Technology Committee

Committee Members: Carl Miya (Volunteer Coordinator), Art Black, Dave Brown, Mark Iwagaki, Mikhael Mendoza, Ryan Miyahara, Jeffrey Oldham, Emma To (served prior to transitioning to Youth Lead), and Mimune Tsukamoto

• We are blessed to have eight active individuals (nine including Emma To earlier this year) who regularly volunteer on a rotating schedule to provide sound, slides, and recordings for Sunday worship, memorial services, and special events at the church. We are also grateful for the ongoing support of church staff members Mark Teagle and Hikaru Bakoshi. We welcome new volunteers and continue to recruit additional members so that current team members can take breaks from audiovisual duties, as needed.
• The Technology Committee continues to manage sound, lighting, and slides for the sanctuary, as well as the live stream on YouTube for every Sunday worship service. Each stream is archived on the church's YouTube channel for on-demand viewing. This year, we also introduced automated tools to streamline weekly YouTube broadcast setup and event scheduling; this automation was completed with the assistance of AI.
• A few physical DVDs continue to be created for individuals who are unable to view the Sunday service stream on YouTube. The DVDs are hand-delivered by a volunteer instead of sent via USPS to reduce costs.
• Using the Beulah Grant, the committee successfully installed an Auracast assistive listening system (featuring a transmitter, rechargeable AuraClip audio receivers, and loaner headphones) along with a laminated quick-start guide at the sanctuary station to improve hearing accessibility during worship. Additionally, the grant funded the upgrade of microphones for the praise band and the pulpit.
• A major enhancement this year was the installation of new TV displays to replace the projector. The new displays provide a much brighter and clearer projection of worship media. The committee also focused on optimizing our existing infrastructure, including upgrading the soundboard-to-computer audio feed to a digital USB connection, adjusting Wirecast video encoding for sharper and higher-contrast recordings, and rewiring, color-coding, and documenting the HDMI cable setup at the Sanctuary AV station.