Goodwill Church is an Evangelical Presbyterian church located in Montgomery, N.Y., situated in the historic and scenic Hudson Valley region, with a lineage in the area that dates back nearly 300 years. About 12 years ago when John Torres was ordained as senior pastor, Goodwill's membership numbered approximately 100-150. Since that time the congregation has grown exponentially, with approximately 1,000 people attending services over the weekend.
The church was already up to five services over the course of the weekend, and had to add yet another service on Saturday evening. Worship Pastor Josh Stewart says, "Our former sanctuary became too small. It only held 230 people, and [so] we were forced to hold six services on a weekend."
Executive Pastor Jay Lee adds, "Our biggest problem was we had to turn first-time visitors away. People who know the system will come earlier to get a good seat, so we had to turn people away. We didn't want to do that-which is why we added another service. So we had two services on Saturday and we asked the long-time attendees to give up their seats on Sunday and come Saturday. But people are creatures of habit, so, it worked for a while but then they slowly migrated back to Sundays."
To facilitate growth without having to further increase the number of services, Goodwill Church was able to purchase property directly adjacent to its existing facility and expand the campus. With plans in hand for a new Family Life Center that included a 700-seat sanctuary, church leadership broke ground for the building in 2006.
Assessing need
In the summer of 2009, Lee and Stewart met with James Cioffi, owner of Boulevard Professional, an A/V rental and installation company in Oradell, N.J. Stewart was introduced to Cioffi via a connection to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician Dave Mason. Boulevard's production division, run by Cioffi's twin brother Anthony, provides tour support for Mason.
Together, Lee and Stewart cast their vision for the sound requirements for Goodwill-and it was evident to Cioffi that dynamic music played a large part in the worship experience. As Stewart notes, "It is a blended worship style that mixes hymn, praise choruses, and current contemporary worship songs." The band includes drums, bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, and occasionally keyboards. Vocalists include Stewart and up to four backup singers. There is also a 25-30-member choir that sings from time to time.
Then for special events, they'll add in horns. "It was clear early on that this was not just a spoken-word sound system," Cioffi says. "Josh [Stewart] leads a killer worship band and wanted a state-of-the-art sound system."
Leaping budget hurdles
Goodwill Church staff approved Boulevard Pro's design and budget in the fall of 2009. However, with bank loans becoming harder to obtain, Goodwill found itself a casualty of the credit crunch. Work progressed, albeit at a slower pace than originally anticipated. Belts were tightened and budgets were cut. As Lee says, "When you're building a building, the costs that are always cut first [include] the stuff that's not required for a Certificate of Occupancy (CO), which includes the sound system. But then when you're building, you know the best time to put in a sound system is before you put the walls up. And in any construction project, you never have enough money-so that battle is always there."
The church's first service in the new sanctuary was on Easter Sunday 2010. And although they were in, they were operating under a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO), which allows the owners to occupy the building while there are still minor construction details that need to be addressed. Despite being "up and running," Goodwill was still in need of a sound system.
The short-term solution was to utilize a portable system donated by one of the members of the church. "It wasn't ideal and people were always complaining," Lee recalls, "but it was better than having nothing. It was a struggle."
The poor quality may have provided an additional impetus to the congregation for raising the funds to install a permanent sound system. So Goodwill would take a Harvest offering-separate from the building campaign-to help fund the new sound system.
Biting the bullet
Even though the construction had slowed, Goodwill had the foresight to make sure the necessary conduit was installed and some of the needed wiring pulled. For Lee, it was important to get a system that would satisfy both their immediate and future needs. "The difficulty is [that] if you put a sub par system in, you're going to have to take the whole thing out later on when you do have the money," Lee says. "We didn't want to do that, which is why we worked hard with James [Cioffi] to design a system we can build on and we won't have to throw out five years from now."
Boulevard Pro got the go ahead once again in the fall of 2010 and had the new sound system up and ready to go in early January 2011. While both the new audio and video systems were designed and specified, only audio equipment was installed, and a makeshift video system was put together using video equipment brought over from the old sanctuary. As Lee describes, "Because of [lack of] funds we just had to bring over what we had in the old building. So we had some Eiki projectors connected to a MacBook Air, and we use ProPresenter for our lyrics for the songs. For the sermons we use Keynote or PowerPoint."
Modifications were also needed for the original audio design. Cioffi notes, "We had to downscale the console from a Yamaha M7CL to an LS9. And we refurbished their existing wireless systems and used those with some new units." Cioffi credits then head audio tech Dale Girardin with getting to know as much as he could about the LS9. So by the time the system was in place, Girardin was up to speed and ready to go. A Yamaha SB168-ES Ethersound-based stage box provides the interface between the stage inputs and the console.
The sanctuary features tall ceilings with exposed wood beams and is, according to Cioff, "the perfect fit for the Nexo Geo S line array system." The design was accomplished with assistance from Nexo's staff using Nexo's NS-1 system configuration and simulation software. (Boulevard Pro Senior Project Manager John Orth installed the system along with Jamie Moran and Bryan Interino.)
The left and right Nexo line array system features four Geo S1210 and one Geo S1230 downfill enclosures per side. Polar Focus custom hanging hardware combined with the Nexo tour bumper bar allowed the installation team to aim the system precisely. There are also two Nexo RS215 subwoofers, one per side. A Nexo NXAMP 4X4 provides amplification and processing for the loudspeaker system. Six Yamaha CM112s serve as stage monitors, with power from a QSC CX404 amplifier. A QSC CX 204 amplifier is used to drive 70-volt lines to the cry room, classrooms and hallways. RapcoHorizon stage pockets and wire products were used to provide input to the system, as well as to interconnect all the components. Amplification and processing equipment were mounted in Middle Atlantic racks. In addition to three wireless systems Goodwill already had, Cioffi added six Shure SLX units.
Pragmatic, prudent, persevering
While Girardin was able to help initially with getting the system up and running, other responsibilities limited his time at Goodwill, so Susan Tree and Faith Illenberg assumed the responsibilities of operating the audio system for the church. As Lee notes, "That's the nature of church-and running a volunteer-based organization."
For the first two months after the system was installed, Goodwill hired a sound professional to help out. "He would come every Sunday and spend four hours at the church, and he really trained Dale [Girardin] and Sue [Tree] and all those who were interested in sound," Lee reports.
In addition to helping train Goodwill's techs, the hired sound pro also recommended that they get the Yamaha StageMix app for Apple's iPad for remote control of the LS9 console. As Lee recounts, "He was the one who really pushed for the iPad app. The beautiful thing about it is that we can go anywhere in the sanctuary and you're not stuck in the sound booth, and you're able to make adjustments. That piece of technology has become very handy for us."
Lee continues, "Occasionally, we do a stripped-down service, meaning one speaker and acoustic guitar. [And] sometimes ... we don't have a sound person, [but] we're able to pretty much control the sound from the stage, so it's been very helpful for me, and I know it's been helpful for Josh [Stewart] as well."
Goodwill's permanent Certificate of Occupancy was granted in January 2011. And while it's been a long time coming, Goodwill kept its focus on the budget-and ultimately was able to get the system needed. As Lee closes, "When it came down to actually installing the system we weren't able to do it right away, but we did a fundraiser specifically for that and we were able to raise enough funds to put in a system. There's still more to do, of course, but at least we're able to have services now." For Stewart, the progress is evident: "The reactions to the system have been superb. It is a state-of-the-art sound system that deeply enhances the worship experience in an architecturally beautiful worship space."
