What’s in this Episode?

In this episode, we talk with Refresh LED Founder, Josh Dominquez, about the uses for LED walls in churches of all sizes.  His intent is to help draw people to greater engagement in the church.  He uses the term “Digital Legos”. Josh references that LED walls are all designed to augment the movement of the Holy Spirit in the church. To the pastor, “Your whole building is an opportunity to reach people. It is not just the auditorium.”

 

Read the Transcript:

Dick Hardy 0:06
Hey, friend, it’s great to be with you on this episode of The Church Tips podcast. And I gotta tell you, I’ve been so excited to meet up with my old buddy. I’m gonna use that term old buddy from way back in the day, Josh Dominguez, Josh, say hi to the pastors and leaders on this podcast.

Josh Dominguez 0:21
What’s going on? Dick Hardy, it’s awesome to be with you on this fine day, and hopefully we can have some fun conversation here and add some value to your audience.

Well, I’ll tell you, if Dick Hardy and Josh Dominguez are talking, there’s going to be fun. I’ll just guarantee you that. So Josh was a student at Central Bible college when I was part of the administration, and so I was like the adult in the room when Josh was not and fast forward now the Lord has done a great job with his journey, and he’s operating out of Camp Hill area Harris Harrisburg, yeah, PA. And so I want to just jump in and make… have you make the audience aware of what the Lord has led you into and how you’re servicing the church. So this is me dropping a corner to you, Josh. So tell us what you do there with Refresh LED.

Absolutely well, obviously, like you said, Dick, I went to Central Bible college, studied music and worship. I was a worship leader there for chapel. I traveled all over the country with a group called Fifty Seven Seven, and we have the opportunity to lead worship at camps and churches all over the US throughout my five year tenure at CBC, like five years.

Dick Hardy 1:35
Yeah, why not?

Josh Dominguez 1:36
That’s how much I loved it, and since then, you know, I’ve had a few different worship pastor positions throughout the country, and back in 2014 I felt the Lord just call me to step back out of ministry, to focus on my family, three young kids at the time, and to really step into the business world. And you know, I didn’t know it at the time, I initially launched a business to help provide for my family and just to additionally, just put a roof over our heads. But I landed in this LED wall market helping churches because, like, you Dick, my resources and my network is in the church market, specifically within the AG, and I was able to lean on a lot of my friends, that a lot of the guys you know to be able to help me get my foot in the door with some of these churches, and help churches with their LED video walls, help them increase their engagement in their worship services and their experiences, and even increase their engagement in lobbies and different kids spaces and youth spaces and whatnot. So we’ve been able to really help hundreds of 1000s of churches all over the US since 2019 when I launched this company five years ago, and it has been a fun ride ever since. We’ve gone to general councils, we’ve been to district councils, we’ve been to worship conferences, and it has been a lot of fun. And really, our mission is to bring the Kingdom of God down to this earth and refresh others in the process. And that’s why we’re called rRefresh.

Dick Hardy 3:07
Oh, that is so good. That is so good. Yeah, I can’t wait to hear just kind of other pieces of your journey, how that’s all come together. Hey, Josh, on a technical side, can you slide yourself a little more to the middle of your camera?

Josh Dominguez 3:20
Yes, yes.

Dick Hardy 3:22
Boom! That’s way better, because I’m so nerdy, I would say, Why is he over here?I got to get him over. There you go. I did that. I We did an interview with Mark Batterson like that, and he stayed half off the screen.

Josh Dominguez 3:35
Oh, no!

Dick Hardy 3:37
Yeah, yeah, that’s all good.

Okay, so listen, you got a pastor out there that’s going LED walls. I mean, really in my church, so talk to us. You know, there’s this potential image that, well, the LED walls are for what the big churches do. But I’m guessing your experience would say it can kind of go the gamut. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

Josh Dominguez 4:04
It really can. I mean, it really serves a function. You know, rather than having that cool factor, buildings come in all shapes sizes and they they all have different pros and cons. Of some buildings have a ton of windows, and we’ve had a handful of really old cathedral style churches that have a ton of windows and let’s ambient light in. Well, projectors just can’t fight through the ambient light getting into the room. So that’s where led walls serve a purpose. They solve a problem of the the ambient light getting in. In other cases, churches were spending a lot of money on redesigning their stage with stage sets and backdrops and having to come up with creative, crafty ways to create an engaging atmosphere, whether it was supporting a sermon series or a conference or Easter set or Christmas set, whatever it may be, they kind of got tired of having to create that every season.

So what LED walls do is they give you that ability to create different looks and feels, because they’re what I call them. I call them digital Legos when I talk to people conferences that really don’t have a lot of background in what this technology is, you can think of a design, and you can create it using using LED panels, which typically come in a square foot and a half by foot and a half. You think of the design, you draw it up, and we’ll help you create it. And we’ve had churches create multiple crosses on the stage. They’ve created patterns using LEDs. And when you set an image across it, it gives us such a creative look and feel that just adds to the overall experience in the worship setting. Now to your point, Dick, this is not to replace the presence of God. This is not the message, you know, drawing them in through entertainment and through lighting. BecauseI do also believe that too much of technology can, in fact, be a distraction in the church, and if we’re not careful, we can lean on it too much, and, you know, even take away from the the relevance of the gospel. And so we really want to help pastors that we talk to guide them through. Hey, what’s the DNA of your church?What’s the goal of your church? Are you evangelistic? Are you community centered? Are you mission focused? Whatever that is. Let’s design a package that speaks the DNA of who you are as a church body.

Dick Hardy 6:25
Yeah, you know when you’re talking there, Josh and I know you’re just sharing kind of from the overflow of what you do day in and day out, but I hope our listeners will capture that at least, I believe that with you, you have the depth of understanding of what we as pastors are are dealing with and working with, Sunday in and Sunday out, Wednesday and Wednesday out. An understanding of the focus of the church, an understanding where the presence of the Lord plays such a major role in what a pastor is doing as he prepares to deliver the word on on a Sunday. So I just appreciate the fact that when, when you’re talking about this stuff, you’re not talking about, hey, this is new and cool and blah blah blah, which it might be new and cool and blah blah blah, but it’s, it’s to augment what God has laid on the heart of the pastor, and strengthens the communication of that to the people. You know when, when we talked back in the spring, I remember you referencing the fact that it’s, it’s the whole it’s the atmosphere of the whole church that a pastor needs to be thinking about. So while we think of an LED screen on the stage, there is so much more to the building than just the stage. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

Josh Dominguez 7:54
Absolutely, and that’s really, you know, just kind of going back to what you mentioned earlier, our team is made up of people that volunteer in their churches on the weekends. Now we have about 30 people on our team. Not every one of them are saved, but the majority of us are serving on a volunteer basis at our church. I’m still a worship leader. I led worship through college. I’m still volunteering in my church and helping out so we carry that heart into our conversations. In fact, I train our sales team to ask, Hey, what’s the vision of your ministry? You know, not, not. What size screen Do you want? How big do you want it? None of that, because that’s technical. That’s very mechanical, you know, what’s the heart of your ministry? And let’s see if we can find something that fits. And if it’s not, that’s okay, you know, because I want what’s best for you and your ministry. And you know, to answer your question, yeah, your whole building is an opportunity to reach people, not just your auditorium. We put so much focus on the auditorium, which we should, because that’s where the the worship happens. That’s where the word is given. That’s where the the offering everything takes place there. But the outside of the church, I’m talking about the foyer, the coffee area, the entrances to your kids space, entrance to where your youth are going. Those are all opportunity zones that a lot of churches having been in and out of hundreds of churches all over the US and quite frankly, are not taking advantage of those opportunities. When somebody walks through the doorway of your church building, they are automatically and subconsciously making judgments. They’re wondering, if I fit in here, am I comfortable? What is this place all about? Can I find a home here? And messaging is a big part of that.Now, I’ve seen some churches do it very well, but they have people greeting home signs, and there’s video messaging right there, and there’s directions. It’s very easy to come into that church building, but that is not the case with a lot of churches that we work with. And you know, so we created a course. It’s a freebie.I’m going to put a link for you Dick to send out to your audience. We put out a course talking about opportunity zones in your church, from your lobby to your coffee space to, you know, where parents are checking in your kids. And how to utilize video, how to utilize messaging, to to really communicate your message, like you mentioned earlier, if you’re a mission focused church, you know, are you highlight missionaries in certain areas and hallways. Are you talking about evangelism, and if that’s one of your focuses of your church, or even if it’s a sermon series that you were going in, can you design certain aspects of your your lobby, to support whatever you’re talking about in that season of your church’s life?

Dick Hardy 10:37
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, we really appreciate you giving us the… what is that document called? That course called?

Josh Dominguez 10:44
So, yeah, we call it How to Utilize Visuals to Increase Engagement.

Dick Hardy 10:51
And that’s just a freebie.

Josh Dominguez 10:52
It’s a freebie. Yes, yes.

Dick Hardy 10:53
So we’ll have that link in the show notes here. So if you want to tap into that, grab it and consume it. So I don’t know the answer to this. So if maybe I’m taking going in some place where I I won’t like the results, although I don’t know what I wouldn’t like, but so do you provide, does Refresh provide smaller LED walls to be used in lobbies or that kind of thing? Or what do you recommend for pastors?

Josh Dominguez 11:22
Yes. So maybe you don’t want to go massive in your lobby or in under stage. That’s totally fine. We have literally designed products that fit a small space on your wall. We even have these small LED posters that replace those pull up banners that we’ve all off before we have digital version of that that is on the wheels, you can move it around to different parts of your lobby space or coffee shop area to to give direction to how video messaging going in between services while people are congregating and just fellowshipping out in the hallway. So we have a different ways you can implement video outside of just using TVs. Now, TVs are great. You know, you have them up on the wall for different parts of this building, but creative LED wall technology just gives you the opportunity to use unique spaces to get your messaging across.

Dick Hardy 11:22
Yeah, that is so good. So you’re gonna get us the I assume, either with that other link or you’ll give us a separate link that people can go directly to your website and just start perusing around and looking at the stuff you got.

Josh Dominguez 12:27
Yeah, I’ll give you, I’ll give you the link to How to Utilize the Visuals to Increase Engagement. Of course, that’ll be on our website. Anyone that’s interested in justtaking a look at Refresh and seeing, hey, what, what can be done here? We can, We’d love just to have that conversation with you. And we do free mock ups, you know, just to give you an idea of what it would look like in your stage. And, you know, come up with some creative designs for you.

Dick Hardy 12:51
And you know, what I like about Josh is there’s not been an ounce of anything relative to him that has felt high pressure or anything. I mean, they are here to serve the church. Yes, he we get it that it’s a business in serving the church, but you’re going to feel very, very comfortable making contact with Refresh LED. So I can’t, I can’t speak highly enough of what Josh and his team do there. Is there anything… Again, I don’t know the answer to this one either, so probably should have covered a few of these before we started here. But is, is there any… are there any pitfalls or landmines that you’ve watched pastors step into that they they ought to pay attention to when they start looking this direction?

Josh Dominguez 13:41
Yeah, we know when you, when you upgrade anything in your church, there are always auxiliary tasks that go along with it on a weekly basis. For example, let’s say you want to, you want to create this comprehensive and creative and unique LED wall design for your stage. Well, that is all great, and we can do that, and we can help you with that, but what does that look like on a week to week basis?I would ask that question, even if it’s outside of LEDs, maybe it’s cameras, or maybe it’s, you know, even implementing new drinks in your coffee shop. It doesn’t matter what it is. The question of what does this look like in an ongoing week to week maintaining is that a person you need to hire to help create the content you’re going to put on that screen? Do you have to outsource that to a third party to help make sure the content you want to put on fits right? There’s those questions we typically will help pastors we talk to at answer those questions or even ask them. A lot of them say, well I didn’t even think about that.And that’s and that’s why we have these conversations.

Dick Hardy 14:47
That’s why exactly, exactly, exactly. Well, I think that, again, is something that says to me, Refresh, is there to help you A to Z and not leave you hanging. So if you’re in a position where, or you know of another pastor friend who’s in a position where they might like to really step it up in this area and really accentuate that message that the Lord has given the church for for the body and for the community. Boy, I’d get a hold of Refresh LED and a heartbeat and just chat with them so. Well, Josh, this has been very good. Give us a parting shot. What do you want if a pastor hasn’t heard anything you said, What is one thing you want them to remember out of this podcast?

Josh Dominguez 15:33
Yeah. I mean, for me, you know, we want to see churches all over the US really maximize what they’re doing in ministry. We live in such a digital age and 4k is everywhere, and high resolution video technologies everywhere we go, from of highways to the malls to movie theaters. It doesn’t matter, even our phones are HD. So when we are bringing people into the church, we want to be relevant to to technology today. Now, again, we don’t want to lean on it. We don’t want to fully depend on it, we want to utilize it as a tool. So what I would just ask, Are there tools that you’re not maximizing because you’re afraid you don’t know the technology or you have to learn it? Well, no, that’s why we’re here, because we want to be that expert for you. We want to help you maximize technology to reach the lost, and we’re one of those companies that will bring our heart for ministry into what you’re trying to do in your community. We want to support you. We want to resource you, and I get it. You know, as a pastor, you’re getting, your getting calls and emails from all these companies that want to sell you stuff, and what their goal is to is to sell you an item or a product or a service. For us, yes, we are a business. Refresh does make money. We are, you know, our aim is to make profit, but at the same time, our goal is to build the kingdom. So whenyou support a business like refresh and like Hobby Lobby, for example, you know,who gives hundreds of 1000s and millions of dollars away to getting Bibles in people’s hands, like Museum, the Bible is an hour and a half from us, and they pay for that museum in DC out of the profits of what they earned in Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby, that’s that’s our same mission, too. So I would encourage you, you know. Number one, are you utilizing technology? Are there tools you’re not using out of fear of not knowing it? And number two, if you do use a company to help your church, I would encourage you to, you know, keep it in the keep it in the family. They’re, they’re a faith driven company, because what they’re doing with those funds, they’re going to turn it and they’re going to multiply it.

Dick Hardy 17:42
Yeah, no, that’s very good. That’s so good. Josh Dominguez, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you taking time to to hang out with us for a bit. And I know our pastors have been enlightened, and I pray that certainly that the Holy Spirit has nudged on them and wherever that may need to be, and they’ll take advantage of the links there in the show notes. And they can certainly feel free to reach out to you and get any of the help they might need. And there’s just no obligation to it. It’s just helps you want to help a church be the very best they can be.

Josh Dominguez 18:16
Thank you so much for having me on I love what you’re doing with Leaders.Church. You’re, you’re resourcing 1000s of pastors across the US and probably even globally that we know of. And it’s, it’s awesome to reconnecting with you, even you know, looking back at our college days of Central Bible College and having you as administrator, and now we’re, you know, the church together, which I love.

Dick Hardy 18:38
Exactly, exactly, well. Thank you very much. And to the pastors and leaders who have sat with us on this on this podcast, I pray you’ll make it a great one today and be blessed.

Jonathan Hardy 18:50
Hey, Jonathan, here real quick before you go, everything in your ministry rises and falls on your leadership. So investing in your leadership is essential to staying healthy and growing the ministry, and that’s why I want to invite you to join us inside the Leaders.Church membership, this online streaming service for pastors gives you access to more than 300 videos plus training material to level up your leadership and improve your ministry skills. If you’d like to do that, I want to invite you to go to Leaders.Church/boost. Again, that’s Leaders.Church/boost. Well, thanks again for joining us on the Church Tips podcast, we’ll look forward to seeing you next time.

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Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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