Houses of worship are facing an uphill challenge in the modern day when it comes to staying relevant and top of mind in their communities. Institutions like Third Baptist Church are taking steps toward better accommodating their congregations with the help of technology.
Third Baptist Church is in Grand Center, an arts, entertainment and educational district of St. Louis, Mo. Third’s services range from the season of Advent to Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, and more. The church is surrounded by a university, a public housing project, and various cultural organizations.
THE CHALLENGE
The board at Third Baptist Church wanted to modernize its sermons. They wanted a space that’s fitting for sermons and worship, as well as movie nights and showing videos to a broad audience. And that includes streaming for a remote congregation too.
After meeting and discussing the needs of the project, AVI Systems recommended a planning and designing process that would assist in identifying the desired results for the church.
Third and AVI Systems came up with the idea of installing a video projection system. But, adding a system like this involved multiple challenges. The largest challenge was permanently installing a large projection screen at the adequate size and needed location for viewing, while maintaining the ornate architecture of the space.
A large projection screen also posed a challenge when it came to the sanctuary. The size of the screen needed would require a large amount of back drop that would surely block the view of the sacred sanctuary cross.
The main challenges that came with installing a screen like this have to do with mounting. To keep the building intact, while also successfully delivering a solution that would work for the church’s needs would mean as few mounting locations as possible. The structure needed to be secure for safety, but it couldn’t be disruptive and harm the church’s original state.
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Our Solution
Over several planning meetings, AVI Systems was able to accurately design and subsequently install a video projection and streaming solution that met the specific criteria set forth by the Third Baptist Church board, realizing expectation from both a cost and an aesthetics standpoint.
A Da-Lite Wireline uses very thin industrial strength mounting cables instead of traditional screen backdrop. This solution allowed for the 226-inch video projection screen viewing area to meet the needed viewing size, mounting requirements, and unobtrusive sightline requirements of the sanctuary cross area. The screen was paired with a 13,000-lumen Barco projector and a Vaddio RoboShot 30 video camera.
Additionally, AVI was able to introduce a refreshing method of PRO Development services to fully understand and then implement an agreed upon solution.
