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Images courtesy of Summit Integrated Systems unless otherwise noted.
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One of the most significant changes from the church’s original specifications was the addition of a Yamaha CL5 mixing console with BSS London signal processing. Similar infrastructure simplifies operator training and helps with overflow crowds.
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“We’re sort of a curiosity. People know us as the church that used to be a car dealership—and some come just because they are curious. We’ve designed a church where they feel comfortable, so they want to come back.” David Ross Palmer (“DP”)
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Technical Training Ground The main auditorium and secondary venues were outfitted with similar technology by Lafayette, Colo.-based Summit Integrated.
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ROOM TO GROW The expansive service area of the car dealership was divided in two, with half to be used for a 500-seat auditorium and half reserved for future expansion.
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Phase one at Crossroads Parker simply got the building functional. Phase two involved tripling the size of the children’s space and upgrading the ministry areas with improved technology. Phase three will grow the main auditorium and offices.
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Struggling to keep its doors open, the congregation at Crossroads was down to about 60 people just 10 years ago.... Now, with phenomenal growth over the past eight years, they are welcoming just over 1,800 worshippers each week.
Attendance at Crossroads Community Church in Parker, Colo., has doubled again this year. Its phenomenal growth over the past eight years has them welcoming just over 1,800 worshipers every week and hosting 20-30 baptisms every six to eight weeks. This year's Christmas services ballooned to 3,400 attendees. As a result, the church leadership has had to continually think outside the box to facilitate the church's continued expansion.
The creative executive pastor, Dave Palmer, recently helped find new worship space that not only addresses the community's needs, but also makes Crossroads Community Church somewhat of a local attraction.
Palmer had spent 17 years on staff at a church just seven miles away from Crossroads Community Church, and had witnessed its dramatic decline over the years. Struggling to keep its doors open, the congregation at Crossroads was down to about 60 people just 10 years ago. “I felt that the church was just so badly wounded at that point,” reflects Palmer. “No one was sure what would happen to it.” A major problem, he recalls, was its poor location. “People couldn't even recall passing the church and we'd have to give directions using the closest landmark—a fast food restaurant.”
From that low point, a dynamic new pastor, John Snyder, began rebuilding the church spiritually and physically. With interest building and lives being transformed in the new Crossroads Community Church, it wasn't long before the need for more space became a pressing issue. Three years ago Palmer was brought over as executive pastor with the mission to find the church a new home in a better location.
Crafting a new home
Crossroads knew that their new home would have to be both affordable and provide worship space and technology for powerful contemporary services. It was a challenge to find an affordable location that would both accommodate the current church community, as well as foster its continued growth. For direction, Palmer and the church leadership looked closely at Crossroad's core values. Two values that stood out to them were No. 1, “Do things for God in an excellent way,” and No. 2, “All people matter to God.”
“That meant to me,” Palmer says, “that in addition to a new, larger location that was welcoming for everyone, we wanted to build with and help to grow gifted people. We needed to reach for technology excellence by working with key technical people who can teach excellence.”
While all that might seem like a pretty tall order, Palmer had experience in his previous positions expanding to accommodate rapidly growing congregations. He knew what to look for in both locations and people. First, he was pleased to find that the perfect location had already been built for them right in the community—in the form of an abandoned retail car dealership. A location that some might consider unlikely for a house of worship, the car dealership provided all the space, parking and redesign possibilities that Crossroads needed.
“The layout of the dealership provided an excellent starting point for us,” Palmer says, who planned for the conversion to be done in phases. “Phase 1 was to buy the dealership and just make it functional,” he says. The expansive service area of the dealership was divided into two, with half to be used for a 500-seat auditorium and half reserved for future expansion. The two large garage bays, used as an entry point to the service area, became the youth area. This was particularly fitting since Crossroads youth ministry was called “Garage Ministry” even before the move. The youth area makes use of the 15-foot garage doors to provide an open area for outside activities in the summer.
“We’re sort of a curiosity. People know us as the church that used to be a car dealership—and some come just because they are curious. We’ve designed a church where they feel comfortable, so they want to come back.”
David Ross Palmer (“DP”)
Worship Arts Pastor, Crossroads Community Church, Parker, CO
Also as part of Phase I, the dealership's former showroorm became the church's main foyer. Equipped with functional furniture groupings and segmented carpet colors it is used for fellowship, providing a comfortable space where people can connect. The area is frequently used by community groups, as well as for gathering before and after worship. The dealership's parts department layout was found to be appropriate for nursery and toddler space, and a smaller showroom area became children's minstry space.
While Palmer had great respect for the technology the new facility would need, he knew he would need help outfitting and running the new venues. His search for a tech-savvy worship arts pastor to lead worship and oversee technology in the new facility led to a singular gentleman with the unlikely name of David Ross Palmer. To avoid the obvious issues with having two “Dave Palmers” at the same church, the new worship arts pastor uses a nickname, “DP.” It was also a coincidence that DP had previously worked closely with Shane Beeson of Summit Integrated Systems of Lafayette, Colo., who had been engaged to specify and install audio, video and lighting equipment for Crossroads Community Church's new auditorium.
According to Beeson, “Because the church had expanded so rapidly, we were really challenged to both design for the new auditorium and for [the] technical team that had yet to be hired. We were happy do see DP come onboard just three months before opening, and we were able to make some key changes that he suggested that made for a much better system.”
Technology takes the stage
DP's experience with Yamaha's LS9 had convinced him that the new [Yamaha] CL5's features, including the ability to save settings, would benefit the new church and its volunteer operators. “The amount of time you save with a solid console is very worth it,” says DP. “For me, it's all about confidence and ease of use.”
In addition, DP says that being able to get his saved scenes and preset settings back quickly, along with the ability to use virtual playback, makes the team more confident and efficient. “We look for the techonogy that we have in the CL5 to help make things go smoothly. That helps us be efficient in our rehearsals and at our best during our four services over the weekend,” he adds.
With direction from DP, Beeson and his team installed a stereo audio system in Crossroad's new auditorium with 12 JBL Vertec 4886 line array speakers, using six per side. “We knew the 4886s were a good ‘bang-for-the-buck' option,” says Beeson. Additionally, Bag End model TA6000-S low profile, horizontally optimized speakers were embedded in the stage to cover the front rows. Eight Lab.gruppen C28-4 amps power the line arrays and front fills, with two model FP7000 amps providing power for four Danley TH115 subwoofers installed under the stage. Beeson and DP agree that the Lab.gruppen amps provide great sound and are both durable and reliable. Plus, the price per channel is extremely competitive. “We've had really good experience with Lab.gruppen,” says Beeson.
For video presentation, three 16x9-foot Da-Lite Cinema Contour screens display video and images generated by ProPresenter software with three Panasonic DW6300 6k lumen projectors. The original Blackmagic ATEM TV Studio switcher installed for the opening has been upgraded to an ATEM 1 M/E, and a Panasonic AG-HPX500 2/3-inch chip camera has been added to the Panasonic AW-HE50s 1/3-inch chip HD pan/tilt/zoom unit for sending images of the services to overflow areas. ZeeVee RF components are used to distribute video, along with RG-6 cabling to the lobby, youth and overflow areas.
At the heart of Crossroad's lighting installation is its Jands Vista S1 control surface, Doug Fleenor Architectural Control products, and two six-channel ETC Smart Bars with an ETC DRd six-module house dimming rack. Twelve ETC Source Four fixtures, 24 Chauvet COLORado1 Tri Tour Color LED fixtures and two Martin Mac 350 Entours are employed to create powerful lighting designs that are easy to operate, as well as to quickly reconfigure. “We're very happy with our lighting system,” DP reports. “With the LED lighing color pallet and Martin moving lights, there is so much available to us. We've made it easy in all our venues, too, with Jands Vista controls. Even fledglying volunteers can take off with it.”
A significant part of the plans for worship at Crossroads is to make use of the youth and children's venues as a training ground for volunteers. “By making all our venues similar, we can train volunteers in the more straightforward youth and children's areas and ultimately bring them up to the main auditorium,” says DP. “In addition, if someone is sick or unavailable we have the ability to just plug someone in from one of the other areas, since all the functions and consoles are basically the same.”
As an example, DP points to a CL1 audio console recently installed in the youth venue that has the same benefits as the larger CL5 in the main auditiorium. Both Palmer and DP feel that it has been worth the extra cost to add improved technology to their smaller venues. DP points out that with similar consoles running the Dante networking protocol, the smaller venues can also be used more effectively in overflow situations, and allow the overflow room to get the perfect mix with a full channel count.
Phasing in the future
Where Phase I got the church up and running, Phase II tailored the space to the church's rapid growth. “In Phase II we redesigned things to make the space work for us,” DP reports. Phase II, which was just completed, included tripling the children's space (which had overflowed into the foyer) and remodeled the second floor areas for youth ministry with better technology. The youth venue is also designed to be useful as overfow at Christmas and Easter.
With two phases of upgrades to Crossroads Community Church complete, Palmer and his team look forward to beginning Phase III that will upgrade the main auditorium to 1,000 seats and optimize the church's office space.
DP is thankful for the continued remarkable growth of the church family. “We've seen amazing growth this year,” he says. “You really couldn't make up a story like this—so many God things have happened here.”
“We're sort of a curiosity,” says Palmer. “People know us as the church that used to be a car dealership—and some come just because they are curious. We've designed a church where they feel comfortable, so they want to come back.”
Palmer is pleased with the church's new home, its technology, and his growing technical staff, but maintains that the church's success is really about reaching people. “We have a beautiful building with great audio, video and lighting,” he says, “because that's what God wanted for us, but we don't live for that. We use it all as a gift to meet and relate to people.”
