Alive Church is a rapidly growing multi-site nondenominational church based in Florida. In 2007, Pastors Ken and Tabatha Claytor felt the call of God to move from Washington, D.C. to plant a church in Gainesville, Florida. Starting with five people meeting in their living room, they grew a thriving church. In 2014, Alive Church was launched and now thousands of people are reached across multiple locations throughout Orlando, Gainesville, Tampa, and across the world through the church’s online community.
The new campus in Tampa was recently created in a former event space and banqueting hall. The building was completely renovated, including the installation of a full new AVL system designed by Bruce Fitzgerald Solutions. Bruce was previously on staff at Alive Church as Tech Director, where he led a major audio-visual upgrade project. Its success prompted other local churches to seek his help, eventually inspiring him to turn the work into a full-time business. He supplies AVL systems of various sizes to churches across Florida and beyond, while remaining an active member of Alive Church. The project in Tampa, therefore, represents something of a homecoming, as Bruce’s now well-established company Bruce Fitzgerald Solutions returns to supply the church that first sparked his journey.
At the heart of Alive Church, Tampa’s new AVL system is a video wall constructed from 45 of ADJ’s EVS3 LED panels arranged in a 9 x 5 configuration. With a pixel pitch of 3.91mm and a wide viewing angle of 160° horizontal by 140° vertical, the panel offers 800 NITS of brightness and a contrast ratio of 5000:1. Despite being extremely affordable, Fitzgerald says it offers a host of advanced features, including MOM (Memory on Module) technology, four easy to replace front-serviceable mini modules, and foldout corner protectors for transportation.
“My go to video panel is the ADJ Vision Series VS2,” states Fitzgerald, “however, because this was a brand-new facility for Alive Church and they had to literally buy everything, we had to work to their available budget. We compromised a little on pixel pitch, by opting for the EVS3, which is extremely good value. Initially, the clients were concerned about the 800 NITS brightness – which is less than other ADJ panels. But I assured them that – in this size of space – it would be plenty bright enough, which is how it turned out. In fact, I think we ended up running at 25% brightness! The panels are also very easy to set up; they clip together very quickly and are straightforward to configure. The end result was a beautiful screen that the clients fell in love with when they saw it for the first time, there have been absolutely no complaints!”
To complement the LED wall and generate eye-catching background lighting effects, Fitzgerald chose ADJ’s Pixie Strip 30 linear LED fixtures. Measuring 0.5-meters (20”) in length, these LED strips each offer 30 independent RGB color mixing LEDs with a 16.5mm pixel pitch. Supplied with a choice of four different plastic covers (round frosted, square frosted, round smoked or square smoked) they are designed for integration projects such as this. For Alive Church, Tampa, Fitzgerald and his team deployed 58 of the units, both above and to either side of the video wall.
“I really like the Pixie Strips,” enthuses Fitzgerald. “I recommend them to churches all the time, because they're very cost effective and cover a lot of space. They are perfect for expanding visuals – from an LED wall, or even projectors or TV screens – to provide an immersive stage backdrop. Synchronizing what is on the screens to create big scenic looks that enhance the worshipful atmosphere is always a big win in the church market.”
The Pixie Strip units are connected to three of ADJ’s Pixie Driver 2000 V3 control interfaces, which output both power and data using a single proprietary socket that allows daisy chaining between Pixie fixtures using dedicated Pixie Strip Link Cables (available in a variety of different lengths). Featuring RJ45 Input and Thru connections, the driver units are compatible with Kling-Net, sACN and Art-Net control protocols and at Alive Church, Tampa are controlled via the ArKaos Media Master Pro software.
“ArKaos is very powerful, but it is also intuitive for new users,” explains Fitzgerald. “A lot of the techs at churches are volunteers, so they need something that is easy to pick up. We’ll set up a load of Virtual Cues – triggered by faders on the lighting console [an Onyx NX Wing from ADJ’s sister company Obsidian Control Systems] – which makes it very easy for the operators. Song words then come from ProPresenter, which we run into ArKaos using NDI and, once it is configured, it all works seamlessly. You really don’t need a lot of technical knowledge or experience to run it and create a worship service that looks great and complements what the worship team are doing on stage.”
Illumination of the musicians and pastors on stage is provided by seven of ADJ’s 12PX HEX LED-powered par fixtures. Each unit incorporates twelve 12-Watt RGBAW+UV color mixing LEDs which can be used to generate an almost limitless palette of output colors, while a 25-degree beam angle is used for concentrating the light on the stage. Twelve of the similar, but smaller, 5PX HEX fixtures provide backlight, positioned below the LED wall and on angled lighting bars hanging at either side of the stage. These alternate with eight Dotz Par RGBL fixtures, which offer homogenized output from a COB LED light source and lime-infused color mixing for a high CRI.
“The Dotz Pars have a really nice even output, which pairs well with the Pixie Strips,” comments Fitzgerald. “And with the included 18-degree lens, they punch through the ambient light with clearly defined beams. As the ceiling height is only 14’ – so we only have around 10’ from the stage, there wasn’t really space to utilize moving heads, but the Dotz Pars provide that beam texture. If we drop the intensity, we can get a similar look to the Pixie Strips, but then at full brightness the beam really shines through. The price point is also very good; it’s just overall a great fixture that worked very well for this application.”
The beams from the Dotz Par RGBL fixtures are enhanced by haze generated by an Entour Venue. Specifically designed for integration projects, this high-output ‘faze’ machine uses regular water-based fog juice to produce a thin mist that creates atmosphere without reducing stage visibility.
The announcement from ADJ concludes, “The Alive Church Tampa project exemplifies how thoughtful design, budget-conscious product selection, and strong relationships can combine to create a visually engaging and spiritually immersive worship environment. By integrating a cohesive system of ADJ lighting and video products, Bruce Fitzgerald Solutions delivered a turnkey AVL system that not only meets the church’s current needs but also supports its continued growth. The result is a dynamic space that enhances both live and broadcast worship experiences, while reflecting the heart and mission of the Alive Church community.”
Church
Alive Church, Tampa, Florida
Integration Company
Bruce Fitzgerald Solutions
www.brucefitzgeraldsolutions.com
Gear List
45 x EVS3
58 x Pixie Strip 30
3 x Pixie Driver 2000 V3
8 x Dotz Par RGBL
12 x 5PX Hex
7 x 12PX Hex
1 x Entour Venue
1 x Obsidian ONYX PC
1 x Obsidian ONYX NX Wing
1 x ArKaos Media Master Pro
