When a church finds the right audiovisual contractor to upgrade its AV systems, distance doesn't matter - today's technology can bridge any geographical gaps. Creekside Christian Fellowship, in Needville, Tex., southeast of Houston, discovered this during the recent sound, lighting and video installation in the church's new multipurpose space.
CCF connected with Bemidji, Minn.-based NLFX Professional through a recommendation from the church's building contractor. It only took a few conference calls for Worship Minister Joey Gerke to realize that the 1,500 miles between the contractor and the church would not be an obstacle. "By taking time to understand the heart of our church, they were able to give us what we needed," comments Gerke.
Multi-purpose system needs
The church's current multi-purpose space hosts sporting events, trade shows and concerts. Every Sunday at 9:30 and 11 AM, it transforms into a sanctuary seating 450 church members. The venue permits the church to fulfill its vision, states Lead Pastor Greg Garcia, to: "[introduce] the un-churched to Christ and have a significant impact on our community."
The space has been used for everything from volleyball practice to community outreach events. Gerke says, "Any room in the building can be used for any purpose at any time."
A retractable stage provides the flexibility CCF requires in the multipurpose room. "The retractable stage was by far the greatest ‘out of the box challenge,'" Stowe explains. The 9,000-pound stage is moved manually by four or five church volunteers, but Stowe's team had to devise a way to move the cabling along with the stage-and keep it neat and tidy.
"As a staff, each of us had a half-dozen ideas - some fairly pragmatic and others really out there. Ultimately the collective brainpower produced a result that we feel good about," Stowe says. NLFX created a mechanical track system to retract the cables into floor pockets in the stage so volunteers can move the entire set-up into a nearby utility room when not in use.
A Pro Co Sound Momentum digital snake transmits audio signals between the stage, equipment room and AV control room over CAT6 cable. The Momentum system allows for easy expansion to up to 256 channels of audio without pulling additional cabling between racks.
Powerful system with room to grow
The room's layout -- short from the stage to the back, but wide and with a high ceiling -- called for flexible audio systems capable of providing wide coverage and high sound pressure levels with minimal sound bouncing back off the wall into the seating area or stage, according to Stowe.
A sound system was selected that, Gerke notes, "Sounds incredible in this room but can be used in a much bigger room very easily, too." When the multipurpose space becomes the lobby of a 2,000-seat sanctuary in phase 3 of the church's building project, the systems will make the transition. [Did You Know #3]
NLFX specified two clusters of three Fri+ loudspeakers from Electro-voice, with two full-range boxes flanking an Fri+181S subwoofer, all powered by TG5 amplifiers with onboard DSP/control modules.
The system provides a huge step up from the church's previous "speakers on sticks" arrangement, while the IRIS-Net remote control and supervision software from EV provides easy-to-use remote controls for the church's volunteer technical staff. It also gives NLFX personnel the ability to monitor the audio and lighting systems from their home offices in Minnesota - a huge benefit considering the distance between the installer and the church. "It hasn't happened yet, but if we get in a bind on Sunday morning, NLFX can help us remotely," Gerke says.
Through its programming, the IRIS-Net offers the ability for church tech staff to provide certain personnel with the means to access different "layers" of the system, giving full control to those who need it while giving volunteers access to the simple features they need. "If you have a large rack of analog gear it's very difficult to protect the gear from those who shouldn't touch it while making it easily accessible to those who should," Stowe says.
The IRIS-Net can also monitor itself, report faults in the system and even predict failures, making it exceptionally practical for busy church technical staff members who don't want to be caught blindsided on Sunday morning by a system failure. "We gave them the ability to run monthly tests to make sure everything is running properly, which is really important to the church, as they've never experienced this type of technology before," NLFX's Travis Scharn adds.
The IRIS' PC-based interface was a lot easier for the tech staff to learn than Gerke expected it to be. "The learning curve wasn't bad at all," Gerke says. Church members showed enthusiasm for the new systems, which helped Gerke recruit more volunteers to the tech staff, giving him a total of six people - plus himself -- who work on audio, video and lighting.
NLFX sought to provide great value within the church's limited budget by specifying five EV SxA250 powered stage monitors, Klark Teknik DI boxes and a robust Midas Venice console at front-of-house. The mixer, offering double the inputs of the church's previous analog mixer, permits the church to expand its praise team.
Gerke explains: "We've always been restricted to how many voices and instruments we can plug into the system. There are people who've always had the desire to serve on our praise team, and now they can. We have the freedom to add extra instruments and more voices."
A collection of EV wired and wireless mics, including RE410 handhelds and an RE97Tx headworn mic for the pastor, also makes it easier for the church to accommodate more musicians, guest speakers and instrumentalists during any given service or event. Gerke says, "If we have a guest singer, we can plug them in without having to disconnect someone else and scramble to get the guest hooked up."
"Changing the Whole Mood with Lighting"
The previous lighting system consisted of "a couple of spotlights," Gerke tells Church Production Magazine. The new system, using 14 Chauvet LED PAR64-36 cans and two Chauvet Q-WASHLED-36s controlled by a Chavet ShowXpress control interface, permits the church to set the mood with any color, at any time, with any light in the house.
The ShowXpress required some upfront training of the tech staff, but Gerke was pleased by the support offered from NLFX. "It took a few weeks," he adds. "We had to sit down and play with it."
The system's module design permitted Stowe and his team to teach the church tech staff basic features and then let them get comfortable with advanced features in a hands-on setting. "They feel encouraged knowing that we offer a safety net and are there to help at any turn should they need it," Stowe said. [Did You Know #2]
For a church on a budget, the LEDs were more cost-effective than conventional fixtures, providing upfront savings in the required building infrastructure and long-term savings in operational and maintenance costs. "Adding these benefits up shows that LED RGB par cans are not only very versatile, but will save the church money over their life," Stowe explains. [Did You Know #1]
Gerke describes the new lighting system as "night and day" from the original system. "It permits us to change the whole mood with a couple of clicks," he says.
In spite of (or perhaps thanks to) these vast capabilities, Gerke remains steadfast about not making the service look like a rock and roll show. "Being able to change the color of the lighting really changes the whole dynamic of a song," he explains. "We strongly believe in Thessalonians 5:19-20 and his letter to Paul: ‘Do not quench the Spirit.'
The lights set the mood for people to worship, to bring people close to Christ, not the technology. If people switch their focus to, ‘the light show was good,' we defeated our purpose."
In keeping with this philosophy as well as the church's limited budget, the video systems were kept to a minimum, with a single Da-Lite 105" X 140" motorized screen and BenQ projector. The system uses a Kramer switcher scaler and VGA to CAT5/CAT5 to VGA converters.
A Common Purpose
Even with 1,500 miles between NLFX's home office and CCF's sanctuary, the contractor and the church team bonded during the onsite installation and continue their relationship as NLFX continues to tweak and monitor the systems by means of the IRIS-NET. "We all felt a common sense purpose in accomplishing the goal of taking their worship experiences to the next level," Stowe says.
DID YOU KNOW SIDEBARS
1- Did You Know?
Money-saving LEDs add flexibility
LED's save churches money and also contribute to good creation-care, or green living. They stay cool, which means they contribute less BTUs to the church's air conditioning load. LED's draw less electricity than conventional fixtures, again, keeping monthly bills lower. They also have up to 50,000 hours of lamp life, which means lower maintenance costs and less waste to dispose of.
2- Did You Know?
"No Dumb Questions"
There's no better way to train church technical volunteers on new sound and lighting consoles than by doing. Give your tech staff plenty of time to experiment with the new systems in a low-pressure environment.
Adopt a policy that "there are no dumb questions," encouraging staff to ask questions that will give them a handle on the basics. Let volunteers move forward at their own pace.
3- Did You Know?
Keep Your Church's Master Plan in Mind
In operation only four years, Creekside Christian Fellowship consistently fills its 450-seat sanctuary for two Sunday services. With a friendly atmosphere that favors casual dress and fun music and welcomes the un-churched, CCF is predicting continued growth.
Keep your church's Master Plan in mind when making purchasing decisions. At CCF, the front-of-house sound console, lighting console and dimmer racks can all support the systems needed in a much larger room. While upfront costs may have been higher than selecting smaller consoles, this equipment will be with the church for many years.
