Wayne Cordeiro
Contact Dennis directly: churchtechcoach@gmail.com
We are grateful for Panasonic's support of this podcast episode.
The folks at Panasonic would love to have a conversation about your specific needs and help you develop the right solution for your church during these unprecedented times. Just click the Panasonic logo to see everything they have to offer. You can also contact the House of Worship Sr Business Development Mgr, Jim Jensen at 201-427-0606.

Episode 052: Nick Benoit Nov 02, 2020

Show notes

Nick and Todd have a conversation about the creative process, storytelling, creative risk, and being dependant on each other. A good conversation to listen together with your creative person.
We are grateful for Ross' support of this podcast episode.
Ross has included a Worship Production episode in their webinar series: Ross Live Season 2. Jeremy Bagwell, the House of Worship Business Development Manager at Ross, will share ways to enhance your volunteer experiences without spending an extra dime, using Ross’ proprietary DashBoard, a free and open platform from Ross Video for facility control and monitoring. With DashBoard you can quickly build unique, tailored Custom Panels, making complex operations simple. During this Live Session, Jeremy will dive deeper into how and why DashBoard is such a powerful tool that empowers you to do more, with less.
Watch live on their website, rossvideo.com/live, on November 17th at 11am EST to ask questions of Jeremy and their DashBoard team. Head to rossvideo.com/live to register for the free Worship Production webinar on Ross Live, Season 2.

Episode 051: Nate Krause, Amplio Oct 12, 2020

Show notes

Todd sits down with Amplio co-founder, Nate Krause to talk about multi-site churches, understanding the why behind a decision and firetrucks.
We are grateful for Amplio's support of this podcast episode. Visit ampliosystems.com to start a conversation today!

Episode 050: Wes Hartley Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

Wes Hartley, former TD of Lakepointe Church in Dallas, sits down with Todd to talk about how we communicate with our teams to accomplish excellent services.
We are grateful for Haivision's support of this podcast episode. Enter for a chance to win an Apple TV, learn more about streaming or chat with their team by heading to their website and fill out the form, today!

time for something new Sep 15, 2020

Show notes

I think it is safe to say that we are all ready to return to normal. We’ve done the covid thing, we’ve learned a few new skills, but we’re tired of editing our services together and watching them online like everyone else. Unfortunately, normal is not coming back. At least not in the way we remember it. And maybe that’s a good thing. Getting back into the routine of pulling off services every week, now is the time to potentially make some changes. One of the main reasons we tend not to make changes is that it can cause disruption. Disruption on the team, disruption of the process. We’ve always done things a certain way, so why mess with it? Well, things have been disrupted alright. Most of us haven’t had services in person for 5 months! You can’t get more disrupted than that! Chances are, when we do get back, the way we used to do services is a thing of the past. It is time to make some adjustments. Not only adjustments to the "new" that we’re facing, but also to the “way we’ve always done things.” This is a perfect time to even do those things we always wished we had time for. Start Doing Remember all those great ideas you’ve had over the years but have never done anything about? Well now is the time to consider implementing them. There will never be a better time than now! Much of the challenge of starting something new is that it breaks you and your team out of a comfortable routine. The only comfortable routine you’ve had in the last 5 months has been working while still in your pajamas. Trust me, you need to break out of that one anyway! Maybe you’ve always wanted to have prayer time with the team before beginning rehearsal. Start now.Or perhaps you were in the habit of saying yes to everything because you were trying to be helpful. Now might be the time to start being strategic with your time and only saying yes to those tasks that help achieve your team’s mission.But what if I don’t have a mission? It’s time for that too! Developing a mission statement and a set of production values will help define how your team moves forward into this new era. There’s never enough time to figure this out. Start now. Start talking about them with your team. Get everyone on the same page as it pertains to what your team is about.And speaking of the team, maybe now is the time to invest more in the people than in the gear or the task. Investing in people might have seemed like something we could put on the back burner, but if we’ve learned something during the pandemic is that people and the community matter more than the stuff. Don’t lose the chance to reallocate your time away from the nuts and bolts and towards developing the people on your team. Don’t waste this amazing opportunity to start something new when you get back to meeting in person. The time is ripe to take yourself and your team to the next level by starting something new. Stop Doing This new beginning is also a great time to stop doing some things. Those tasks were designed for a different season or to slaughter that sacred cow. Similar to starting something new, we are already out of our routine, so let’s blow it up some more while we have the chance! “This is how we do it.” And I’m not talking about the song from the ’90s. That saying has stopped us too many times from starting something new. Stop saying it. Stop letting your team members say it. Let’s figure out some new ways of doing tasks. More efficient ways. More effective ways. Just because something worked in the past doesn’t mean it is still the right way now. Don’t be afraid to stop doing something just because the team is emotionally attached to it.Now is also the time to stop saying yes to everything. (I know this is similar to start being strategic with your time, but it is that important!) Be more strategic with your time! Especially if you are going to invest in our teams more, that means you can’t do as many tasks outside of the boundaries you’ve set for strategic purposes.With boundaries set, and production values shared, now it is time to stop enabling team members that don’t want to be a part of where the team is going. You know who they are. You know how much they drain you. You know how much the rest of the team wonders why there are production standards that everyone has to follow but those few people. It is time to stop letting it slide and it is time to hold them to the standard. Arriving on time. Not being negative all the time. Only wanting to serve where they want to serve. If you are the leader, it is time to stop ignoring it and hoping it simply goes away. Confront that now. It is a perfect time. We have been given the opportunity to start fresh. It is the moment that we dream of when we are buried by the routine that seems locked in place and can never change. They can. And it is time to seize this moment to help make your church more effective by starting new things and stopping old things. Do it.

Episode 049: Van Metschke, CCI Solutions Aug 31, 2020

Show notes

Todd has a chat with good friend Van Metschke, former local church TD and current Church Relations Advocate with CCI Solutions. They talk about pretty much everything.
We are grateful for CCI Solution's support of this podcast episode. Interested in learning more or chatting with their team? Head to their website and fill out the contact form, today!

Episode 048: FILO Book Launch Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

Todd gets the tables turned on him and is interviewed by Jon Jorgenson about the newest FILO Resource, Todd's book: "I Love Jesus But I Hate Christmas".
We are grateful for Living As One's support of this podcast episode. Interested in learning more or chatting with their team? Head to their website and fill out the contact form, today!

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