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A church plant goes with the flow–online via live HD streaming of the Word and in physical form– transforming an old Texas movie theater into a sanctuary and broadcast hub for contemporary worship.
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Dante audio networking protocol is used to manage 72 audio channels for mixing and monitoring. Yamaha R-Series input/output racks provide audio connectivity, and a Symetrix Radius 12x8 DSP with an Arc-2e preset controller deliver signal processing.
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To create enough white light for cameras, ETC Source Four fixtures the Daystar Network was retiring were repurposed and re-bulbed to achieve proper lighting temperatures for broadcast.
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The team at Grand Prairie, Texas-based Church Audio Video specified a Martin Professional M2GO 4 Universe Lighting Console (above) supplemented with five Lightronics AC1109 eight-scene wall control units for theatrical and broadcast lighting.
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Drum mics (left) at New Beginnings include Sennheiser e901 (kick inside), Audix D6 (kick outside), two Audix D4 (floor tom), two Audix D2 (rack tom), five Shure KSM137/SL (snare bottom , overheads, high hat and percussion overhead) and five Shure SM57-LC (snare top, congas, and bongos) microphones.
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Executive Pastor Luke Huch, has created the ideal environment to support a high-energy, youthful worship culture and the ministry’s unique, multi-ethnic and Judeo-Christian mission.
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Singers and presenters at New Beginnings use Shure ULXD4Q and ULXD2 wireless systems. Handheld mics feature Shure KSM9 capsules. Headset mics are primarily legacy DPA units.
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To create enough white light for cameras, ETC Source Four Fixtures the Daystar Network was retiring were repurposed and re-bulbed to achieve proper lighting temperatures for broadcast.
The extraordinary journey of Larry and Tiz Huch's New Beginnings Church has been nothing short of remarkable. This past year, the Dallas/Fort Worth area witnessed another major milestone for the ministry when the church transformed a tired movie theater into a new home for New Beginnings congregants, as well as a broadcast facility for the ministry's rapidly expanding network of “streaming” churches. At the new facility, a media-savvy staff, lead by the couple's son, Executive Pastor Luke Huch, has created the ideal environment to support a high-energy, youthful worship culture and the ministry's unique, multi-ethnic and Judeo-Christian mission.
Luke Huch has always been encouraged by his parents to explore his love for the arts. His best training for his current position overseeing all of the technical arts at New Beginnings, he says, was growing up in the ministry. He wants the same experience for his staff and volunteers. “People who get involved in the technology worship as much as anyone on stage or in the congregation,” he says. “If you can get people to see that what they are passionate about comes from God and how to use it for God, they become passionate about everything.” Working with his family to establish churches from the Southwest to the Pacific Northwest of the United States to the far reaches of Australia, Luke Huch has witnessed both the impact and the growth of technology in his parent's ministry, as well as the critical roles musicians and technicians play in the church.
The younger Huch, who is a professional musician and producer, has been full-time pastor for 12 years. He recalls the unexpected decision to move the ministry's seat of operations to Dallas/Fort Worth 10 years ago. “We were very well-established, having been in Portland, Ore., for over 15 years, and [we] loved the Pacific Northwest,” he recalls. “Things were going really well when God put it on my father's heart to move one more time. Dallas represented a more central location for us.” After passing the church in Portland on to its associate pastor, New Beginnings rented a building in Irving, Texas, and established itself, but didn't find a permanent home right away. It was their relationship with Marcus and Joni Lamb, founders of the DayStar Christian Television Network, that ultimately lead them to the right spot—an old theater. “It was in bad shape,” recalls Luke Huch, “but the existing layout was perfect for our vision and allowed us to add another quarter of its size to [the] floor plan.”
Adaptive Reuse in Action
Once the building was acquired, a main sanctuary needed to be designed for the ministry’s powerful live services, but also with a strong emphasis on video and production. “Both of our Sunday services in the 950-seat sanctuary are well attended,” reports Luke Huch, “but it’s typical to have more individual computers streaming live on Sunday morning than people in the seats.” The live HD streams are viewed across the nation and globally by individuals on PCs, but also by a growing number of “pancake churches” (families who get together for Sunday breakfast and a broadcast service), as well as larger audiences that gather in schools, rented halls and hotels. New Beginnings is appointing a remote staff of greeters, paid technical personnel and elders to facilitate services at these remote locations. “We are always looking at ways to better facilitate streaming, and [we are] frequently approached for advice as to the best ways to do it,” says Huch. He expects that full-time pastors will soon be working at strategic remote streaming locations.
"Our services are well attended. But it’s typical to have more individual computers streaming live on Sunday morning than people in the seats."
Luke Huch
Executive Pastor, New Beginnings Church, Bedford, TX.
In addition to a new sanctuary, plans for the old theater included two 170-seat children’s areas that could be used for overflow seating, offices for ministries and a broadcast suite. To implement physical and mechanical redesign, the church looked to Tim Love to lead a construction team from Tarrant Construction Services Ltd. of Fort Worth, Texas; Bill Harty, CEO of Dallas-based Ascent church consultants would provide direction for the interior redesign of the space; and Worlds of Wow of Argyle, Texas, who would design and implement larger-than-life themes for the children’s areas. Jeff Hedback of Hedback Designed Acoustics determined acoustical treatments for the room, which ultimately included the addition of 2,700 square feet of G&S Acoustics acoustical panels. To handle all of the media required at New Beginnings, Huch and his team turned to Jeff McLeod, managing director of Church Audio Video based in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Like Huch, McLeod is also a veteran musician and passionate about how media can help work God’s plan. A guitarist and songwriter since the age of 11, he experienced a miraculous calling just before his senior year of high school in Kennesaw, Ga. A July 4th service in 1976 changed his life and set him on a course that would have him playing, writing and recording music, plus helping churches with technology along the way. He received a bachelor’s degree in English in 1981 from what is now Kennesaw State University and a Master of Divinity and Biblical Languages from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Since the age of 19, he has been on staff at churches and jokes about having learned about media on the job by “making every mistake you can make.”
McLeod started a recording studio business in 1997 that focused on fledgling Christian bands and produced Christian radio programs before becoming associated with the equipment provider, ProAudio.com, in 2004. His work providing installation help for churches led to the creation of a design/build division for ProAudio.com, Church Audio Video, four years ago. “I was really just a gear salesman when I started,” he recalls, “but churches were asking for install help and that led to us branching out into integration and installation.” Now, with six full-time employees reporting to him, McLeod focuses on sales, but he still devotes much of his time and energy to design work for church clients. “We work with other industries,” he says, “but we have a focused passion to help churches.”
AV Moves
Working with the professional technicians at New Beginnings, McLeod got a head start on the project’s design. “They have a highly proficient paid and volunteer staff,” he says. “They [gave] us a clear vision and objectives for the end result and that enabled us to find the best products to do the job.” Working closely with Huch, Shannon Kelly, audio engineer for New Beginnings and the Daystar Network, and Mark Helms, lead designer at ProAudio.com, McLeod and Helms specified two Yamaha CL5 mixing consoles for the ministry: one to be located in the main sanctuary (center and rear), and one dedicated to the broadcast room to handle stream broadcasts and recording. “The CL5 console is a great value,” McLeod says. “They are easily networked and provide great flexibility.” McLeod points to the Dante protocol as a particular advantage for the New Beginnings installation because it presents all 72 channels live for mixing and monitoring, as well as digital connectivity for RIO3224-D (32 mic/line input) and RIO1608-D (16 analog + 8 AES output) boxes selected for I/O and the Symetrix Radius 12x8 DSP with Arc-2e preset controller for signal processing. Shielded Cat 6 Ethernet cable connects the digital components and Aviom’s Dante D800 distributor for onstage monitoring.
New Beginnings rented a building in Irving, Texas, and established itself … ultimately in an old theater.
Clear and powerful sound in the main sanctuary is provided by Danley loudspeakers with two SH-96 90x60-degree loudspeakers hung left and right with an additional SH-96 on delay at each side of the fan-shaped room. Two SH-46 40x60-degree loudspeakers are hung coupled to achieve 120-degree dispersion for the center section and four TH115 1x15-inch high-power subwoofers are located below the stage to handle the low end. Danley DSLA Series amps power the entire main system. Middle Atlantic racks were specified to rack the components, and three Juice Goose CQ3000 30-amp power sequencers and a Juice Goose CQ PDI-4 4x2-amp sequencer provide power.
To best capture sound on stage, McLeod and audio engineer, Shannon Kelley specified three Shure ULXD4Q Quad wireless receivers with Dante, along with eight Shure ULXD2/KSM9 handheld wireless transmitters with KSM9 capsules to work alongside existing DPA headset microphones. In addition, Heil PR35 and Shure SM58A handheld microphones were added. For drums, Sennheiser e901 (kick inside), Audix D6 (kick outside), two Audix D4 (floor tom), two Audix D2 (rack tom), five Shure KSM137/SL (snare bottom, overheads, high hat and percussion overhead) and five Shure SM57-LC (snare top, congas, and bongos) microphones were chosen. Elite Core DIR-2 dual mono/stereo and DIR-1 mono direct boxes provide direct inputs on stage. Three Shure PSM 1000 wireless personal monitor systems with Shure SE425CL earbuds augment existing Sennheiser monitoring systems, along with six Electro-Voice ELX112P powered wedges.
Staging Elements & Lighting
For a modern and flexible stage design in the main sanctuary, New Beginnings employed design elements created by Cinemation Design Inc. of Roanoke, Texas. Cinemation’s unique 3x3-foot, lightweight aluminum component pieces connect together to build floors, walls and other architectural pieces. The integral design allows for easy stage reconfiguration with “skins” and surfaces to create a seemingly endless variety of looks and functionality. The system proved ideal to provide a triple-wide format for projection with three Da-Lite Cinema Contour screens with HD 1.3 surfaces that provide targets for three Vivitek model D8800 8,000 lumen DLP projectors rigged with Chief Manufacturing’s VCMU adjustable large projector mounts. Screen images are driven by a Renewed Vision Multi-Screen Module for ProPresenter and a Matrox TripleHead2Go display module.
Because the sanctuary is used for both live services and broadcast, installing suitable lighting for both purposes was critical. A Martin Professional M2GO 4 Universe Lighting Console (dual-core processor with no external computer required) was installed for lighting control along with two Elation OPB178 Opti-Branch 8 - DMX splitter/isolators and an ELO 2200L 22-inch touchscreen monitor. Seven ETC SL1210TM 12x10-amp dimmers were also installed with an ETC S-SPM4 SmartLink Station Power Module and an ETC SS-121P 12x20-amp relay controller. In addition, a Lightronics AB0602D six-channel 0-10V controller and five Lightronics AC1109 eight-scene wall control units provide additional control for broadcast lighting. To create enough white light for cameras, ETC Source Four fixtures the Daystar Network was retiring were repurposed and re-bulbed to achieve proper lighting temperatures for broadcast. Finally, to create dynamic designs for live services, McLeod and his team installed an effects lighting system featuring eight Elation Satura LED Pro 700-1200W Equivalent LED RGBW spots, four Elation Platinum ZFX Pro 19x15W RGBW LED washes, four Elation Platinum LED Pro II 350W Equiv LED spots along with 14 Elation CuePix 2x100W COB LED blinders and two Martin Pro Jem water-based hazers.
As a final touch to Luke Huch’s vision for New Beginnings’ home in Dallas/Fort Worth, the new design includes a recording studio from which he hopes to produce worship CDs and other musical offerings. “Technology has clearly become a major tool for us,” he says. “Today, people worship and receive us via technology.” While New Beginnings has completed an important move into its new home, Huch feels strongly that the future of the church is in reaching more campuses. “Dallas is our permanent home now,” he says, “but we are always going to be asking what’s next.”
