Learn how worship facilities are using and installing products
Lake Pointe Church
Rockwall, TX
Lake Point Church has grown into what some would consider a mega-church. Its main campus seats 5,000. The church
also serves three nearby satellite campuses. But it was in the 200-seat children's room on the main campus where
Media Pastor Wes Hartley struggled to find a cost-effective, yet reliable, wireless microphone system that could
be successfully run by an all-volunteer staff of technicians. His quest proved challenging because the walls and
ceiling are full of metal and many of the adjacent rooms also use wireless systems.
"We could test things all week long, but when the weekend rolled around and everything in the building was live,
the mics in that room would inevitably cut out," Hartley reports. "The poor volunteers had no way to troubleshoot
the problem and so they'd have to put the mics down and yell. Worse, they'd often leave the faders up so you'd
have someone yelling from the stage and hits coming over the PA. It was truly ugly." Perhaps even worse, it was
demoralizing for the members who volunteered their time and energy to make the children's service special.
Because of budgetary constraints, Hartley was forced to try inexpensive wireless systems for the children's room.
They suffered through the entry-level systems of three manufacturers before Hartley stumbled upon Sennheiser's
cost-effective evolution series of wireless mics. "I remember thinking, 'it's really bad right now so we've got
nothing to lose,'" he laughs. "Having been burned three times previous I was pretty pessimistic."
To Hartley's surprise, however, the new system was, in his words, "so stable it was ridiculous." To the dedicated
group of volunteers who ran them, the new mics worked like they were supposed to (surprise!) and, importantly,
rewarded, instead of frustrated, their efforts with consistently clear audio. With that good experience, Hartley
started specifying Sennheiser evolution microphones and personal monitors whenever the church built a new room.
To date, 25 Sennheiser ew 100 G2 series systems, four ew 300 G2 series systems, eight ew 500 G2 series systems and
eight ew 300 IEM G2 personal monitors deliver solid wireless performance throughout the Rockwall campus. In
addition, several Sennheiser handheld transmitters pepper the campus for musical performances, while Sennheiser
lavaliers are used for spoken word, as well as for violins. The satellite campuses boast nearly another 30
Sennheiser wireless channels between them.
Hartley also travels a great deal on behalf of Lake Pointe and has come to rely on 10 channels of Sennheiser ENG
wireless camera mics for bulletproof performance under any circumstance.
"My favorite wireless moment involved a shoot we were doing in New York City," Hartley recalls. "I was shooting
my pastor near the Apple Store kitty-corner from where CBS morning news was shooting. They had the lights, the
crowds, everything. I powered on my Sennheiser ENG system and without touching anything we were up and running.
I remember thinking, 'I bet those CBS people worked their tails off to find open frequencies in the middle of New
York!' That was a very nice moment!"
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