Church run of show template: a service run sheet for your media team
A printable church run of show for a team from one volunteer to a producer with a crew: a minute-by-minute service run sheet with a camera, audio, slides and stream cue for every item, who calls each cue, a final-by deadline, a one-page guide to calling the cues, a blank sheet and filled examples for a contemporary service and a liturgical service, with notes for a solo volunteer and for Sundays with several services.
Free printable PDF
Service run sheet
What is inside
- A final-by deadline to agree once, and six steps to build the sheet
- A one-page guide to calling the cues, with the words to use and what to do when a cue fails
- A blank run sheet with a camera, audio, slides and stream cue for every item, and a line for who calls it
- Filled examples for a contemporary service with a producer, a liturgical service, and a solo volunteer or small team without headsets, plus notes for Sundays with several services
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What the checklist covers
Give every role the same plan
- A run sheet lists each item in the service in order, with a time and a length, and one row for each cue. Planning Center describes a service order that gives the whole team a step-by-step flow (Planning Center; see Sources).
- Add a column for media cues (Rundown Studio). Split it by role: camera, audio, slides and stream.
- Share the sheet with every team on the service, not only production (Rundown Studio).
One owner and one caller
- Assign an owner to every action and do not bundle actions with different owners into one line (GeekChamp).
- Name one caller. Theater handbooks give the call in three steps, warning, standby and GO, and have operators wait for GO (a community theater and a university production handbook).
- Name who may hold or skip a cue if it fails (GeekChamp).
Freeze the sheet, then write changes down
- Agree a final-by day and time once. After it, write each change on the sheet, because a verbal heads-up gets forgotten (Rundown Studio).
- With several services, build in a changeover gap, because an overrun in the first service runs into the second (Rundown Studio).
- A solo volunteer is the caller, so the sheet becomes a to-do list in cue order.
Frequently asked questions
A church run of show, also called a service run sheet, is a minute-by-minute plan for the service that every role works from. It lists each item in order with a start time and a length, and one row for each cue: what the cameras, the sound, the slides and the stream do, and who calls it. It is the media team's version of the order of worship.
The order of service says what happens, for the room. The run sheet says what each media role does and when, for the people running the service. Planning Center describes a service order as a step-by-step flow so the whole team knows what is happening and when. A run sheet adds the cues on top of that order.
A start time and length for every item, a column for each media role, the file or slide set each cue uses, the words that trigger it, who calls it and a note for what to do if it fails. Rundown Studio advises a column built specifically for media cues, and being specific about when slides change, when videos play and when lyrics appear. Plain practice adds the final-by deadline and the date on every copy.
One person, so each operator hears a single voice. In a team that is a producer or the stream lead, who does not run a camera or the sound. Theater handbooks split each call into warning, standby and GO and have operators wait for GO. A solo volunteer is the caller and the operator, so the sheet works as a to-do list in cue order.
Pick one day and time and write it on the sheet. A starting point is Thursday evening, which leaves Friday and Saturday for rehearsal. After that, write each change on the sheet and tell every role, because a verbal heads-up gets forgotten, as one church rundown guide puts it. The free sheet has a place to write the deadline and the person who takes late changes.
Yes. The order of the parts is fixed by the book or your pastor, so the sheet does not change it. It adds the cues on top: where the camera stays still, when the readings go on the screen and which moments carry no graphics. Cue by the spoken words, such as the end of a reading, rather than by the clock. The USCCB's televising guidelines say that elements of the liturgy should not be omitted from a broadcast. Your pastor, diocese or denomination decides what may be shown.
Give each service its own time and its own copy of the sheet, and mark an item that belongs to one service only. Planning Center lets you set times for each of your services. Rundown Studio advises a realistic changeover gap, because an overrun in the first service runs into the second. The free sheet has a changeover table for saving the recording, resetting the slides and restarting the stream.
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No. The sheet is for your team and your own equipment. Church Media Kit helps beforehand with one of the cues: Sermon Slides turns your sermon notes into slides you can edit, then download as PowerPoint or PDF, so the slides cue has a finished deck to rehearse with.