Black Box Podcast

Lee Fields, Stephen “Shep” Sheppard, Brad Bramer, and Tyler Kerpsack are BlackBox—an independent team helping churches strengthen production systems, develop healthy teams, and make wise technical investments.

Today, they’re joined by Danielle Iselin, a passionate volunteer equipper inspiring the Church to double down on recruiting, developing, and investing in volunteers. Danielle brings a remarkable perspective on scale, having served as the sole production staff member supporting 20 campuses across eight countries.

The conversation covers everything from which movie best represents running a production team to women in production, production gamers, building volunteer culture, and how to leave a church staff role well.

Whether you lead church production, serve on a technical arts team, manage volunteers, or work in worship ministry, this episode offers honest perspective on leadership, healthy transitions, and equipping people for meaningful ministry.

What does it take to create content that people actually want to watch?

Tyler Kerpsack, Stephen “Shep” Sheppard sit down with Channing Dubbeld—Creative + Worship Production Director at First Naples, audio engineer, production videographer, and one of the most recognizable content creators in the church-tech space. BlackBox is Lee Fields, Brad Bramer, Tyler Kerpsack, and Shep.

Channing shares his journey from traveling in full-time music ministry to leading production in Naples, Florida, and building an online audience around the honest, funny, and occasionally chaotic realities of church production. The conversation covers content creation, social-media strategy, authenticity, audio engineering, worship technology, leadership, and plenty of hot takes from Naples’ finest.

Whether you lead a church production team, mix live audio, create content, or simply enjoy an unfiltered conversation about the AVL world, this episode of the BlackBox Podcast is for you.

BlackBox is stepping into a new season—with new conversations, fresh collaborators, and guests from across the church & production industry.

In this episode, Shep, Brad Bramer & Tyler Kerpsack get back to the fundamentals of production leadership: developing people, building healthy teams, investing in volunteers, and creating technical environments where others can grow.

BlackBox exists to equip the local church as an independent advocate, trusted partner, and creative collaborator. From audio, video, lighting, and systems integration to leadership development and production strategy, we help churches make confident decisions, strengthen their teams, and build healthier teams and ministries.

Whether you’re a production director, worship leader, technical artist, integrator, or church volunteer, this conversation is about leading people—not just managing equipment.

In this episode, Lee Fields, Shep, Tyler Kerpsack, and Brad Bramer get into what it really looks like to operate at a high level when things go sideways.

We talk real stories—from stadium shows to high-pressure environments—where cues get missed, plans change mid-song, and you’re forced to make decisions in real time. There’s some Kanye conversation in here, but more from the lens of what’s actually happening behind the scenes and how teams carry those moments.

We also hit on the tension of working in spaces where your values get tested—and what it looks like to stay grounded in the middle of it.

This one’s about composure, awareness, and learning how to respond when the pressure’s on.

BlackPod is a no-fluff podcast for church production leaders, live audio engineers, and creatives who care about doing it right.

Hosted by Lee Fields, Shep, Tyler Kerpsack, and Brad Bramer, BlackPod dives into real-world conversations around church audio mixing, troubleshooting AVL systems, leadership accountability, and building drum sounds that actually translate in the room.

In this episode, we talk Valentine’s Day and life outside the booth, but we also get into practical production topics like:

How to troubleshoot live sound systems under pressure

Why personal accountability and self-awareness matter more than gear

The truth about target curves — and why you shouldn’t mix toward them

How to shape drum sounds for impact, clarity, and consistency

If you’re a church sound engineer, production director, or volunteer trying to level up your mix and leadership, this podcast is for you.

Real conversations. Real rooms. Real leadership.

Hosted by Lee Fields, Stephen “Shep” Shepherd, Tyler Kerpsack, and Brad Bramer, the BlackBox Podcast is unfiltered conversation for church production teams, worship leaders, AVL directors, and creative pastors who actually carry the weight of Sunday.

This isn’t theory. It’s field-tested leadership, live audio philosophy, system design, and the stuff nobody talks about but everyone feels.

In this episode we dig into:

• DAW vs. Console Mixing — What actually matters? Where plugins help, where they hurt, and why great gain structure still beats everything.

If you’re a church audio engineer, production director, worship leader, or executive pastor trying to build healthy systems, stronger teams, and better Sundays — this podcast is built for you.

BlackBox exists to help churches design better systems, build stronger teams, and solve problems before they ruin momentum.

Subscribe, share with your team, and let’s build something that actually lasts.

In this episode, Lee Fields, Tyler Kerpsack, Shep, and Brad Bramer are back together talking through the realities of church production during the Christmas season.

The conversation covers what it really looks like to lead production teams at scale during the busiest time of the year — from church staffing models and production budgets, to caring for volunteers, working with contractors, and making smart decisions around gear and resources. The group also reflects on Christmas gifts for church production teams, how to show appreciation without blowing budgets, and where leaders often feel the most pressure during holiday weekends.

If you serve in church production, audio, lighting, video, broadcast, or technical leadership, this episode offers honest perspective, practical insight, and shared experience from leaders navigating Christmas in real time.

Follow along, share with your team, and subscribe for more conversations around church production leadership, staffing, budgets, volunteers, and worship technology.

In this episode, Lee Fields, Tyler Kerpsack, Shep, and Brad Bramer are back together talking all things church production, worship technology, and creative leadership.

The conversation dives into creating production content that actually serves the local church, the platforms and channels currently inspiring us, and what it looks like to build meaningful voice and credibility in the church production space. Lee shares more about the launch of his new audio-focused podcast, and the group unpacks practical thoughts around designing and building worship centers, production systems, and the realities of leading technical teams in churches of all sizes.

Whether you serve in audio, lighting, video, broadcast, systems design, or production leadership, this episode offers honest conversation, real experience, and perspective from leaders actively shaping the future of church tech and worship production.

Follow along, share with your team, and subscribe for more conversations around church production, AVL systems, worship environments, and leadership behind the scenes.

In this episode, Lee Fields, Shep, Brad Bramer, and Tyler Kerpsack break down the real-world challenges production leaders face today.

We hit highlights from the ChurchFront Conference — smarter front light, LED strategy that actually serves the room, and the camera white-balance decisions that separate amateur from pro.

Shep unpacks his experience running the Charlie Kirk memorial, offering a masterclass in pressure, pacing, and leading teams through high-stakes moments.

We also dig into team dynamics, navigating ideological differences, and how strong production teams stay aligned when the room gets complicated.

And we close with a tactical deep dive on running a flawless line check — stage flow, communication order, FOH/MON/Broadcast confirmation, and the systems that remove 90% of rehearsal-day chaos.

Short, sharp, and built for people leading production at a high level.

Season 2 of the BlackBox Podcast kicks off with Brad Bramer, Tyler Kerpsack, Shep, and Lee Fields back at the table — equal parts hilarious, honest, and technically nerdy. From Lee’s wedding weekend to Shep’s restaurant reviews, this one covers everything from life updates to leadership lessons learned the hard way.

They dive into summer projects, monitor mixes, Lauten’s new kick mic, time management in the chaos of production season, and how to balance creative drive with actual rest. If you live anywhere between the world of church production and live events, you’ll feel right at home here.

Topics include:

The truth about Lee’s wedding (and who cried first)

Why the Lauten kick mic might be a game-changer

How to keep your head above water during project season

Tyler’s new dad stories and Shep’s brutally honest food reviews

Practical talk on managing time, teams, and creative energy