Get New Gear Without Busting Your Budget

Making purchases on a church budget can be a tough balancing act. Whether you serve at a small home church or a multi-location megachurch, you invest the congregation’s trust and your volunteers’ time and talent. You maintain your current systems and handle unexpected hurdles. Other ministries in your church may be experiencing the same challenges, and sometimes someone has to decide which needs seem to be most urgent. But the fact remains: equipping the church with reliable, mission-critical technology comes at a cost.

Hundreds of us at Sweetwater serve as musicians and technicians for our own church families — we understand firsthand the passion and challenges of being part of a thriving worship program. We’re equipped to answer your questions as you weigh your options and make the wisest decisions regarding the tools that you can trust service after service.

Consider these six ways to help you get the new gear you want while stewarding your congregational dollars — without doing a single car wash or bake sale!

Choose the Right TimeRepurpose Current Spending to Reallocate FundsTake a Bite from a Bigger PlanLeverage Your Unused GearDiscover a SponsorExplore Creative Financing Options

Choose the Right Time

Churches tend to buy new gear when the need feels urgent. But planning ahead can land incredible savings. In addition to occasional sales, Sweetwater offers special events such as Guitar Month, Black Friday, DrumFest, and so on with exceptional pricing and generous discounts worked out directly with our manufacturers. These opportunities provide the year’s best times to buy. Tell your Sweetwater Sales Engineer what you’re looking for, and they’ll be glad to tell you what deals are currently available.

Repurpose Current Spending to Reallocate Funds

Sometimes shifting how you’re currently spending money can provide you the opportunity to get the gear that you need.

Consolidate Training Costs

If you currently purchase a range of training and mentoring services or spend money on workshops, classes, and skill-building seminars, then you may accomplish a lot more for a lot less by using a single resource to equip your entire team, such as Sweetwater partner Worship Online.

Not only will you save rehearsal time by enabling your musicians weekly to prepare parts that are arranged to blend together in advance, but you’ll also be freed from the clashing mishmash that sometimes develops when people invent parts on their own or grab something from YouTube. That’s a win for everyone.

Think of the funds you could save and reallocate by skipping even a single training conference.

Rent Backing Tracks

Buying multitracks can be quite expensive, especially when you’re building a basic library of tracks from the original artists. Sweetwater partner MultiTracks.com allows you several ways to immediately access their entire library of over 27,000 songs at very reasonable rental rates. In addition to reallocating funds to purchase new gear, you’ll personally save prep time because MultiTracks.com can tie in directly with Planning Center Online, automating tasks such as changing keys on charts and providing key-correct practice tracks for individual instruments so that you can equip your musicians to serve with only a few clicks. That’s a huge bonus.

Take a Bite from a Bigger Plan

Aim big and scale up. Did you know that your Sweetwater Sales Engineer has the ability to build systems that can adapt to your developing ministry? As you explore how you envision your ministry will look and sound in three, five, or even 10 years, we can help you create an incremental, cost-effective plan to get there based on compatible and expandable gear that remains practical every step of the journey. We can point out any weak links or concerns that could end up failing down the road or create headaches and waste resources to resolve. Spend less now to get the job done then develop more later while repurposing what you already have. You may be able to grow further than you ever thought possible. Call your Sales Engineer and dream big.

Leverage Your Unused Gear

I occasionally train teams or consult with worship/tech leaders about team growth and have yet to find a church that does not have a stack, box, drawer, or shelf of gear that just sits there gathering dust.

Transform that dust into gold and get the new gear you need. For example, a Tennessee church recently sold some of their recording gear to get a new mixer without paying a dime out of pocket. Similarly, a church in Indiana cleaned out a closet and turned a few items they weren’t using into a new wireless-mic set. Use Sweetwater’s Gear Exchange to sell your gear and get even more bang for your buck because we’ll waive all fees if you choose a Sweetwater Gift Card as your payout to use on upcoming gear purchases. That should make your church board smile.

Pro Tip: Perhaps, if you have the technical ability to repair equipment to use as nonessential gear, such as extra cables or adapters, then you may consider buying used. Check out all the great used-gear deals at Sweetwater’s Gear Exchange!

Discover a Sponsor

Tap into untouched resources by asking for sponsorship during one-on-one conversations. Over decades of serving on staff at small, medium, large, multi-site, and megachurches, I learned that there’s often someone hungry to fund a specific, mission-critical project to help the church reach out, improve excellence, or equip volunteers to serve more effectively. However, these kingdom investors are usually unaware of the need until you tell them. They tend to be drawn toward unique needs that are outside the regular budget and may otherwise go unmet. But you’ll have to initiate the conversation — a general announcement from the platform or a mass email simply won’t work. Likewise, a business with a connection to your congregation may be looking for a specific way to make a practical difference for your church. For example, while serving as a worship pastor, I had success partnering directly with brands and local businesses to bring in free prizes for the workshops and festivals I developed. But it all starts by asking.

Pro Tip: When asking someone to address an issue by helping financially, share the need carefully. Avoid the temptation to go into great detail about the specific gear you’d like to purchase. Instead, focus on explaining the specific benefit your church will experience. What will the results ultimately look like? “You know that annoyingly loud, ringing feedback that we’ve been having sometimes during the service? It always seems to happen right when the pastor is calling us to take the next step in spiritual growth. Our sound techs have done as much as possible without facing a major expense for additional sound reinforcement, but I found a microphone that is specifically designed to address this problem. Would you be willing to help us purchase it and get rid of the squawk?” What matters to key givers is that their resources will have an effective result that’s worthy of the investment.

Explore Creative Financing Options

From net-30 terms to our 3 Easy Payments plan and more, Sweetwater offers multiple affordable ways to play now and pay later.

On purchases of $1,000 or more, consider incorporating our leasing and loan partner who specializes in helping churches realize their equipment needs while optimizing cash reserves with lower payments. This is a great combination when you’re doing a big update or installation with Sweetwater Integration.

At Sweetwater, we truly want to walk with you as your musical vision comes to life. Talk with your Sales Engineer about any discounted bundles, upgrades, drawings, or special promotions available. Our knowledgeable professionals are incredibly well-informed, and we’re passionate to help your dreams become reality! Call (800) 222-4700 to get started.
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