Black Box Podcast
Honest conversations at the intersection of church, production, and excellence. The Black Box Podcast explores what it takes to pursue excellence in the church production world, covering leadership, culture, gear, systems, and the people behind it all. It offers thoughtful, unfiltered discussion for those who care about doing the work well and building healthy teams.
Episodes
Women, Volunteers & Leaving Church Staff Well (feat. Danielle Iselin)
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 remark
Content Creation Hot Takes (feat. Channing Dubbeld)
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 j
Investing In The Young Bucks
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 t
Kayne and Excellence in Worship - PT I
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 actual
Stop Mixing to Target Curves
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
DAW vs Consoles, Leaders Who Do vs. Leaders Who Don’t, and New BlackBox Offerings
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 e
Merry Christmas, Contractors, Services, Reflections and more
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 makin
Production Content, Launching Podcasts, and Designing Worship Centers
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 product
White Balance, Political Disagreement, and Line Checks
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 mas
Kick Mics, Summer Projects and Lee’s Wedding — Season 2 Kicks Off
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 managem
Pet Peeves, Get Gigs, and Be Better
In Episode 6, the BlackBox crew dives deep into what it really takes to thrive in church production and creative ministry. We kick things off with a sneak peek at Service Reviews, launching this July—your chance to get honest, high-level feedback from the best in the game (sign-ups open soon!). Then Shep breaks down his time at the Army 250 event and what it teaches us about leadership, pressure,
AI Is Coming, But Do We Really Care?
On this episode of the BlackBox Podcast, we cover everything from AI in audio to fundamentals—and whether any of us will still have jobs in five years. Shep’s going beast mode on racks, Lee’s mixing Maren Morris, Tyler is learning about the future and Brad is chilling. Also - we’re stepping in to help churches who’ve been left hanging... so there's that.
We also talk through current and future Bla
Kick Mics, Trust, and Mr. Beast
This week on BlackBox, we’re covering a lot of ground:
How to build real leadership — and what to do when you have to rebuild trust and culture from scratch.
Do you actually need two kick drum mics? Or are we all just flexing?
What the MrBeast live stream teaches us about innovation, attention, and pulling off high-pressure moments.
Plus, some Severance spoilers (you’ve been warned) and wh
NAB, Coachella, & Easter
We go full throttle through some of the biggest production moments of the season—NAB, Coachella, and Easter. From cinematic broadcast trends in church to the sheer scale and precision of Coachella, we’re breaking down what’s worth paying attention to—and what’s just noise. We talk shop on the latest gear, what inspired us, and talk about the future of church content. If you’re leading in church pr
Excuse My Mediocrity
We’re coming in hot with a conversation that matters: excellence in church production and creative leadership.
Too often, mediocrity hides behind spiritual language. But let’s be real—excellence reflects the character of God. It’s not about perfection; it’s about intention, discipline, and grit. At Black Box, we don’t make excuses for half-effort. We sweat the small stuff because we believe worshi
Disrupters Win
In this kickoff episode, Lee, Tyler, Shep, and Brad sit down to unpack what Black Box is all about—how it started, why it matters, and where it’s heading. If you're a church production leader, creative pastor, or executive leader navigating the world of worship, tech, environments and communication, this is the behind-the-scenes look you’ve been waiting for.
We get honest about the gaps we’ve seen
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