The first color television sets weren’t popular until the mid-1960s. In fact, when our sanctuary was constructed in 1962, only about 2% of US households had a color TV.  It wasn’t until 1964 that the networks began to provide more programming in color, and it was yet a few years later when color TVs began to be widely adopted. It’s hard to imagine what those fuzzy pictures looked like so many years ago. So much has changed since 1962!

We’re pushing forward in our sanctuary renovation to Phase Three! As a church, we’ve dedicated resources to improving our sanctuary space so that it will serve our current congregation and community better, but also serve the generations to come. Not only has technology advanced incredibly but so also has the expectation of our worshipping community. As video technology has advanced from the black and white TV sets of 1962 to the amazing video displays of today, we have also advanced our expectations of what we view in our service both in-person and online. Can you imagine trying to explain to a person in 1962 about viewing an online worship service? Then, it was science fiction to imagine that a person could tune into a worship service on a personal phone. We’ve certainly come a long way!

In the past two years, we’ve completed an extensive overhaul of our electrical systems, renovated the front area with a new platform, choir loft, and columns, installed new audio and lighting systems, and introduced some camera and production equipment for livestreaming and overflow in response to the pandemic. What’s left to do?

Phase Three will include the completion of our video systems. The biggest impact will be the installation of two large LED walls on either side of our sanctuary. These will be mounted to the columns on stage left and right and will replace the center drop-down screen. Not only will the LED screens be a huge visual improvement to the media used in service, but the center screen will also no longer block the beautiful architecture of our sanctuary’s baptismal.

Behind the scenes, Phase Three will include improved cameras and a completed control room to produce our live stream and recorded services. We’ve already started using the control room, which is located on the second floor behind the baptistry, during our worship services. All the audio from the sanctuary, including instruments, vocalists, and our pastor, goes to our control room where a technician is busy monitoring and mixing the signal for the best sound for our overflow and livestream viewing. This secondary mixing station is needed because the live sound in the sanctuary is very different from what you might hear online.

Video tech operators will also sit in the control room during our worship services to control the signal coming from various cameras in the sanctuary. We will continue to use one manually operated camera but will also install two robotic cameras under the balcony that can pan and zoom around the sanctuary. These will be used to create a very professional video that can be sent online to our overflow rooms and to the livestream congregation.

The worship service is also recorded to be repackaged and used again during the week. We air our worship service on local channel 5 on Wednesdays at 6 pm each week. We also cut and polish the recording to upload to Youtube and in a weekly podcast from Pastor Andy.

The phase three video project will provide an excellent platform for ministry to our church family, both in-person and online, our community, and literally anywhere else on the planet. Not only will the technology provide a better experience to our current family, but it will do so for the generation to come.