Church media team roles and the director job

A church media team does six jobs: slides and lyrics, sound, camera and video, livestream, graphics and social, and a media lead who keeps the other five working together. The media director is that lead. In a small church, one person often holds three of the jobs, and the director may be a volunteer.

Two quick answers before the detail:

• New to the team? Start with slides and lyrics. It is the easiest job to learn by shadowing, and the lyrics operator checklist walks you through a first Sunday.
• Wondering whether to hire? Pay for the lead when several of these hold: the role needs weekday hours, one missed Sunday costs more than the salary, or one person carries the whole system. The "Volunteer or staff?" section below lists five checks.

The six jobs on a church media team

Churches name these differently. These six names are the ones used on this site, so you can match your own team to them.

The timings people quote for each job, such as how early to arrive, come from individual churches and writers. No standards body publishes them. Treat any number you read as one team's routine to adjust.

Slides and lyrics

This person puts the right words on the screen at the right moment. They need the run sheet, the songs in order and the scripture references before the service, and they need to know what to do when the plan changes mid-song. For software choices, see church presentation software compared.

Sound

Sound is the job people notice only when it fails. The sound lead sets up microphones, balances the mix for the room, and warns the team about problems before the service starts. Keep the console settings written down so a new volunteer can restore them. If the service is streamed or recorded, ask whoever sets up the stream where its audio comes from, and listen to it before the doors open.

Camera and video

The camera job covers the live shot and the recording. On a small team, one person may run one camera. Some churches use remote-controlled cameras so one operator can recall several shots from saved positions. Whether that suits your room depends on the building and the budget.

Livestream

The livestream job is a different skill from camera work. It means starting the broadcast, watching audio and video as it runs, and ending it cleanly. Check the stream key and the internet connection before the weekend, not at the start of the service. The livestream graphics checklist and the guide to lower thirds for a church livestream (the name bars that appear on screen) cover the on-screen side.

Graphics and social

This role makes the visual and written pieces that go out during the week: announcement graphics, event invitations, quote posts, thumbnails. If your church separates media from communications, this is where the two meet. A default that works for many churches: communications approves what goes out, and media produces it. Whatever you pick, write it down, because each side tends to assume the other has it. The content handoff from pastor to volunteer shows one way to record who decides what.

Media lead

The lead does not need to be the best operator. The lead's job is to make the team repeatable: who serves when, who trains whom, what happens when a person is missing, and what the church allows on screen and online.

If you are one person doing three jobs

A small team might be one to three people. That works if the jobs are written down, and if you say out loud which one gives way when two need you at once. Three common splits:

If you already run three jobs alone, you have a staffing problem, not a skills problem. Tell the pastor in a short list: what you cover, what is uncovered when two jobs collide, and what you would drop first. Ask for one lighter Sunday a month, or for one more person to shadow you. Our guide on fitting media into a one-person volunteer workflow goes further.

When something breaks on Sunday

This is our suggestion, not a standard. Agree it before Sunday so nobody decides under pressure:

1. The lead, or the person in charge that week, decides. Everyone else keeps doing their job.
2. Fix the room first. A dead microphone or projector matters more than the stream.
3. Decide in advance how long you will try to fix the stream before you stop it and post a short note instead.
4. Write down what failed, and fix the cause that week.

What a media director does

A media director leads the team and the church's media output. The title is not standard. Postings use "media director", "technical director", "communications director" and "director of media and communications" for overlapping work. Some focus on running the booth, and others lean toward websites, social posts and content. Read the duties, not the title.

Across the postings and guides we reviewed on 29 October 2026, the lead's work falls into five parts:

1. Plan the weekend. Agree the run sheet with the worship and teaching leaders, and know who is serving.
2. Run the team. Recruit, train, schedule and thank volunteers, and keep a rotation so no one serves every week.
3. Own the equipment and the rules. Keep the gear working, the logins in a shared place, and the permissions clear.
4. Report to someone. Postings name an executive pastor, a senior pastor or an elder board. Decide who the lead answers to and who settles disagreements.
5. Protect the church. Know who holds the music licence, how the church handles children's images, and who approves what goes public.

A director does not have to be a producer. Consultant Phil Cooke, in a January 2025 post, says a media director usually needs an audio or video production background and works as a generalist across social, streaming and web. That is one view. A volunteer lead with the right habits can do the job well for a small church.

A media director job description you can copy

Adapt this to your church. Delete what you do not need.

Role: Media Director Reports to: [Executive pastor, lead pastor or elder board] Works with: [Communications director, worship leader, children's ministry lead] Status: [Volunteer / part-time / full-time] Purpose: Lead the team that makes Sunday work in the room and reach people online, and keep that team healthy.

Main duties

• Build and keep the weekly schedule so each job has a named person and a backup.
• Recruit, train and thank volunteers. Keep a written guide for each job.
• Agree the service plan with the worship and teaching leads before the week begins.
• Keep equipment working, and keep a simple list of what to repair or replace.
• Produce what the church posts. Name who approves it ([Communications / pastor]) and who answers comments. Name who owns the website and email, if it is not you.
• Keep the church's music licences current and follow their terms for streaming and recordings. See "Music licences" below.
• Follow the church's child-safety policy for photos and video, and know which people have not agreed to appear.
• Report to the supervisor each [month / quarter] on what worked, what failed and what is needed. Review this description once a year.

Skills and experience

• Some experience with audio, video, slides or graphics, in a church or elsewhere.
• Ability to train and schedule volunteers.
• Calm under pressure on a Sunday.
• Willingness to work evenings and weekends.

Measures of a good week

• Every job was covered and no one served beyond the agreed limit.
• The service started on time and the stream ran without a gap.
• The week's announcements went out as planned and the approved version is on file.

Sign-off: [Pastor] and [Communications director], [date].

If you are hiring, also add the pay range, the weekly hours and the working pattern, so candidates can judge the job before they apply.

Volunteer or staff?

Most church media teams run on volunteers, and many leads are volunteers too. The question is when that stops working. We found no study that sets a size or attendance at which a church should pay the lead, so this is our suggestion, not a rule. Pay for the lead role when several of these are true:

• The role needs more hours than a volunteer can give week after week, including the weekdays.
• A missed Sunday costs the church more than the salary would, such as a lost stream or a service without sound.
• One volunteer is carrying the whole system and no one else knows how it works.
• The work now includes planning, training, equipment, licences, child safety and communications, not only a Sunday shift.
• The person is asking for the work to be treated as a job.

Paying for part of the job is a first step. Christianity Today reported in 2022 that paid tech staff mostly spend their time managing volunteers, and described one church that pays a part-time person for the livestream and to coordinate volunteers.

One legal point. The United States Department of Labor's fact sheet on nonprofits (revised August 2015) says people may volunteer for religious organisations without expecting pay, and that volunteers should not displace paid employees. It also says paid employees cannot volunteer to do the same work they are paid for. If you are moving a volunteer onto the payroll, ask your own advisor before changing how they serve. The same advisor can tell you what a hire costs beyond the salary, such as payroll taxes and benefits, which vary by country and employment arrangement.

What does a church media director earn?

There is no reliable single number. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has no church media director category. Its nearest groups cover every industry, not churches. For the May 2025 median pay: broadcast, sound and video technicians $60,150 a year, graphic designers $62,960, and producers and directors, a film, television and stage group, $90,360.

Church pay figures disagree widely. Salary-page snippets we saw in search on 29 October 2026 ranged from about $33,000 (MinistryDesigns) to more than $100,000 (Christian Tech Jobs) a year, and none stated a sample or method. A posting is more concrete, though still one church. A Texas Baptist church advertised a full-time media director role in March 2025 at $50,000 to $65,000 with benefits. The most useful benchmark is local: ask three churches near you, of a similar size, what they pay for similar duties. A fuller salary benchmark is separate work we will publish when we have a sample we can defend.

Protect the team and the church

Three duties belong in the lead's written role from day one.

Music licences. Someone must hold and read the church's licence. In the US, CCLI's church copyright licence covers singing and showing lyrics in your building, and its streaming licence extends that to online services. Playing recorded tracks in a stream needs a further add-on, which CCLI calls Streaming Plus. Terms differ by country and change, so read CCLI's own pages for your case. This article is not legal advice.

Children and consent. Decide who may photograph or film children, where those images may appear, and who removes them if a parent asks. Follow your church's safeguarding (child-protection) policy. Our photo and video release forms are a starting point for the paperwork.

Burnout. MediaShout lists the usual causes: the same person in the same role every week, always being in the booth, a thin team and unclear expectations. Its fixes are to rotate people, limit booth time, write role guides and check in regularly. Use the rotation and burnout check to see how your own schedule looks, and the 52-week church media calendar to plan the year.

This Sunday

Pick one:

• New volunteer: ask to shadow slides and lyrics, and ask for the run sheet on Thursday.
• Solo operator: write the three-line list for your pastor: what you cover, what is uncovered, what you would drop first.
• Lead: copy the job description above, fill in the brackets and ask your pastor to sign it.

Where Church Media Kit fits

Church Media Kit helps with the graphics and social job, and with turning the sermon recording into short clips. It makes editable drafts of posts, designs and clips from a sermon for a person to review, download and post. It does not run live slides, sound or a livestream. Those jobs need people and the equipment in your building.

For a quick read on how stretched your own team is, the Church Media Check asks a few questions about your workload and gives you a report.

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Frequently asked questions

What are the responsibilities of a church media team?

A church media team runs the slides and lyrics, sound, cameras, livestream and graphics for services, and often handles the church's social posts. A lead schedules the team and keeps the equipment, licences and rules in order.

What are the roles of a media team in a church?

The six common roles are slides and lyrics, sound, camera and video, livestream, graphics and social, and a media lead. Small churches often combine three or more of them in one person.

What does a media director do at a church?

A media director leads the media team. The director plans the weekend with the worship and teaching leads, schedules and trains people, looks after equipment and licences, and agrees what the church posts. The title varies, so read the duties in each job description.

How much does a church media director make?

No reliable single figure exists. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has no church media director category, and published church pay figures vary widely. One March 2025 posting for a full-time Texas role listed $50,000 to $65,000, so ask churches of your size near you.

Should the media director be a volunteer or paid?

A volunteer can lead a small team. Consider paying the lead when several of these hold: the role needs weekday hours, a missed Sunday costs the church more than the pay, or one person carries the whole system. This is a suggestion, not a rule.

How many people does a church media team need?

There is no standard number. Some churches run Sunday with two or three people, and others schedule a person for each job. What matters is that every job has a named person and a backup, and that no one serves every week.

Does Church Media Kit replace a media team?

No. It prepares editable drafts of graphics, social posts and sermon clips for a person to review, download and post. It does not run live slides, sound or a livestream.