MLC led by Shawn Lovejoy started on January 16th, 2000 in Cumming GA with the mission being the "Church for the Unchurched"!

With that focus Mountain Lake, home of "Church Planters.com", saw incredible growth which led to the need for their new state of the art facility!

Design 2020 developed the Audio, HD Video, Lighting, and Acoustics Systems for this rocking worship experience!

Pastor Max Lucado is perhaps best known for authoring dozens of Christian best-selling books, but he can also be found leading Oak Hills Church, a vibrant non-denominational congregation in San Antonio, Texas. When Oak Hills began searching for a way to step up the performance of their lighting system, Communications and Technology Minister Gerry True turned to the consulting team at Design 2020. Working with Principal Armando Fullwood, Gerry outlined his desire to create an immersive lighting experience for both worship and preaching during Oak Hills' services. Color saturation and adjustability were key, as well as creating a clean, even keylight wash for the church's video ministry. Oak Hills' auditorium features a large upstage cyclorama curtain, allowing creative use of color, gobo patterns and movement in the background of the platform. Design 2020 sought to capitalize on this asset, using robotic lighting, LED fixtures along with conventional theatrical instruments to create the perfect environment.

Design Engineer Justin Hames focused on integrating the new lighting with the existing building. "One challenge of the project was to add additional dimming and rigging locations at the side- and key-light positions without a complete electrical overhaul," Hames indicated. "We used ETC's SmartBar units to add the new lighting battens, which put the dimming in the air with the fixtures. This eliminated a large amount of electrical wiring and kept the project cost within reach". Design 2020 specified ETC Source 4 fixtures for the keylight positions, along with a complement of Coemar LED fixtures for color wash and Coemar's new Infinity Spot-S moving head fixture for adding patterns and movement to the cyclorama and stage deck. Existing Wybron Nexera color mixing fixtures were used to highlight the cyclorama.

Design 2020 also upgraded the church's control system to the Jands Vista I3 engine, which was key to helping the church staff implement moving-light programming in their services. Hames summarized, "the system upgrades made a night-and-day difference to both the live and on-camera look of the stage. The client couldn't be happier". Following the success of this project, Design 2020 has been retained by Oak Hills to design a new multipurpose facility for the church.

When Woodlawn Church of Columbia, MS began planning a major renovation for its ‘Elevate’ youth ministry, Administrative Pastor Jerron Carney looked up Design 2020. The church desired to completely renovate an existing youth ministries building, creating a theatrical environment that could be used churchwide. Design 2020 was brought in from the beginning of the project to assist in room shaping, theatre consulting, acoustics, as well as developing the technical systems for the facility.

The project team, led by Design Engineer Justin Hames, assisted the architects in developing a splitlevel seating plan to optimize sightlines. Owner furnished equipment, projectors by Christie Digital and Lighting provided by ETC and Martin Maxxyz were used in the install. The church’s reaction to the completed space was summed up by Technical Director Jarron Paul Davis’ Facebook status: “Mixing full band for the first time in the elevate center!! Wow!! Easiest room ever to mix in! THANK YOU DESIGN 2020!!!!!”

First Baptist Church of Simpsonville was established over 120 years ago, and still maintains a prominent place in this community just south of Greenville, SC. When First Baptist was ready to construct a new 1800-seat main sanctuary, they partnered with Design 2020 as their consultant for audio, video, theatrical lighting and acoustical for the new facility.

Each Sunday, First Baptist hosts both traditional and contemporary services in the sanctuary. Therefore, the acoustical design had to complement a wide range of uses, from choir and organ to a full contemporary worship band. The owner also requested prominent support of congregational worship, as well as natural acoustical support of the building’s electronic organ system. Design 2020 developed an integrated acoustically-reflective cloud ceiling that supports stage sound from the choir and orchestra and assists in diffusing congregational singing. Air gaps between clouds and at catwalks work to control bass frequencies, allowing for balanced reverberation. Diffusing walls and ceilings geometry under the balcony and through the audience chamber further enhance the effect.

The audio system in the space is distributed among the two major theatrical catwalks and hidden by a stretched fabric scrim. Large arrays of EAW loudspeakers cover the main seating areas, with over- and under-balcony areas as well as the front rows covered locally. EAW’s Gunness Focusing processors are used throughout the system for maximum fidelity. The video system is centered around engineered rear-screen projection surfaces for the audience and a front-projected confidence monitor above the balcony seating. Wide-format video is used throughout, including on digital signage plasmas through the concourse. AV systems were installed by Musicraft Sound & Video of Roebuck, SC.

A complete theatrical lighting system from ETC is used to light both the traditional and contemporary services from two major catwalks plus over-stage positions. The system includes an ETC Express control console as well as architectural controls throughout the building. Provisions for touring connections as well as intelligent lighting have been integrated into the stage and catwalk system.

In all, First Baptist Church of Simpsonville is a stunning building, both visually and acoustically. Thanks to all who worked to make this project possible.

Faith Alive Ministries in Chesapeake, Virginia is a church on a mission: to promote a complete surrender to Christ while welcoming people of all demographics to worship. Founded in 1990 with eleven core members, Faith Alive has grown to a vibrant congregation under the leadership of Pastor Bob Groves, and in 2006 they recruited Barnes Design Group and Design 2020 to develop a larger sanctuary that can keep pace with the church’s services and events.

The new 2200-seat facility sports a fan-shaped seating area with theater seats. The exposed overhead structure is highlighted by the 360-degree skylights surrounding the audience. Design 2020 specified overhead clouds that create an architectural ceiling while acting as bass traps.

Lighting in the space is provided by an ETC dimming and architectural control system. A Jands Vista control console orchestrates the fixture complement of ETC Source 4’s, Martin moving heads, and Ocean Optics Seachanger color engines. An installed truss rigging system perfectly complements the architecture.

Faith Alive produces a live video webcast of their services and distributes the service on DVD. To meet this requirement, Design 2020 developed a full production suite for the church for live video production and audio and video post production. An all-HD video system captures the services in pristine 720p quality using both fixed and mobile cameras. Independent HD switchers with multiviewers create separate programs for the broadcast feed and the live IMAG program. ProPresenter from Renewed Vision is used for graphics for both broadcast and projection on the church’s three projection screens, which are all individually-addressable. An NVision broadcast router handles distribution of signals throughout the facility. Synchronized HD-SDI digital distribution is used throughout with no frame buffering, eliminating latency on the IMAG screens. An attached Pro Tools-based audio suite handles the broadcast audio mix.

For the house audio system, Design 2020 employed a 26-box NEXO line array system with NEXO subwoofers. A Digidesign Venue Profile console anchors Front-of-House, with an all-digital connection to the Yamaha processing and amplification system.

Since the opening of the new building on December 21, 2009, there has been nothing but praise from the technical team at Faith Alive. Pastor Bob Grove summed it up when he said "Our system ROCKS!"

Founded by Pastor Lonny Robbins, Trinity Fellowship in Pampa, Texas is a growing, contemporary congregation seeking to “reach the city” with the gospel. Due to its growth, Trinity was in need of a larger space to support its worship services and family ministries. After acquiring an existing building on Hobart Street in downtown Pampa, Trinity contracted with Design 2020 through its architect, HH Architects of Dallas, TX. Design 2020 was charged with developing the audio, projection, and lighting systems as well as the acoustics and sound isolation of the renovated retail space.

Design 2020 worked with HH Architects to develop a Sanctuary and a “Kids’ Auditorium” with controlled performance acoustics and integral sound isolation and noise control strategies. The new 600-seat sanctuary contains a state-of-the-art audio system including a digital audio console, EAW loudspeakers and QSC amplification. An ETC Sensor dimming system supports the full building, with zoned architectural controls. Projection and audio are present throughout the facility.

The congregation has doubled in size from the day of the opening service. Paxton Whatley, Trinity’s Pastor of Worship had nothing but praise for the work of Design 2020: “Praise God for Design 2020! They helped us bring forth the Kingdom!”

Following the success of the Sanctuary and Kid’s auditoriums, Trinity has recently contracted Design 2020 to develop systems for a youth facility in a new portion of the Pampa campus.

For the past several years, Grace Fellowship Church in Johnson City, TN has been undergoing a gradual transformation. Since forming in 1979, Grace has consistently evangelized the Johnson City area and seen tremendous growth. In order to accommodate the congregation, a multi-phase expansion project was started. Architect Neal-Prince, builder Cogun, Inc., and AV, lighting and acoustical consultant Design 2020 have worked to meet the church’s needs along the way. On April 26, 2009, Grace’s new 1500-seat sanctuary opened to the congregation.

The new sanctuary features a theatrical stage, stadium seating, theater curtains, rigging and catwalk systems, and backstage amenities. Design 2020 worked with the architect to design the room to meet Grace’s needs, which include both contemporary worship on Sunday and frequent concert and event use. Acoustical needs were met by tapering and faceting the sidewalls as well as providing an absorptive acoustical roof deck above the auditorium. Fabrics and padding for the stadium seating were selected to provide consistent absorption for the rear of the room.

The audio system in the room was developed to support a concert-level experience for all seats. McCauley loudspeakers were selected, utilizing a large McCauley inLine system for main coverage area, iDesign boxes for the stage lip fills and upper stadium seats, working alongside Bag End subwoofers under the stage apron. A Yamaha console and QSC amplifiers complete the system. To support the space visually, Design 2020 developed a theatrical lighting system based on fixtures from ETC and Coemar. A large catwalk runs the width of the room, allowing simple and safe access to keylight positions. Rigging is provided over the stagehouse for effect lighting. Design 2020 developed a stage curtain plan that complemented the moving-light rig and provided a clean broadcast feel for the sermon. An ETC Sensor dimming system powers the facility, including architectural fixtures. A Jands Vista console provides control of the system.

The video system at Grace operates in 720p HD throughout the facility, including all IMAG, digital signage and overflow displays. The system front-end includes a Panasonic HD studio camera and control system. ProPresenter is used to source computer graphics and video content to the system. A Miranda video router allows simple management of all signal routing through the facility. Video is kept in HD-SDI format throughout the system, eliminating latency issues common with live projection.

Grace’s new sanctuary provides a fantastic environment for the church to continue their calling in the Johnson City area. Design 2020 is proud to have been a part of this transformation.

In 2005 a core group of 25 adults planted a church in the small town of Dalton, Georgia. Rock Bridge Community Church has now grown to over 1,500 members across 2 campuses. This rapid growth required Rock Bridge to seek out more space and new technology. Rock Bridge Community Church then looked to Design 2020 for help.

The renovation of Rock Bridge's main venue, the historic "Wink Theatre" was completed in February, 2008. Audio for all 1,100 seats is provided by a pair of McCauley line array loudspeakers and a Yamaha digital audio console. Design 2020 also implemented a broadcast video system using Panasonic cameras and switcher, supplemented by a new lighting design featuring ETC fixtures. Rock Bridge's Finance Director Mark Williams summed up the experience: "Being a true consultant, Design 2020 selected the best technical solution and equipment, no matter what brand, for the venue needs and linked us with installers that really care for ministry. The entire team at Design 2020 is available to answer technical or training questions and are very supportive of our on-site needs."

Building on the success of the Wink Theatre, the church has contracted Design 2020 to develop systems for two video venue locations: "Stage 123" in Dalton and a remote campus in nearby Calhoun, GA.