Moving forwards
Moving forwards
Green Acres Baptist Church’s Crosswalk Conference Center has upgraded its AV setup with Blackmagic, Sony and Clear-Com equipment
When it comes to large houses of worship, ensuring that the AV equipment is always up to the task and replaced before it reaches the end of its life is a never-ending task. This is certainly the case for Green Acres Baptist Church (GABC) in Tyler, Texas, a Southern Baptist megachurch with over 17,000 members. The campus comprises the main Worship Center with 3,400 seats, the Crosswalk Center with 2,200 seats, a chapel with 1,350 seats and several other ancillary rooms that are used for internal and external events.
Responsibility for these continual upgrade efforts falls onto the shoulders of Casey Hawkins, a familiar name in Worship AVL who has written plenty of our KnowHOW, Technology and Comment articles over the last few years. He holds the role of director of video engineering and live production at GABC where he has worked since 2016. “You have to have the mindset of predicting when things might break and what we would do if it does,” he says. “We’ve got a whole shelf system here of backup parts – we’ve got frame syncs worth US$5,000 that are just sitting here waiting to replace something crucial that could break on a Sunday morning.”
The smaller Crosswalk Center holds the church’s Spanish services on a Sunday and has more of a theatre-style stage than the Worship Center. Hawkins and team members Taylor Newton and Hunter Peggs have recently undertaken an upgrade to Crosswalk’s AV infrastructure with a Blackmagic Design ATEM 2 M/E Advanced Panel 20, Sony HXC‑FX90 camera and a Clear-Com system comprising an MS‑702 Encore 2-channel rackmount intercom main station, RM‑702 Encore remote headset station and six RS‑701 singlechannel Encore analogue partyline intercom beltpacks.
“We have Ross Carbonites in the Worship Center where everything is broadcast-level, but over in Crosswalk the setup was controlled by a computer, mouse and keyboard. Because it didn’t have any buttons, it felt a bit untrustworthy at times,” explains Hawkins, who’d been hoping to acquire a Blackmagic Design ATEM 2 M/E Advanced Panel 20 for some time but there’d never been room for it in the budget. “It’s perfect for what we need in Crosswalk – it has great onscreen settings that you can scroll through and the labels for all the input buttons allow for more letters and characters rather than having to use abbreviations.” The panel has 20 input buttons and two system control LCDs, plus buttons for control of four upstream keyers, four downstream keyers and two M/E rows and includes a joystick and T-bar fader.
“Like Casey, I’m a huge proponent of honouring the budget you’re given – and I’m also a huge proponent of always bettering yourself and seeing how you can move forwards and create a better production,” says Newton, who joined as GABC’s Crosswalk video director in March 2022. “We had to replace the switcher in 2024 so that was another expense – we’ve had a lot of equipment replaced because it was ageing. But because we’re multi-campus and we want to bring in and train more volunteers, it was important to us that we can offer something professional in each campus, so when they’re moving from the Worship Center to Crosswalk, they’re at least using something that’s better than just a mouse and keyboard. The greatest asset is bringing our volunteers in both campuses together and making training easier across the board moving forwards. And if new volunteers appreciate the quality of equipment we offer, they’re more likely to stay.”
“I’m more comfortable using the new Blackmagic panel,” adds Peggs, who’s been with the church since October 2025. “We’ve remapped some of the buttons to make more sense, so all the cameras we use on a Sunday are now on the left side and then everything we use for our events such as stage plugins is now on the right.”
The Sony HXC‑FX90 camera with a CCU, zoom and focus controller and LEMO fibre cable has replaced a tape-based, high-definition JVC HDV model. The previous camera was studio-configured, with a CCU, a 7‑inch viewfinder, a rear lens and zoom controller, but it was 17 years old. “It lasted us really well but it was 1440x1080 rather than 1920x1080, so it was never full resolution. I was getting reports that imagery was starting to fail and it felt like it could break at any time,” says Hawkins. “I wanted the new camera to be similar to what we have in the Worship Center where we have good, high-level Sony HDC-1700 cameras. The HXC‑FX90 camera looks the same – it doesn’t have all the controls and knobs on the back for intercom for example but, other than that, it’s the same body and we wanted to create a consistent workflow so if someone is running a camera in the Worship Center, they won’t have any problem operating this camera in Crosswalk. The new model is fully HD with a 4K CMOS sensor.”
“You can really notice the improvement – the colours are cleaner – the old camera didn’t show the correct colour on the viewer sometimes, so it’s made a big difference,” continues Peggs. “It was easy to plug in all the fibre, SDI and power cables and add the zoom controller.”
The Sony camera symbolises the start of plans to gradually improve the camera setup in Crosswalk. “It’s a bit of a mix-and-match setup at the moment, with some lipstick cameras pointing towards the keyboard area, there’s cameras on dollies for the drums and electric guitar, two robotic cameras for wide angles plus we have some older Sony models, but they still create a good production,” explains Newton. “With the new comms line, we now have the option to add camera volunteers to make them more interactive, which will help the director create a more dynamic production. For now though, we have one camera operator working the new Sony camera and six static cameras.”
In addition to Sunday services, the Crosswalk Center is used for external events such as Chamber of Commerce luncheons, which don’t require such a high production value. “The gradual upgrades with the Blackmagic switcher and replacing the camera and updating the comms have made everything more optimal and puts us in a position to do larger productions and to do them well,” describes Newton. “When you have big Christian artists travelling with large LED walls for example, they can transform any space themselves. But now, we can connect with more upgraded technology if they’re bringing in Blackmagic equipment which can talk with our new switcher and we’re now able to give better support for those types of shows.”
“If we’re able to book more external events, we can generate more service fees, invest in more equipment and so the cycle starts over again,” adds Hawkins. “There aren’t really any other venues in town that have the same infrastructure as we do, so when people come into our facility, the feedback is always positive.”
The final piece of upgraded equipment in the Crosswalk Center – for now – is a new analogue Clear-Com system with a 2-channel base, six beltpacks with headsets and one rackmounted station. “We’re replacing the mainframe, the unit up in the booth which is a rackmounted receiver and all the beltpacks, but all the existing wiring infrastructure is staying in place,” explains Newton. “There’s a lot of static in several of the lines and a lot of mix-and-match connectors. The goal is to clear up the signal and give everyone clear and precise sound so they can hear direction and communicate effectively.”
And next on the upgrade list? The Crosswalk Center can be divided into three rooms, the smallest of which, Crosswalk C, has its own AV system comprising a screen and projector. Hawkins is preparing to replace the projector, wireless HDMI extender and in-wall HDBaseT line. In addition, in WC150, which is a multipurpose room that still has a 4x3 projector and screen, the entire video system is being replaced, including the VGA wall plate which is being upgraded to HDMI, a new matrix switcher which will provide an input for a camera which has never been offered in that room before, a rear connection for running presentations from the back of the room and a Blackmagic HyperDeck so that events can be recorded. The room will also receive a live feed so it can be used as an overflow from the main Worship Center. We’ll report back and cover these instalments in a later issue.
