The Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) area has long been associated with spectacular churches, spirit-filled ministries and charismatic pastors, but few have experienced the explosive growth that High Point Church (HPC) has enjoyed since its first service held in Pastor Gary Simons’ home in 1999. Fueled by a mission to meet those who most need the word of God and to meet them at their point of need, HPC has grown into one of the leading lights of DFW.
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| An Innovason Sy80 and Wholehog PC provide front-of-house and lighting control for the 5,000- seat sanctuary at High Point Church. |
As the congregation expanded, it rapidly outgrew the pastor’s home and took up temporary residence in a junior high auditorium for three years. Although the church continued to grow, meeting in a school was limiting and they sought a new home.
In 2002, HPC found that home. Purchased at a cost of $13.5 million, the site included a 423,000 square foot warehouse building and 107 surrounding acres. Not convinced that the site was ready to become their new home, HPC spent an additional $12 million on renovations with $2.1 million earmarked for sound and video.
With seating capacity nearing 5,000 in the main sanctuary HPC could now easily accommodate the 3,800 that attend Sunday service. But getting worshipers seated and getting the word to them are different matters. HPC knew that technology would have to play a significant role in their ministry.
HPC turned to Maxx Technologies, a full service design and build firm based in Nashville, Tennessee to design a cutting edge A/V system to meet their needs. Working exclusively in the church market, Maxx-Tech has developed a consultative approach to system design.
Using a three-phase process, Maxx-Tech empowers the church to make informed decisions about equipment and design. Phase one is to listen to the wants and needs of the church. As Maxx-Tech principle and chief designer Mark Sepulveda explained, “When we first come in we just listen and take notes.”
The second phase is preliminary design. “We come back and we present a proposal that tries to tie all of the aspects together – sound, video and lighting – that is also budget conscious. We empower the church to make budgetary decisions.” By involving the church completely in the design process Maxx-Tech heads off much of the tension that can develop between contractor and church.
Randy Hyde, the A/V project manager for HPC, concurred, “Those guys were great to work with. They came in and we had a roundtable discussion with Pastor Gary and the key people for those areas and we developed a wish list. They were very instrumental in helping us make quality decisions.”
With goals in place, Maxx-Tech entered the third and final phase of their process, execution, with the formidable challenge of providing quality sound and video to the congregation in a very quirky room. Although HPC’s sanctuary seats 5,000, the floor is essentially flat with a relatively low ceiling and several support columns throughout the room.
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| Nexo line arrays provide house audio coverage through two main L-R arrays, with additional Nexo speakers used in a delay ring to cover the back of the room. |
Working from the speakers out, Maxx-Tech designed an innovative audio system to overcome the challenges of the room. “We felt like line array was the way to go, but we had to find the right one for the room,” Sepulveda recounted. After an exhaustive search he settled on Nexo’s Geo line.
Using a collection of small drivers to deliver high output, the Geo series delivers a lot of punch in a relatively small package according to Sepulveda critical for a room with sightline issues. A total of 12 T4805s and three T2815s give voice to the main arrays, while 15 Geo S Series speakers act as delays. The T4805 is the most advanced expression of the Nexo’s Geo technology and incorporates many new features, which result in increased sound directivity and efficiency. As Sepulveda explained, “If the ceiling was just little taller, we could have covered the room with just the T Series in the front. But because of our height restrictions we had to go with a smaller cluster and then support with a delay.
Complimenting the main array and delay clusters are six Lab Subs. To build these subs, Maxx-Tech turned to John Richeaux of Larose Louisiana based JSR acoustics. Although a public domain design, Richeaux modified the design to achieve the goals for the installation. “We knew that we had to give this church bang for the buck. We knew that we could get what we wanted out of those subs and we knew they were very inexpensive” Sepulveda added.
To power the system, 12 Camco Vortex 6.0 amps were installed. Providing 6,000 watts of power, the Vortex 6.0 incorporates many cutting edge features including advanced safety circuitry, smart temperature control and overvolt protection capable of handling surges up to 400 volts. The cost-effectiveness of these amps played a key role not only in selecting the amps, but also allowed Maxx-Tech to settle on the Nexo Geo Series speakers. “The [Nexo] boxes are kind of expensive, but when you include their [Camco Vortex] amps, it evens out” explained Sepulveda.
To manage the mix, two Innovason consoles were installed, an Sy80 and a Grand Live. The aptly named Sy80 is equipped with 80 faders and inputs feeding up to 80 outputs while the Grand Live is slightly less advanced, but is upgradeable to match the features of the Sy80. Both are fully digital and run Innovason’s lat- est software, Sensoft 8.1. Nexo PS8s and PS10s act as monitors while a battery of Sennheiser EW300IEM-G2 in-ear monitors let those on the platform keep tabs on the sound. To manage the audio system, two BSS Soundweb 9088IIS-LL loudspeaker processors, each capable of holding up to 12 unique design settings, were installed.
At HPC, a visual connection between worship leaders and those in the congregation is just as important as the transmission of the spoken word. As Randy Hyde explained “We are a sight and sound generation, and people often times relate quicker to an image on a screen than to a pastor behind a pulpit.”
To this end, Maxx-Tech turned to longtime collaborator Ken Holsinger of Norman, Oklahoma- based Fowler Design Group. According to Maxx’s Mark Sepulveda “We tried to hire somebody for video, but when we met Ken and his team it was just a perfect fit.” A full-service multimedia integrator, Fowler has built an extensive resume providing broadcast solutions, video production, IMAG (image magnification) and associated software to a wide range of churches.
To connect the congregation to the happenings on stage Fowler Design installed two Panasonic 10,000-lumen and four Christie Digital 6,500-lumen projectors and six 16 x 9 aspect ratio video screens. Two screens are positioned at the front of the sanctuary and four located in the congregation area to compensate for the low ceiling and ensure all members of the congregation have a good view. According to Randy Hyde, “anywhere you sit you can see and hear what is going on – there’s not a bad seat in the house.”
Supporting the video is a broadcastquality package that includes three Sony DXC-D50WS Cameras, Sony decks and a Ross Synergy 2 Digital Switcher. In addition to video Fowler installed electronic signage through out the HPC campus as well as providing its Song- Show Plus worship software.
Lighting also plays a key role in HPC’s service. As Hyde explained, “We like to dress it up pretty good; we even use a little bit of smoke at times to accent the lighting. We paint the back walls and sometimes the audience or the side walls as well.” To meet HPC’s needs Maxx Tech installed Robe scanners and spots, Altman Shakespeare ellipsoidal luminaires as well as advanced LED lighting by Color Kinetics. Though more costly than conventional lighting, for churches such as HPC that can afford the upfront cost, they [LED’s] are less expensive over the long haul.
Sepulveda felt these fixtures were an exceptional fit for HPC. “LED fixtures have several advantages that make them attractive, particularly for church lighting,” he explained. These advantages include longer life, less maintenance, better energy efficiency, less heat production which translates into reduced demand on the churches HVAC system and an overall increase in reliability. “HPC could leave these on 24/7 for five years before being concerned about lamp intensity loss. There are many manufacturers that are making these fixtures; we chose Color Kinetics because they were the most consistent across the board,” he continued.
The lighting is controlled by High End System’s Wholehog PC software running on a Dell Dimension desktop PC. Windows compatible with a GUI interface, this software offers a cost effective solution to lighting control and because it is software based, it can be easily adapted to any modifications of the lighting system. Rounding out the HPC lighting are six Leprecon MX1200 Dimmers and Elation compact spots.
With all of this cutting edge technology, training is as critical as system design and Maxx-Tech again rose to the challenge. To man the system HPC uses 16 people for a typical Sunday service which begins with praise, moves through prayer and the pastors message and ends in an alter call, and despite over sixty years of combined experience the HPC staff needed considerable training on their new high performance system. To that end, Maxx-Tech arranged for fourteen days of on site training. Additionally, Fowler Design Group was on hand for the initial services to provide assistance with video production. As Sepulveda explained, “Training is an integral part of what we do, if you sell someone a Lamborghini and don’t teach them to drive, all you have done is create trouble.”
The doors to HPC’s new home swung open on Palm Sunday 2004, and the congregation fell in love not only with their new home but also with the technology inside. As Randy Hyde recounted, “People love it. Now that we have our own place we can express ourselves.”
By using the latest technology to meet those most in need at their point of need HPC has truly become what their website proclaims, a church, unusual.
