Changing the perception of worship at Shoreline
Changing the perception of worship at Shoreline
Shoreline Church in Destin, Florida has a history of finding creative ways to share their message its changing the perception of a typical church. As its congregation has continued to grow, the church recently had the opportunity to continue its ministry vision with the renovation of an old nightclub into a modern worship facility, installing technical elements that would allow further creativity during services. In the renovation of the former club, the stage would remain in place and be the focal point of the new worship design.
‘We have used LCD video projection in the past and while visiting the WFX Conference, I began seeing how LED video has now become a viable solution for the house of worship market,’ begins lead pastor Eric Partin. ‘Since we were in the process of completing a new building, we started looking at the quality of LED video over LCD projection. Before, it seemed that only the big churches with large budgets could afford LED video systems, but once we saw it was also an affordable solution for us, we decided LED video would be the best option for our new worship experience.’
The key video display chosen for the facility is a FlexLite II 3.9mm LED system from Pixelflex. ‘If we were going to try and use LCD projectors in the new space, it was going to create some problems as far as the throw distance and space required for rear projection should we need it,’ continues Mr Partin. ‘When looking at LED video, it was much more effective due to its high-resolution images.’
‘Since the stage was already in place, the team installed a cross beam that holds the LED video wall in a top-hang configuration and then ran Cat-6 network cables to the back of the house which connect to the NovaStar links,’ explains Shoreline assistant pastor and project manager Matthew Metcalfe. ‘We love being able to use it as a more dynamic background for our worship environment with video clips, lyrics and as a set design feature during our services and special events that occur each month.’
Now complete, the FlexLite II LED video wall at Shoreline Destin measures approximately 4.9m high and 7.6m wide, but as with many congregations, the understanding of how to control the technology would fall mainly upon a team of volunteer technicians. Knowing they would need a bit of guidance to get started, Pixelflex worked with the church to ensure the team could take full advantage of the creative possibilities of LED video.
‘We don’t currently have a full-time tech director and when we first installed the wall, we were a bit challenged by what we knew technically,’ concludes Mr Partin. ‘We really relied on the team at Pixelflex to help train our volunteer technicians on how to design with the LED wall and it’s been a complete game-changer for our congregation. To have the creative potential of LED video, along with all our new production equipment, it really takes our worship services to a whole new level.’