When the Burt Assembly of God Church's International Outreach and Training Center was heavily damaged by fire in 2014, the facility, located in Burt, Michigan, faced a devastating loss that also included the center's music and sound systems. However, the loss was remedied, with the help of Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the business-to-business (B2B) division of Guitar Center.
GC Pro teams in San Diego, California, and Detroit, Michigan, acted as the interface between the church and the church's insurance adjuster, making sure the systems that needed to be replaced would benefit from the newest technologies and products. GC Pro analyzed the International Outreach and Training Center's needs and specified a wide range of M.I. and pro audio systems and products, all of which were sourced through GC Pro's large inventory.
"We established timelines for deliveries and installation, coordinating between the insurance company, our vendors, our integrator, the construction crews at the site, and the church and center leaders."
Kevin Hewitt
Account Manager, GC Pro, San Diego, CA.
These included a JBL PRX PA system powered by Crown amplifiers and mixed through a Soundcraft Si Expression 2 digital FOH console; Shure wired and wireless microphone systems; Pearl, DW and Zildjian percussion items; and other pro audio and M.I. products. The items were specified by the GC Pro San Diego office, which has had extensive experience dealing with insurance companies and adjustors and was able to help guide the church and the center through the difficult and often-confusing claims process. The eyes on the ground assessing the situation, and later the project manager for the installation of these products and systems, was the GC Pro Detroit office, which called upon HD2 Sound, a member of the GC Pro Affiliates Program, to handle the systems installation and integration.
“We worked closely with the church and with their insurance company's claims adjustment service to determine what they lost, the value of that and the replacement values, as well as what the best replacement products and systems would be,” explains Kevin Hewitt, Account Manager at the GC Pro office in San Diego. “We also worked closely with our office in Detroit, the closest one on the ground to the church. Together, we were able to efficiently and effectively assess the situation and decide what would get them back on their feet.”
As Hewitt handled the logistics of the project, Paul Johnson, Account Manager at GC Pro's Detroit location, handled system design, driving two hours each way to the work site, often several days a week. “When I got there, the building was a total loss,” he recalls. “I became the on-site project manager for the audio systems, measuring during the reconstruction process and letting Kevin know what the dimensions would be. We established timelines for deliveries and installation, coordinating between the insurance company, our vendors, our integrator, the construction crews at the site, and the church and center leaders. It was a huge undertaking, but the church was very excited to see that we could manage their project on a national basis.”
Johnson says GC Pro brings an enormous amount of power — in the form of resources and expertise, as well as having experience with loss claims — to a project. Especially for one like this, where they had suffered such a massive loss, GC Pro was able to manage this effectively from beginning to end. “Today, the church and the center are back,” says Johnson, “and it was gratifying for all of us at GC Pro to have played such an important role in that.”
