Church production teams: one setlist for worship, FOH, and broadcast
Walk into a modern church on Sunday and you’ll find more than a band on stage. There’s a FOH engineer at a digital console, a broadcast team cutting cameras for stream, lighting on a separate desk, and often ProPresenter driving lyrics on the main screens.
That’s not overkill: it’s how congregations experience worship at scale. But it creates a coordination problem: who knows which song the team is on right now?
The mega-install gap
Churches invest heavily in production. Midas consoles, Dante networks, LED walls, multi-camera broadcast, in-ear mixes for every vocalist. The install is impressive.
What’s often held together with duct tape is setlist communication:
- The worship leader changes the order during prayer: FOH finds out late
- Broadcast is cued for song three while the band jumped to song two
- A sub on keys has the chart, but the tech booth doesn’t know where they are in the set
- Volunteers rotate every month; your system has to work without a week of training
Paper setlists on a music stand don’t reach the booth. A group text doesn’t scale. You need something built for live coordination: not another piece of gear to rack-mount.
StageRally isn’t your lyrics-on-screen system
Let’s be clear: StageRally doesn’t replace ProPresenter, EasyWorship, or your main sanctuary screens. Congregations still read lyrics from your presentation software.
StageRally is for the people making the music and running the show:
- Worship musicians on iPad (lyrics, chords, cues)
- Worship leader / MD advancing the set
- FOH and broadcast volunteers in the crew channel
Everyone sees the same running order in real time: including when it changes mid-service.
Crew comms for the tech booth
On Mainstage, StageRally includes a crew channel designed for exactly this:
- Your FOH engineer sees where the band is in the set without shouting across the room
- Send and receive cues: “extend the bridge”, “skip to chorus”, “we’re adding one more”
- Production volunteers use a browser on a laptop in the booth: no new hardware in the rack
The worship director holds one subscription. Band members, subs, and crew join free.
| Role | What they see |
|---|---|
| Vocalists | Lyrics + song order |
| Instrumentalists | Chords / charts |
| Worship leader | Full set + control |
| FOH / broadcast / lighting volunteer | Live position + crew cues |
Works with your existing install
StageRally is a Progressive Web App: a link in Chrome or Safari, not a server your IT team has to deploy.
That matters in church production because:
- Nothing to install on a shared booth laptop. Open the link in the browser.
- Coordination, not audio: it does not replace the console or the stage box.
- Offline: the live set keeps running. Sync picks up again when you are back online.
- Foot pedals for hands-free page turns on stage (Bluetooth)
Your console, in-ears, and streaming workflow stay exactly as they are. StageRally sits on top as the shared source of truth for what song we’re on.
Sunday morning workflow
- Wednesday rehearsal: worship leader builds the set in StageRally; musicians prep charts
- Sunday load-in: everyone opens the link on their device; booth laptop joins crew channel
- Pre-service: set cached offline on every device
- During service: leader advances; stage, booth, and band stay aligned
- Pastor extends prayer: drop a song in StageRally; everyone sees the update
No printing. No “what number are we on?” hand signals.
Soundcheck free, Mainstage when you need the booth
| Plan | Best for |
|---|---|
| Soundcheck (free) | Worship leader prepping charts solo |
| Club | Small team live-synced on stage (up to 4 people) |
| Mainstage | Full band + production crew in the loop (up to 11 people) |
Most growing churches with a dedicated tech booth will want Mainstage: one subscription, whole team and crew covered.
Built for volunteers, not just pros
Church production runs on volunteers. StageRally is intentionally simple:
- Sign up takes 30 seconds
- One invite link for musicians and booth crew
- Works on devices people already own
- iPad setup guide for stage musicians
- First setlist guide for worship leaders new to the app
If you can open a browser in the booth, you can run crew comms.
Running a worship team and a production booth? Start free with Soundcheck, then explore Mainstage pricing when you’re ready to bring crew into sync.
Also read: Setlist app for worship teams · Best iPad setlist app for live bands · FAQ
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