In 2008, I heard Tomlin, Hillsong, & Third Day in my church.
When I was on staff at a church, I felt pressure to improve my skills and accelerate my experience to keep up with our church's growth and vision. But as the church got busier, I got stuck in a cycle of getting things done instead of making things better.
Production needs grew more complex. One campus became five. Responsibilities expanded quickly, and education and maintenance were always the first things to fall off.
Over time, my perspective was shaped entirely by what was urgent, not what mattered.
Instead of developing my skill set, I found myself leaning toward equipment purchases to solve our week-to-week challenges. Leadership trusted me and knew how hard I was working, so they approved my requests.
But six months later, the same bottlenecks and frustrations showed up. I started wondering if staying inside one system for too long was limiting my ability to solve problems and create the audio experience our church leadership wanted.
Then one summer, we hosted a series of concerts. With each band or artist came their own engineers and consoles.
Same room. Same speakers. Completely different mix.
It sounded fuller, clearer, and more dynamic. Everything I had been trying to achieve. It was humbling.
And almost immediately the comments started coming. How come it sounded like that for them, but not like that for us?
That moment changed something for me.
I realized the room had always been capable. I had just been too close to my own decisions to see it clearly. And that was not a failure. It was simply the limitation of being inside one system for too long.
That realization sent me on a path to seek the right kind of mentorship that could help me grow into the next season of my engineering.
That outside perspective changed everything for me. Now I bring it to churches nationwide.
I come on site to your church and work alongside your team to update programming, optimize your system, and build workflows that support the way your team works.
By the end, your system is refreshed, your team has clarity, and your engineer is equipped to carry it forward.
And as some stories have fun endings, I've ended up working for every artist and band that visited us that Summer.
Tiago D'Errico: Worship Pastor, Eastside Church
"Besides being a phenomenal engineer, the most amazing thing about Gene is that he is an extremely gifted trust builder. I find this combination to be very rare. I remember when Gene first visited Eastside, he got to know our Production Staff right away and was able to navigate difficult conversations with kindness and truth. He not only helped us achieve our target mix, but helped our entire Creative Team to get on the same page and align our collective goals."
