Modern Technology Meets Children's Ministry

by ,

Church.Design

When Gladstone, Mo.-based Antioch Bible Baptist Church found itself with not enough room to properly support its children’s ministry, it called upon Kansas City’s own Mantel Teter to design a new 27,000-square-foot addition to accommodate their needs.

Pearce Construction built the new building, which contains a cutting-edge children’s worship space with AVL design by Stark Raving Solutions, on the church’s campus.

The two-story building, completed this spring, now supports nursery and preschool all the way up to 5th grade age groups in classrooms of various sizes.

The genesis of the project

The church’s Antioch Kids Ministry purpose is to consistently provide relevant Bible-based instruction in a fun, safe, loving environment where children feel welcome.

“The existing church was built at a time when ministry was done differently and less importance was placed on facilities being attractional,” says Skyler Phelps, AIA, vice president of Mantel Teter. “The existing kids’ space was in the basement of a dated building that was cramped, not fun, safe, loving or allowed ministry leaders to effective promote bible teaching. Through discovery workshops and master planning with the church leadership team, a children’s building addition was identified as the solution for aligning facilities with ministry objectives.”

Constructing a building addition north of the existing building afforded the church an opportunity to address existing facility constraints. For example, the church’s main existing parking area is north of the existing building.

“This entrance was not attractive, unsafe to use, undersized and not handicap accessible,” Phelps says. “The building addition allowed the church to construct a more readily identifiable, attractive, safe, handicap accessible building entrance facing their north parking area.”

The church was also interested in a drive-under canopy for use by young families during inclement weather so a large “Antioch Blue” drive-under canopy was constructed on the west side of the proposed addition, allowing visibility to the vibrant, contemporary entrance from adjacent thoroughfares. Today, the new north and east building entrances welcome members and first-time visitors by promoting egress into a large connection space where they are welcomed and directed to ministry areas of interest.

One of the first steps in the process was utilizing Checkpoint, which projects who and how many your facility will serve, how much space is needed, when space is needed, how much that space will cost and how to pay for it. Once it established this, a full plan was put in place.

Blending in

One of the church’s desire for the design was to have the building addition’s shape, massing, proportion and material use blend with the existing building’s architectural vocabulary and unify the campus while introducing some more contemporary building forms and warm, earth tone materials at the building addition entrances.

“Our design process is multifaceted and collaborative within the project design team and with the church,” Phelps says. “None of that creative process can take place without understanding the church’s needs and connecting with their ministry vision. We then become the creative conduit that transforms the church’s vision into the built environment that sets the framework for the user experience.”

Tech time

Marcus Hammond, church resource director with Stark Raving Solutions LLC, which handled the AVL for the project, says the church was looking for a space that was engaging, loud enough and attention-grabbing for the kids.

“The room had to be really flexible but also pre-programmable so we could have a couple of different pre-sets for sound, lights and video, and be easily usable by volunteers to be able to turn it into a theatrical space,” he says. “Our goal was to maximize their budget to give them an experience that would last a decade and maybe longer in terms of technical abilities for the space.”

The challenge, Hammond notes, was getting the QSC QSYS programed and detailed out and figuring out how the automation would work in a way that made sense for the environment.

The project didn’t have a lot of networked AVL with the rest of the campus, though there was some distribution from one room to another via SDI tie lines for video so signals could be sent with imbedded audio from the main auditorium to the kid’s room and feeds could also be sent the other way.

There is also audio distribution to speakers and zones outside of the kid’s auditorium in the kid’s building itself and some distribution of background music to different parts of the building. This is done with some touch panels situated around the building, which can be logged in with the right access codes.

Phelps says he always connects its church clients to security professionals who can help them understand penitential threats, deterrence, surveillance and security training. ABBC engaged All Systems in Kansas City, to conduct a threat analysis, formulate a security plan and implemented passive and active security measures to improve safety.

Light it up

The theatrical and architectural lighting in the project were built to seamlessly support the services, worship team and congregation at Antioch Bible Baptist.

“The theatrical lighting, supplied by Chauvet and lighting control by Chroma-Q Vista, gives bright, rich, vibrant color to the children’s main room, bringing impact and energy to every purpose the room is used for." Kris Kirkwood, Lighting Designer, Stark Raving Solutions

Kris Kirkwood, Stark Raving Solutions’ lighting designer, says the architectural system used, ETC’s Paradigm architectural control, is flexible and powerful allowing the children’s main room and lobby to be used by different groups for different purposes every day and through the week.

“The theatrical lighting, supplied by Chauvet and lighting control by Chroma-Q Vista, gives bright, rich, vibrant color to the children’s main room, bringing impact and energy to every purpose the room is used for,” he says. “The architectural system and theatrical lighting systems have been built with growth in mind, allowing Antioch Bible Baptist to support their expanding and energetic community now and down the road.”

All lighting fixtures in the system are 100% LED.

“ETC Paradigm and QSC QSYS systems work together, with occupancy sensors in various rooms, to make the lighting system as energy efficient as possible,” Kirkwood says. “All lights are on occupancy sensors so they will be turned on and off automatically.”

EQUIPMENT LIST

Lighting Equipment:

Architectural Control – ETC Paradigm

Theatrical Control – ChromaQ Vista

House Lighting – Chauvet  

Theatrical Lighting – Chauvet

Audio Equipment:

Audio Console – Allen & Heath QU-24

Loudspeakers – Martin Audio CDD

Amplifiers – QSC CXD

Processing & Automation – QSC QSYS

Hallway Loudspeakers – QSC

Power Management – Lyntec & Middle Atlantic

Video Equipment:

Projection - Panasonic PT–RW620 Laser Projector

Projection Screen - Dalite

SDI Video Routing – Blackmagic Smart VideoHub 12x12, Controlled via QSYS touchpanel