March 24, 2025 • 21 mins
What happens when centuries-old traditions of visual storytelling meet cutting-edge digital technology? At Hope Church, the answer comes in the form of an LED wall that promises to transform the worship experience.
Join some of HOPE's staff and future staff as they discuss one of the three initiatives connected to the Hope in Motion campaign, exploring not just what an LED wall is, but how it can impact a faith community.
Learn more and be a part of HOPE in Motion at meethope.org/motion
Thanks for being a part of the HOPE community as we continue conversations about faith and hope! You can learn more at meethope.org or find us on socials @meethopechurch. Join in for worship on Sundays at meethope.online.church! Have a question? Contact us at podcast@meethope.org.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
intro (00:03):
Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have
conversations about faith andhope.
Hope is one church made ofpeople living out their faith
through two expressions inperson and online.
We believe a hybrid faithexperience can lead to a growing
influence in our community andour world for the sake of others
.
Welcome to Hope.
Jeff Bills (00:28):
Hey friends, our world for the sake of others.
Welcome to Hope.
Hey friends, welcome to theMeet Hope podcast.
I'm Jeff Bills and I am beingjoined today by a very august
group of members of our staff,or soon to be members of our
staff, starting with our nextlead pastor, James Lee.
James, how you doing.
James Lee (00:45):
I'm doing well.
Jeff Bills (00:46):
Excellent.
Next to James we've got PastorRick Court hey, good to be here
and next to Rick, andrew Barber,our Director of Worship Arts.
How's it going, andrew?
It's going good, thanks.
So we're here.
Today.
We're talking about the Hope inMotion campaign and, as you
know, there's three prioritiesfor the campaign, and today I
(01:08):
want to focus on the LED walland what that's about, why this
is a priority for us and what isan LED?
James Lee (01:20):
wall.
Jeff Bills (01:21):
So, to get started, there's a history here, and,
rick, you were probably the mostinvolved with the history, so
give us a little backstory onwhen this all started.
Rick Court (01:34):
Sure, somewhere around I guess 2020 or even
before 2020, we were looking atour you know, we used to have a
projector that projected theimages up onto a screen and we
were transitioning to somethingdifferent and we didn't know
what that was.
So we were looking before COVID.
Then, when COVID happened, wewent into this digital phase.
We kind of changed the thingsthat we did in the space and the
(01:57):
platform.
That's when we did those mostrecent upgrades to improve our
digital experience.
So, with the lighting and allthose things, we looked at a
screen.
Then, again, it wasn'taffordable, the technology
wasn't there, so that someone itwasn't accessible to a church
really, or at least a church oursize.
So we went with three monitorsthat are 83 inches and diagonal
(02:21):
and they seemed really big.
Remember, when they arrived andwe put them in the space, we
thought they were really biguntil they got hung on the truss
and then they looked a lotsmaller.
So we always knew there'd be astopgap until we could do
something else.
And I think we're at that spacenow where we're going to do
something else.
Yeah, that's really what we'retalking about.
(02:42):
Is this, uh, moving from thatwhich was it worked, but it's
not.
Jeff Bills (02:49):
It's it's kind of, I would say, in a sense, hold us
back now yeah, yeah, so we're,we're now moving to this led
wall and, uh, so, andrew,describe what is an LED wall.
Andrew Barber (03:03):
It's a really big TV screen more or less.
So ours is going to be a 28 by10 foot large screen that is
going to sit on stage,essentially behind and around
where the singer stands or wherethe pastor stands.
(03:24):
It's going to be behind that,and what makes it so cool
because it's such a large screenand it's going to be even
taller than kind of where thebottom of the TVs sit.
Now it'll sort of end there.
It will be sort of thisbackdrop for when the pastors
are speaking or when theworshipers are leading worship.
(03:44):
So it's this great piece oftechnology that's not only a
great video screen where you canwatch videos, see images, but
it's going to sort of becomepart of the design of the stage,
which I think is really cool.
Jeff Bills (03:58):
James, you are a video guy, so your background,
for those who don't know, jameshad a video production company.
Is that accurate?
Yeah, and I still do on theside, although it takes most of
my time, so you were doingvideos for weddings.
James Lee (04:18):
Yeah, For a while I was a wedding video producer.
Jeff Bills (04:22):
So you're conversant in this stuff and I know you're
excited about the LED wall.
James Lee (04:38):
Why are you?
I'm really excited because Iknow that even in our own
tradition of talking about theBible, talking about stories, we
see storytelling, visualstorytelling, as a big part of
our tradition.
So I think about Jesus insteadof just saying, hey, god loves
you, like a father who misseshis son, he went into this story
.
He drew a picture, with hiswords, of the prodigal son.
(04:59):
He would speak in parables.
I think about even theIsraelites really investing in
the design of the tabernacle andthe design of the ark and all
of these elements that arevisual, and making sure that
it's beautiful and telling astory to remind people of where
they were and who they are andwhere they're headed.
(05:20):
And so I think visualstorytelling is a part of our
faith, and so I believe thatthis tool can be used to
continue that tradition, tocontinue that part of our faith.
Jeff Bills (05:31):
Love that.
Yeah, you know you think aboutworship spaces that maybe folks
grew up attending Stained glassright Stained glass windows.
Yeah, that was an earliercenturies version of telling the
story.
Rick Court (05:50):
Oh, absolutely, yeah .
Jeff Bills (05:52):
So, with Hope, we did have these projectors for
years.
And what was the problem withthe projectors?
The projectors.
Rick Court (06:01):
Well, we never again .
Because of the ambient light inour space, because we're, you
know, we've got this giant wallof glass where the sun shines in
and it's beautiful and it looksgreat it really wreaks havoc on
technology, especially lighttechnology, and so that screen
was being, or the image wasbeing, forced, you know, 40 feet
(06:22):
across the room onto a screenand then reflect it back to us,
and so it never had theimmersive experience that an LED
wall could have, in that itdidn't have the bright colors,
it didn't have the high densityor the high imagery that would
(06:43):
be possible with this LEDtechnology.
And so, just like we did withthose screens, we hung them on
the truss.
When we would get a projector,we'd go eh, that's nice, but it
never was.
Wow, that's amazing.
Only at night, exactly, yeah.
So if we only did church atnight, we were fine, exactly
yeah.
James Lee (07:02):
So if we only did church at night.
Rick Court (07:03):
we were fine so yeah , so it just never had the
impact that it could have hadbecause of the light that we
have in our space.
Jeff Bills (07:16):
Yes, so this will overcome.
The ambient light won't be anissue.
Rick Court (07:21):
Right these applications are.
As I think Andrew mentioned isthat these are applications are
used outside all the time.
Every stadium are using LEDscreens and it's the same
technology that we'll be using.
Jeff Bills (07:37):
Where else would you ?
Andrew Barber (07:38):
see these, I mean .
So I drove stadiums.
I mean there's hundreds of themin the stadiums.
When you're driving down theroad and you see a billboard
that changes like, you see adifferent image.
That's an LED wall, essentiallyMalls.
You see them Anytime.
You see a large screen, we'llsay bigger than 80 inches, it's
(08:01):
an LED wall, because making atelevision larger than 80, 90
inches is really not costeffective.
Yeah, um, so they're.
They're everywhere and youprobably see them listening or
I'm talking to specific youprobably see them all the time
and you don't even know it.
Um, it's just, they are a partof our world.
Jeff Bills (08:18):
So just to get in some of the geeky tech stuff um
it's not actually just a solidTV screen, right, it's something
else.
Andrew Barber (08:29):
It's multiple panels.
So ours is going to becomprised of 40 smaller panels
that are, I think, about twofeet wide and they work together
.
They're connected, networkedtogether to create the one large
screen.
Rick Court (08:44):
And each panel has thousands of little tiny light
bulbs, and those little tinylight bulbs all emit light
source.
Jeff Bills (08:53):
That's the LE yeah.
Andrew Barber (08:55):
Light emitting diode, which is?
It's literally just a little.
Rick Court (08:59):
So instead of one projector bulb projecting 40
feet across and reflecting off ascreen, thousands of little
bulbs will be projected rightout towards the congregation.
Jeff Bills (09:11):
And my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong on
this one.
There could be multiple imageson these screens.
So it's like there could besomething happening on the right
and left and somethingdifferent in the center all at
the same time, yep and that'swhat's so nice because of the
size of it, we have a lot offlexibility.
Andrew Barber (09:32):
And then one, one question I get asked all the
time is you're going to havethis wall here, but the worship
leaders stand in front of them.
We're not going to be able tosee.
Well, the screen is big enoughthat, first of all, like lyrics,
for example, which are animportant part, they're going to
be above the, above the singer.
So anywhere you sit in the room, you're going to be able to see
(09:52):
the lyrics and you're going tobe able to see them with clarity
, and they're going to be largerthan what we have now, which is
, um, with the TVs above.
So, yeah, it's really becauseof the size of the screen.
There's so much moreflexibility that we have in the
way we put together a serviceand the way you experience the
service.
Jeff Bills (10:11):
Are there things that we're not doing currently
because of the fact that thescreens aren't sufficient?
Andrew Barber (10:18):
A thousand percent.
I think we always haveconversations about.
This is the simplest one.
Here's a video.
It's really great, but at theend there's these words that are
scrolling on the screen and inthe room.
You can't read them.
So we don't use that videobecause it limits us, because
the screen isn't big enough, orsometimes when you hear someone
(10:41):
talking and when you're in theroom it's like okay, you can
hear them, but you really can'tquite, maybe, see the emotion on
the face.
So I think sometimes we don'tuse videos as much as we could
because we feel like the peoplein the room are missing out.
Rick Court (10:58):
And this is where, yeah, I think this technology is
going to help our in-personcrowd catch up to the digital
crowd, exactly Because ourdigital congregation sees those
images and they look great.
So, to your point of thescrolling words on a video, they
look fine when you're watchingonline or watching at your home
on your television, but in ourin-person space you can't see
(11:21):
them because they're too smallbecause of the screens that we
currently have.
So it allows our in-personcrowd to catch up, in a sense,
to our digital crowd, which Ithink is a neat experience.
Jeff Bills (11:31):
Yeah, Well, here's a scary question.
So currently, when Rick, you orI are preaching, or Andrew, you
guys are doing your thing onthe worship team, guys are doing
your thing on the worship team.
The images are up on the smallscreen.
So when I'm preaching live inthe room, people in the room can
(11:52):
also see the image on thescreen.
Is it going to be a giganticimage of the preacher on the
screen?
Rick Court (12:03):
I hope not.
Andrew Barber (12:09):
As long as you're nice to the tech team in the
back, you'll never have to worryabout that.
No, it'll be for when the bandis coming.
I imagine there'll be some, andwe have some videos already
like motion videos that maybekind of are synced to the song,
or just the kind of moving,gentle moving, just things that
I wouldn't say are distractingbut enhance the experience.
(12:30):
Just the word we've been usinga lot is immersive and I know
that sometimes people go.
What does that mean?
And it's just more differentthings that we can do to kind of
just create different ambiances.
And you know, right now we havethese beautiful doors that are
on the backdrop and they've beenthe backdrop for a long time,
but that's all we just have thatwe.
(12:52):
You know those doors are notlight.
It's not quick change to changethem to something else.
So this is a.
We can have any backdrop wewant at any point with this wall
.
James Lee (13:00):
I don't want to, yeah , I don't want to underplay the
word immersive.
I think immersive is reallyimportant.
I remember when I was inIreland I walked into a very old
medieval church with beautifulstained glass windows that told
all different kinds of stories.
It was very colorful, the sunwas coming in and when you walk
into a space like that, you gowow, yeah, it is immersive in
(13:25):
that it is inviting you into thepresence of God.
The LED wall is really themodern stained glass window.
I know the stained glass musthave been a new technology at a
certain point and this isrelatively still new, especially
to churches.
But what it will give us acapacity to do is visually
(13:46):
create a space, using differentimages, different videos, to
bring people, draw people closerto God in worship.
And because now it is a screenand we could create images,
there's so many possibilitieswith that.
I know a church that actuallyput up stained glass windows on
(14:09):
their led wall and newcomerscame in they said, wow, what
beautiful stained glass windowsyou have in this church.
And the pastor had to explainno, this, that's a screen.
But, but those are thepossibilities, right, it is
truly immersive, the images arevery vivid, and so we can create
all kinds of spaces to tellGod's story.
Jeff Bills (14:31):
So, beyond worship, because we do more than worship.
It's primarily a worship space,but we do other things.
How else would you envision ususing that LED wall?
Andrew Barber (14:44):
Yeah, I'm really excited about these.
There's two specifically.
So one we do a vacation Bibleschool here every year and
there's about 75 to 100 kidsthat come into the worship space
and they're going to be able,to the curriculum that we use,
create these amazing musicvideos for the kids to dance,
and there's motions and it'sjust, it's it's.
(15:05):
There's nothing more fun thanto have these kids watch these
videos and as the week goes on,they get more familiar with it.
Now, when we have a much largerscreen, it is a going to be so
much clearer.
The kids are going to be ableto see the motions, but everyone
in the room it was kind of likewe could only really get them
kind of close up front so thatthey could see the TV screen
above, um, the worship space.
(15:27):
But this is, it's going to beany point in the room.
You're going to be able to seeit and it's going to.
It's going to look great.
And then the next one that I'mreally excited, even more
excited I think we do a dramacamp here every summer and now
we used to spend or we everyyear we spend so much time just
painting sets and the kids wouldpaint sets and they'd say this
is boring after a while, and nowwe can instead find the image
(15:52):
that we want, put that as ourbackdrop and now we'll spend
more time making their, makingtheir props, because usually we
just we just have a lot of props.
So there's, we're going to beable to take the tech work out
of painting and more buildingand doing other things.
So it frees up their time, butalso it's more flexible and
there can be different imagesfor each scene.
(16:13):
So I just think it's just areally great thing for kids to
see and be like oh, we're in abaseball field and there's a
gigantic baseball field behindme.
It's so much more real to thekids and it's going to be such a
great experience.
Rick Court (16:26):
And I think there are applications for so many
other things too.
I know you mentioned those too,but, like you know, ash
Wednesday services or ourReflections at Christmastime
services just to be able toprovide you know if we're
talking about.
Well, what's it look like inthe temple right To be able to
put that image as a 30-footimage up on the screen and have
people walk through almost anexperience like that, to even
(16:50):
even as something as simple asjust showing a movie on movie
night, right, that kind ofexperience is gonna be like you
would have going to a movietheater.
So there's so many ways thatour ministries will use this
beyond just Sunday morning.
Yeah, that's yeah.
Jeff Bills (17:06):
Now, I really want it.
James Lee (17:09):
There are a few practical plus sides too.
I just want to share talk aboutso.
Part of my job as a director ofcommunications, I often get
asked by different churches tocome into their space and help
them discern how to make theworship space better.
We want to get a projector or aTV screen, which is it?
And oftentimes the balance isdo you want a bigger image, but
(17:31):
maybe you can't see as wellbecause of glares and dim
lighting?
Or do you want a TV which isvery vivid and clear, but
unfortunately it's going to bepretty small?
intro (17:41):
But this is the best of both worlds, and there's a huge
accessibility plus too.
James Lee (17:46):
A projector you may not be able to see well, but for
folks who, like they'll be ableto see the colors very vividly,
uh, texts, things like that.
Um, I think about theflexibility too.
So these are all like singlepanels.
They're about a foot by foot,roughly panels that are being
put together so we could create,actually detach them if we want
(18:06):
to yes and again create verycreative spaces.
So there's a lot of possibilitythere.
It's also environmentallyfriendly people don't talk about
this like.
Projectors take up a lot ofenergy.
You have to replace bulbs theydie give off a lot of heat give
off a lot of heat, but this isvery.
It's a lot less energy a a lotless waste, so there's also an
(18:29):
environmental friendliness tothis as well.
Jeff Bills (18:32):
Well, so to my fellow boomers who are listening
to this, so we didn't grow upwith screens.
They came into our lives whenwe were young.
Of course, tv was a newtechnology, rick, you're Gen X,
(18:54):
and so you guys were around.
It was color TVs and so forth.
You other two guys, you'remillennials, yep, right, and now
we have two generations behindyou, yep, two generations behind
you.
And so part of this idea, thistechnology, is we want to speak
to generations that are youngergenerations that screens are so
(19:18):
important for, and generationsyet to come that won't have any
concept of a life outside ofscreens, and so this is
something for now, and it'ssomething that we think is going
to serve the church well in thefuture.
And so this is an opportunityfor us as a church to take this
important step and hopefully youhave a better idea.
(19:41):
If you weren't sure about whatthis wall was about or why this
wall, you have a little betteridea, but you may still have
questions.
So please talk to Andrew, talkto Rick, talk to me, james.
We'd love to talk to you moreabout it Anytime?
And what's the goal?
(20:02):
To get this installed, assumingthe funding is there?
Well, if you're asking metomorrow, All right, let me ask
Neil no we are hoping for.
Rick Court (20:14):
As Andrew mentioned, we won the Hitch Bible School
and Drama Camp this summer, sowe would love to have this
installed by mid-June.
That would be great if we couldhave it done by then.
Andrew Barber (20:24):
And I think they would be such a cool highlight.
Those are the first two bigthings that we're doing.
It speaks to again your futuregenerations.
Yeah, I love that.
That's great.
Jeff Bills (20:34):
So how are we going to get there?
We're going to get therebecause you're generous, and one
of the things I'm suggesting isin terms of thinking about your
own gift.
If everybody in thecongregation gave 10% more than
they gave the year before, wewould cover the cost for the
entire Hope in Motion campaignand so, if that's possible for
(21:00):
you, I would encourage you toprayerfully do that.
If you can do more, obviouslywe'd love you to do more,
because I know there's going tobe some folks who can't do that.
We'd love you to do morebecause I know there's going to
be some folks who can't do that.
So that's part of our Hope inMotion campaign and thanks so
much for tuning in and listening, and we'll be talking more
(21:21):
about this going forward.
Have a great day.
intro (21:27):
Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we
continue our conversations aboutfaith and hope.
If you don't already, pleasejoin us for worship on Sundays
or on demand.
You can learn more atmeethopeorg or find us on
socials at meethopechurch.
Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have
conversations about faith andhope.
Hope is one church made ofpeople living out their faith
through two expressions inperson and online.
We believe a hybrid faithexperience can lead to a growing
influence in our community andour world for the sake of others
.
Welcome to Hope.
Jeff Bills (00:28):
Hey friends, our world for the sake of others.
Welcome to Hope.
Hey friends, welcome to theMeet Hope podcast.
I'm Jeff Bills and I am beingjoined today by a very august
group of members of our staff,or soon to be members of our
staff, starting with our nextlead pastor, James Lee.
James, how you doing.
James Lee (00:45):
I'm doing well.
Jeff Bills (00:46):
Excellent.
Next to James we've got PastorRick Court hey, good to be here
and next to Rick, andrew Barber,our Director of Worship Arts.
How's it going, andrew?
It's going good, thanks.
So we're here.
Today.
We're talking about the Hope inMotion campaign and, as you
know, there's three prioritiesfor the campaign, and today I
(01:08):
want to focus on the LED walland what that's about, why this
is a priority for us and what isan LED?
James Lee (01:20):
wall.
Jeff Bills (01:21):
So, to get started, there's a history here, and,
rick, you were probably the mostinvolved with the history, so
give us a little backstory onwhen this all started.
Rick Court (01:34):
Sure, somewhere around I guess 2020 or even
before 2020, we were looking atour you know, we used to have a
projector that projected theimages up onto a screen and we
were transitioning to somethingdifferent and we didn't know
what that was.
So we were looking before COVID.
Then, when COVID happened, wewent into this digital phase.
We kind of changed the thingsthat we did in the space and the
(01:57):
platform.
That's when we did those mostrecent upgrades to improve our
digital experience.
So, with the lighting and allthose things, we looked at a
screen.
Then, again, it wasn'taffordable, the technology
wasn't there, so that someone itwasn't accessible to a church
really, or at least a church oursize.
So we went with three monitorsthat are 83 inches and diagonal
(02:21):
and they seemed really big.
Remember, when they arrived andwe put them in the space, we
thought they were really biguntil they got hung on the truss
and then they looked a lotsmaller.
So we always knew there'd be astopgap until we could do
something else.
And I think we're at that spacenow where we're going to do
something else.
Yeah, that's really what we'retalking about.
(02:42):
Is this, uh, moving from thatwhich was it worked, but it's
not.
Jeff Bills (02:49):
It's it's kind of, I would say, in a sense, hold us
back now yeah, yeah, so we're,we're now moving to this led
wall and, uh, so, andrew,describe what is an LED wall.
Andrew Barber (03:03):
It's a really big TV screen more or less.
So ours is going to be a 28 by10 foot large screen that is
going to sit on stage,essentially behind and around
where the singer stands or wherethe pastor stands.
(03:24):
It's going to be behind that,and what makes it so cool
because it's such a large screenand it's going to be even
taller than kind of where thebottom of the TVs sit.
Now it'll sort of end there.
It will be sort of thisbackdrop for when the pastors
are speaking or when theworshipers are leading worship.
(03:44):
So it's this great piece oftechnology that's not only a
great video screen where you canwatch videos, see images, but
it's going to sort of becomepart of the design of the stage,
which I think is really cool.
Jeff Bills (03:58):
James, you are a video guy, so your background,
for those who don't know, jameshad a video production company.
Is that accurate?
Yeah, and I still do on theside, although it takes most of
my time, so you were doingvideos for weddings.
James Lee (04:18):
Yeah, For a while I was a wedding video producer.
Jeff Bills (04:22):
So you're conversant in this stuff and I know you're
excited about the LED wall.
James Lee (04:38):
Why are you?
I'm really excited because Iknow that even in our own
tradition of talking about theBible, talking about stories, we
see storytelling, visualstorytelling, as a big part of
our tradition.
So I think about Jesus insteadof just saying, hey, god loves
you, like a father who misseshis son, he went into this story
.
He drew a picture, with hiswords, of the prodigal son.
(04:59):
He would speak in parables.
I think about even theIsraelites really investing in
the design of the tabernacle andthe design of the ark and all
of these elements that arevisual, and making sure that
it's beautiful and telling astory to remind people of where
they were and who they are andwhere they're headed.
(05:20):
And so I think visualstorytelling is a part of our
faith, and so I believe thatthis tool can be used to
continue that tradition, tocontinue that part of our faith.
Jeff Bills (05:31):
Love that.
Yeah, you know you think aboutworship spaces that maybe folks
grew up attending Stained glassright Stained glass windows.
Yeah, that was an earliercenturies version of telling the
story.
Rick Court (05:50):
Oh, absolutely, yeah .
Jeff Bills (05:52):
So, with Hope, we did have these projectors for
years.
And what was the problem withthe projectors?
The projectors.
Rick Court (06:01):
Well, we never again .
Because of the ambient light inour space, because we're, you
know, we've got this giant wallof glass where the sun shines in
and it's beautiful and it looksgreat it really wreaks havoc on
technology, especially lighttechnology, and so that screen
was being, or the image wasbeing, forced, you know, 40 feet
(06:22):
across the room onto a screenand then reflect it back to us,
and so it never had theimmersive experience that an LED
wall could have, in that itdidn't have the bright colors,
it didn't have the high densityor the high imagery that would
(06:43):
be possible with this LEDtechnology.
And so, just like we did withthose screens, we hung them on
the truss.
When we would get a projector,we'd go eh, that's nice, but it
never was.
Wow, that's amazing.
Only at night, exactly, yeah.
So if we only did church atnight, we were fine, exactly
yeah.
James Lee (07:02):
So if we only did church at night.
Rick Court (07:03):
we were fine so yeah , so it just never had the
impact that it could have hadbecause of the light that we
have in our space.
Jeff Bills (07:16):
Yes, so this will overcome.
The ambient light won't be anissue.
Rick Court (07:21):
Right these applications are.
As I think Andrew mentioned isthat these are applications are
used outside all the time.
Every stadium are using LEDscreens and it's the same
technology that we'll be using.
Jeff Bills (07:37):
Where else would you ?
Andrew Barber (07:38):
see these, I mean .
So I drove stadiums.
I mean there's hundreds of themin the stadiums.
When you're driving down theroad and you see a billboard
that changes like, you see adifferent image.
That's an LED wall, essentiallyMalls.
You see them Anytime.
You see a large screen, we'llsay bigger than 80 inches, it's
(08:01):
an LED wall, because making atelevision larger than 80, 90
inches is really not costeffective.
Yeah, um, so they're.
They're everywhere and youprobably see them listening or
I'm talking to specific youprobably see them all the time
and you don't even know it.
Um, it's just, they are a partof our world.
Jeff Bills (08:18):
So just to get in some of the geeky tech stuff um
it's not actually just a solidTV screen, right, it's something
else.
Andrew Barber (08:29):
It's multiple panels.
So ours is going to becomprised of 40 smaller panels
that are, I think, about twofeet wide and they work together
.
They're connected, networkedtogether to create the one large
screen.
Rick Court (08:44):
And each panel has thousands of little tiny light
bulbs, and those little tinylight bulbs all emit light
source.
Jeff Bills (08:53):
That's the LE yeah.
Andrew Barber (08:55):
Light emitting diode, which is?
It's literally just a little.
Rick Court (08:59):
So instead of one projector bulb projecting 40
feet across and reflecting off ascreen, thousands of little
bulbs will be projected rightout towards the congregation.
Jeff Bills (09:11):
And my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong on
this one.
There could be multiple imageson these screens.
So it's like there could besomething happening on the right
and left and somethingdifferent in the center all at
the same time, yep and that'swhat's so nice because of the
size of it, we have a lot offlexibility.
Andrew Barber (09:32):
And then one, one question I get asked all the
time is you're going to havethis wall here, but the worship
leaders stand in front of them.
We're not going to be able tosee.
Well, the screen is big enoughthat, first of all, like lyrics,
for example, which are animportant part, they're going to
be above the, above the singer.
So anywhere you sit in the room, you're going to be able to see
(09:52):
the lyrics and you're going tobe able to see them with clarity
, and they're going to be largerthan what we have now, which is
, um, with the TVs above.
So, yeah, it's really becauseof the size of the screen.
There's so much moreflexibility that we have in the
way we put together a serviceand the way you experience the
service.
Jeff Bills (10:11):
Are there things that we're not doing currently
because of the fact that thescreens aren't sufficient?
Andrew Barber (10:18):
A thousand percent.
I think we always haveconversations about.
This is the simplest one.
Here's a video.
It's really great, but at theend there's these words that are
scrolling on the screen and inthe room.
You can't read them.
So we don't use that videobecause it limits us, because
the screen isn't big enough, orsometimes when you hear someone
(10:41):
talking and when you're in theroom it's like okay, you can
hear them, but you really can'tquite, maybe, see the emotion on
the face.
So I think sometimes we don'tuse videos as much as we could
because we feel like the peoplein the room are missing out.
Rick Court (10:58):
And this is where, yeah, I think this technology is
going to help our in-personcrowd catch up to the digital
crowd, exactly Because ourdigital congregation sees those
images and they look great.
So, to your point of thescrolling words on a video, they
look fine when you're watchingonline or watching at your home
on your television, but in ourin-person space you can't see
(11:21):
them because they're too smallbecause of the screens that we
currently have.
So it allows our in-personcrowd to catch up, in a sense,
to our digital crowd, which Ithink is a neat experience.
Jeff Bills (11:31):
Yeah, Well, here's a scary question.
So currently, when Rick, you orI are preaching, or Andrew, you
guys are doing your thing onthe worship team, guys are doing
your thing on the worship team.
The images are up on the smallscreen.
So when I'm preaching live inthe room, people in the room can
(11:52):
also see the image on thescreen.
Is it going to be a giganticimage of the preacher on the
screen?
Rick Court (12:03):
I hope not.
Andrew Barber (12:09):
As long as you're nice to the tech team in the
back, you'll never have to worryabout that.
No, it'll be for when the bandis coming.
I imagine there'll be some, andwe have some videos already
like motion videos that maybekind of are synced to the song,
or just the kind of moving,gentle moving, just things that
I wouldn't say are distractingbut enhance the experience.
(12:30):
Just the word we've been usinga lot is immersive and I know
that sometimes people go.
What does that mean?
And it's just more differentthings that we can do to kind of
just create different ambiances.
And you know, right now we havethese beautiful doors that are
on the backdrop and they've beenthe backdrop for a long time,
but that's all we just have thatwe.
(12:52):
You know those doors are notlight.
It's not quick change to changethem to something else.
So this is a.
We can have any backdrop wewant at any point with this wall
.
James Lee (13:00):
I don't want to, yeah , I don't want to underplay the
word immersive.
I think immersive is reallyimportant.
I remember when I was inIreland I walked into a very old
medieval church with beautifulstained glass windows that told
all different kinds of stories.
It was very colorful, the sunwas coming in and when you walk
into a space like that, you gowow, yeah, it is immersive in
(13:25):
that it is inviting you into thepresence of God.
The LED wall is really themodern stained glass window.
I know the stained glass musthave been a new technology at a
certain point and this isrelatively still new, especially
to churches.
But what it will give us acapacity to do is visually
(13:46):
create a space, using differentimages, different videos, to
bring people, draw people closerto God in worship.
And because now it is a screenand we could create images,
there's so many possibilitieswith that.
I know a church that actuallyput up stained glass windows on
(14:09):
their led wall and newcomerscame in they said, wow, what
beautiful stained glass windowsyou have in this church.
And the pastor had to explainno, this, that's a screen.
But, but those are thepossibilities, right, it is
truly immersive, the images arevery vivid, and so we can create
all kinds of spaces to tellGod's story.
Jeff Bills (14:31):
So, beyond worship, because we do more than worship.
It's primarily a worship space,but we do other things.
How else would you envision ususing that LED wall?
Andrew Barber (14:44):
Yeah, I'm really excited about these.
There's two specifically.
So one we do a vacation Bibleschool here every year and
there's about 75 to 100 kidsthat come into the worship space
and they're going to be able,to the curriculum that we use,
create these amazing musicvideos for the kids to dance,
and there's motions and it'sjust, it's it's.
(15:05):
There's nothing more fun thanto have these kids watch these
videos and as the week goes on,they get more familiar with it.
Now, when we have a much largerscreen, it is a going to be so
much clearer.
The kids are going to be ableto see the motions, but everyone
in the room it was kind of likewe could only really get them
kind of close up front so thatthey could see the TV screen
above, um, the worship space.
(15:27):
But this is, it's going to beany point in the room.
You're going to be able to seeit and it's going to.
It's going to look great.
And then the next one that I'mreally excited, even more
excited I think we do a dramacamp here every summer and now
we used to spend or we everyyear we spend so much time just
painting sets and the kids wouldpaint sets and they'd say this
is boring after a while, and nowwe can instead find the image
(15:52):
that we want, put that as ourbackdrop and now we'll spend
more time making their, makingtheir props, because usually we
just we just have a lot of props.
So there's, we're going to beable to take the tech work out
of painting and more buildingand doing other things.
So it frees up their time, butalso it's more flexible and
there can be different imagesfor each scene.
(16:13):
So I just think it's just areally great thing for kids to
see and be like oh, we're in abaseball field and there's a
gigantic baseball field behindme.
It's so much more real to thekids and it's going to be such a
great experience.
Rick Court (16:26):
And I think there are applications for so many
other things too.
I know you mentioned those too,but, like you know, ash
Wednesday services or ourReflections at Christmastime
services just to be able toprovide you know if we're
talking about.
Well, what's it look like inthe temple right To be able to
put that image as a 30-footimage up on the screen and have
people walk through almost anexperience like that, to even
(16:50):
even as something as simple asjust showing a movie on movie
night, right, that kind ofexperience is gonna be like you
would have going to a movietheater.
So there's so many ways thatour ministries will use this
beyond just Sunday morning.
Yeah, that's yeah.
Jeff Bills (17:06):
Now, I really want it.
James Lee (17:09):
There are a few practical plus sides too.
I just want to share talk aboutso.
Part of my job as a director ofcommunications, I often get
asked by different churches tocome into their space and help
them discern how to make theworship space better.
We want to get a projector or aTV screen, which is it?
And oftentimes the balance isdo you want a bigger image, but
(17:31):
maybe you can't see as wellbecause of glares and dim
lighting?
Or do you want a TV which isvery vivid and clear, but
unfortunately it's going to bepretty small?
intro (17:41):
But this is the best of both worlds, and there's a huge
accessibility plus too.
James Lee (17:46):
A projector you may not be able to see well, but for
folks who, like they'll be ableto see the colors very vividly,
uh, texts, things like that.
Um, I think about theflexibility too.
So these are all like singlepanels.
They're about a foot by foot,roughly panels that are being
put together so we could create,actually detach them if we want
(18:06):
to yes and again create verycreative spaces.
So there's a lot of possibilitythere.
It's also environmentallyfriendly people don't talk about
this like.
Projectors take up a lot ofenergy.
You have to replace bulbs theydie give off a lot of heat give
off a lot of heat, but this isvery.
It's a lot less energy a a lotless waste, so there's also an
(18:29):
environmental friendliness tothis as well.
Jeff Bills (18:32):
Well, so to my fellow boomers who are listening
to this, so we didn't grow upwith screens.
They came into our lives whenwe were young.
Of course, tv was a newtechnology, rick, you're Gen X,
(18:54):
and so you guys were around.
It was color TVs and so forth.
You other two guys, you'remillennials, yep, right, and now
we have two generations behindyou, yep, two generations behind
you.
And so part of this idea, thistechnology, is we want to speak
to generations that are youngergenerations that screens are so
(19:18):
important for, and generationsyet to come that won't have any
concept of a life outside ofscreens, and so this is
something for now, and it'ssomething that we think is going
to serve the church well in thefuture.
And so this is an opportunityfor us as a church to take this
important step and hopefully youhave a better idea.
(19:41):
If you weren't sure about whatthis wall was about or why this
wall, you have a little betteridea, but you may still have
questions.
So please talk to Andrew, talkto Rick, talk to me, james.
We'd love to talk to you moreabout it Anytime?
And what's the goal?
(20:02):
To get this installed, assumingthe funding is there?
Well, if you're asking metomorrow, All right, let me ask
Neil no we are hoping for.
Rick Court (20:14):
As Andrew mentioned, we won the Hitch Bible School
and Drama Camp this summer, sowe would love to have this
installed by mid-June.
That would be great if we couldhave it done by then.
Andrew Barber (20:24):
And I think they would be such a cool highlight.
Those are the first two bigthings that we're doing.
It speaks to again your futuregenerations.
Yeah, I love that.
That's great.
Jeff Bills (20:34):
So how are we going to get there?
We're going to get therebecause you're generous, and one
of the things I'm suggesting isin terms of thinking about your
own gift.
If everybody in thecongregation gave 10% more than
they gave the year before, wewould cover the cost for the
entire Hope in Motion campaignand so, if that's possible for
(21:00):
you, I would encourage you toprayerfully do that.
If you can do more, obviouslywe'd love you to do more,
because I know there's going tobe some folks who can't do that.
We'd love you to do morebecause I know there's going to
be some folks who can't do that.
So that's part of our Hope inMotion campaign and thanks so
much for tuning in and listening, and we'll be talking more
(21:21):
about this going forward.
Have a great day.
intro (21:27):
Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we
continue our conversations aboutfaith and hope.
If you don't already, pleasejoin us for worship on Sundays
or on demand.
You can learn more atmeethopeorg or find us on
socials at meethopechurch.
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