Capture Summit 2025 Recap

The 2025 edition of Capture Summit in Houston brought together church production leaders, AV techs, and IT managers for two days of practical learning, peer connection, and forward-looking strategy. While the event traditionally leans toward the House of Worship space, this year’s programming leaned heavily into broader communications strategies, AI, production workflows, and team sustainability. Things that resonate well beyond the church world.

The church production, or house of worship, market is not something we normally cover on AVNation. There are a few reasons for attending this conference. First, my introduction to AV and production started in my early teens at my own local church. It’s what got me introduced to lighting, control, video, and editing. Second, there is a large part of AV and IT techs who volunteer each weekend at their own local congregations. Finally, the same issues of smaller budgets, shrinking staff, and emerging technologies that impact you also affect this segment of AV.

Simplifying Production Not Quality

One of the clearest threads throughout Capture Summit 2025 was acknowledging leaner production teams and how to still deliver broadcast-level output. Attendees heard from teams operating with just 2–3 volunteers using streamlined switchers, automated PTZ cameras, and templated graphics systems. Like church production teams, AV and IT teams have smaller teams than they did ten years ago.

For AV techs and IT managers, the message was clear: look for solutions that scale with your team’s capabilities. More gear is great. You don’t have the budget for that. If there’s no money for better gear then you better develop systems that work with your team makeup and skills.

Vendors like Sony, Canon, and Sweetwater were on-site showcasing tools aimed at simplifying production pipelines. PTZ cameras, speaker tracking technology, and simpler cameras to setup were among those options.

AI Isn’t Coming—It’s Here

The very first breakout session at Capture Summit set the tone. “AI-Powered Insights for Ministry Excellence.” Katie Allred did a good job laying the foundation for leveraging AI in a church environment. These sessions provided practical advice, examples, and demonstrations.

Tips like treating AI like a first-day intern are good places to start. Allred and the other presenters took instruction further. Church communications, media, and production have a different asthetic and need. They are looking to connect to their members on an emotional and spiritual level. How do you do that when leveraging AI? Same as you would with a brand new intern. You give it everything it needs and then filter with your own expertise. Trust but verify and edit.

Capture Summit 2025

The team that produces Capture Summit has combined forces with CFX, Church Facilities Expo. You’ll get much of the same content in Chattanooga September 22 through the 24. Plus, you’ll get to hear me talk about working with integrators.

This summit reminded us that technical excellence and operational simplicity are not opposites; they’re goals to be pursued together. For AV and IT managers tasked with building reliable, flexible systems for worship and beyond, this year’s event delivered both insight and inspiration. As someone who’s been in church production since I was 14, it was a reminder of the challenges and the reason behind what you great volunteers do each weekend. Keep creating and connecting.