MINISTRY PROFILE:

Media Ministry Is Dutilh’s “Secret Service”

Call for adult Volunteers

To get involved with Media Ministry, contact Matt Cosgrove at mcosgrove@dutilhumc.org. Matt needs adults to serve as coordinators; these awesome and talented young people can do the technical work, but we need an adult coordinator in the booth to keep things on track. Please consider helping if you are able!

Dutilh Church Media Coordinator Matt Cosgrove and his team of teenage volunteers have at least one thing in common with the United States Secret Service: “If we’re doing our job right, nobody notices us,” explained Cosgrove.

Since 2018, Cosgrove has headed up Dutilh’s media ministry. In recent months, both because of the pandemic and because of the church’s Make Room construction and renovation project, this ministry has experienced significant changes.

“The goals are always to take the structure of worship and try to make it as engaging from a visual and auditory perspective as possible,” said Cosgrove.

When March 2020 roared in like a lion with the global pandemic, and in-person activities came to an abrupt halt, online worship took on a whole new urgency and importance.

“Our media ministry quickly became our church’s lifeline during the peak of the pandemic,” Pastor Tom Parkinson said. “Now more than ever, online worship is another front door into the life of our church.”

Pastor Tom explained that online church is increasingly becoming a point of entry for people. “Many new guests worship with us online before they ever come in person,” he said. “Matt and his team have done a great job at providing an online experience that provides a warm welcome to new guests, even as it provides a vital point of connection for members of the Dutilh family unable to join us in person.”

The Make Room project has included significant enhancement of media resources.

“We have greatly increased the scope of our audio and visual capability in the Sanctuary,” Cosgrove explained, “and added new sound and video equipment to the Fellowship Hall. We transitioned to a different streaming service, so the online worship experience is smoother, and we have upgraded sound equipment.”

Without needing to understand all the technical details that make a better worship experience – both in-person and online – possible, suffice to say that Cosgrove’s team today has more control in the booth than ever before, and the result is improved timing, efficiency, and quality for the media ministry and a greatly enhanced worship experience for the rest of us.

Seemingly small details—like being able to use the bottom third of the visual screen for song lyrics while still showing a live feed, to adjust the sound system so that the online audio quality matches that in the Sanctuary, or to shift among different camera angles to provide a more authentic feeling for online participants—all contribute to a better experience of worship.

For the many teenage volunteers who are part of media ministry, the opportunity to serve the church while learning new skills has been a blessing.

Mike Easterling, a ninth grader at Seneca Valley High School and stalwart volunteer in the media booth, explained, “I love learning more about audio and visual production. Being part of this ministry helps me to get more involved in worship. I’m more engaged because I’m seeing it myself, but also I’m paying attention to how other people are experiencing it.”

Easterling first started helping as part of his service to the church during his Confirmation preparation, and found he had an affinity for the work. He’s currently taking a video course in high school and says that eventually he would like to work in media for his professional career.

Cosgrove and Director of Student Ministry Bud Fickley (also a regular in the media booth) provide hands-on training to the media ministry volunteers. The team learns by doing as they try each of the different media roles. Students serve as visuals operators, projecting the slides for song lyrics and scripture readings; directors, choosing what the online audience sees from among three camera angles as well as what appears on the screens in the Sanctuary; audio operators, overseeing the sound mixes in the Sanctuary as well online by managing the volume, frequency, and effects for every microphone; and camera operators, steering the cameras to provide the best views.

Like Easterling, Alex Harrison, a Mars Area High School freshman, first found media ministry at a relatively young age. His mom, Kristy Harrison, remembers that Alex used to stop by the booth and ask whether Cosgrove needed help. “Matt always said yes!” she said. “Eventually it became more of a permanent arrangement.”

“I like computers and cameras, and media ministry was really entertaining,” Harrison explained. His involvement increased significantly during COVID. Many weeks during the spring of 2020, Harrison could be found on the weekend operating one of the cameras so that the larger Dutilh community could still worship online.

Harrison appreciates being able to contribute to the worship experience. “It’s fun,” he said, “and you have a lot of control over what’s going on.”

Tim Hogue, a ninth grader at Eden Christian Academy, got an early start in the media booth in elementary school. “My brother did it,” Hogue said, “so I did it, too. I was only in fourth grade when I started.” Hogue said the best part of media ministry is getting to volunteer alongside his friends. Hogue prefers the role of director, and said that when he’s helping out in the booth, he stays very focused on the task at hand so he can do the best job possible.

Ryan Gloyer Middle School eighth grader Isaac Parkinson has been helping out in the media booth for more than a year, and enjoys being there with his friends. His efforts help keep things moving smoothly and he appreciates the opportunity to pick up new skills. “I’ve learned a lot from Matt [Cosgrove],” Parkinson said.

Integral, authentic service to the church is not just good for Dutilh – it’s good for the students. Director of Student Ministry Bud Fickley explained, “Researchers have noted that shifting generations find that the church fulfills different needs. Specifically for Gen Z, the group our teenagers are part of, the church fills a need to belong. When our students find authentic ways to serve in the congregation as these teens do each week, it shows them that not only do they belong, they have purpose.”

Cosgrove agreed that both the church and the volunteers benefit from the experience.

“Every kid up here started on cameras, learned each of the roles, and can now do every job,” Cosgrove said. “Being part of the media ministry team requires good communication skills, being able to focus and follow directions – everyone is moving together to try to make a cohesive environment; it’s a kind of ecosystem; these are great life skills and professional skills, especially with so much online content in so many places today.”

Cosgrove is hoping to recruit some additional adult volunteers to help out in the booth, though he is grateful for his current team of DSM volunteers and lauds their skill levels.

“We have a great team in place, and we need every link in the chain,” Cosgrove explained. “We would not have an online service without student ministry involvement.”

Though their work is often unnoticed – and that, as Cosgrove noted, is by design – their contributions to Dutilh Church’s worship experience are integral to Dutilh’s mission of making disciples. Easterling, Harrison, Hogue, and Parkinson – along with other media ministry volunteers Jackson Brandt, Mason and Morgan Chapman, and Sam Konopka – play a key role in making sure the church family has the best possible worship experience. While we might not notice them doing their thing in the booth each weekend, the Dutilh family does indeed see and appreciate the effort, skill, and dedication to service that they demonstrate. Thanks to our wonderful media ministry volunteers!

Photo credits to Sarah Hogue and Pastor Tom Parkinson.