NNC Media: The Production Team
The Production Team at North Naples Church
On Sunday, February 8, 2026, I walked into the production booth at North Naples Church and met the people who hold space for worship every week. Audio engineers, lighting designers, video directors, camera operators. Professionals and volunteers working together to create something bigger than any one of them.
This page documents who they are, what they do, and what I'm learning from them about how to hold space with technology.
Jesus Ramos — Sound Engineer
Role: Live sound for all bands and services (full-time)
Met: February 8, 2026, 10:35 AM
"What is that? I'm doing all the sound, the live sound for the bands, for all the services. My name is Jesus Ramos."
Jesus manages three distinct surfaces from his position in the booth:
- Recording: Pro Tools running on a Mac Mini, capturing every service
- Live mixing: Allen & Heath desk, balancing everything the congregation hears in the room
- Wireless management: All the wireless mics for pastors, worship leaders, and guests
His audio feed also routes to the streaming studio in the back, where it gets mixed separately for the online audience. He's not just running sound for one room — he's serving two completely different listening experiences simultaneously.
When I asked if this was also his profession: "Yes, that's what I do for life."
Tony Johnson — Production Manager & Lighting Designer
Role: Production Manager and Lighting Designer (full-time since Nov 2018)
Background: DePaul University (conservatory). Originally Cleveland. 20 years in LA. Toured 9 years as production manager and lighting designer. 30+ years in theater.
Met: February 8, 2026, 10:37 AM
"Well, I'm Tony Johnson. And I'm from, well, originally from Cleveland, but I spent 20 years in LA. I toured for about 9 years. Mainly as a production manager and lighting designer."
Tony designed and hung the entire lighting rig at North Naples Church. He runs an ETC ION — a traditional theatrical lighting desk — with a backup board alongside it. This isn't concert-style flash; it's theatrical lighting. Cues, scripts, precision.
His background is conservatory-trained theater. He explained the cueing system:
"Usually you have a stage manager calling the cues. The stage manager will give a warning and then say, okay, light cue 5, go. And then sound cue 10, go."
Tony sees his church role as giving back through his professional skills: "I'm also a religious person, so when there was a need for this, it was kind of my way to give back."
He was mentoring someone the day we met. That's the pattern — professionals training volunteers, building capacity.
Connection: My sister Heather helped create Lubbock Community Theater as Executive Director. Tony's theater-to-church journey mirrors so many threads in how communities hold space.
Tim Danielian — Video Director
Role: Video Production Director (full-time). 30 years at PBS.
Met: February 8, 2026, 10:50 AM
"I worked for PBS for 30 years."
Tim heads the video department and directs camera operators live during services via voice intercom. He calls shots from the center console — an ATEM-style switching setup where he orchestrates multiple camera feeds into a single coherent visual narrative.
On the day we met, he directed Susan (cameras 6 and 7) and Nick (cameras 4 and 5) by name, with clear purposeful commands. He wasn't just capturing what happened on stage. He was shaping how the congregation experienced the service.
When I asked if I could observe, he said: "I'm not going to talk to you, I'm going to show you." Then he let me watch the entire production from the beginning.
Tim's 30 years at PBS during the Fred Rogers era represents a direct connection to the methodology I've been studying — meeting neighbors, honoring their stories, using production to serve content rather than overshadow it. I want to learn how Fred Rogers thought about the relationship between the camera and the subject, and Tim lived inside that tradition.
Joey — Media
Role: Media / production support (staff)
Met: February 8, 2026, ~10:44 AM
When I asked Tony "Is there anyone else I should talk to?", he pointed me to Joey. Joey then gave me the full back-of-house tour:
- The confidence screens (what performers see on stage to stay on track)
- The camera grid wall showing every feed
- Three full-size 19-inch server racks
- BNC connector panels for long video runs
- Camera operator consoles with joysticks and headphones
- The lower thirds workstation (Windows, special keyboard)
- A separate room for streaming audio
- The livestream monitoring station
Joey is the one who introduced me to Tim at the center console. He knew every system in the building.
The Volunteer Crew
- Susan — Cameras 6 & 7
- Nick — Cameras 4 & 5
- Kathy — Greeter at the door (met at 9:48 AM)
- Karen Furno — Worship Arts Technician (staff)
These are people with day jobs who show up every Sunday to run professional-level production because they want to serve their community. A church of this size — multiple campuses, live streaming, full lighting and audio rigs — runs on people who choose to be there.
The Infrastructure
What I saw in the back-of-house on February 8:
- Audio: Allen & Heath mixing desk, Pro Tools on Mac Mini for recording, separate wireless mic management, audio feed to streaming studio
- Lighting: ETC ION theatrical desk + backup board, full programmable rig hung by Tony, traditional cue-based scripting
- Video: Multi-camera ATEM-style switching, joystick-controlled PTZ cameras, voice intercom for director-to-operator communication, lower thirds graphics workstation
- Streaming: Dedicated streaming room with separate audio mix, output to Vimeo and Facebook, livestream monitoring
- Network: 3 full server racks, BNC video distribution, remote lower-thirds control
The Fred Rogers Connection
Fred Rogers visited factories and neighbors. He was endlessly curious about how things worked and who made them work. He wanted to share what he learned with his "neighborhood audience" to help develop their curiosity.
That's what I'm trying to do here. Meet the people who make Sunday morning happen. Understand their craft. Share what I learn. Help others develop their own curiosity about how spaces are held and stories are told.
Meeting Tim Danielian — who spent 30 years at PBS during the Fred Rogers era — validated that this methodology works. It has lineage. It's transferable.
"He went around to places in the Pittsburgh area and he went to the factory and he did talk to them. Oh, I'm curious. Tell me. And he actually talked to the people and was so enamored by them, in love with them. But he wanted to share with his neighborhood audience to help develop their curiosity and get them connected."
What I Want to Learn
- How Tim directs — the vocabulary, the decision-making, the script he follows
- How Tony designs lighting for worship vs. theater — what changes, what stays the same
- How Jesus mixes for two audiences simultaneously — room and stream
- How the volunteer/staff dynamic works — training, mentoring, capacity building
- How to distill decades of professional knowledge into something teachable
- How churches and theaters can become meaningful local broadcast systems serving their communities
North Naples Church — 6000 Goodlette-Frank Rd, Naples, FL 34109
Documented by Chris McClimans, February 2026