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Production Overview: Lifechurch.tv, Edmond, Okla.
This high-tech church adds a studio to record weekend messages before a small live audience ahead of time.
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Limited power supply at Lifechurch.tv’s new studio location led the church to rely on a flourescent stage lighting package from Viddessence. Lighting designer Andrew Dunning recommended the Jands Vista lighting console due to the church’s heavy reliance on volunteer techni- cal staff. The church has found the console to be easy to teach and use, yet powerful enough to produce professional results.
The traditional megachurch phenomenon with its expansive sanctuary is waning, and distributed campuses, often utilizing former retail space and using video to deliver the sermon, is a growing trend. At the head of this technological transformation is LifeChurch.tv, a congregation based out of Edmond, Okla.
"LifeChurch.tv is a multi-site church that transcends metropolitan regions and reaches more than 30,000 attendees weekly," describes Sunny Thomas, project manager at LifeChurch.tv. "Utilizing the very latest media technologies to deliver the Gospel, our approach includes a satellite broadcast that enables all locations to be connected as one during the weekend experiences; an online campus that provides services featuring live interaction; a fully interactive 3D experience at SecondLife; and free online resources for other churches at open.lifechurch.tv."
To further support their high-tech approach to church, LifeChurch.tv recently expanded their technical capabilities with an additional studio, Studio B, enabling them to pre-produce weekend messages.
"We needed to create a secondary venue that allows our senior pastor, Craig Groeschel, and our other team teachers to record weekend messages ahead of time in front of a small audience," states Thomas. "Having this environment allows our leadership more flexibility. We are no longer limited to teaching in a live environment at our weekend experiences. This space also allows pastors from other churches to come in during the week and record a weekend message for our church and then return to their home church for the weekend." LifeChurch.tv's technical staff was able to design and implement the new video systems for Studio B in-house. Panasonic video equipment forms the core of the video system, with an AV-HS400A switcher providing control. Two Panasonic AK-HC3500 HD video cameras are the primary cameras, with a Panasonic AK-HC931B camera brought in on occasion when a three-camera shoot is desired. "We have been very pleased with video quality of the Panasonic AK-HC3500 cameras since we began using them in 2008," Thomas says.
You can't have good video without good lighting, however. Therefore, LifeChurch.tv wanted to ensure a quality lighting system would be designed for the space, with ease-of-use for their volunteer lighting operators a must. With past experience and reputation as a guide, the church's choice of a lighting designer for the project was straightforward.
"Landru Design's Andrew Dunning, a Nashville, Tenn.-based lighting designer, has assisted us with our lighting projects in the past," states Thomas, "and we have always been pleased with his design recommendations for us and the work that he has done for others."
The requirements for the lighting system were to provide even, broadcast-quality lighting across the entire studio stage; to provide scenic and architectural lighting in the studio; and all needed to be easy to control and configure by both the staff and volunteers.
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Jim Kumorek is the owner of Spreading Flames Media, providing video/media production and writing services to the A/V/L, technology, architectural and hospitality industries. He has led audio, video and lighting teams in churches as both staff and a volunteer for over 10 years. He can be contacted at james@spreadingflamesmedia.com.
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