Case Study
100-Year-Old Congregation Transforms Worship Experience with Updated Video Technology
BACKGROUND
Haven Church is a 100-year-old church congregation serving Glendale, AZ. While the church was founded more than a century ago, the current building is 20 years old. Haven Church’s facility is large, beautiful, and welcoming to individuals and families in the area. They offer in-person and online worship services. During the COVID- 19 pandemic, they relied heavily on online services to connect with the community.
The church recently went through a remodeling process, including an upgrade to the facility’s audio and lighting. While they were happy with the changes, the church leaders realized they wanted to do more. They believed large screens could engage their congregation and reach more people outside the church walls.
According to Creative Pastor Andrew Carney, Haven Church’s technology goal is to spread its message of love for God and people in an approachable way. “Stepping into a space with good production value touches on feelings that people are used to…it feels welcoming to them,” he said. “It’s a powerful tool that we would be crazy not to use.”
THE PROBLEM
1
Like most pastors, the Haven Church leadership team wanted to focus on what they were there to do: reach people with the message of God’s love. However, technology issues kept getting in the way. They wasted too much time on glitches and malfunctions, and the problems took their focus away from their mission.
2
Haven’s pastors and volunteer teams needed the technology equipment to work together seamlessly. But they didn’t have the necessary screens to present their worship
services and sermons in the most engaging way possible. Technology would fail in the middle of service when they needed it most.
3
After spending all week preparing for the service, their plans would go up in smoke when a projector or screen wouldn’t work. They desired a well-oiled machine but instead had outdated, mismatched technology that held them back.
The COVID-19 pandemic was the final straw.
It was an incredibly revealing time technologically for Haven Church’s leadership team. They realized they could no longer put off upgrading their screens and related technology. The church was experiencing several pain points surrounding their technology. Still, there was some hesitation to invest more money into their Audio/Visual.
In the past, they had invested in different audio/visual solutions they believed would solve their problems. But then the solutions didn’t work for them like they hoped or expected. This scenario happened repeatedly, and the experiences left the team disappointed and skeptical. They couldn’t afford to invest in more technology that wasn’t going to meet their needs. But they also couldn’t afford to neglect outdated technology that was creating painful distractions.
At this point, the Haven Church leaders decided they needed a real, long-term technology solution, not a temporary fix
THE SOLUTION
Pastor Andrew reached out to another church to get recommendations on who could help them with their technology. He knew Haven Church needed a company with the highest level of expertise - professionals who would capture the church’s vision and bring it to life. That church’s broadcast director, Eric, recommended Vizual Symphony. After working with Vizual Symphony before, Eric knew first-hand that Vizual Symphony had the professional audio/visual services to meet Haven Church’s needs.
Pastor Andrew said Vizual Symphony was the “clear choice.” The tipping point toward Vizual Symphony was the first call with CEO Susan Holguin. He realized other companies could not provide what Haven needed like Vizual Symphony could.
Before choosing Vizual Symphony, Pastor Andrew reached out to the team already providing the church’s sound and lighting. But they could not meet the specific video need. The church leaders also considered doing it independently. They explored buying used screens and projectors and piecing them together. Ultimately, they decided they were tired of the temporary fix approach. They chose to invest in expertise to finally have what they need ot take their sevrices to the next level.
“As soon as I met with Susan, I knew this was the right company,” he said. “She cared about what we were doing and was attentive to our needs as a church, not just as a business.”
According to Pastor Andrew, Susan explored different possibilities for projectors, lenses, and positioning. She wanted to do as much as Vizual Symphony could possibly do while respecting Haven Church’s budget. Susan’s goal was to get Haven Church across the project finish line in a professional way that would work optimally for them as long as possible.
“You could tell Susan had been there before and had an in-depth level of insight… that’s exactly what we needed to make our project successful,” he said.
Pastor Andrew appreciated Vizual Symphony’s transparency throughout the process. He pointed to continual communication and honesty when there were some things they couldn’t do with Haven’s budget. It was a relational experience rather than the typical transactional experience one might expect from a technology company.
Susan and the Vizual Symphony team helped Haven Church choose and install Panasonic projectors and Da-Lite screens. They solved their distracting technology challenges and elevated the worship experience. According to Pastor Andrew, the church wanted to leverage technology to project a feeling of growth. They hoped to give their congregation something new and exciting. Vizual Symphony knew how to get them there.
THE OUTCOME
Haven Church had a dramatic unveiling of their new screens on stage during the 2021 Easter Sunday service. The congregation experienced a completely new service from one week to the next. Vizual Symphony and the Haven teams worked together to transform the sanctuary in one day. The space gained 20 plus feet of stage. There were once two small screens on the left and right of the stage. The revamped space features an impressive 14 x 45 foot screen behind the stage.
“It blew the roof off the place,” said Pastor Andrew. “It made our sanctuary feel huge, and our congregation was amazed. People were like, what in the world just happened here?’ in a very good way.”
The new state-of-the-art screen and projectors allowed the tech team to do so much with the atmosphere. They no longer had to deal with the physical feat of moving screens. Instead, they could do everything they wanted to do with the click of a button. The pastors and volunteers could focus on meeting the congregation’s needs - not technology problems. The new video technology enabled them to do just that.
On Easter Sunday alone, Haven Church had a tremendous response from the congregation. They had twelve people coming forward for baptisms and recommitments. According to Pastor Andrew, it wasn’t because of the screens, but having the technology in place provided another way God could move.
“The way we present ourselves as a church speaks to the way we care about our congregation,” said Pastor Andrew. “We care, we want to move forward with you, and we are willing to put in the work to get there.
So let’s challenge each other, do creative new things, and make a difference in the world - we can use technology as a vehicle to accomplish these goals.”
SATISFACTION
The Haven Church leaders and members are delighted with the services they received from Vizual Symphony. Susan and the team exceeded their expectations. In fact, Pastor Andrew graded the church’s overall experience as phenomenal.
“There’s value in trusting someone you are working with, and I knew Susan wasn’t going to push something on us to get more money,” he said. “It was all about what we needed and what was best for us.” Pastor Andrew explained that Susan and the Vizual Symphony team saw their vision and came alongside them in a way that revealed their heart for service.
“I could tell it was Susan’s calling to be a network and resource for organizations like ours, to help us move forward to better meet our congregation’s needs.” Today, Haven Church enjoys a sanctuary with technology that feels more professional and raises the bar. They went from a “dinky stage” to a stage that enables them to engage and reach people in meaningful ways. The change has positively impacted their organization on every level.
The church has discovered they have even more resources coming in now due to their investment in the sanctuary space to serve the community. They have been able to share the space with the local community college, fire department, and healthcare organizations. As a result, they are developing new partnerships that help them extend their community reach.
ABOUT VIZUAL SYMPHONY
Founded in 2001, Vizual Symphony is a certified small business, women-owned and operated. We provide Audio and Visual products and installation for environments such as Classrooms, Meeting Rooms, Web Conferencing Rooms, Auditoriums, and the like. You bring the idea and we bring to life the technology you need to make that space function with simplicity and ease.
Our goal is to simplify your technology needs. Whether your objective is to outfit a room for use by one person or dozens of people, we can provide the solutions for your communication, training, and teaching facilities. Don’t have the expertise? Don’t worry, we do, and we can design intuitive suites to fit your budget, your vision, and your function. Vizual Symphony CEO Susan Holguin has roots in the world of education and experienced first-hand the importance having the right audiovisual technology in place for schools. She saw the results for teachers and students and realized this was a service she wanted to provide for organizations and businesses in a variety of industries.
From this passion, came Vizual Symphony where Susan lives out her creative entrepreneurial side and her desire to make meaningful contributions to education through schools, organizations, and corporations. Over the years, Vizual Symphony’s service offerings have evolved and changed, but one thing has stayed the same: Susan’s focus on building long-term relationships with clients and helping them to be better at what they do.
Ivan Holguin joined the team in 2006, and together they keep the Vizual Symphony vision strong. Susan and Ivan have a loyal team of experts working with them that is dedicated to the Vizual Symphony mission: bringing Ideas in Focus. The team is licensed, bonded, and insured and brings with it decades of experience in audiovisual technology consultancy, design, installation, and maintenance.
Although we remain at the top of the AV technology industry, our team members continue to attend trainings to stay on the cusp of what’s cutting edge and upcoming. When our
experts arrive on the scene for an organization or business client site visit, they can immediately get a feel for what’s going wrong and which AV solutions are necessary to make it right. It’s a unique combination of gift and skill that enables our Vizual Symphony team to make such a dramatic, positive impact for clients.
