This decade has seen a significant shift in the approach to church. At the beginning of the decade, "big" was in, and megachurches ruled. As this decade draw to a close, some prominent church A/V designers have shared with me that they believe the last serious megachurch facility has been built; the trend now is for churches to grow wider through multiple campuses and video venues instead of bigger. Your church might just have multiple sites and video venues in its future as well.
So what are some of the things that experts in the multi-site/video venue age consider important? Dennis Choy, communications, technology and production pastor of North Coast Church in Vista Calif.; Jim Tomberlin, founder of MultiSite Solutions in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Ted Cumpston, technical director of Jubilee Fellowship Church in Lonetree, Colo.; and Dave Pullin, director of technical production for United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan., share their perspectives on some important multi-site/video venue considerations.
Technical Continuity
All four agree that technical continuity has value. Using the same equipment, or equipment from the same product line, enables volunteers to serve more effectively no matter which room or campus they are in. Pullin adds the caveat that he wouldn't install a piece of equipment that would be overkill for the application just to have continuity with other campuses; but they agree it's a good idea. Choy states, "I call it ‘keeping things simple' so that volunteer operators can be scheduled in any venue or campus and be able to run things. It also makes training simple, and is a huge benefit for troubleshooting and replacement/repair of equipment."
Pullin also emphasizes standardization of planning tools and paperwork. Church of the Resurrection uses Planning Center Online to plan their services and schedule volunteers at all campuses.
Visual Continuity
Pullin, Tomberlin and Cumpston all see value in having there be some consistency in the stage design for a sermon series between the various campuses. This saves time and effort, with having one team come up with a design instead of multiple teams coming up with multiple designs. And if you are doing video venues where the sermon is delivered via video from the main campus, having one stage design be visible on the video with a visually conflicting stage design in the video venue itself can look strange.
However, all also agree that there needs to be flexibility in the design and implementation to accommodate for different room sizes and configurations, as well as different demographics. The stage design that works for the main campus in a suburban "soccer mom" neighborhood might not work well duplicated exactly in an urban, low-income video venue.
"We have all of our venue leaders be in our worship design meeting," states Pullin. "In that meeting is where all the unifying elements for a sermon series is decided." Each venue then implements that theme, but it is interpreted differently based on the facility and community demographics.
North Coast Church takes a different approach, Choy reports. "Visual continuity is not necessary in our scenario as we actually encourage our venue to be different in atmosphere and ambience," he explains. "The video message will carry the sermon theming with lower thirds and stage background that shows up on the video but we want the actual venue room or satellite campus to have its own feel and vibe."
Setup and Tear-down
Many multisite campuses and video venues are located in environments that don't allow for permanent A/V installation. They may be meeting in a school where they are only allowed access on Sunday mornings, or they might be on the main campus, but in a gymnasium that's used for sports during the week. Wherever it is, there's serious work taking place each Sunday to make it happen.
Both Tomberlin and Pullin strongly suggest using outside help to get started. "Hire Church on Wheels or Portable Church Industries to create the mobile equipment and procedures," states Tomberlin. "These companies have helped hundreds of churches be mobile. They know the gear a church needs and how to make it mobile, safe, and usable."
Pullin also emphasizes that organization is key. Document what needs to be done, in what order, to ensure safety and efficiency.
And all agree that safety is paramount. Make sure adequate people are used for moving and unpacking heavy equipment, and don't compromise. Allocate enough time so the load-in and load-out can be done without rushing.
And when it comes to hanging things, those performing the rigging must know what they are doing. "Whenever we are rigging, safety is our number one concern," states Cumpston. "While budgets don't always allow for the hiring of a certified rigging company, we do consult with professional riggers to make sure what we are doing meets industry standards."
For a side bar to this article titled, "New Technology/Ancient Concept," see Jim Tomberlin's article www.churchproduction.com/go.php/article/10852.
