Customer Success Story
Free Chapel
Free Chapel is a multi-campus church based out of Gainesville, Georgia, with satellite campuses located in Georgia, South Carolina, and all the way across the United States in California.
With a commitment to creating a visionary atmosphere for the communities they serve, Free Chapel cultivates an experience that inspires their congregations to live for Jesus.
The Challenge
Free Chapel was looking to upgrade their facilities for the launch of their Suwanee, Georgia campus in 2014. They were looking for equipment that was intuitive enough for volunteer operators to efficiently utilize and would improve their overall workflow. In their search for a solution, they toured other churches to see what could work for them. It was during these tours they witnessed Ross equipment in action.
The Solution
Mark Smith, Technical Director for Free Chapel recalled their tours of churches utilizing Ross equipment, “We saw that the workflow worked perfect for what we do in a house of worship. The switchers had simple key selection and custom controls, the BlackStorm would give us video playback with ease, the Ross equipment was just a lot easier to use in our house.”
Free Chapel ultimately went with Ross Vision 3MLE and Vision 2MLE Production Switchers for their main campus. They outfitted the rest of their campuses with Carbonite 2ME Switchers along with BlackStorm Playout Servers. Free Chapel’s Ross solution is ongoing. Mark plainly stated, “When we outfit any new campuses in the future, they will have the Carbonite – BlackStorm combination. We’ll have entirely Ross switchers in our operation.”
The Result
From their main campus, Free Chapel utilizes their Vision 3MLE to control their IMAG. They then utilize the Vision 2MLE to live broadcast the sermon online, on television, and to their other campuses. Their satellite campuses receive a two-signal feed. One is a wide teaching shot that appears as though the preacher is on their very stage. The other signal is for the IMAG that gets close-ups of the preacher or custom graphics of scripture. For in-house sermons, the satellite campuses can utilize their Carbonite switchers for their own productions. With their Ross DashBoard open platform control system, their producer can utilize a touch panel to direct productions if the video director is not present or if there is a smaller production to be done.
“Ross equipment has allowed us to be flexible. Our productions don’t usually stick to a schedule and tend to be very dynamic, and with our type of atmosphere, we need to work quickly and efficiently,” Mark said. “The new system has also provided us expandability. With the old system we couldn’t go beyond a certain number of outputs. But now, we have room to grow.”
Free Chapel had their equipment installed in anticipation of the opening of their Suwanee, Georgia campus in March 2014. Installation went smoothly and with Ross training they were able to get volunteers up to speed in no time. Ross staff set the system up the way Free Chapel desired and showed them how it was done every step of the way.
“Ross has the most flexible and intuitive video systems that you can get on the market for a House of Worship. Ross products and Ross staff have been great to us.” Mark concluded.
