Seemingly overnight, houses of worship all over the country stepped up their digital presence in response to the coronavirus, changing the role of tech teams, physical production spaces in church buildings, and of course, who's watching and from where.
More people than ever are attending your "online campus," according to Dave Milam, vice president of strategic design at Visioneering Studios in Santa Ana, Calif. Visioneering provides design of modern church facilities and spaces around the country, including the iconic chapel and youth spaces at Mariners Church in Irvine, the second largest church building in California and one of the 20 largest churches in the United States.
"Resolved to sustain the power of their online impact, church leaders are now scrambling to find permanent and visible dedicated studio space to house their online campuses." Dave Milam, Vice President of Strategic Design, Visioneering Studios, Santa Ana, CA
Milam reports that the arrival of COVID-19 has turned church operations on its head -- and along with it, the way church technical teams operate and the way their production spaces may look moving forward.
As Milam says, "Resolved to sustain the power of their online impact, church leaders are now scrambling to find permanent and visible dedicated studio space to house their online campuses," adding, "It just wouldn't make sense to tuck away expensive camera gear in some back closet that once stored the mop bucket."
In the post-COVID season, you'll start to see glassed-in online studios attached to church lobbies as a strategy to keep the church's digital presence front and center, he reports.
Even the largest physical spaces that once claimed the most square footage in a church's design layout are likely to be repurposed as technical production studios going forward. With the arrival of COVID-19, Milam closes, “In a matter of days we witnessed churches across the nation stack their auditorium seats and transform their worship centers into full-scale sound stages."
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Editor's note: Has your church dedicated non-production-ministry space to your tech team's broadcast and streaming activities since the start of the year? And if so, how so? Share your experiences and thoughts in the Comments section below.
