Elation and Global Truss America Keep SouthCrest Church on the Cutting Edge

	SouthCrest Church in Newnan, Georgia with Elation Professional and Global Truss.

It's easy to see at a glance that SouthCrest Church isn't your typical house of worship. Everything about this forward-thinking church reflects its uniqueness, beginning with its unconventional location in a modern industrial park in the south suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, surrounded by 4.65 acres of lush greenery.

SouthCrest is also notable for its strong focus on reaching out to the community, and young people in particular. Along with offering innovative programs for families and devoting an entire wing in its building to children's activities, technology has played a key role in helping the 1,600-member church accomplish this goal.

So when SouthCrest undertook a major expansion in 2012, two of its main objectives were to enlarge its youth facilities and to enhance the audio/lighting/video experience. The plan involved creating a new 700-seat main sanctuary in an unfinished portion of the building, and converting the church's existing sanctuary into a 500-seat youth worship center. Sharing space in the original section of the building are the children's wing, a 400-seat high school student room, and the church's offices.

"The build-outs, renovations, and upgrades were all part of the church's vision to provide more opportunities to connect with families and young people," said Terry McCarthy systems designer and chief engineer at Advanced Systems & Technologies, LLC (AST), which provided audio/visual technology for the project. "The church's focus has not been on an ecumenical or religious structure, but rather on a practical space dedicated to connecting with people via relevant color schemes and outstanding technology. Reaching people where they live."

AST designed and supplied the sound, lighting, and video systems for SouthCrest's new main sanctuary and fully equipped video production suite. In addition, they provided a major tech upgrade for the student room and installed video signage on numerous displays throughout the facility. For the lighting systems, McCarthy used nearly 100 products from Elation Professional, along with 200' of trussing from its sister company, Global Truss America.

The lighting system in the church's main sanctuary features: 52 Elation Opti QA Par quad-color RGBA LED par cans; 25 20-degree Elation Light Shaping Filters; 16 Elation ELED Tri Par 56 compact 42W tri-color RGB LED par cans; six Elation Design LED Strip RGBAW five-color (red, green, blue, amber, and white) LED strips; two Elation Platinum Spot 5R ultra-compact, energy-efficient moving heads powered by breakthrough Philips Platinum 5R lamp technology; and one Elation Antari HZ-350 haze machine.

This gear package satisfied the wide range of requirements that SouthCrest had for its lighting system, such as multi-functionality to illuminate a variety of different activities (worship services, live performances, video recording), while at the same time being energy efficient, budget-friendly, and easy to program and operate. "As with most everyone, the church desired the best value for their money. For seven years now we have accomplished this with huge success utilizing a unique business model that enables us to be very flexible," said McCarthy.

"AST specified all the gear and worked closely with SouthCrest to insure complete understanding of each product's capabilities. All of the theatrical fixtures were chosen for a concert feel within the specified budget. The Opti QA Pars provided an excellent color temperature and the required 140W of brightness. The Tri Par 56s are always an outstanding choice for value, color wash, and ease of use. The Platinum Spot 5Rs have a proven track record of quality and capabilities for an entry-level intelligent fixture," McCarthy continued.

"With every stage lighting configuration that we design, there are many elements that we consider," added McCarthy. "First the basics -- three points of light: key light, back light, and fill. We also look closely at the stage plot before we determine the fixture and truss locations, laying out an optimum coverage of each upstage, downstage, and front stage position. We then choose fixtures to create quality stage wash and spot locations for live performance and video recording. Simultaneously we look closely at the creative elements -- color and effects. Elation's LEDs and intells provide great flexibility to achieve thousands of great looks at super competitive prices."

Trussing products from Global Truss America also proved well suited to the church's needs, according to McCarthy. AST installed a truss structure in the ceiling of the main sanctuary consisting of 11 SQ-4115 F34 straight segments and 44 eye clamp heavy duty clamps with eyebolt. There is also modular trussing onstage, which includes: two SQ-4111, two SQ-4113, two SQ-4114, two SQ-4115 segments of square truss, along with four 3.3 baseplates. Additionally, AST created a complete Global Truss America setup in the student room with front, back, and upright truss to hold sound and video equipment.

"Global Truss America is the perfect lightweight solution for church installs -- many options to choose from, easily configurable, and great customer support," McCarthy said. "(Global Truss America's) Tony Gomez rocks!"

McCarthy noted that his company has had a long relationship with SouthCrest's worship and arts pastor, Matt McFadden. This was a key factor that made the project a huge success right out of the gate. "Because of Matt's technical knowledge, and our 30 years of experience, the collaboration on this project was next level. Great teamwork and communication on every detail made this our most successful project to date."

"The church is ecstatic about their install," McCarthy added. "Matt McFadden and the executive pastor, Shawn Smith, raved about the quality of the work and all the goals achieved."

Commented Smith, "As we were planning all of the AVL for our new worship center I began researching companies and their approach to helping churches. Once I met with AST I was convinced that their approach and expertise in the area of AVL design and install was second to none. They did an amazing job in helping us design, price, and install all of our equipment in a timely manner. I would recommend them to any church looking to stay on the cutting edge of worship technology."

See Elation Professional and Global Truss at PLASA Focus: Stamford, November 12-13.