Rock City Church, Columbus, Ohio; image - Summit Integrated Systems
Summit Integrated Systems is a Colorado-based, purpose-driven AVL integrator with a national client base. Its central mission is providing churches with the right tools and training to create an environment where God can move freely and technology doesn’t get in the way.
Over the past several yers, churches have come to Summit for the company's expertise in designing and augmenting AVL systems that would keep worship going during the pandemic, as well as to help church communities adapt to a new era of worship in a post-COVID world.
Church.Design spoke to one of Summit’s owners and its chief vision officer, Nick Kofahl, and the company’s director of client relations, Dustin Hamilton, about trends they’ve observed in recent months and new directions for church technology that will impact church AV consultants, architects, and integrators.
Church.Design: How have your church clients' needs changed from when the pandemic started?
Summit Integrated: At first, it was just a scramble for a lot of churches to get things up and running online. It was a race for churches to learn about video and streaming and how to best use what equipment they had. For many churches, the video stream that was previously treated as an afterthought and had been no big deal before was suddenly front and center. We’d get a lot of questions, like "What video cameras and lenses do we need?" and "Where should we put them?" and "How can we improve our lighting?" What we saw was really a panicked reaction to reach out to congregations in order to maintain a sense of community and worship through an emergency.
We’d get a lot of questions, like "What video cameras and lenses do we need?" and "Where should we put them?" and "How can we improve our lighting?"
As church leaders and congregations acclimated to the increase in online worship, there were more requests to make improvements to existing technology to help improve video production, like better lighting and LED walls to create interest behind the subject. We were happy to help, but found that a large part of our job as integrators was to help churches to not overreact; to not make decisions in the heat of the moment without considering what would be best for the long term. According to Kofahl, these are not easy decisions when you know your next Sunday is always only a few days away.
We were happy to help, but found that a large part of our job as integrators was to help churches to not overreact; to not make decisions in the heat of the moment without considering what would be best for the long term.
We always try to ask the right questions about the church’s philosophy and where the church is headed. Sometimes, items that present themselves as immediate needs can obscure a good long-term decision and one that would promote better stewardship. Talking it all through and having someone ask the right discovery questions, of course, makes for better decisions.
Church.Design: What trends is hybrid church driving, with both online and in-person services?
Summit Integrated Systems: It’s very likely that most churches will have an online component going forward, but just what that looks like for each church will depend on that congregation and the church philosophy. Now that we are seeing 30%-50% of the congregation coming back and online worshippers continuing to grow, church technical folks are definitely thinking more about the visual interest in the room, since it will also need to look great online. For most, video considerations like lighting, better quality cameras, and items that improve production value, like better sets, are no longer an afterthought; video needs are driving the conversion.
Image - Summit Integrated Systems
Now that we are seeing 30%-50% of the congregation coming back and online worshippers continuing to grow, church technical folks are definitely thinking more about the visual interest in the room, since it will also need to look great online.
Churches are also expecting people who once spent more time at church to maybe be around less, say one weekend a month. Churches are starting to figure out what this means for them and develop or expand their philosophy to include how online church will work for their congregation. Will video services be produced that make you feel like you are in the room’attending—so favor an investment in better lighting and video equipment in the sanctuary? Or, are online services a separate video experience, perhaps with a host and online chat to increase engagement? Understanding which scenario and what technology is needed to best engage a particular congregation is not just about understanding the technical needs, but also what matches up with the church’s philosophy and plans for the future.
Church.Design: How does a hybrid church model impact the design or reconfiguration of worship spaces?
Summit Integrated Systems: Of course, we’ve been helping a lot of clients about improving video capabilities in their in-person worship spaces, but especially over the last nine months we’ve talked to more clients about increases in their infrastructure and more dedicated spaces for creating better video. That might mean outfitting new or renovated spaces for a video studio and control room, or changing up spaces to make them dedicated for broadcasting, like taking a space in the lobby or retrofitting a classroom to function as a video space.
The object is to make online church engagement less about not being able to get to the church building and more about not wanting to miss an episode.
Many churches are getting serious about making church online viewing experience a special one and, like in-person church, presenting a familiar face and experience each week. The object is to make online church engagement less about not being able to get to the church building and more about not wanting to miss an episode. By providing creators with dedicated and well-considered video spaces and the video technology to create great content, even if worshipers can’t be in the same space, they can still enjoy the beauty of church engagement, connect, and be part of something bigger. In this way, online worshipers are invited on the same kind of spiritual journey as in-person church, just done from a more familiar and convenient space.
Church.Design: What has been the most dramatic impact of COVID on your clients?
Summit Integrated Systems: “The Church has typically been slow to change,” says Hamilton, “or put another way, it's like the challenge of changing the course of a large ship at sea. But when COVID happened, things had to change and change fast.” Church leaders and technical directors were not only forced to think about how else they could use their existing technology, but the crisis also opened the door to looking at new ways to increase community online. Some see small, incremental changes, like posting mid-week videos or offering individual ministries online. But for many, it has presented a new era of online worship, with the church’s video capabilities run by their own video experts that became the portal to church. For many churches, that will not change, even as people return to in-person worship.
Unfortunately, attached to these technology trends, there is another trend we don’t like. As we work with churches across the country, we see that for many creatives, production staff, and volunteers, the stress level is higher than it’s ever been. After a period of 18-20 months, these roles are too often operating at burnout level; still waiting for a break. Survival mode has become the norm. We hope to see more churches make an investment in staffing, change up these roles, and change that paradigm for the better.
[Editor's note: This piece was originally published in October 2021.]
