Register to win a FREE Mitsubishi Projector!

Catalyst Dallas is a gathering of young influencers who see things differently and feel a burden for our generation. They seek to learn, worship, and create together with momentous energy while passionately pursuing God. They are Catalyst- the kingdom ambassadors, change agents, and cultural architects who have the influence to change our churches, communities, and cultures for good.

On May 11-13, 3500 leaders are converging for a revolution of ideas that will challenge the process, and inspire us to do more, give more, lead more, and live more on purpose for the cause of Christ. Even more than a cutting-edge event, Catalyst is an experience that leaves you enlightened, rejuvenated, and ready to embrace the life to which you have been entrusted and the journey to which you've been called.

Fowler will be there to discuss the latest trends in technology for churches. Come by our booth to see a demo on how environmental projection can radically change the look and feel of your worship space. Check out the latest in wide screen options and HD camera choices.

You are invited! Click here for more info about Catalyst Dallas

Or you can register here: https://events.catalystspace.com/

Location:

Bent Tree Bible Fellowship
4141 International Parkway
Carrollton, TX 75007

We hope to see you there! For more information on how Fowler can help your ministry with Audio Video Lighting & Broadcast Solutions, call us at 800-729-0163 or visit us at www.fowlerinc.com !

Maybe you’ve needed to upgrade your projectors for a while, but you’ve put it off. Now Easter is right here and we are hearing from churches on a daily basis that they need a new projector…yesterday! Maybe you need a projector to set up portably for Easter service overflow; maybe your projectors are out of date… older technology, or just not bright enough? Call us immediately, for an unbelievable price on the new Mitsubishi WD8200U DLP projectors and ask about the Fowler Easter special! If you purchase the projector before Easter receive an additional $200 OFF!

This projector is wide screen format with 6500 lumens! Tons of lens shift flexibility and keystone correction capability. It is DLP technology, with dual lamps. Lenses are interchangeable, and it comes with hardwire remote capability. Also, available in a 4:3 format with 7000 lumens.

Call Fowler at 800-729-0163 to see if this projector will work in your church and ask about the Easter special!

 *Offer Expires April 22, 2011

There is no easier, more effective way to change the mood of a room than with lighting. Typically, to accomplish a great “environment” in a room required a fairly extensive lighting system, but a new trend in the worship market has put this goal within reach of many churches and ministries. The trend is Environmental Projection. If you aren’t familiar with the term and think this is a trendy new way to ‘go green’, it isn’t. Environmental Projection consists of one or more projectors used to project a large image onto a wall rather than onto a screen. Now some of you are thinking that you have done that, but we're not talking about projecting onto the wall in the traditional sense. With environmental projection, we’re using the ENTIRE wall as a screen. As in a 20‘x40’ screen! Of course you will not get the same kind of pop with an image that big and don’t even think about turning the house lights on, but remember we’re not using the projection system as we normally would. In fact, you shouldn’t really even think about it as projection, but more as effect lighting. The purpose of environmental projection is to “paint the wall”, to change the environment.

We recently had the opportunity to do a demo with Lifechurch.tv in Oklahoma City. As you can see from the video above, environmental projection can completely change the look and feel of a room for minimal cost. Many smaller churches we’ve worked with are choosing environmental projection for their contemporary service rather than making the investment in intelligent lighting. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a need for intelligent lighting and ideally you would have both, but it does allow smaller churches with limited budgets to get the “cool” factor.

There are several things to consider when building an environmental projection system. Obviously a flat wall would be ideal. Also, the color of the wall will affect things; you will have to play with the various images to determine what looks best in your particular room. You also have to think about how much of the room you want to fill. The desired coverage area will determine the number of projectors that will be required and you want to try to match the brightness level of all projectors if possible. A typical environmental projection setup includes three projectors working together, however again, you could use fewer or more, depending on the coverage area.

In the video above, as well as in the picture to the left, the setup includes a total of eight projectors. Only five of the projectors were used to provide the environmental look. In the photo below, only two projectors were used to paint the stage area only. The primary difference in the two setups is not brightness, clarity, or sharpness. It is only a difference in coverage area. The more projectors you add to the system, the more wall space you can cover. For instance you could wrap the entire room including ceiling and floor with enough projectors installed.

It’s important to clarify what environmental projection is and what it is not. For instance, it is an inexpensive way to achieve a look that you may more typically use intelligent lighting for, but it is not a substitute for proper stage lighting. It is a good way to extend the look of your stage out into the room but it is not going to have the same kind of vibrant punch you’ll get from a smaller image projected onto a screen. As you can see from the photos and video, it compliments the main screens, but it certainly is not going to replace them. And the house lights remain very low in order to allow the image to shine through. There are lots of things you can do with environmental projection to compliment, add to, or even completely change the look of your room and Fowler Productions is equipped to help you make this a reality in your space. Depending on the size of your room and the desired coverage area, we will work with you to determine the proper amount of projectors, cabling, other hardware and software necessary to achieve this kind of look.

Call us at 800-729-0163; we would love to see if Environmental Projection will work in your church or click here for more information.

It’s amazing how making a single investment begins to give “legs” to your ministry and message. And now with the coming of relatively inexpensive High Definition cameras and mixing equipment, whole new vistas are being revealed in many churches. With High Definition equipment there is an even greater ability for absentee congregation members to feel that they are still part of a worship experience. By recording your services, you can take advantage of internet delivery methods like streaming or podcasting, allowing your message to be delivered literally around the world! Maybe the camera system isn’t needed for distribution; perhaps it’s for accommodating an overflow room in another area of the church, or for archiving your services. There are myriads of uses for this one type of equipment!

With hundreds of camera options and configurations available to the consumer, there are a few key questions to consider before selecting a specific camera for your needs:

• Should you utilize manned cameras or remotely controlled cameras (like a Pan/Tilt/Zoom option)?
• Will you need CCU control, which gives you the ability to adjust settings for the camera(s) remotely to compensate for lighting exposure?
• Will you need to utilize this camera in a hand-held setting or will it be used in a semi-permanent location at all times?

All these options have pros and cons and some are much wiser choices than others depending on the application. Before you invest in a camera, please call us and let us talk through the options with you!

Another thing to keep in mind when adding cameras into your existing system is that this can cause a “ripple effect” of discontent with some of your older gear. For instance, the quality of the image from any camera is directly related to the lighting in the room. Even if your lighting appears to be fine in a live environment, it may appear sub-par on the recorded image. Inadequate lighting can cause some undesirable “graininess” in your recorded and projected images. If the lighting is too hot, then the camera image can “bloom,” or wash out colors. On the other end of the signal chain, if your projector is not bright enough, then even a well-lit, well-recorded camera image can appear dark and un-detailed on your projected image. Also, if your camera is a higher resolution and format than your projector your audience will not see the image quality that your camera has the capability of delivering.

These are just a few of the many reasons why it is vital to have the help of a professional during any upgrade process. Get the information you need to make an informed, wise investment.

To find out more information about camera systems for your church call Fowler at 1-800-729-0163 or click here

ProPresenter 4 might just be the Swiss Army Knife of worship presentation software. Is your church interested in Environmental Projection? Check. Looking to display web pages live on screen? Check. Need a way to control what you show to the people on stage separately from the congregation's view? Check!

ProPresenter 4 has been built from the ground up to make projection in the worship space simple, powerful, and intuitive. By combining the abilities to project lyrics, scripture, videos and DVD clips into one volunteer-friendly user interface, ProPresenter has become the top worship presentation software on the Macintosh platform.

With this powerful tool, you can create dynamic still or motion graphics to utilize in Environmental Projection by adding just a few, affordable, ancillary products. Create a wall-sized graphic for affordable effect lighting. The options are basically endless.

ProPresenter 4 has a new Web View that will allow you to show any web page live to your congregation. So much information is available on the internet, this can be an invaluable tool, and the display is clean, without all the address bars, bookmarks and all the other distracting elements. So the focus remains where it should be, on the message!

With the new Stage Display feature, also referred to as a confidence monitor or display, the controller has an almost limitless ability to communicate with the stage by giving them their own distinct output from ProPresenter. This requires the use of an additional (inexpensive) hardware device but allows you to show custom messages, countdowns, clocks, current and next slide text, and even alerts that will not appear to the congregation. If someone has forgotten to turn on their microphone, you can now alert them discreetly without interrupting the service by trying to flag them down from the soundbooth!

For more information on system requirements and a FREE trial version of ProPresenter click here

For Windows based systems click here for more information about Easy Worship.

Fowler also offers online LIVE training on either software. For assistance on which software would work best for you call us at 1-800-729-0163.

Building a new worship space? Remodeling an existing sanctuary? Need to upgrade your existing audio, video, lighting or production equipment? An onsite visit from Fowler’s Design Team is the best place to start.

One of our specialties has been to help churches by creating custom media solutions via phone consultation. In smaller applications we are able to provide custom drawings enabling our clients to do self installs. However, some systems are too complicated to design over the phone, and some concepts and facilities are too complex to fully explore without a face-to-face meeting and hands-on approach.

The Fowler Design Group has almost 100 years of combined experience in church media. We would love to visit your church and sit down with your staff to determine the best direction for your physical space, worship style and budget. Our onsite consultation fees are very competitive and should you choose to move forward with Fowler to provide your equipment and install your project, the consultation fee is deducted from the bottom line. The design is the critical step to ensure you start with a solid infrastructure you can build on for years to come.

For more information on the Fowler Design Group call 800-729-0163 or click here.

To see our Gallery click here.

If you are still controlling your projector with the factory remote control, then you have definitely experienced a delay when you switch from your video to your computer. Ever go to a blue screen? Well, we have a simple, affordable little device that can make a video operator’s life so much less stressful and can make these transitions fool-proof!

One quick fix is to utilize a switcher/scaler in your church’s video system. They have been around forever, but to simplify a video system, sometimes it’s the proven things that make the biggest difference. Think of a switcher/scaler as a traffic officer for video and audio signals. It tells which signals go to the screen and the audio console at any time during your service. A single push of a button smoothly transitions you from one source to your desired source. Presto! The video from the DVD player is on the screen and audio is routed to the sound system. No messing with different sliders on the sound board; no hunting for which channel should be live. It simplifies everything. Now all you need your remote for is the on/off button.

For more ideas on how to make your presentations more professional call 1-800-729-0163 or click here

Come see Fowler booth # 29 and 30.  Watch our Twitter feed or come by the booth to register to win either motion backgrounds from Worship Films, an iPod Nano, an Apple TV or an Apple iPad. We're featuring the For-A HVS300 HD video mixer, the Panasonic HPX370 HD video camera, a video wall with several plasma displays, and a Final Cut Studio workstation.

Acoustics - the misunderstood player in the sound world, and often the most overlooked aspect of a building project, renovation, or remodel.

Though speakers, microphones, and sound boards make sure that people can hear the message being given, the acoustics help to ensure people will understand it.  The proper acoustics in a project help fine tune a room, create intelligibility and understanding, and make it possible to comfortably enjoy the effort put in by the sound equipment.

It’s important to understand acoustics; without the application a room can feel too loud, full of echo, impossible to hear, or too dead for the overall purpose of the room.  The addition of acoustical wall and ceiling treatments in a room help to address sound diffusion to eliminate echo as well as noise reduction to negate reverberation.

An echo is a distinct reflection of sound arriving at the listener after the direct sound.  Echoes can be problematic in smaller rooms, but the larger the room, the longer sound travels, and the more negatively it can impact the listening experience.  To successfully eliminate echo from a room, the large, smooth flat areas that allow echo must be removed using diffusers.  A sound diffuser is anything that scatters sound so that it turns echo into reverberation.  There are some innovative products available today that are absorbers with built-in diffusive characteristics (Diffsorbers) that create a cost effective solution to echo problems.

In 1898 W.C. Sabine discovered the relationship between the impact of absorption and sound reverberation time.  Sabine's reverberation formula has been used to determine material absorption coefficients (or Noise Reduction Coefficients - NRC), creating a standard for acoustical products; the higher the NRC value the more absorptive the product.  It’s also important to note a product’s absorption across the frequency band. Products such as acoustical ceiling tiles, carpeting, drapes, carved foam, various fiberglass panels, etc., may not be successful at all frequencies. These products affect the mid-high (1000 Hz) to high (2000 Hz) frequencies, but can neglect mid-low (250 Hz) and low (125 Hz) frequencies.

There is freedom from echo and reverberation.  In fact, there are patented acoustical products available that are designed to eliminate echo while minimizing not only the bothersome high frequencies, but also the “boomy” low frequencies that cause the most hearing damage.  Acoustical wall and ceiling panels can also be made to work with the décor of any facility, from artistic designs in a theater, to school colors of a gymnasium, to the subtle color of panels that blend into the wall.

Whether the acoustical panels stand out or blend in, stop echo or help create a lively choral environment, the important thing to remember is they are the perfect specialized solution to create your desired communication environment.

For more information on how acoustical panels can benefit your church, call Fowler 800-729-0163.

Courtesy of:

Angie Allen

Perdue Acoustics

The camera approaches more slowly, the music and the tension are building. The camera nudges its way through the open outer door, and there bathed in the soft light of a comfortable study, we see the pastor, hard at work, preparing a message that will impact countless lives across many years (the church installed a recording system from Fowler just last month!). As we move to the side of the desk, we see in Pastor’s face the beginning of a realization that something is amiss. At first it is subtle, a gentle tug on the corners of the conscious. Quickly however the thought ascends from the depths, gathering momentum until suddenly, it hits! Pastor’s head raises up, the horror apparent, “That dad-gum projector lamp is going out with Christmas just around the corner!”

That’s right folks, Christmas is here! Well, actually, we still have a while before that’s exactly true, but now is the time to begin planning for your Christmas services. Do you want to upgrade your projection system so that the Christmas graphics look as good as possible? Do you need some additional lighting for the Christmas program? One of the great things about the Christmas season is the spike in attendance. The bad part about the Christmas season is that all of the planning seems to be left for the very last moment. The worst time to let a lack of planning get in the way of the message is when we have a room packed full of guests!

Start thinking through your program now and be proactive about maintenance or upgrades for your equipment. Start talking to your planning team about the approach that media will take during the holidays, both in terms of manpower as well as production. This is one of two times in every calendar year we can count on a relatively captive audience, many of whom are struggling and needing a special touch. With a little planning and forethought, we can be best equipped to deliver to them the world altering, life-changing message of the manger.

With over 100 new features, ProPresenter 4 represents a major leap forward for the best selling Worship Presentation Software for the Mac platform. If you’re new to ProPresenter just to cover the basics, it is a lyric and media presentation package geared toward the live worship service. ProPresenter’s intuitive, thumbnail-based approach to display, is very simple for beginners but allows a vast degree of customization that is sure to please the power users as well. The interface for version 4 has been tweaked just a bit to provide some more continuity while maintaining the clean look that ProPresenter’s users have been enjoying for years.

The heart of any display software is its display engine. In ProPresenter 4 the display engine has been completely redesigned to allow more capabilities than ever before. Multiple objects can now be placed on a single slide with precise control of spacing, alignment, and style. Adjustments for kerning, line color, and fill color as well as other parameters make it simple to create a custom look without sacrificing the overall ease of use of the software.

A new feature for ProPresenter 4 is Templates. Templates are a simple way to change the style of any presentation in the library quickly and easily. If you want to use a certain song as lower thirds to go over the top of a live video feed, just create a template with the text constrained to the lower part of the slide. Place a graphic behind the text and apply the template to your presentation. It’s that easy. Changed your mind and want that same song to full screen, just apply your normal full screen template and it’s done.

The Props Layer is another new addition to ProPresenter 4. Props are objects that can be placed on certain slides, multiple slides, or an entire presentation independent of the other layers that are being displayed. For example, does your church have a logo that you would like to place in the lower right hand corner like a screen bug. No problem, just create a prop and place the logo where you want it to sit on the slide. Props also maintain any transparency settings for graphic formats that support them.

PP4 even has a feature that enables very simple and affordable environmental projection (if you don't know what that is, wait for our upcoming blog post about Environmental Projection to find out more).

These are just a few of the new features offered in ProPresenter 4. There are plenty of others to check out when you install the free 30 day trial that is available at http://www.renewedvision.com/pro_download.php.

Fowler Productions also offers a training class for ProPresenter 4 every other month for $99. The next class is September 14^th at 6pm CST, so be sure to register soon!

Every once in a while a new product comes out with the combination of features, usability, and price point, that the industry has been craving.  There is a great chance that Panasonic’s new AW-HS50N is one of those products.

For years, churches have been asking for a small video mixer with digital inputs, an auxiliary bus, a keyer, and an affordable price. The HS50N has got all of this covered plus some extras that make it an especially desirable little piece of tech.

To start, there are 5 fully digital inputs. 4 are HDSDI and one is DVI so the unit can handle a computer graphics input without any external processing. For those not familiar with it, SDI/HDSDI is a professional video signal that has been utilized in broadcast and high end production facilities for years. It is a reliable way to distribute a pristine digital video signal over long distances.

Another powerful feature of the HS50N is the MultiViewer. This feature allows one output to an HD monitor to display up to 10 images simultaneously. You can have Preview, Program, and all input sources viewable at the same time on one centrally located display. This eliminates the need for a bank of high definition production monitors and significantly reduces the costs associated with deploying an HD video system.

The Auxiliary, or Aux, bus, allows one particular input to be sent to a separate output regardless of what is being shown on the program out. For instance, let’s say you have one camera that always shows a wide shot of the whole front of the sanctuary and you want to send that shot only to the nursery. Just call up that camera on the Aux bus and its done. It’s truly a set it and forget it option.

Panasonic has really packed the features into this little switcher and when you throw in a lower list price than their last generation standard definition small format production mixer, you have the makings of a product that could be a game changer in the market.

Last week I was on vacation with my family. We packed the family vehicle to within an inch of its life with groceries, clothes, gear, and kids (not necessarily in that order) and headed off for a week of wilderness fun! Upon arriving at the campgrounds it fell to me, of course, to set up our tents. Feeling quite the outdoorsman and ready to teach my children the joys of living in commune with nature, I encountered the only real setback of our otherwise idyllic trip. In all our frenetic packing, I had failed to bring a hammer, an essential in staking down the tents. Well, I was not about to be deterred by such a small detail, so after a little searching, I found a fairly hefty piece of wood that I thought would work out pretty well and commenced a-hammering. And in the end it all worked out, but not without several sore fingers, a cramp in my right forearm, and a caustic look from my wife about the “new words” that our 5 year old twins had learned. Just kidding!

It was during one of the more painful moments of this adventure that I began to think longingly of the hammer that I knew was in my tool chest back at the house, which is undoubtedly the right tool for hammering tent stakes into hard ground. As I see it, the right tool gives us three major advantages in any job;

1. It makes the job easier

2. It makes the job faster

3. It provides a better finished product

This brings me to the subject. Worship Presentation Software has become, if not a necessity, at least a trend in the church and worship world, and for good reason. Almost regardless of which product a church or ministry might choose, the advantages and benefits over a regular slide show creation program like PowerPoint™ are marked and numerous. Now this is not to knock PowerPoint™. It’s a great program and it does exactly what it was designed to do, it goes from slide to slide to slide with tremendous reliability. It’s just that most of our church services don’t go from slide to slide with anywhere near the same kind of reliability! There is a lot more spontaneity built into even the most programmed church service, than in any sales or corporate presentation (which is what PowerPoint™ is specifically designed to do).

Ideally, the church will look at the biggest Worship Presentation Software players in the market and decide which feature set is right for them THEN purchase a computer that runs that software well. This seemingly backwards approach is because, arguably, the top two competitors run on different platforms; Windows and Mac. As of right now, EasyWorship runs in Windows only and ProPresenter runs on Macs only. They both do a fantastic job of serving up song lyrics and Bible scriptures on demand but they each have some defining features. By choosing the features your church needs, then choosing the computer to run it on you will generally be better served in the long run.

EasyWorship includes a rich feature set, with motion backgrounds, built in scripture database, and support for running PowerPoint™ files directly from within the EasyWorship interface being some of the most popular. It is very easy to operate and volunteers can be quickly trained to operate it.

ProPresenter 4 has a beautifully designed, very graphical user interface, which provides an intuitive working environment for beginners while maintaining an outstanding set of advanced features for power users. If your church does a lot of live video production, ProPresenter has some features that help it to fit into that environment more seamlessly.

Fowler Productions provides monthly training classes for EasyWorship and ProPresenter to help anyone from the first time user to the old pro to better utilize either of these tremendous tools to the greatest advantage.

This dual-lamp DLP® projector gives you superior performance and reliability, with brightness, super resolution and continuous-use capability. If you’re looking for a reliable, quality solution for presenting in large, bright rooms or auditoriums, the XD8100U data projector is the answer.

The XGA Projector That Accommodates Your Needs

You can rely on your new XD8100U DLP projector to be just what you need, when you need it.

• Continuous non-stop 24/7 operability with dual lamp and lamp relay modes
• Automated and reusable self-cleaning filter for a lower total cost of ownership
• Ingenious heat pipe cooling technology that delivers projection cooling, energy savings and quietness as well
• Super Resolution technology that delivers ultra-sharp detail projection
• Built-in support for Crestron RoomView and AMX Device Discovery for remote management
• Edge blending for both side-by-side as well as top-bottom projection
• Supports geometric projection on curved surfaces as well as 360 degree projection
• Closed Caption support
• Estimated lamp life of up to 4000hrs (low mode)
• Consumes less than 1W of power consumption for increased energy savings (low mode)
• Natural Color Matrix support independent controlled color adjustments with effecting other colors
• Side-access lamp design for easy and convenient lamp access
• Delivers a bright 7000 lumens image
• Accepts 5 optional lenses, ranging from a 0.8 rear projection fixed short throw lens all the way up to our new 9.0 UZ lens

Highest Quality Images Even in Bright Halls or Auditoriums

Present with confidence even in the largest rooms with the XD8100U XGA projector. Images are reproduced in high contrast and superior brightness and with its dual lamp design it will allow for continuous projection for long periods of time. This DLP projector offers truer, more vibrant color with Texas Instruments BrilliantColor^TM technology.

Designed for Easy Usability and Maintenance

Depending on a particular presentation’s needs, you can change out the high-brightness color wheel on your data projector with an optional six-segment color wheel that emphasizes richness and depth of color. The filter is self-cleaning and reusable. Each of the dual lamps needs only one hour of shut-down every week, so you can meet even the most challenging projection needs, including continuous operation over long periods of time.

Automated and Reusable Self-Cleaning Filter

The XD8100U is equipped with an automated and reusable self-cleaning filter. This combination of a mesh filter and cleaning brush helps protect and prevent dust and dirt particles from entering and affecting the internal components of the projector. Additionally this automated self-cleaning filter design not only helps reduce maintenance efforts but its reusable design makes it very eco-friendly and lowers the overall total cost of ownership.

Image Correction Using Advanced Technologies

Mitsubishi Electric’s Super Resolution technology is an advanced algorithm that analyzes the signal of the original image, identifies and estimates areas of the high-resolution data not provided—and corrects the image quality. The result is a projected image that delivers ultra-sharp details and clarity. The XD8100U also includes built-in edge blending technology for multiple side-by-side, as well stacked projection, allowing multiple projectors to create a single, seamless image. Corrective distortion allows for projection to curved surfaces, and full 360 degree projection along its vertical axis enables extensive projection ranging from floor to ceiling.

To fully understand how a digital signage system can benefit your ministry, you have to understand what a digital signage system is. At the most basic level, a computer screen showing something like a Power Point presentation qualifies as a signage system. While this makes for a start, what really opens up the possibilities is scheduling content to play at specific times. Power Point and Keynote won’t let you do that so you have to move over to an actual signage solution. When you do that, you get to drop content onto a calendar to play only when you want it to.

Imagine the lobby of a busy church with a 50” LCD opposite the main entrance. On Sunday mornings you could schedule an announcement loop that shows slides advertising upcoming events for the week. There could also be a slide showing the title and scripture reference for that morning’s message. When the service starts, some signage systems will even allow you to show live video so you could have the display switch over and show the camera feed from the auditorium. Then, at the end of the service the display switches to a video with details about the new building program.

Now, imagine expanding this system so that there’s a display or two for the youth area of the building. Maybe another display at the toddler check-in area and finally a display in the young adult hallway. Each of these displays can show content specific to each audience. Show slides about the upcoming youth camp in the youth area, advertise the mission trip to the young adults, and advertise a mom’s-day-out program to the check-in area. Now you’re able to get the most relevant information to the right people where they are.

There are many types of signage systems on the market, each with different features and prices. In the above scenario, you’ll need a four zone signage system. Each display (or group of displays) you want to be able to show independent content on constitutes a zone: the lobby display, the youth area, check-in area, and young adult area. It doesn’t matter how many displays you want per zone, multiple displays are easy to accommodate with distribution amplifiers, but if you want different content on display B than what’s showing on display A, you need two zones.

Creating the content for your signage system can be a fairly straightforward exercise or, if you want more complex animations or actual video footage, a rather involved process. If you’ve been showing announcement slides at the beginning of your service then you already have what it takes to get started. As your system grows, you’ll likely want to come up with a process for submitting announcement requests and decide who does what part of that process. In larger systems you may have an online form to submit a signage request. When that request is submitted it goes to someone to edit or approve the announcement before it is passed on to the person who will actually create the graphic or movie. Smaller systems can be as simple as creating a Power Point graphic and emailing it to the church secretary to be included in the announcement loop.

Think about how you communicate events to your congregation now. Is it effective? Is it efficient? The world is changing and reading through a list of announcements from the pulpit may not be the best way to keep your audience’s attention. Digital signage doesn’t even end with a display hanging on a wall. Post your announcements and events to a church Facebook and Twitter account and you’ll get that important information in front of even more people. If it plugs into a wall it’s digital and if it conveys information it’s signage. Remember that there are many ways to communicate a message and the more ways you communicate that message, the greater the chance it will be remembered.

Give Fowler a call to see how inexpensive it can be to get started with a digital signage system in your church.

Hopefully you know this already but just in case you don’t, the FCC has now officially shut down the 700MHz range for wireless systems and you can be thrown in jail for using one that operates in that frequency range. Thank you for your attention.

Huh? Ok, here’s the deal. Wireless microphone manufacturers have traditionally offered many frequency options for their systems. This allows you to choose the frequency that works best or avoid an over-crowded frequency range in your area. This is a great way for many wireless systems to operate in a relatively close proximity to each other and has been the way things work for many years now. Unfortunately, the FCC is closing off the 700MHz range to use it for fire and safety communications, which will only take up a small portion of the range, and selling off the rest of the frequencies in that range to broadband providers such as internet providers and cell phone companies.

Here’s what that means to you and I: If you are using any wireless microphone systems that have a listed frequency range from 698MHz to 806MHz they are now illegal to use. As of June 12th, the 700MHz range is closed and any broadcasts happening at those frequencies are subject to a HUGE fine of $4000 per day, per system, up to a total of $375,000!

There are many resources on the web to help you determine whether your gear is “legal” or not but here’s the word, straight from the horse’s mouth http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/wirelessmicrophones/manufacturers.html

You can also call your Fowler representative and they can help you determine if you’re in compliance and suggest solutions if you are not.

Let’s take it step by step, starting with music. The good news is that projection systems have made the chore of getting words on a screen much less work. The bad news is that it is still work. The computer has become a part of the worship service and song lyrics should be rehearsed with the same dedication shown by the worship team. Once, at a conference, I broke a cardinal rule of presenting. I agreed to run a program that I had not created, for a group I had not rehearsed with. I did this to help a friend, but it ended up as more of a hindrance than a help. The songs were mistyped, in the wrong order, and I didn’t even know some of them.

I learned a valuable lesson that day. Someone once put it this way, “An amateur practices until he gets it right, a professional practices until he can’t do it wrong.” What I should have done is worked through the songs while they were rehearsing them, making notes of odd transitions and fixing the problems as they arose—before anyone saw them.

Looking at the system from the point of view of the pastor is somewhat different. For hundreds of years, ministers prepared messages by studying scripture, poring over commentaries, and searching for the right illustrations or stories that make a point. Now the pastor must also approach each topic from a visual standpoint. How do we do that? Are you ready?

Go into your living room, sit down and…turn on the television! Sound good? Don’t break out the popcorn just yet, this is still work. Keep a notepad next to your favorite easy chair and keep your finger on the record button of your DVR. Watch for things that will help you communicate a point: a news story on farming to illustrate a point on witnessing, a commercial for a credit card company to show how material our society is, a clip from a movie with a very profound statement.

What else can help communicate your message? A computer slide presentation can be very effective in helping the audience to follow along, which increases their attention and retention. Be careful not to overdo it though; it is easy to go overboard. Use subtle graphics, and always ask why. Why am I including this image? It may be just for fun to loosen things up, but ask the question anyway. In the end the message will have more impact and will be more effective at bringing people closer to the Lord throughout the week, and that is what it’s all about.

There are many other uses for a multimedia projection system in the church service: announcements for the congregation, a video of a missionary in the field, a Veggie Tales video for Vacation Bible School. Many pastors have begun teaching points of their sermon in illustrative settings and showing the video during the sermon. Creative uses of multimedia can enhance the worship experience, improve stewardship among the Lord’s people, increase attendance and promote a more informed congregation. The list goes on and on.

The ultimate principal goes back to Jesus himself, when he stood in front of the crowd and said, “A sower went out to sow some seed…” He gave a mental image with which every person in the audience could identify. He also gave us a mandate, as Paul said: “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”

The end of this series is an open door to an endless path. One of the main purposes of this blog is to share ideas from churches that use media to advance the Kingdom. What’s working for you? What would you like to know? Join the conversation, and keep stopping by for more.

The Tech Behind Video Venue from Amber Reid on Vimeo.

In this segment of our Van Dyke Church feature, listen to Cory Schob as he describes working with and training volunteer staffs, equipping the ministry through multimedia, and building a video venue site through both trial and error and years of experience. He describes the ins-and-outs of dealing with challenging situations while sticking to deadlines and how to build a team into a well-oiled machine.

The second  question—the what—is technical: “What questions need to be answered before we invest in equipment?” How big a screen do I need?  How bright does the projector need to be? Are the windows in my sanctuary going to cause a problem?

There is no one formula that takes into account all the variables in every given church.  There is no “One Size Fits All” solution, which is sometimes frustrating. We in the ministry must approach these questions like we approach counseling. Each individual is unique and requires a unique type of interaction. Although we may say the same things to many different people, we will say them in different ways, discerning the direction we need to follow. In the same way, each church is unique in its goals, needs and philosophy and should be treated as an individual when looking at implementing a multimedia ministry.

The best thing we can do here is clarify some of the questions that will arise. There are three categories:

1. Questions you as a church should ask of yourselves

2. Questions you should ask any company you are looking to for equipment

3. Questions that the equipment provider should ask you.

First ask yourself about the desires and goals of your ministry. What is it that we want to accomplish?  Are we looking at putting song words on a screen, or are we planning to broadcast on TV or the internet? Will it be some of each? Will our budget allow us to install this system as one large package or do we need to act in stages? Who will run everything, and what kind of qualifications will the operators need to meet? What software will we use? Who will be responsible for building presentations and what kind of training are we going to provide for them?

The biggest question: will the church contract with a design/install company who will provide a “turnkey” solution, or will you install it yourselves? The complexity of the system will determine whether or not professional installation is required. The type of company is important too. There are many companies that work in audio, video and lighting. Many of them focus on businesses; churches are a side business. You are much better off securing the services of a reputable company that specializes in church accounts. The local church is unique in its needs, surroundings and requirements.

Of course, you’ll need to ask questions of that company. What kind of technical support is there after the sale? Is it available 24/7? What is the typical process for a technical support issue going to be? This can mean the difference between reaching people effectively and frantically trying to throw something together at the last minute. How long are the various warranties? Does the company guarantee that the entire system will work together? Do they have a return policy or trial period? Is there a restocking fee if we find that the projector is not bright enough and you want to upgrade it? Keep in mind the old saying, “The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of a cheap price has been forgotten.”

Finally, these are the questions they should ask you. What do you want to be able to accomplish? How will the equipment fit in your facilities? What are the lighting conditions?  What are your future plans? If a company is trying to sell you equipment without asking these questions, RUN, don’t walk away. It is hard to buy a bad projector, but it is very easy to buy the wrong one for your application. If these questions are not asked and answered, it is likely that you and your congregation will be disappointed and unhappy with the end result.

Even with more and more churches embracing multimedia, there is still a need for help in selecting and using projectors, screens, software, cameras, and lighting in the church environment. Under the umbrella of media ministry there are three basic areas that need to be addressed. You might say these are the whys, whats and hows of using multimedia in your ministry.

We’ll cover all of these in successive posts, but let’s start with the theoretical, “Why use multimedia at all?” It might seem an odd question if most everyone has already jumped on board, but like anything important, losing sight of why we do what we do is inadvisable at best. So even if you think you know the why, take a moment to review.

Consider the following: People remember only 10% of what they hear, but 50% of what they see and hear. If we present a visual message that the people can emotionally identify with, retention rates can be as high as 85%! I once heard Pastor Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX talk about a trip to Las Vegas. “I couldn’t help but notice the signs,” he said. “They’re everywhere: big signs, little signs, blinking signs, flashing signs, moving signs, even talking signs. It was dazzling. They don’t have a lot to say, but they definitely know how to say it!”

In the church it is just the opposite, we have the greatest message in the world, but often fail to communicate it effectively. The use of multimedia in the church helps bring the gospel of Christ to the congregation in a culturally relevant way. As recently as 1996, 99% of Americans had a television, while 97% had indoor plumbing. It is obvious that our society wants to be reached in a visual way.

The permeation of our culture with images is staggering. When I think about the space shuttle Challenger explosion I don’t see in my mind the articles I read after the tragedy occurred. I think of the television coverage of the event itself. I think of what I saw. The same goes for the events of 9-11, or in truth almost any major event since the middle of the 20^th century. Every great memory we have of the gospel is associated with a visual. The birth of Jesus brings to mind the manger scene; Jesus’ teaching reminds us of the parables; his crucifixion, we see Him on the old rugged cross; his resurrection, the empty tomb.

It is vital in the church that we tap into the power that a visual medium provides to our message. The why of multimedia is abundantly clear. It is all about impact. The question we need to ask is, “Will this technology help us be more effective in reaching the lost with the gospel?”

What are the limits of technology? What boundaries still need to be pushed? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Fowler went to Infocomm last week, and the show floor was pretty exciting this year. I saw quite a few very innovative products. Here’s a

quick recap of what we did and saw, and a few of the more exciting new products:

After a few less than exciting stops, we made our way to the Volante booth. They feature the DiVAS Controller, which streams several channels of HD video through a gigabit network to any number of displays. They also have a DVR unit which allows you to time-shift your broadcast. Very cool stuff. Several booths later we found ourselves in the Elite Screens booth. They make a very wide variety of video screens. The one we found most interesting was the EZ Cinema, which is a “portable” manual ascender type screen. I say “portable” because they come in sizes up to 12’ wide.

At Panasonic’s dealer meeting room, we saw some really nice professional LCD displays, the new

20 series plasmas, and some great new projectors. After that, we somehow found an integration company that was dressed up like the Pirates of the Caribbean. Weird...

We wrapped up the day with Elmo, who introduced a new cool writing tablet with software, that will also control their document cameras.

We started our second day with an appointment with Mitsubishi.  They are rolling out a brand new series of dual lamp DLP projectors. The WD8200U has 6500 lumens and the XD8100U has 7000 lumens, and they have a new extra long-throw lens as well. Their booth also featured a new 65” LCD (MDT651S) at a great price point.

I am also very excited by a product from Magenta Research called the Voyager VG-RX. They are doing amazing things with signal extenders. The Voyager VG-RX is a high performance receiver for short or long haul transmission of uncompressed hi-definition video and audio signals.  It also carries USB, IR and RS-232 control signals, and it does it all over fiber optic cabling. Additionally, they have found a way to capture and store HDCP protocol. This will make it possible to display sources that have HDCP imbedded without a limitation on the number of displays. (For more on HDCP, check out our podcast.)

 At the Panasonic booth, I finally got to put my hands on the new AG-H100 and AW-H550 video mixers; both little brothers to the AV-HS450N. The AG-H100 is a fantastic small format HD video mixer with the highly sought-after multiview. It is housed in the same chassis as the old AG-MX70, which means that it carries and switches audio in addition to the video signals. This unit will be a perfect fit for the budget-conscious church that  wants to get into more advanced video mixing and IMAG. There was no way we could get out of the booth without seeing the new 152” plasma monitor (TH-152UX1). I’m already drawing up blueprints to remove a wall in my living room and replace it with this plasma. 

There was quite a bit more live sound and stage equipment this year than in the past. Soundcraft had a truck there as well as Yamaha. Martin Lighting has a brand new truck featuring all of their new luminaires.

I stopped by Shure to check out their new SE-115M earbuds (yeah, I missed them last year), and the rep actually put them in my ears. Although the experience was a little creepy, the fantastic sound was worth the very uncomfortable 30 seconds of close proximity to a complete stranger. I checked out both the SE115M and the SE425, and both were superb.

In summary, this was the best Infocomm in 3 years. We saw a lot of things that made our trip worthwhile. Manufacturers in the industry continue to put out products that put the most advanced media ideas within reach of most churches. Make sure you ask your Fowler Church Consultant about how these products will help you accomplish your mission. And when we come to visit, we promise we won’t be in pirate costumes.

Van Dyke Church in Lutz, FL started their first video venue when they had over 2000 in attendance at their original campus. As helpful as the resources of a larger church have been, Pastor Matthew Hartsfield believes that small and medium-size churches have distinct advantages of their own. Matthew envisions a future where smaller churches begin incorporating multi-site ministry. “The hardest part for us and for every other pastor I’ve talked to is to create a church that has a multi-site mentality to it,” Pastor Matthew says. Yet smaller churches are already equipped to overcome this. “A smaller to medium-sized church can more immediately create that replicable DNA in another setting.”

With video venue help from Fowler Productions, a small church doesn’t need to invest large sums of money up front. With only a little more than what a small church starts with these days, they can quickly double and triple in size. As they grow, they can upgrade the equipment.

To get started, Pastor Matthew and Van Dyke’s North Campus Pastor Andy Sistrunk suggest doing your homework. “The first gut check is, ‘Why are we doing this?’” Matthew says. “Simply because it will enhance our reputation, or because it will make our senior pastor look more cool, or is it because there are people in certain locations that need to be reached for Jesus?”

This can happen for two reasons, according to Matthew. The most obvious is when you don’t have any more room to grow. The second one is more missional: Where are the pockets of people near you that need Jesus? It might be a new development area, like what Van Dyke has pursued, but that’s not the only place to look. “Maybe there are places where a lot of churches have packed up and left,” Matthew suggests. “Maybe some inner city or urban environments, and you just feel called to create a campus there.”

Once you’ve identified this, don’t rush in yet. Get to know the culture of the area. “Know your context,” Andy advises. “We immediately identified that the average age in our area is 30. If you look at the personalities we have on the platform, they fit.” At the main campus, there are musicians and choir members of all ages. At the North campus; however, the worship leader is in her mid-twenties, and there is no choir.

The missing choir isn’t just a result of low starting numbers. “We needed to contextualize our music,” Andy says. “Our music’s a little edgier, a little more raw here in this area because we’re targeting a younger audience.” For some areas, it isn’t the music that needs to be contextualized but the message. “Video venue doesn’t always work for churches,” Andy says. “Sometimes you’re starting a site in an area that has a completely different context, and you need to contextualize your teaching.” For example, a suburban church starting an inner city ministry might be better off planting a church or helping fund an existing church than trying to do a video venue..

As a final bit of advice, Andy suggests choosing the location the way Van Dyke did. “Let the mission field drive the site,” he says. “Target exactly the mission field you’re after and know why you’re targeting that area. Know the percentage of folks who are unchurched. Know if there is a church in the area that is making a big footprint. Find out where God’s at work, and if God’s not at work in an area, let him be through you. And if he is at work, figure out how you can be a part of that.”

Digital Circuit Riding: A look at multi-site ministry from Amber Reid on Vimeo.

John Wesley traveled by horseback and preached in the middle of the communities he served. As Methodism spread to America, clergy assigned to multiple churches were known as circuit riders for using the same method of travel. Van Dyke Church—a Methodist congregation in Lutz, FL (north Tampa)—sees themselves as digital circuit riders using video venues to bring their message into new communities. “It’s circuit riding without the horse,” says Andy Sistrunk, North Campus Pastor. “We’re using fiber-optic technology and web streaming instead.”

Senior Pastor Matthew Hartsfield explains, “We decided a long time ago that we didn’t want to become this vertical silo that we pile a lot of people in. We felt God prompting us to an organic, more horizontal process of disciple-making. We’re going to go wherever we can find the right space at the right time with the right people around it.”

Their first attempt at multi-site was a campus about 20 minutes west of Lutz. After several months, they came to a critical realization. “We needed to relocate,” Pastor Matthew says. “We hadn’t quite done our homework.” They kept their campus pastor and prepared to find a new place in the area. However, the United Methodist Church offered their campus pastor his own pastorate. This presented Van Dyke with the opportunity to restart from scratch.

Andy Sistrunk came onboard as the North campus pastor and the decision was made to keep the location front and center this time around. “We learned early on that the mission field has to drive the site,” says Andy. “You’ve got to know who your target is and then reach those folks.” God made it clear to the leadership that the new growth area north of their main campus was to be their new mission field.

The first preview service was set for January 24 with the official launch set for early March. Andy couldn’t wait until January to begin meeting people, nor did Van Dyke want him to. “My job is to be the evangelist for this area,” Andy says. He began forming small groups in the surrounding neighborhoods to develop a presence in the community.

They did dry runs two weeks in a row with volunteers doing setup and teardown without doing a full worship set. After the first full preview, the volunteers took three weeks off.  “It was a time for our staff to evaluate how everything had gone,” says Andy. “We did lots of analysis and made lots of fix-it lists. We pulled everything out of the trailers and fixed things and changed things and loaded it all back up.” Those who came to the first preview were invited to fill out an online feedback form. “It’s been one of the greatest tools for us in editing and changing how we’ve done some things,” Andy says.

Visitors said the lighting was inadequate and that the seating wasn’t right. There were 160 chairs for 60-70 people, and they were too close together. They cut them down to about 100 and spread them out. “It changed the energy in the room completely,” Andy says. “There’s a lot more energy with the same size crowd because the room feels fuller and folks have more personal space.”

The equipment available today has made setting up a week-to-week facility much easier. “We set all of this up in an hour and a half, which is pretty amazing,” Andy says. “It’s a credit to our volunteers, but it’s also a credit to useful, appropriate technology.” All this technology allows worshipers to feel more connected to the main body. “Because it’s a smaller environment, and we have big screens, you actually have a better view of what our senior pastor does on the platform during his message,” Andy says. “Our back row seats are closer to the screens than the front row seats are at the other campus.”

With all of the changes since the original video campus and a willingness to learn from the past, the North campus has began to grow at an encouraging rate. Is video venue for everyone? Probably not but Van Dyke Church is proving that it’s right for them. Pastor Matthew has the vision for spreading the word and the willingness to do what it takes to make that happen. Video venue is proving to be an efficient way to grow the ministry without the overhead of new buildings and facilities. What is your church doing to get the good news out there? How can you grow beyond the walls of your church? Technology has become an enabler, just as Van Dyke Church has demonstrated. Let Fowler help you grow your ministry through technology. It’s more accessible than you might think.

Fowler + Vision = Everything you need for Ministering through Multimedia.

Fowler’s passion has never been just the tools; we’ve always viewed ourselves as your partners in ministry. Vision Magazine showed churches how to use media by telling the stories of other churches. Now we’ve brought them together to give you one place to go for the best in ministry tools, techniques, and training.

While shooting the videos for our church feature with Van Dyke Church, I had a chance to try out the new AJA Ki Pro. If you’re not familiar with it, here’s the short version: The Ki Pro is a field recorder that allows you to feed it just about any video signal, convert it to just about any other video signal (although standard def input is limited to component), and record to an internal hard drive cartridge in Apple’s ProRes video CODEC. Then on playback, all outputs are active at the same time, including component, HDMI, SDI, and composite. Need to convert an HD signal to SD? Done. Need to convert 720p to 1080i while shooting? Done.

The big advantage the Ki Pro affords you is the ability to record to an extremely high quality CODEC while bypassing the sometimes crummy CODEC that’s native to your camera. Stay with me for a minute, here comes some geek-speak: You can bring HDMI out of your small prosumer camera and record directly to a 10bit, 4:2:2 i-frame CODEC and bypass the relatively low quality 8bit, 4:2:0 long-GOP CODEC your camera likely uses. If that was gibberish to you,  it means higher quality video that will key better with green-screen stuff and shorter render times once you get it into the computer. Because of the format conversion on the input side, you can feed multiple cameras of different types into individual Ki Pros and have the recorders convert them all to the same format for when you edit. The downside to all of this? BIG files. Up to 112Gb per hour of 1080i recording. If you’re doing all of your editing on a laptop, you’ll have to build your Ki Pro workflow very carefully. While editing ProRes footage on a laptop is possible, there are some gotchas you have to watch out for. You’ve been warned.

So, what does this look like in practice? For this round of interviews I wanted to use the Ki Pro so that I had a much higher fidelity recording to massage if I needed to do any color correction in post. I came to the shoot with the new JVC HM700 camcorder and a couple of 16Gb SDHC cards as my primary recording medium. The JVC records to an edit-ready Final Cut Pro file so that importing the footage into Final Cut is as simple as drag-and-drop. This was good because I knew I was going to be shooting a lot of footage while onsite, but I wanted the maximum quality possible for the interviews. I set up the camera to record 1080i 59.94 to the SDHC cards and then brought HD-SDI out of the camera (with embedded audio, I might add) into the Ki Pro. From there, we used a Pro JVC monitor connected to the output of the Ki Pro for confidence monitoring by my interviewers. This was just to get second and third sets of eyes on the shot since this was an interview I wouldn’t be able to shoot again.

By using the timecode trigger function of the Ki Pro, it would automatically start recording every time it received timecode on the SDI feed, so that part was automatic. I was also able to control audio levels on my camera meters, so I knew my audio was good. My interviewers were listening to the audio from the headphone jack on the Ki Pro; again, a double check process.

Everything went according to plan until we started to tear down. One of the interviewers (who also happens to be the president of Fowler Productions—don’ t tell her we told) unplugged the Ki Pro before I had a chance to shut it down. When I plugged the power back in, the Ki Pro display showed that the drive was corrupt and showed a remaining capacity of 99%. That means we lost everything. Being the nice guy that I am, I gave the boss a few minutes to really let the panic set in before reminding her that we had the backup recording on the cards in the camera. Hey, it’s what I do!

Later that evening I plugged the drive module into my Apple laptop to see just what had happened and lo-and-behold, all of the video files showed up. Hmm... I plugged the module back into the Ki Pro and the files showed up and were playable from the unit. What was an almost-disaster was averted. Still, the lesson here is always to record to your camera(s) as well when doing important shoots. You may even want to go as far as using a battery backup for the Ki Pro if your wall outlet is flaky (like ours was).

Once I got back to the office and started pulling the files into Final Cut and viewing them on a broadcast monitor, I was blown away. The sharpness was there (thanks to the JVC HM700 camera) and the color was fantastic. I had used a blue-gelled light on the back wall behind the subject and the gradient as the light fell away from right to left was true with no hint of banding, even after doing a color correction pass. That’s the benefit of 10bit 4:2:2 color in the ProRes CODEC.

Will I use the Ki Pro on future shoots? Absolutely, every chance I get. The Ki Pro serves as the great equalizer when shooting video. No matter the camera you shoot with, the analog or digital (SDI or HDMI) outputs are uncompressed. Why not record the full potential of your camera? What happens when you hit the red record button on your camera is one of the worst things you can do to your gorgeous footage and the Ki Pro is there to make sure you’re getting the best recording possible. I didn’t even go into all of the other features like WiFi control from your iPhone or being able to record up to 8 audio channels at once, but I think you get the idea. Here’s one of the best commendations I believe a product can receive: at the recent NAB show in Vegas, it seemed like there was an AJA Ki Pro in almost every booth. This little black box is quickly becoming a standard production tool for a very picky industry.

—Shawn Teague

Click the image above to hear the audio file!

Don’t miss the first TechTalk podcast, Digital Signals TechTalk is where you get to hear firsthand from Fowler’s experts. The inaugural installment features Matt Maxwell, Shawn Teague, and Scott Lopez discussing digital content protection. What headaches will this well-meaning technology cause for churches?

Van Dyke Intro from Amber Reid on Vimeo.

Stats:

Lakeshore Campus: Lutz, FL, opened in 1985

North Campus: Land O’ Lakes, FL, opened in 2010

Weekend Services: Lakeshore: Sat. 6 pm, Sunday 9:30 & 11 am; North: 11 am.

Senior Pastor: Matthew Hartsfield

Affiliation: United Methodist

Facilities: 1200-seat auditorium; school cafeteria with room for 150-200.

Average attendance: 2500 per week

1 Corinthians 9:22 (NIV) gives Paul’s principle for reaching people: “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” Senior Pastor Matthew Hartsfield lives this out in the way he leads his church. “A guiding motto for Van Dyke Church is ‘purpose over preference,’” Matthew says. “It’s not about my preference or the congregation’s preference. It’s what will lead us to the purpose of reaching people for Christ.” For Van Dyke Church, the means for saving some in their community have changed just as the community has changed.

When Matthew became the pastor 17 years ago, TVs only had one input, the internet was text-based, signs were permanent, and scoreboards merely kept the score. People simply didn’t expect video everywhere they went, least of all at church. Accordingly, multimedia was virtually non-existent in Van Dyke’s original building. “The extent of its media capabilities was a light switch on the wall,” Matthew quips.

Today, video is everywhere. “People watch HD video on their phones,” says Executive Director of Worship Ministries Jeff Calhoun. “Without even thinking about it, you’re used to a high level of quality.” Digital signage has replaced backlit plastic signs, and scoreboards run full-motion video. “People today encounter very engaging media wherever they are,” Matthew says.

How does the church compete?

Perhaps “compete” is the wrong word. “People come to church because they are hungry for a connection with God,” Jeff Calhoun says. “They don’t really come to be entertained. But we do recognize the culture that we live in.” Adapting, then, is a better way to view it. However, they are not adapting the message of scripture. Far from it. “How do we set the table so that Jesus Christ can be served?” Matthew asks. “It’s not that we’re trying to play catch-up or imitate culture. It’s just creating an atmosphere that people actually feel normal in.” Connecting visually has a long-standing precedent. “Jesus knew the right kind of compelling metaphors to use, and he created the right visuals for them by putting himself in a boat or on a hillside or any kind of compelling setting,” Mathew says. “If Jesus did this, then we need to create the right settings, the right visuals.”

Can you imagine a pastor showing up in a boat at the nearest lake on Memorial Day weekend? Visuals today are created with technology, which requires money. “Media in the church is worth investing everything we have because there are high stakes involved,” Matthew says. “There are souls at stake, hurting families, disillusioned people who need to experience everything that Jesus has to offer. Who are we to say that we should be presenting the very best message the world has to hear in a subpar, substandard, less-than-excellent way?”

No church spends its entire budget on technology. How does Van Dyke maintain perspective? Paradoxically, the key to quality media is simplicity. Van Dyke Church feels no pressure to outdo themselves every week. “We provide an opportunity for people to come together and experience God in worship through song and the presence of God as he speaks. That’s really pretty simple,” says Jeff. “If we can add a visible element that’s not a distraction, not clutter, but enhances the overall communication, then we’ll do that.”

Learning when to add and when not to add is much more art than science. What is clutter for one church might be perfect for another. “A lot of that happens in hindsight,” Jeff says. “As you go along, you become a little more judicious. There’s not a formula or a failsafe metric. Week by week you have to be aware of what’s worked in the past but also be willing to push the envelope.”

Media is a constantly changing dynamic. The key is to make sure that it’s constantly adding to the experience rather than distracting or taking away from it. As Van Dyke’s ministry continues to grow, they are finding that their ratio continues to improve in that area. Using media to enhance and amplify the message without getting in the way is the goal for this church and for many others around the world. How are you using media at your church to enhance and amplify the message?

Vision Editor—Jim Miller

Come check out our new application shots from Crosspoint Church. They can be found in the Contemporary Churchs in the gallery. If you would like to send us some pictures of your church so we can put it on our website then send them our way. You can email you representative or email info@fowlerinc.com.

To Jon, Todd, and everyone on the Install Crew of Fowler:

I just wanted to express great appreciation for a job well done on the sound system at church! It sounds amazing! Everyone was blown away of how clear everything sounded...even when we "aired it out" more than what we would ever do in a service...at loud volumes it was incredible! Thank you so much, everything not only sounds great, it looks great too. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to have you guys do this. As a fellow musician, I understand this is your passion and service to the Lord. It is no different from head pastor, worship leader, or sound engineer/installer, you are doing the Lord's work through your service! May the Lord bless you and from all of us at Faith Community Church of God in Shawnee, OK a big...THANK YOU!!!

God Bless,

Rev. Joshua Ledford

Associate Worship Leader