When Green Acres Baptist Church (GABC) started to examine the next steps in developing its master plan, the phase included a fellowship hall-a place where people could bond over food and conversation. Since the church is known for its sense of community, it made sense, but the leadership team began to ask themselves if they couldn't create a space that would be able to meet more needs than simply dining and fellowship. As the idea began to take shape, they started talking about a "fellowship hall on steroids."
The church, located in Tyler, Texas, is a regional church pulling membership from lots of towns in East Texas. "We wanted to create something that we could share with our community. There was especially a need in the not-for-profit sector for an event center that could fully support large gatherings," explains Ken Warren, GABC's senior associate pastor. "Once word got out about the plans for the space, we began to get phone calls-even a year before we opened. We went into this to create a facility that didn't exist in East Texas and make no apology that we want people who come through the doors to return when they are having problems in their life."
The church connected with Steve Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick Architects in Tyler to develop the design for the space. "We had a very involved architect," Warren notes. "Steve Fitzpatrick understood what we were looking for and created a seminal design." Acoustic Dimensions of Dallas was brought on board to provide theatrical consulting for the space, along with acoustics, A/V and lighting design.
The main design directive for the space was flexibility. The church knew that it would be used for everything from banquets, to concerts, to Christian school gatherings, to seminars. They also planned to begin a new Crosswalk worship service in the space-which is ultimately how the conference center got its name.
"We don't have traditional and contemporary services as most people might define them," says Warren. "Celebration worship is indigenous ... praise team, full choir, band and orchestra providing celebratory worship with a lot of variety. The Crosswalk service is strictly band-driven-primarily rock music with lighting and video providing the visual experience."
Life-sized Video
For the Crosswalk service, video became a key element. "We felt the virtual pastor set up was important," says Tibby Wright, the church's director of broadcast ministries. "With the middle screen set with the head-to-toe shot and the flanking screens carrying the IMAG feed, we've had many people tell us that they didn't realize our pastor wasn't actually in the room."
A central screen of 32 feet by 18 feet was installed by Mission Service Supply Inc. of West Monroe, La., together with two lateral screens of 22 feet by 12 feet each. Three Christie video projectors were used, one HD18K for the central screen, and two HD12Ks for left and right screens.
"We have the worship in Crosswalk go on a bit longer to give us a window of a six or seven minute delay," Wright explains. The church uses a Newtek 3-Play unit for video recording and delayed playback. "The 3-Play from Newtek allows us to capture the HD feeds live from the main sanctuary." he says. The signal is routed through two Analog Way OPS300 multi-layer, hi-definition mixer seamless switchers. The OPS300 also has three scalers for working with different video sources. And he adds, "We use a very simple system with presentation switchers from Analog Way [OPS300] which works well. It has done everything they claimed and their tech support gave us help when we had a glitch in the beginning."
"For a video venue, when you are dependent on that image, it has to be good or people won't come," says James Green, owner of Mission Service Supply. "It has to give the perspective that the pastor is actually in the room. Anything less in quality and it will feel artificial. We wanted to do the best job we could so the room would have a tremendous image. The tech is just a tool, but it has to function well or it won't serve its purpose."
The Crosswalk service is highly visual, yet the uses and users are varied; for this reason, Acoustic Dimensions designed simple systems that would provide high performance. "Working with the team at GABC was fun because they are very skilled in their knowledge not only of systems, but also how to effectively use them in live production," notes David Stephens, project manager for Acoustic Dimensions.
Lithe Lighting
One of the places Acoustic Dimensions built in a lot of flexibility was the lighting. Because the room is used as a video venue, there had to be as much light control as possible so ambient light levels wouldn't diminish the projected images. To help achieve this goal, the architectural lighting system is a combination of both fluorescent and incandescent with full-range dimmability with the incandescents and higher illumination levels along with less energy consumption with the fluorescents. There also had to be simple configurations for seminars and graduations, which typically need a lot less tech.
ETC was specified for the permanently installed architectural and theatrical control and dimming. As the room is sub-divisible, partition sensors were added to the architectural control system to allow automated reconfiguration of the control system as divider walls are moved in and out. The church started with a basic theatrical fixture package that included ETC Source 4 ellipsoidals and PARs along with Elektralite my575.3 moving spots and PaintCan static color changing wash fixtures that provided a starting point for Crosswalk and other anticipated events. Additional infrastructure in the form of distributed power and control is available to handle rental equipment for seasonal productions and special events.
"Access to all of the permanently installed lighting distribution is done from a system of overhead catwalks," Stephens says. "A permanent set of theatrical curtains was installed that included manual pull travelers with valances, border and leg sets, as well as off-stage manual draw masking curtains, due to the extreme left and right sightlines. Additional weight loading was specified and provided for temporary rigging during events and productions as needed."
Audio Reinforcement
The audio system is mono configuration with Electro-Voice speakers, amps and processing designed to achieve continuity in coverage no matter what the room is used for. The rear delays match the front clusters and have unique control when the room is divided. "Because of the flexibility challenges of the space, a Digico SD8 digital audio console was selected and has worked great," says Wright. "The scene recalls, as well as the direct recording capabilities and other powerful features of the SD8 made it the perfect choice for front-of-house."
Both congregational and community response have been phenomenal. As Warren reports, "We've done a full stage production with 1,400 kids during VBS, multiple concerts, the Fellowship of Christian athletes, women's conferences, men's conferences, the Freedom Celebration. Next year, the Cowgirls for Christ will have their nationwide meeting here. We want to share our space for that type of variety."
Warren explains that the usage of the space is evolving. "Initially the design created demand, but now demand is driving the design because of the flexibility that is possible," he concludes.
