When you’re running a kids ministry, Sunday mornings come with enough on your plate already. The last thing you need is a tech setup that slows you down. But for many churches, that’s exactly what happens. A volunteer forgets how to load the files. A USB goes missing. The media won’t play on the screen. And suddenly, you’re troubleshooting instead of welcoming families and preparing hearts.
At Church on the Move, a 500-seat church in Tulsa, this wasn’t a one-time issue. Their kids' ministry teams were spending too much time getting lessons onto screens and not enough time focusing on the kids in the room. Between MacBooks, cords, and constantly updating drives, even a simple Sunday setup felt like a tech challenge. And the bigger the church, the bigger the frustration. With multiple classrooms, rotating volunteers, and a growing campus, they needed a system that didn’t just work once. It had to work every week, for every room, without needing a full-time tech director to hold it together.
That’s where Playlister came in. Replacing their manual workflows with a cloud-based, screen-ready solution helped Church on the Move remove the stress from Sunday prep, empower their volunteers, and create a consistent, high-quality experience across every classroom. According to their team, it completely changed how they do kids' ministry.
In this blog, we’ll walk through what their setup looked like before, what changed when they switched to Playlister, and how you can take the same steps to simplify your Sundays too.
Meet Church on the Move
Located in Oklahoma, Church on the Move Tulsa has built a reputation for doing ministry with intention. Their kids ministry is no exception. Every weekend, hundreds of children walk through their doors, and the team is committed to making sure each one has a fun, meaningful, and memorable experience.
Jonathan Basquez is part of the production team at Church on the Move, and he’s been hands-on with the tech that powers every service. From managing screens and audio to helping ministry leaders get content where it needs to go, he’s been on the front lines of making sure everything runs smoothly, especially when it comes to Sunday mornings in kids ministry.
The church isn’t new to using technology to support their mission. In fact, they’ve long embraced innovation and creativity to reach their congregation. But as the church grew, so did the complexity. Volunteers rotated more frequently, classrooms multiplied, and the media setup that once worked well started to show its limits. Even with a solid team and a strong tech culture, things were getting clunky behind the scenes.
That’s what led Jonathan and the team to start looking for a better solution, something that could scale with them, reduce friction, and help volunteers succeed without a complicated setup.
The pain
Every church has its own Sunday morning rhythm. For Church on the Move, that rhythm used to include swapping USB drives, setting up MacBooks in classrooms, and conducting last-minute file checks before the kids arrived. It wasn’t ideal, but for a while, it worked well enough. Volunteers made it work. Staff filled in the gaps. Everyone did their part to keep the wheels turning behind the scenes.
But over time, the cracks started to show. Content had to be downloaded, renamed, and loaded onto drives every single week. If someone forgot or missed a step, it slowed everything down. A file wouldn’t play. A laptop needed an adapter. A volunteer wasn’t sure how to get the screen to mirror. These weren’t huge issues on their own, but together, they became a weekly source of stress that chipped away at the flow of ministry.
The system depended on memory, guesswork, and lots of reminders. New volunteers had to be trained on a process that felt more like IT support than kids' ministry. And in a growing church like Church on the Move Tulsa, where classrooms are spread out and volunteers rotate often, even small inconsistencies created real friction. A lesson that worked in one room might not run at all in another. Everyone wanted to deliver a great experience for kids, but the tools they were using just weren’t helping them get there.
What they needed wasn’t just another folder structure or better labeling. They needed a new approach altogether, something built for classrooms, for screens, and for the real-life rhythm of church on a Sunday morning. Tools like traditional church presentation software weren’t solving the problem. And while they’d tried different church software programs over the years, none of them addressed the one thing that mattered most: getting curriculum on screen without wasting time or confusing volunteers.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. That same pain point is what led us to create the volunteer tech training starter kit, a free resource built to help churches simplify the process and support their teams without the guesswork.
The switch to Playlister
At a certain point, the Church on the Move team realized their Sunday setup had become more of a burden than a tool. Tasks that used to feel manageable, like downloading videos, updating USB drives, and setting up MacBooks in each classroom, were becoming harder to sustain. Every week felt like a reset button. Files had to be manually loaded. Devices had to be in the right rooms. Volunteers had to remember a process that changed just enough to cause confusion. The tech wasn’t helping ministry flow, but was actively getting in the way of it.
When the team first heard about Playlister, they were curious, but cautious. They had tried plenty of solutions before. Some were designed for presentation, but not for the realities of kids' ministry. Others were more complex than the problem they were supposed to solve. What caught their attention this time was how simple Playlister claimed to be. Upload a playlist once, sync it to every room, and press play. No file conversions. No cords. No guesswork.
They decided to give it a shot. Jonathan Basquez, who helps lead the production team at Church on the Move, started testing Playlister in one classroom. Right away, it was clear this wasn’t another workaround. It was a system that actually supported how their ministry operated. Uploading the curriculum took minutes. Assigning content to specific rooms was fast and intuitive. Instead of relying on detailed walkthroughs, volunteers could walk in, turn on the screen, and feel confident that everything was ready to go.
The change saved time and stress. Instead of worrying about which file was where, they were free to focus on creating meaningful experiences for kids. And as the team rolled Playlister out across more classrooms, the benefits multiplied. It didn’t matter who was serving that week or which room they were in. Every volunteer had access to the same consistent setup, and every child experienced the same well-prepared lesson.
For Church on the Move, it was more than a tech upgrade. It was a shift in how Sundays felt, with less chaos and more confidence. If you’re wondering what this could look like in your context, learn how to use Playlister with this guide to see how easy it is to get started.
The impact
Once Playlister was fully in place, the difference in Church on the Move’s Sunday experience was immediate. Setup time shrank from hours to minutes. The stress of making sure the right content reached the right room disappeared. Volunteers who had previously needed hand-holding were now stepping in with confidence, pressing play, and leading with ease.
According to Jonathan, the change was transformational. “It has completely changed how we do kids’ ministry,” he explained. “What used to be a complicated setup with lots of moving parts is now a simple system anyone on our team can use.” The team no longer had to rely on memory or detailed walkthroughs to prepare classrooms. Everything was pre-loaded and ready to go before the first volunteer even arrived.
This shift made a huge difference for volunteers. Instead of walking into a classroom feeling unsure or unprepared, they were met with a screen that already had the playlist in place. They didn’t need to worry about wires, laptops, or troubleshooting. They could walk in, turn on the screen, and start engaging with kids. That level of confidence translated directly into better teaching, smoother transitions, and a stronger sense of leadership in every room.
The content itself became easier to manage, too. Their children’s ministry curriculum and kids’ ministry curriculum could be uploaded once and assigned to every room with just a few clicks. Whether it was a worship video, a Bible story, or a classroom intro from the kids director, it all flowed in the same order, every week. There were no surprises, no inconsistencies, and no missed pieces.
For families, this meant a more consistent experience across classrooms. No matter which age group their child was in, they were getting the same quality of teaching, visuals, and flow. For staff, it meant fewer questions and fewer last-minute emergencies. And for volunteers, it meant they could show up and serve without needing to be tech experts.
Playlister made things easier so that Church on the Move can deliver a better, more thoughtful experience for everyone involved. If your church is ready to bring that same consistency and simplicity to your classrooms, check out how digital signage for your church can create a seamless, scalable workflow from screen to screen.
The power of simplicity
What made the biggest difference for Church on the Move was that Playlister worked without complicating things. The drag-and-drop editor was easy to learn, and once their team got the hang of it, uploading curriculum and assigning it to rooms took just a few minutes each week. There were no long tutorials, no special formatting requirements, and no clunky backend to navigate.
For a team juggling volunteers, schedules, and multiple classrooms, that level of simplicity changed everything. It didn’t just reduce the time spent on prep. It gave leaders the freedom to focus on building relationships with their teams and investing in the kids themselves. With Playlister, the tools finally matched the pace and priorities of real-life ministry.
The consistency that followed made a huge impact. Whether they were preparing a preschool video or the main service content for elementary-aged kids, everything was in one place. The team could easily pull in curriculum from their favorite providers and create a polished, professional experience for every classroom. What used to be a patchwork system quickly became one unified workflow, powered by a tool that didn’t slow them down.
For churches looking to simplify their own systems, Playlister offers a powerful alternative to traditional church software programs, especially when delivering the best kids’ ministry curriculum across multiple rooms.
Ready for a simpler Sunday?
Imagine walking into church on a Sunday morning knowing everything is already set. The curriculum is loaded, the screens are ready, and your volunteers feel equipped. There’s no last-minute tech scramble. No missing files. No guessing. Just a calm, confident start to ministry.
That’s the reality Church on the Move now enjoys every week, and it’s possible for your church too. With Playlister, you don’t need to be a tech expert or spend hours on setup. You just need a few minutes and the right tool to make it all work.
Whether you're a growing church with multiple classrooms or a small team with limited tech support, Playlister helps you deliver consistent, high-quality lessons without the stress. Volunteers know what to do. Kids stay engaged. And leaders can focus on ministry, not management.
If you’re looking to modernize your approach to tech in the church and improve your church volunteer training, this is the moment to act. Book a demo to see how Playlister can simplify your Sundays, too.