Reaching and engaging with a young audience is critical to churches seeking to strengthen their ministry by building a future audience that will join their existing followers. For
First Baptist Church of Trussville
(Ala.), one of the oldest churches in Alabama – founded nearly 190 years ago – reaching a younger audience involved the introduction of an on-site student facility where children and adolescents can gather to pray, study or socialize. To assist with the development of the student facility, First Baptist presented
, a professional sound, lighting, and video company based in Memphis (Tenn.), with the difficult task of creating a warm, fun and engaging environment while keeping the church’s tight budget in mind.
Commissioned to assist with the integration of new AVL (audio, video and lighting) equipment in First Baptist’s traditional and contemporary service spaces, Elite Multimedia was also tapped to design the new student facility located atop the church’s preschool facility. Knowing that they soon would be working on the student facility and that budget was a consideration, Elite’s team determined that utilizing the older, but serviceable equipment previously in use in the church’s other service spaces would help First Baptist meet its objectives.
“Prior to Elite Multimedia’s redesign, the student facility was just a loud room with bare walls,” said David Youngstrom, media technology associate at First Baptist Church. “Today, it looks and sounds tremendous. Elite did a fantastic job with taking the speakers and monitors we had in other parts of the church and incorporating them into the new space. It really is a crystal clear system now – it’s got the rich bass with nice highs and distinct tones.”
Having replaced the Renkus-Heinz powered speakers that were housed in First Baptist’s main auditorium, Elite Multimedia repurposed them to serve as the youth sound system. The speakers were supplemented with a new DSP, wiring infrastructure, power sequencing and a new rack, while the old analog soundboard was also relocated to the student facility. In addition, the video wall featured in the church’s lobby was moved to the youth space and reconfigured as part of a new video wall using a
Panasonic projector in the center and eight Planar displays – four on each side – to create one large image across the stage. Moving lights were also preserved and reused along with a new dimming system for theatrical and house lighting.
“It’s a pretty neat space,” Youngstrom continued. “The students now have a warmer and friendlier environment for their Sunday School activities. They also have a place where they can go to meet with friends and peers -where they can plug in their iPad, go over lessons or just play video games. It’s been an amazing transformation and it has had a real positive impact on student engagement with the church. When you get down to it, the room gives us a tool to bring students in to minister to them and that is what we were hoping to achieve. ”
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