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Jan/Feb 2012

Photo courtesy of John Wiggins

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The Uprising, St. Paul’s Church, Hebron, Maryland

An aging facility sports an updated space with new audio, video, and lighting systems

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A key component in the construction of The Uprising, St Paul’s Church new facility was incorporating technology (sound, lights and video) in the overall plan to help facilitate a contemporary worship experience as well as provide a setting that would accommodate conferences and concerts for additional community outreach.   (Photo courtesy of John Wiggins)

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  (Photo courtesy of John Wiggins)

In the past decade, under the ministry of Pastors Bill and Ruth Cropper, The Uprising, St. Paul’s Church in Hebron, Maryland, has experienced phenomenal growth. Services held during the mid-1990s attracted 40 or 50 worshippers; today, between 500 and 600 members and guests attend the two Sunday services.

In 2005, the congregation began to outgrow its sanctuary, and a building project began to create a new worship facility with a 900-seat sanctuary and state-of-the-art A/V and lighting systems.

The sound system in the old space consisted of “speakers on sticks” and a 15-channel mixing board, while a single screen projected worship lyrics during services. Theatrical lighting was non-existent.

For members of the Methodist church, including Dean Gladden of Gladden Construction, the general contractor for the building project, the new audio, video, and lighting systems were a logical progression in the church’s growth. “In today’s world, we are competing with all kinds of technology in different forms. It wasn’t a matter of if we would go mainstream, but how we were going to achieve it,” Gladden says. “We also wanted our church to perform more outreach to the community by hosting conferences and concerts.”

Gladden was the primary contact between church staff and the A/V contractor, Pottstown, Pennsylvania-based Audiobahn Inc.

Audiobahn President Tony Hersch says that having the builder as his main church contact expedited aspects of the project and helped the sound and video installation go smoothly.

“It was refreshing to have the general contractor involved with the church,” Hersch says. “It eliminated a lot of confusion transferring information between church staff and the general contractor. Critical decisions could be addressed instantly.”

Audiobahn designed and installed the sound and video systems and specified acoustical treatments for the space. The budget for audio and video was $80,000. In order to keep costs down, the church installed the lighting systems. Jason Yost, multimedia and missions pastor at The Uprising, and Jamie Gladden of Gladden Construction oversaw the lighting installation.

“More Realistic Sound”
“The sound, video, and lights were top priority, so our goal was to provide the best quality we could,” Gladden reports.

Long-throw clarity for vocal content was extremely important, due to the size and shape of the sanctuary. Hersch installed a left-right-center system, with three Community SLS920 cabinets in the center front of the sanctuary and single cabinets for left-right. According to Hersch, the SLS Series dedicated mid-range compression driver gives the loudspeaker clear vocal intelligibility at several hundred yards. “We were able to achieve a concert level reproduction completely free of any distortion or abnormalities,” Hersch says.

Eight Community CLOUD6 six-inch ceiling speakers are located beneath the balcony, and CPL27T dual eight-inch two-way loudspeakers provide above-balcony fill.

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Dawn Allcot is the work-at-home mom of Ashley Lyn, born October 12, 2008. A full-time freelance writer and editor, Dawn is a regular contributor to Worship Facilities and Church Production magazines.

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