It’s an exciting time. Your church is growing and changing, and you’ve decided to invest in a new A/V system. Perhaps it’s an upgrade to your existing facility, or maybe you’ve moved to a larger building. In either case, the technical staff will certainly be meeting with the church’s leadership to discuss the church’s specific audio-visual needs.
“The more you know what you want, the more you’re prepared as far as understanding what your needs are...the better your end product will be,” advises Jeff Cremeen, chief audio engineer for Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Church on the Move. If you aren’t able to convey clearly your needs-or don’t know what these needs are-you could wind up paying more for features and equipment you don’t require, or having to upgrade the new system within only a few months.
Quantifying these needs begins with defining your church’s overall goals. Do you hope to reach out to younger members with high-energy services and more modern music? Is your church more traditional in its approach? What is its overall philosophy? What is its current size and rate of growth?
Chuck Walthall of Walthall & Associates, a Florida-based firm that handles design consulting and system management of A/V systems, as well as A/V training, often begins meetings with new clients by asking them broad questions, which, at first, may not seem to be related to technical concerns. “One of the first things I do,” Walthall says, “is have them describe to me their ministry. What’s the style of worship? What are you currently doing? What do you want to be able to do?”
Walthall likens the process of designing an A/V system to buying a computer. “You want to decide what you’re going to be using it for before you look for a system. You need to buy your computer based on what your software requires. In this case, the software is the church’s goals, and the hardware is your A/V system.”
At its most basic, your A/V system will help church-goers to see and hear more clearly and easily. As you climb higher on the ladder of technology, though, you face a balancing act. Your technical systems should help your church achieve its goals, but not become an end in itself. Robert Rose, senior consultant at Acoustic Dimensions, a systems design consulting firm with offices in Dallas, New York and the United Kingdom, is currently helping the Fielder Road Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, make the transition from a traditional facility to a more flexible venue that incorporates drama, video production and high-energy music into its services. “We’ve been balancing out the requirements for a typical Sunday service versus the requirements for outside touring acts and community events, and trying to prioritize when one should govern a decision over another,” he explains.
Your church’s leadership may need to decide how large of a role technology will play in the church. What are the church’s priorities, and how necessary is technology to meet these higher goals? Rose offers an example: “Some of the larger churches may prioritize their outward goals,” he says. “Producing, broadcasting, TV shows, may take precedent over the experience they’re having within the sanctuary. They may be willing to put cameras right in the middle of the room. In other churches, where broadcast is more of a secondary goal, they’re not willing to compromise what they do within the room to create a better production that goes out to the community.”
As the technical person on-staff, and the conduit between church leadership and your design or consulting firm, you may be the one to translate your church’s goals into technical needs. Walthall says the most important thing he does as a systems consultant is listen, and offers this advice to church technical staff: “First and foremost, listen to what [the church leadership has to] say. They may not use the terms and terminology that you’re used to everyday, but your goal is to listen, and hear what it is they’re not saying. Read between the lines.”
Rose agrees that communication is essential. When working with Fielder Road Baptist Church, Rose attended meetings with the architects and the church, helping them to formulate a project budget and timeline. “It allowed us to get a good feeling for what’s happening on the overall campus. ‘What’s the big picture?’”
In the case of a new building, this means bringing in your A/V people to meet with your architects. If you’re moving to an existing facility, the a/v consultants should be asked about the acoustics of the new space. Everyone involved with the project should meet, “early and often,” Rose says. “Try to get the technical design team onboard before you establish overall project budgets. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to spend more, but you can get a more accurate idea of what it’s going to cost to do what you want to do.”
Comparatively Speaking
To bridge the communication gap between the church’s audio engineers
and nontechnical personnel, it may help to think in terms of other facilities.
What are other churches doing that you would like to emulate? Technologically
advanced churches like Willow Creek, in Illinois, help to serve as A/V role
models for smaller churches.
“Knowing what these churches are doing,” Rose says, “may help you to better communicate what you’re ultimately looking to produce.” Cremeen agrees: “Find a church or facility that’s doing something similar to what you want to do.” Although churches do have some unique needs, Cremeen suggests looking at other types of venues, too. “If you can find a performance hall that’s doing something you like, that might allow [your designers/installers/consultants] to think outside the church box.” Cremeen, whose church has nearly 9,000 members, with parishoners 18 years old and under making up 50 percent of the congregation, says he looked at concert halls and other venues before deciding on a sound system for the church’s new youth facility. “We’ve always had to convince the PA company that we need to be able to produce concert-level volume, that we need that much power and speakers. That was always the challenge,” he says.
Certainly, find churches that have similar objectives and priorities, and talk to their A/V people to find out how they are using technology to meet their goals, but also look at other venues that share characteristics, such as size and acoustics, with your facility.
The Music and the Word
When defining your church’s audio needs, Cremeen says, the music often
becomes the deciding factor. “If you were only buying a PA system for
preaching,” he says, “you would need very little.” For this
reason, it’s important to consider how much the musical aspects of your
church service will grow or change, particularly in small churches. “Your
music program may change three or four times, so your needs are going to change
with them. If you change music styles, your PA is going to change.”
Likewise, you should have a good idea of your instrumentation, including any musicians you may add in the near future. If you’re planning on growth, you don’t want to install a system that’s not easily expandable.
Cremeen notes that a one-channel board would suffice for a church only interested in spoken word. Live music will play approximately 20 dB louder than any preacher. In these times, when people are accustomed to dynamic, high-energy performances, technology can help draw them to your church by providing the same quality of experience they’re used to every day.
“You need the better gear,” Cremeen says, “so the music comes across well. It’s for the music. Your praise and worship is preparing the audience to receive the Word.”
Some Questions to Consider When Assessing Your Church’s Technical Needs:
- What is the seating capacity of your church? How quickly is it growing?
- Would you describe your services as high-energy? Traditional?
- How important of a role does music play in your services? What style of music is it?
- What is the average volume level?
- What music groups regularly perform? Choir? Praise band?
- What is the instrumentation of each group?
- Do you expect your musical groups to grow in the future?
- Do you now, or will you in the future, bring in outside groups to perform?
- Besides regular services, what else will the facility be used for?
- Do you produce dramas at Christmas or other times during the year? Do you hope to add this aspect to your church in the future?
- What role does video play in your services? Image magnification?
- In-house video recording and production?
- How important is reaching out to the community?
- Do you, now, or would you like to, in the future, use television broadcasts to reach out to your community? How about webcasts?
- Are you happy with the way your church currently sounds?
- If not, what aspects would you like to change?
- What aspects of other churches that you’ve seen do you like? Dislike?
