His solution: To kickoff a $100,000 capital finds campaign 6 weeks into his tenure, with $25,000 earmarked for video projection. The media proposal:

?Ä¢ Two (2) 3000 ANSI lumen projectors hide behind pre-existing PA speakers and project onto retractable screens. One (1) 2000 ANSI lumen projector shoots directly onto the back wall and functions as a stage monitor.
?Ä¢ An added video booth at the balcony level houses a Macintosh G4 with dual 17?Äù CRT monitors and SundayPlus presentation software. An Extron scan converter converts the Macintosh?Äôs RGB signal to S-video, which is mixed along with the VCR/DVD player into a Panasonic video switcher ($1200).
?Ä¢ Two (2) Canon GL2 cameras on basic tripods project live worship activity to the screens.
?Ä¢ As with the first proposal, the video and audio are run through an RF modulator ($20) so a TV signal can be sent to the nursery and throughout the building. Formac Studio?Äôs $300 TVR converts analog video to DV streams for editing and a small mixer sends audio from the computer/DVD/VCR setup to the sanctuary?Äôs main audio mixer board.

Bill used s-video in the second installation because it is cheaper on long signal paths than a computer signal. He explains, ?ÄúThe four input switcher allows us to have immediate access to computer video, video cameras, DVD and VCR and to send these signals to the projectors without any synchronization problems.?Äù The output of the switcher runs into two special S-Video distribution amplifiers, custom built by Fowler Productions. This amplified signal runs to the two main (front) projectors and the rear-facing projector.

?ÄúThis system was designed so that the rear-facing projector can be ?Äòsplit off?Äô from the main signal. We use it in this mode when we are doing a musical or drama so that it can be used as a teleprompter. Of course, using it this way means that a second computer needs to be added to the system to drive the rear projector. This feature has allowed us to improve the quality of our productions while at the same time reducing the number of rehearsals.?Äù

The total cost of this system was $34,000, with under $1000 spent on the control booth.

Bill?Äôs background is what you might expect for a ?Äútechie pastor.?Äù He got a ham radio license before he got a driver?Äôs license. In seminary, he used his radio to communicate with missionaries in jungle outposts. As he began to minister in a local church, he found himself helping other churches with their PA system problems, recycling old parts with the help of church volunteers to prevent clueless pastors form getting taken by dealers.

Eventually, someone suggested to Bill that he had a nice voice for narration. He wasn?Äôt your typical talent, though. Instead of reading the script and leaving the studio, he would hang around and observe. This led him into the world of image and video editing.

Bill acknowledges that it?Äôs unusual to be gifted in technical stuff while at the same time grasping the necessary elements of pastoral care. None of that in his view, though, makes his story special. He questions the difference between the challenges he?Äôs faced in pastoring century-old, mainline churches and what churches of any style face today. ?ÄúI believe the challenges that churches experience today have little to do with geography or denomination. What touches each church is the changing American culture. Most specifically I believe that the way people assimilate information is a key.?Äù The most urban, innovative church faces the same challenges as the most rural and traditional.

Myers believes that anyone, given the proper advice and guidance, can install a system on their own. All of us are in ?Äúchallenging?Äù situations. Such is the nature of ministry in our digital age. The two most commonly used rationales for avoiding this challenge are lack of church vision and lack of money. Bill has demonstrated in two successive pastoral appointments that neither are truly obstacles for those that have the passion and desire to communicate the Gospel.

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