Brian: Yes indeed. If you are a church who is looking to hire a contractor or a consultant, I think it's helpful distinguish between those who are Christian and those who have experience dealing with churches. If you feel strongly about hiring a Christian company, that's fine, but make sure that they have significant experience and satisfied references.

Brian (continued): However, my personal feeling is that if you happen across a company that you are comfortable with which does not happen to be Christian owned and operated, then you have an opportunity to witness. I've heard numerous stories from contractors about having been impressed enough with certain church clients that they either become Christians for the first time, or start going back to church after having been away for many years.

marcus: Have you covered web casting or will you be covering it? Seems like a powerful emerging tool.

Brian Blackmore: It's not something that we have done much on in the magazine to date. But it is a powerful tool and I would expect to see something about web casting on our 2002 Editorial Calendar. What do you think?

marcus: I think it has tremendous outreach potential as the technology evolves and we learn how to use it.

Brian Blackmore: Well I'll take it as our charge to help you learn how to use it.

Drew: How do you decide who writes for Church Production?

Brian: I've had the opportunity to meet a great many fine technical writers over the past few years. There are many freelance writers out there, some more qualified than others. I look at the story (the technologies involved, etc.) and then try to assign a writer who is most knowledgeable on those subjects. We also invite the technical directors, contractors and consultants to write about their own projects, although we do not accept feature articles from manufacturers.

Stephen K: Do you ever foresee the day when paper magazines go away, replaced by e-alternatives?

Brian: Not in the foreseeable future. It's not viable from a business standpoint, as the “dot-bomb” of the past six months well illustrates.

Stephen K: Can you be a bit more specific? Why do folks still seem to favor paper to a great degree?

Brian: Sure. As a serious tree killer (we use A LOT of paper) I would feel much better about distributing the magazine in electronic form. But the advertising revenue is not there. The mechanisms are not in place to accurately audit the online readership. It's also not convenient to take your computer with you so you can read an article while you're on the potty ;-)