VAN METSCHKE- Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
Like many techs, I cut my teeth on live production in high school. From running mic cables in my freshman year to working behind the sound console on choir tours in my senior year, I caught the tech bug early. Out of high school some friend’s band got a record contract and asked me to help them get their shows to sound better. I spent the next six years mixing, booking, road managing and bus repairing. I also got the chance to mix for many other bands and events.
Starting a family and winding down my touring days, I took a job with my friend Pete Tessitore at his fledgling installation and live production company, PT Pro Sound. Those six years were a unique blend AVL system design-installation for churches, schools, and municipalities as well as countless live events and everything in between. PT closed its doors after Pete’s untimely death.
In 1996 I was asked to become part of the tech staff at Saddleback Church by then tech director Ken Robertson. I continued with live events and install work outside of my duties at Saddleback as well. After five years of services, conferences, and events, Ken and I headed over to Mariners Church as they were ramping up to expand the main Irvine campus. After building a 3000 seat worship center, an amazing kids building and starting preparations for a chapel, student building, and full campus renovation, I was called to South Hills Church. South Hills was, at the time, two campuses and in the seven years I was on staff grew to seven campuses and multiple affiliate churches across the country. In 2013 I was asked to become the first full time technical director at Magnolia Church. Magnolia was embarking on a full remodel of their worship center building.
During my time at Mariners Church the church tech community was just in its infancy. Dabbling in podcasting and blogging I started to connect with people like Mike Sessler and with the premier of Twitter (now X) the church tech community really started to form. As a charter member of both the Church Tech Director’s Round Table (CTDRT) and the Church Technical Arts Network (CTAN), now known as Church Technical Leaders (CTLN), I was able to meet so many amazing church techs from around the country. Since then I’ve co-hosted the Church Tech Weekly Podcast with Mike and host the Church Tech Profiles Podcast. I’ve also been a contributor to SundayMag.tv and other publications.
In 2016 I left being on full time church staff and jumped back in to AV integration with CCI Solutions. In January 2021 I moved over to Vantage Pro AV as a church consultant.
In 2026 I also started as Production Director at Woodcrest Christian Schools and in 2021 we started an official AV Club for students to learn and participate in AVL production for all school events. This has been one of my favorite things as it brings me back to my time leading tech teams at church.
Disclaimer: Even though Van is currently affiliated with Vantage Pro AV, Woodcrest Christian, and other organizations, the views expressed herein are Van’s and Van’s alone. You would be dumb to think otherwise.
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