Church of the Highlands - Alabama

When a faith community is born, it's not uncommon to hold services in a local school gymnasium, cafeteria or auditorium or even a neighborhood movie theater or community center. What is uncommon, however, is when that same church grows from 350 to over 30,000 in attendance in 14 years. That's what Birmingham, Alabama's Church of the Highlands (COTH) has done. With a focus on reaching the unchurched and building community through small groups, they've also expanded to 11 satellite campuses. The success they've experienced has positioned them consistently near the top of Outreach Magazine's annual list of the 100 largest and fastest-growing churches in the U.S.

Since completing the design and full integration of COTH's theater at their main campus in 2010, Clark has been the church's partner of choice for capital AVL projects. The initial project included upgrading the cameras in the main auditorium and repurposing the previous ones for the theater.

Multiple Campuses / Many Projects
In 2012, COTH upgraded their first permanent offsite campus - Riverchase. The facility was literally given to them several years earlier by a nearby congregation whose pastor  passed away unexpectedly, without a succession plan. Since the auditorium seated around 350, COTH chose to add on a new auditorium, with seating for 1000, and use the previous space for children's ministry. The new facility also included six offices, a couple of small classrooms and a cafe. They called on Clark to handle all of the AVL for the new auditorium.

COTH's Greystone campus outgrew its space in 2011, only two years after they had begun to meet in a local school gym. The purchase of an existing building - a former data call center - required Clark to adapt the space to ensure people at the back of the long, narrow room would feel engaged and connected in the worship experience. Prior to construction, the team engineered the space "down to inches" to ensure that the video screens had proper clearance and that lights and speakers wouldn't block the sight lines. Using their 3-D design tool, both before and during construction, engineers fought for every inch in the room to ensure each seat had a full audio and video experience.

Within an 18 month period, COTH and Clark partnered on the AVL for three campuses - Riverchase, Greystone and Auburn - an exciting and challenging time for everyone involved in the overlapping, fast-paced projects. The Auburn campus was special in that it was the first new, ground up project Clark did with COTH. The firm was asked to design the AVL for the main room, several theaters, including three children's spaces, and all of the distributed AV. What had begun as a satellite near the Auburn University campus in 2007, continued in 2013 in a permanent place. Clark was able to take everything they had learned on the previous projects with COTH and apply it at the Auburn campus. 

In 2014, the church launched a portable campus in a school auditorium in Huntsville, Alabama. Clark was asked to help design and implement technological changes to the space that would be mutually beneficial to the church and the school. This included permanent infrastructure to enable the church to hang speakers, truss and lights, as well as an upgrade of the audio infrastructure. It was a win-win for everyone. The church received an adjustment to their weekly rent to help offset the cost of the install and volunteers can now accomplish Sunday morning set up in about an hour (down from four hours). Perhaps even more importantly, the installation gave the school access to technology that they would normally not be able to have and flexibility in how they use the space.

Also in 2014, Clark upgraded the video switcher and routing system in the main auditorium. Infrastructure was upgraded as well, including patch panels and tie lines over the stage area.

When COTH began leasing space in the Opelika SportsPlex, in 2015, Clark assisted them with a permanent AVL install, including a sound system, cabling, patch panels and rigging for truss and motors. This simple solution for a portable campus meant the church wouldn't have to rent gear each week and also that they could be out of the space before the center opened for workouts in the afternoon. 

Then, in the summer of 2015, Clark once again installed new cameras in the auditorium of the main campus. The previous units will soon find a new home in the theater, replacing cameras which now have very limited functionality. 

Since 2007, COTH has had a presence on the University of Alabama's Tuscaloosa campus. By the beginning of 2016, students and families who have been meeting in a conference center will be able to attend services in a new, permanent facility just a few miles from campus. Clark is also partnering with COTH on this project.

That's not all. The church is projected to open a new, two story addition to the Riverchase campus by Easter, 2016.  Plans are also in the works to break ground on a permanent Montgomery campus (COTH currently leases a downtown performing arts center) in the fall of 2015.

The Takeaway
Clark puts a high value on the trust of their church partners. The AVL firm knows they're in it for the long haul. They also realize that the synergy created while working together over multiple projects increases the success of each individual outcome. Justin Firesheets, COTH Production Manager, says it this way: "Clark has the ability to look at an idea that's already out there and say, 'How can we make this better? How can we learn from what we've already done, and try to improve upon this the next time?' Every project we've done with Clark, we've learned something new about how we could change the shape of the room, how we could affect the acoustics, how we could make some adjustments with the video systems, lighting or audio."

When asked what to look for in a technology services provider, Justin is quick to say, "The number one thing has to be relationship. How well do you work with them? How well do they understand you? Do you enjoy the relationship? You can get equipment and install work from anybody, but if you are trying to further your ministry, you need to make sure you're doing it with somebody that you work well with." He adds, "We view Clark as a ministry partner. They understand our vision and what we're trying to accomplish. They have incredibly talented people working with us to help fulfill our vision, so it's natural that we'd want to continue that relationship."